WIP Willow Springs Streets

[Emery]

Two weeks ago, when the opportunity presented itself, I signed on to race in my second real-life 24 hour endurance race (see http://chumpcar.com for race series info) and the race will be held at the Streets of Willow Springs on the last weekend of January.

Never having been to the Streets of Willow Springs or Willow Springs or Horse Thief Canyon, I need some advance idea of what the track will be like, particularly when it comes to racing full tilt in the dark with never-good-enough headlights and 39 other drivers of various skills in cars with widely differing performance envelopes.

With holiday gatherings and other commitments, I didn't get started until yesterday. However, I think I've knocked out a decent first pass that I hope to improve after visiting the track. This is quick and dirty, so I've created no objects and the terrain lacks refinement.

To whet your appetite, here's a view entering T2:

 

[banger]

looks great , if you managed to get some photography on your way around track,(kidding) .of willow springs let me know (PM).has i just started willowsprings myself.

has for advice on around the track in real mode, i hope you got need for speed shift, horse thief mile,and willowsprings are on there.may help probably not.or try madcowie version of willowsprings(rfactor),or my conversion(gtr2,gtl).heehe
shameless plug.....

 

[Emery]

If you're doing Willow Springs, then you might want my background terrain of the whole bloody mountain to the north? Of course I'll take pictures while I'm there.

I've driven some rFactor Willow Springs, probably the conversion. Did not know about NFS Shift having the whole Willow Springs complex.

 

[Ryan Callan]

Yes the Willow Springs existing is converted from a scratch-made track from Nascar 2K3

 

[banger]

If you're doing Willow Springs, then you might want my background terrain of the whole bloody mountain to the north? Of course I'll take pictures while I'm there.

I've driven some rFactor Willow Springs, probably the conversion. Did not know about NFS Shift having the whole Willow Springs complex.

the moutains scene would be nice!!! ,

here are some photos, from the trackmakers site.
http://www.willowspringsraceway.com/mediainformation/mediainformation.asp

 

[Emery]

as for advice on around the track in real mode, i hope you got need for speed shift, horse thief mile,and willowsprings are on there.may help probably not.

Egad... I've just watched videos of what NFS did to Willow Springs and Horse Thief Mile. Yeah, the turns go that way, but all that flashing scenery is no where near useful for learning the track! Man, that's the most over-done piece of flash that has me shuddering as it's no where near reality. At least the cars looked fun.

 

[banger]

look on the nfs shift downloads, there a mod that switches all that glitz off.
http://www.racedepartment.com/downloads.php?do=file&id=1772
:veryhappy:

 

[nicka117]

Emery, i definitely think driving your layout will give you some feel for the rythm and timing of streets, but, as usual, the track is much hillier that you could guess by driving the sim or watching onboard footage on youtube. Even if the height data is correct, the monitor will just not quite give you the feel for elevation change. I've driven WSIR (Big Willow) and Steets in my old Evo and shifter karts and they both feel like a roller coaster. Big Willow is super fast and Streets is kind of short and curvy. I'm sure you'll have a blast! Good luck and be safe.

 

[Emery]

I'm heading off on a 2000-mile round trip this morning to the Streets of Willow Springs. Will take plenty of pictures for banger and myself to aid in finishing our tracks. If the racecar holds together until the end of the weekend, I should have 4 hours of track time under my belt. Well, okay, only 2 hours are likely to be in the daylight and the other 2 hours I'll be trying valiantly not to go cross country in the dark.

 

[Kris Vickers]

Good luck Emery, and please, come back in one piece

 

[Emery]

I'm back and it was a blast! We finished 12th of 22 http://www.mylaps.com/results/showrun.jsp?id=1398440. As one of our team members put it, "This was the best disaster race ever." If you've never been involved in a 24 hour race before, you can't imagine how hard it is to keep a car running and we definitely had problems. Exhaust manifold had a big hole in it, CV joint dust cover ripped open, CV joint housing blew up, two collisions with the same car, one tire corded, rear wheel bearing failed and the wheel falls off when the axle shears, but it was a rod knocking which finally took us out of the race with 30-45 minutes to go. Unfortunately for my pride, the collisions happened when I was driving at night <ahem>... Teammate Leo's blog about the whole adventure is at http://roadtochumpcar.com/

My first stint was at night, on the 1.4 mile course rather than the 1.8 mile full course. My second stint was in the daytime on the 1.8 mile course and the amount of G's you pull through the 20-degree banked "bowl" are phenomenal!

The 350 laps I've run in my rFactor model really prepared me well. My model was only mariginally wrong on elevations as there's more descent from T10 down to T12 and the back straight is a bit more level. The T10-T11 berms have been repaved yet again, so there's no yellow striping on them at present and the track now has white paint stripes at the inside and outside edges.

 

[banger]

great m8, hehe by the list of faults there, sounds like you had fun.

 

[DocHawk]

Emery, I am going to be in this April's Chumpcar race. Would you be willing to share your quick and dirty track? I've been to Big Willow but never the Streets before.

 

[Emery]

DocHawk - Sure, I'll get it uploaded and send a link via PM. A fan on my video card at home died last night, so it may take me a couple days. Which team are you on?

 

[SOneThreeCoupe]

I know I'm a newbie, but I'd sure like a link to your version of the Streets, Emery. I've been there twice, but no more recently than 2006, and I'd really like a primer before I go back in late August.

Thanks kindly and I'm willing to donate to the server (or to you as gratitude for your efforts).

 

[da_b_mann]

Hi Emery, any chance i could be cheeky and ask for a copy of the track, have been looking for one sice gran turismo 4 lol

 

[Emery]

Hi Emery, any chance i could be cheeky and ask for a copy of the track, have been looking for one sice gran turismo 4 lol

After a decade, I no longer have it.

 

[da_b_mann]

Ah thats fair enough, thanks anyway