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Track name: Five Flags 2023dtn PST
Racing Sim: NASCAR Racing 2003 Season simulation.
Short Track: 0.5 Mile oval
Author:  J.R. Franklin and Project: Short Track


TABLE OF CONTENTS:

[1] HOW TO INSTALL THE TRACK
[2] GENERAL TRACK INFORMATION
[3] CREDITS
[4] WHAT WAS CHANGED FROM ORIGINAL TRACK 
[5] KNOWN ISSUES AND NOTES ABOUT TRACK
[6] TROUBLE REPORTING
[7] DISTRIBUTION INFORMATION
[8] AGREEMENT OF USE

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[1] HOW TO INSTALL THE TRACK
====================================

Unzip the zip file to:  C:\Papyrus\Nascar Racing 2003 Season\tracks\. If you have multiple installations of NR2003S on your PC, you will need to manually select the tracks directory where you wish to install this track.



[2] GENERAL TRACK INFORMATION
====================================

Type: Real track

These 3 unique NR2003 versions of "Five Flags 2023 PST" are an attempt to closely resemble the track as it appeared in 2023. These Five Flags 2023 PST versions are not, however, an exact replicas of the real-life Five Flags Speedway nor do the limits of NR2003 allow them to be.  It is my extreme pleasure on behalf of all of us at PROJECT: Short Track to offer our 3 distinct versions of Five Flags Speedway to the fans of NR2003.

AI: Yes.  Working pit stalls for 32 total cars (31 opponents).

Mod support: GNS and CTS (This track was not tested using any other physics other than those, however the track will still work with Cup and PTA physics.)

Track Information: 0.5 mile asphalt oval located in Pensacola, FL.

Banking Information:  16° in the turns 1-2, 10°-14° in turns 3-4 and 9° on the straightaways.  

History and Background:

Five Flags Speedway opened on May 31, 1953, but the track surface was not ready for that opening race day.  The first feature race resulted in a 14-car pileup on the first lap due to the excessive amount of dust from the track surface and racing was abruptly ended.

Two weeks later after the paving of the track was completed, NASCAR's top division, the Grand National Series (now the NASCAR Cup Series) held it's only race at the track, but heavy rains caused the 200 lap event to be shortened to 140 laps with Herb Thomas the winner followed by Dick Rathman and Lee Petty.

Over the past more than 38 years, the premier event in the Five Flags Speedway racing schedule has been the annual Snowball Derby held on the first week of December each year.  This marque event draws the best short track stars from America, Canada and Mexico as well as drivers from NASCAR's top divisions, IndyCar and other elite racing series.

Five Flags also hosts the ARCA Menards East Series for an event on the schedule in March  as well as stops by the the ASA Stars National TOur and the ASA Southern Super Series.

Currently, the track runs Super Late Models, Pro Late Models, Outlaws, Pro Trucks, Pure Stocks, Crown Stocks, Florida Modifieds and Sportsman on it's annual schedule. 

For more information on Five Flags Speedway, follow Five Flags Speedway on it's website, www.5FlagsSpeedway.com and www.facebook.com/5flagsspeedway.

(The above historical info on Five Flags Speedway was excerpted from www.5FlagsSpeedway.com.)


 
[3] CREDITS:
====================================

1.  J.R. Franklin:  Project manager, graphic enhancement, detailing and immersion, 3d object creation, editing, surface and 3do texturing, camera files, Lps, AI tuning and balancing, Sandbox, quality assurance and testing.

2.  Denis Rioux:  Creation and optimization of several custom 3d objects and buildings.

3.  Ian Smythe:  Creation of 3d armco fencing along backstretch and many other custom 3d objects for our PST tracks too numerous to mention individually.

4.  Mike Ehresman:  Five Flags Speedway logos, wall and miscellaneous graphics work. Quality assurance and testing.

5.  Ben Althen:  Painting of real-life recreations of Racing Electronics, Racing America, CARS Tour, SMART, WMT, Sunoco Race Fuels, Hoosier and miscellaneous race team haulers seen in this and many PST tracks.  Miscellaneous graphics work. Quality assurance and testing.

8.  Justin Devane and Steve Branstetter:  Creation of the original Five_Flags_J9 version of the track back in November 2006.


Additional credits:

9.  Wayne "Bowtie" Anderson:  Creation of 3d objects for the PST projects too numerous to mention individually.

10. Mystical (racing.armorydigital.net):  Miscellaneous custom 3d objects.

11. WKC Tracks (John Norton):  Miscellaneous custom 3d objects.

12. Carl Sundberg:  For his technical expertice, some object creation and general wealth of knowledge.

13. Robert Panko:  Creator of subsequent NR2003 day and night versions of Five Flags Speeday based off of the original Five_Flags_J9 versions.

