Snowitude. Time to have a go in the snow at Stuttgart roads!

Hello, everybody.

I have finished a snowy version of Solitude a couple of months ago. works perfectly in F1 Hero and original F1C mods, as far as I have tested.

My improvements:

─Background and scenario;
─Recalculated normals on track objects for proper shading;
─New Skybox;
─Falling snow in wet and monsoon conditions (only with Jalnervion latest special effects, which is 11.0);
─Addition of crowd and ambient sound effects;
─Dynamic rendering of spectators for different weekend sessions;
─Updated material textures;
─Snowy circuit;
─Updated AIW, CAM and CIN files;
─Pits now work. Not perfectly, but enough for do some great races without pits stops;
─Pits work perfectly in multiplayer;
─Trees and fences improved;
─New icons, thmb's and info screens;
─New track icon;
─Pit marks added;
─Integration with Jalnervion's special effects 11.0/1;
─Pseudodynamic weather (exclusive for F1 Hero, final mod coming soon... err, later than earlier);

I leave you with the original credits from the GPL version of the original Solitude Circuit and the link to download.

Enjoy!




Martijn and GPLEA proudly present
             
                 SOLITUDE
 New track for GPL.

      Ver. 1.0

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(c) 2000 GPLEA / Martijn Keizer / m.keizer@wanadoo.nl
Visit the GPLEA at http://www.gplea.org
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Content:

1. File content.
2. Instructions.
3. Credits.
4. Known Bugs
5. COPYRIGHT / PERMISSION
6. DISCLAIMER!
7. History
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1. CONTENT:
This zip-file contains a new track for GPL, Solitude. This track is
available for download at http://www.gplea.org


2. INSTALLATION:
To install this new track, unzip the contents of the ZIP file into a directory
and run the installer. This program will automatically install the track into
your GPL directory
For setups, try the default ones! Marc Mercer did them, and they're incredible!

3. CREDITS:
Grand Prix Legends is copyrighted by Papyrus Design Studios and Sierra
Sports.
For all their help and support during the construction of this track, I'd like
to have a warm round of applause for:
Phil, Matthias, Ed, Matt, Joe, Marc, Peter, Marc, Remco, Paul, Marco, Chaz,
Peter, Guy, Juha.


4. KNOWN BUGS
As this is a large and long track, with quite complex scenery around it,
some bugs are almost impossible to prevent, given time constrains. There may
be a few objects clipping badly against the background. Also, for this
reason, some buildings may not be exactly like they are in reallife. As this
is my first track, please bear with these slight inconsistencies.
Many things in trackmaking are a compromise between fluid framerate, and
the best possible looking track. For this reason, I sometimes had to make
corners a little less smooth (you can see the angles in the corners), in order
to keep the framerate neat. Also the scenery pop-ups you might see (especially
when driving the wrong way around) are places with lower viewdistance, to save
framerates a little. To no longer delay the release, this version has some very
crappy AI. Better AI will be provided at a later stage, but will take some.
This seemed to me to be a better solution, than to delay the whole track another
few weeks.


5. COPYRIGHT / PERMISSION:

These files are provided for your personal enjoyment. You are not allowed
to publish them on any websites without the permission of the author.
These files may not be put on a CD, or be sold for profit, or used
for any commercial purpose. They may not be made to be a part of another
program without asking the permission of the GPLEA. This file must always
be included.


6. DISCLAIMER:
The authors of this package take no responsibility for it's use.
The contained files are provided "as is" without warranty of any kind,
either expressed or implied. This is not a Papyrus/Sierra product.

Bug reports and feedback are greatly appreciated!



7. HISTORY:

The 11417 meters (7.1 mile) long public roads in the wooded countryside to the west of Stuttgart were used as the temporary race track Solitude between 1924 and 1965. The recreation area in the forests and the track was named after the nearby castle Schloß Solitude, which is situated 2 km to the north.  

After WW II, the Solitude featured several German Motorcycle GPs and non-championship F1 races which attracted huge crowds of up to half a million people! The average in the last decade was said to be 288,000 spectators, and most of them probably had only a short walk from their home in the city of Stuttgart.  

Legendary pilots like Geoff Duke, John Surtees, Wolfgang Graf Berghe von Trips, Dan Gurney, Jack Brabham or Jim Clark competed there. In addition, the Solitude was used by Mercedes-Benz and Porsche (both companies being based in Stuttgart) and NSU (the world's largest motorcycle factory in the 1950s) as a test track, as it resembled the Nürburgring
(coincidentally, the 11417 meters of the Solitude are exactly the half of the 22835 meters of the Nordschleife after the addition of Hohenrain chicane in 1967).  

Hans Herrmann, GP driver for Mercedes-Benz in the 1950s and Le Mans Winner 1970 in a Porsche 917, lives nearby in Magstadt.  

The last race on the Solitude circuit was held in 1965 due to several reasons, especially the questionable safety for pilots and spectators, as there are almost no run-off areas, but a lot of trees next to the track. And between the trees and on the hills sides, the spectators were placed. Keeping these crowds under control was a apparently a big problem: The 1962 program has 4 pages of recommendations, rules and laws for spectator behaviour!
Despite these threats, the all-time motorcycle record is said to be held by Mike "the Bike" Hailwood on a 500cc MV Agusta, with an average of approx.160km/h (100mph) in the rain.  