14. Ron Fox:  Numerous reference pictures and general consultation.

15. Reference sources:      
    a.  Five Flags Speedway website:  www.5flagsspeedway.com
    b.  Five Flags Speedway Facebook:  www.facebook.com/5flagsspeedway
    c.  Google Earth, maps, miscellaneous images and videos.
    d.	Miscellaneous YouTube videos.
    e.  Racing-Reference.info
     
16. To anyone else whom we may have unintentionally neglected to mention but contributed in the creation of objects that have been borrowed from other NR2003 tracks for this project, we sincerely appreciate your contributions to NR2003.
 
We owe a debt of gratitude to each of you for your contributions, time, support and help.



[4] WHAT WAS CHANGED FROM ORIGINAL TRACK:
==============================================

3 different versions are offered:

  1.  A unique "DUSK-TO-NIGHT (DTN) version where the sky starts out with a beautiful Florida sunset sky and slowly transitions to a full dark nighttime sky during the race.  This very cool looking feature has never been attempted before for an NR2003 short track.
  2.  A DAY version of the track.
  3.  A	Standard NIGHT version. (For end users whose PCs are not powerful enough to run the DTN version.)  This version features an early evening sky for Practice, Qualifying and Happy Hour and then a full night sky for race mode. 

Much in these 3 different versions of the track was changed from the original Five_Flags_J9 version.  In total, there are over 170 change items from the original.  This is a partial list of the many updates and new features you will see in these new 2023 versions:

  •  New asphalt racing surface texture and paint lines like real track.
  •  New grandstands and 3d crowd objects throughout.
  •  New frontstretch main tower accurately modeled by J.R. Franklin. 
  •  New turn 1 V.I.P. Suites building accurately modeled by Denis Rioux.
  •  New wall graphics by Mike Ehresman and J.R. Franklin. 
  •  New catch fence texture closely resembling the real track.
  •  New 3d armco fencing by Ian Smythe along backstretch.
  •  New infield scoreboard by J.R. Franklin resembling the real one.
  •  New billboards behind backstretch with accurate 2023 sponsor graphics.
  •  New infield M&B Victory Lane building by J.R. Franklin.
  •  New infield M&B frontstretch tower building and platform by J.R. Franklin.
  •  New backstretch garage building by J.R. Franklin and Denis Rioux.
  •  New flagstand modeled and textured to resemble the real life flagstand.
  •  New turn 1 grandstands by J.R. Franklin, Denis Rioux and Wayne Anderson.
  •  New 32 stall pit road configuration. 
  •  New LPs and A.I. tuning to optimize the racing experience.	
  •  Infield area populated with vehicles like the 2023 Snowball Derby.
  •  Plus many more new features, objects and textures to recreate the facility to look as close as possible to the current day real life track within the confines of NR2003.


[5] KNOWN ISSUES AND NOTES ABOUT THIS TRACK
============================================= 

1.  For the best results with this track, we highly recommend you use the following:
     a.  A default papy_ai.ini
     b.  The default Fast setups for each physics (Cup, GNS and CTS) 
     c.  The opponent strength set at 97%. 
     d.  Ratings for the car sets used in testing and in developing the A.I. for this track are from the NRatings program using the MasGrafx Full Season V3.1 formulas. 

2.  WARNING.  HIGHLY DETAILED GRAPHICS RICH TRACK. In an effort to duplicate the details of the real Five Flags Speedway facility and capture as much immersion as possible for the end user, we have poured a ton of high-resolution objects and detaling into this project.  Please be advised that these tracks may tax the ability of some computers, especially the FIVE_FLAGS_2023_dtn_PST version. We apologize in advance if this is the case for you and have offered a standard Night version of the track that is not so FPS heavy. 

If you are experiencing difficulty running these tracks and your frame rates are dropping below 30 FPS, we might recommend installing the 4GB Patch offered at NTCore.com (https://ntcore.com/?page_id=371).  Also consult and try implementing the Performance Guide suggestions at the BB-MC website at: http://bb-mc.co/performance-guide/

3.  Starts and Restarts.  Be aware that at the drop of the green flag, the AI will slow down driving into the turns.  This is also quite common in real short track racing when the field is tighly packed for a start or restart.  However, once a few laps have gone by and the field starts to spread out a little, this issue goes away.  Also, keep in mind that if you are starting at the back of the pack, you may be faster than many of the lower rated AI cars in front of you (kind of like Kyle Busch starting at the back of a NXS race).  Once you are able to "reel in" the leaders, you will have a much more difficult time keeping up with them in the corners.

4.  Cautions.  In an effort to try to simulate the short track racing experience, we have tried to make it so the A.I. cars race tight and have occasional contact resulting in a caution.  This happens often after a start or restart, but will also happen after a longer period of racing action... so expect it.  If you've been to a short track in real life it is not uncommon to see 5 to 7 cautions or more in a 150 lap event.  The track also can provide long green flag runs.

5.  Realiging After A Caution.  As is the case with most short tracks made for NR2003, it may take a little longer for the NR2003 "Race Director in the tower" to get the AI realigned after a caution flies. This 0.50 mile track holds 32 cars in the starting field.  The pace car and leaders may pass some of the tail end cars when the caution first comes out.  BE PATIENT and get in line behind the car that the spotter tells you to as soon as possible.  The field will get sorted out and re-aligned properly. Sometimes during a caution, after some pitting has occured, the game will wave off the re-start if the field has not realigned and closed up properly.  Other times it'll just throw the green flag when back markers have not caught up, so be ready to go at all times.  
 
6.  Pit Stop Frequency.  It is highly recommended that this track ONLY be run with "Pit Stop Frequency" set at 1X.  Higher Pit Stop Frequency" settings of 2X, 3X or 4X will introduce problems, cause confusion with the AI and should not ever be used.

7.  Race Ending Under Caution.  If a race ends under caution, some of the AI cars will stop on the track and not make their way back to the S/F line or even the pits. We have tried a number of things to remedy this situation, but have not found anything that will solve this.  (Chalk this up to another quirk of NR2003 short tracks.) 

8. Odd AI Behaviors.  AI cars will sometimes exhibit other odd behaviors that are unfortunately inherent in short tracks made for NR2003. For example, during a caution, AI cars will sometimes exit the pits and merge into an improper position in the restart alignment.  In most cases they will be put into their proper position before the green flag restart, but other times they will not and without penalty.  All of these types of things are inherent with short tracks made for NR2003 and are likely incorrectable.  In most cases, these behaviors do not deter from the enjoyment of running these tracks.
  
9. Multiple Racing Grooves.  This track features 2 distinct racing groves just like the real Five Flags Speedway, so race 'em low or race 'em high.  The AI will go 2 and 3 wide to provide an exceptional and exhilarating racing experience.  However, passing on this track is pretty difficult especially on the outside.  You will need a looser setup than the default Fast and Expert setups included with the track to make you competitve while riding the outside groove.  Either groove you choose, an AI car beside you (either on your outside or inside) will put up a great fight for several laps and will not relinquish the spot easily...if at all.

10. This track was not tested with Cup or PTA physics.  All testing and track.ini settings were done for the GNS and CTS physics only, which we feel are best suited for racing at Five Flags Speedway and short track racing in general in NR2003.  (The track will run however, using Cup and PTA physics and in Arcade mode.)

11. We went to great efforts to make the A.I. and racing as realistic as possible. At the same time, we also took some liberties with the A.I. tools available in the track.ini to enhance the "fun" factor. We're confident that you'll enjoy the offline racing experience against the AI the way we have set them up for you. 


To enjoy the best results, we recommend that you use the Fast setups provided with the track and car sets containing ratings as described above. Your results and AI behavior, however, may vary depending on the type of mod used, the ratings of your specific car set, different setups used, driving style, skill level and countless other variables that make it practically impossible to predict the results that you will achieve while racing on this track.


PROJECT: Short Track Team
J.R. Franklin
Ben Althen
Mike Ehresman
Denis Rioux
Ian Smythe
Carl Sundberg
Wayne Anderson



[6] TROUBLE REPORTING 
====================================

This track is not supported by or affiliated with Vivendi Universal Games, Sierra Online, or Papyrus Racing Games so please do not call or email.

You may use the forums at NR2k3Tracks.com, stunodracing.net or the Ground Pounder Designs Facebook page for questions regarding the track.



[7] DISTRIBUTION INFORMATION 
====================================

Authorized Distributing Websites:

www.facebook.com/GroundPounderDesigns
www.nr2k3Tracks.com
www.smiffsden.com
www.desmodsracing.com/dmrnr2003.html
www.stunodracing.net

THIS TRACK SHALL NOT BE POSTED AT ANY WEBSITES, OTHER THAN THE ONE(S) PROVIDED, WITHOUT PRIOR WRITTEN PERMISSION FROM J.R. Franklin.


[8] AGREEMENT OF USE
=====================================

Use of this track by installation into a racing simulator constitutes agreement with this and the following statements:

1) This track shall not be sold or distributed for commercial purposes, or money exchanged for this track or any part thereof.

2) This track shall not be redistributed without written consent of J.R. Franklin (listed above). 

3) This track cannot be modified without written consent of J.R. Franklin (listed above).

4) This track, or any parts thereof, shall not be converted to rFactor or any other simulation without the written consent of J.R. Franklin (listed above).

5) This track must always maintain an unmodified copy of this CREDITS_README in whatever form it is distributed.

6) This track is covered by implied intellectual property laws, in that it is the property of the author(s) (listed above).

7) This track is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.