The much safer permanent race track in Hockenheim, which had to be rebuilt because of the new Autobahn A61 cut the old triangle circuit there in half, was considered as replacement. Some of the first races in Hockenheim even were named Solitude GP. The new Hockenheim layout was designed by John Hugeholtz, and has some similarities to the Solitude track: after a long and lonesome straight in the forest, the pilots enter a crowded stadium-like section with tight turns, just like it used to be at Büsnau and Schatten.  

As it always consisted of public roads, the main part of the track can still be followed today, speed limited to 60 or 80 km/h though.
People who travel on the A8 Karlsruhe-Munich, or come via Heilbronn on the A81 joining the A8 at Leonberger Dreieck, can leave the Autobahn there at the Leonberg junction, turn right and arrive almost immediately at the former Start/Finish straight, which is situated in the north western corner of the counter-clockwise track. The trip with a full lap of the Solitude will only take about 16km and can be done in 20 minutes.  

The oval-shaped "Zeitnehmerhaus" tower on the left of the straight, with Mercedes and Bosch written on it, and the pits on the right side still exist. Also, an "ADAC Verkehrsübungsplatz" (traffic exercise area) is located there in the infield area.
To follow the counter-clockwise track, turn left at Seehaus corner to go past the Hotel Glemseck (a meeting place for motorcyclists), into the forest, upwards to the Hedersbach Kurve, which is a very steep and tight uphill right hand turn, similar to Ex-Mühle at the Nürburgring. The track continues to climb steeply (with 15% as steep as the Ring's famous Quiddelbacher Höhe/Flugplatz) uphill in a section named Elend (misery, certainly for pilots of low-powered vehicles), and further up to Frauenkreuz.
Here, the track used to turn left, and using a shortcut over a wooded hill, the track used to drop down with a 11% gradient to join the main road again at Dreispitz.
Continuing in the forest, past the Lettenlöcher, a very fast section with some long sweeps and waves (somewhat similar to the old bumpy Döttinger Höhe at the Ring) leads past the Steinbachsee lake to the village of Büsnau. Here, near the Hotel Schatten, the track leads downhill in two sweeping U-turns located in open meadows, were motorbikers can exercise extreme leaning angles.
After a sharp left turn, the track enters the Mahdental valley, with the Glems creek to the left and hills to the right.
This 4 km long puzzling section in the forest, with 10 left turns and 8 right turns, was described by Phil Hill as being more difficult to learn and memorize than the whole Nürburgring, because all of the turns looked alike despite being quite different in radius and lenght.
The trees on both sides of the constantly winding road limit the view ahead, so even when cruising near the speed limit of 60km/h one can have the impression of riding a bobsleigh down an ice tunnel.  

Several memorial crosses along the road, usually at the biker-killing armco, remind trespassers of fatal accidents.  

In 1996, an Oldtimer festival with parading race cars was held on the start/finish straight of the Solitude, including Herrmann's Mercedes W196 and Porsche 917.  

In 1998, the approx. 600 m long section between Frauenkreuz and Dreispitz was "re-nature-ized" (i.e. new trees were planted) in a trade-off for the forest which was cut down during construction of the new nearby Autobahn Restaurant area "Sindelfinger Wald". It is possible to take a short deviation outside of the forest and rejoin the original track at Dreispitz, but the complete original layout is history now. Protests did not prevent it.  

On Christmas of 1999, the storm "Lothar" knocked down a lot of trees in France and Germany, and also many trees along the Solitude roads. This changed the impression one has when driving along the roads of the old race track.  


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Some facts about the Solitude race track:  

The race track is a public road that was rebuilt in a joint venture of the State of Baden-Württemberg, the State Capital Stuttgart, the County of Leonberg and the Automobil Club section of ADAC-Gau Württemberg as a modern Test and Race Track for Automobiles and Motorcycles in the years 1952 to 56.  

Highest Point of race track: 200 meters behind Frauenkreuz at km 3 with 505.92 m
Lowest Point of race track: in Mahdental valley at Glems bridge with 382.59 m
Elevation difference : 123.33 m
Lenght of track: 11417 m
Width of track: 8-12 m, at start 24 m
Steepest rise: 15 % from Glemseck up to Hedersbachebene
Steepest drop: 11% from Frauenkreuz down to Dreispitz
Steepest banked turn: 14% in Hedersbachkurve
Smallest corner radius: 37 meter in Hedersbachkurve
Number of corners: 26 left and 19 right, 45 curves in total
Longest straight: 550 m between Steinbachsee and Büsnau

Lap records (as written in the 1962 progam):
Motorcycles: 153,6 kph 1956 Bill Lomas (England) Moto-Guzzi
Sidecars: 139,6 kph 1956 Noll/Cron (Germany) BMW
Cars: 172,2 kph 1961 Dan Gurney (USA) Porsche Formula 1


LINK: https://mega.nz/#!cxMiWSiK!7i9F98P6g4mwLit86sSGyq1_TGTPmBhGV3sc-dcYpAg

Kind regards,
Cristian