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5/24/2002 - #150: stude (230KB)  
Sergio Loro has done a nice job with his first track, which is (as far as anybody can tell) the first real-life South American add-on track to be released. It's a short, flat club circuit in Argentina, probably better suited to the F2/F3 crowd, but it's pleasant, and it's got lots of those half-buried tires to hit... And check out the cool elevated pit-lane!

You don't need to download this program set - it comes with the track.

5/17/2002 - #149: stuntrak (221KB)  
Madcowie's newest, and most funtastic track yet is a recreation of the 'Hump Back' track from the ancient Stunt Car Racer (Geoff Crammond's initial claim to fame). If you aren't familiar with the game, you're driving around on an elevated board track with huge jumps and no guardrails! Add in the exceptional road-hugging capabilities of say, a 1967 F1 Lotus, and stand back!
5/8/2002 - #148: vanring (216KB)  
Van "the Man" Gossum has put out his fourth track, the Vanring. Van's tracks are typically modern-feeling fantasy tracks (but realistic fantasy tracks) with plenty of run-off, lots of corner markers, relatively well-behaved corners (that don't suddenly go off-camber mid-turn!), and nice red-and-white curbing. And this one is no exception!
5/7/2002 - #147: rockis (253KB)  
Madcowie's up to his old tricks with another fun fantasy track. This one is a recreation of the Rock Island circuit from Viper Racing, and it's quite a different experience from last-year's Rock Island circuit (by Martin Cooper). Very hilly, and a dangerous lack of guardrails!
5/5/2002 - #146: ims (265KB)  
It's "Indy month" here in the U.S. Exactly why they feel compelled to drag a single oval race into a month-long event is beyond me, but there you go. In any event, given that there might be some temporarily-heightened interest in this track, I thought I'd go back and bring our old IMS program up to current 'specs'. The map pages have been brought into line with our most recent releases, and the cover has been recreated from a much-nicer scan of a 1964 program. Oh, and there's a printable map, for all your map-scribbling needs...

Note: this single program set is recommended for use on the tracks indy, ims and indy67.

You can't download the track - you need a copy of NASCAR 3 and Dave Noonan's convertor.

5/5/2002 - #145: lrp (261KB)  
Brent Adams and a cast of thousands have put together two versions of Lime Rock Park, a real-life 1.3 mile road course in the U.S. Lots of custom texture work, and some uniquely-bumpy corners means the GPL 'realism bar' has been raised for all future track releases. An absolutely top-notch effort!

This is the version with the chicane.

5/5/2002 - #144: lime (258KB)  
The chicane-less (and therefore better) version of Lime Rock.

You don't need to download this program set - it comes with the track.

4/25/2002 - #143: glen71 (262KB)  
The latest from our old friend Smogbike is a recreation of the modern Watkins Glen circuit, and not a gigantic oval of some sort! Anyway, it's the Glen, with the boot, and without the chicane, and it's a lot of fun! It's also the only example of this particular track configuration in any racing sim that I can think of. Though perhaps I'm not thinking hard enough...
4/23/2002 - #142: montrevo (275KB)  
In the same general vein as Thornham, though a little less urban, comes Montrevault, a new track from Olivier Grand. It's a fantasy track laid out on real-life roads in the French village of Montrevault, and it's quite nice! Also, Olivier has just released version 2.0 of his track, which includes full race AI, and some other tweaks - get it!
4/18/2002 - #141: jnk (239KB)  
Another massive Finnish semi-fantasy road course from Timo Nurmi, creator of Jokimaa. This one is a massive 12-mile, 100-turn blast through the woods of Finland, based on real-life roads. Definitely Colin McRae (okay, Tommi Mäkinen...) action! Note that, just for a change, I've put together a very 'graphic arts'-looking cover - a nice switch from the standard photo-based covers, at least to my eyes!
4/17/2002 - #140: aintree (255KB)  
The first (?) track by 'Bias', who, judging by his ReadMe file, is a man of few words... Aintree is a real-life British circuit, and held the British Grand Prix 5 times from 1955 to 1962 - since then, it's been used for various club racing events, and god only knows what else. For those who are interested, the BAPOM cover on the right is a from-scratch recreation of the real-life 1958 cover, updated for our 1967-oriented needs. And no, I don't actually have any frickin' clue how many 1966 GPs were won on BP products.
4/13/2002 - #139: branindy (283KB)  
The latest and greatest from Madcowie, who is, near as I can tell, the Fastest Track Creator Alive! I mean this is what, his 11th track this year? Anyway, this is his first real-life track, a recreation of the Brands Hatch 'Indy' circuit (which is the short version of the current-day Brands Hatch), and it's remarkably hilly for a British club track! Favorite touch: the RSC trucks up on the hill.

You don't need to download this program set - it comes with the track.

4/8/2002 - #138: miloval (252KB)  
Oval fans! Stuart Thorp (with some help from Bubba Jones) has released his oval conversion of Bubba's Milano (aka, "the full Monza") track. This track features just the oval section of Milano, without those tricky turn-left-and-right bits...

You don't need to download this program set - it comes with the track.

4/1/2002 - #137: salz76 (236KB)  
Ronnie Bresich (of Austria/Zeltweg fame) has just released a new Austrian track, the Salzburgring, which hosted F2 races during the '70s. The track is available in two versions: the 1974 version is the track in its easier 1969-1975 configuration, whereas the 1976 version has an added chicane (as in real life). Both versions are excellent, and you should try them both!

You don't need to download this program set - it comes with the track.

4/1/2002 - #136: salz74 (251KB)  
Ronnie Bresich (of Austria/Zeltweg fame) has just released a new Austrian track, the Salzburgring, which hosted F2 races during the '70s. The track is available in two versions: the 1974 version is the track in its easier 1969-1975 configuration, whereas the 1976 version has an added chicane (as in real life). Both versions are excellent, and you should try them both!

You don't need to download this program set - it comes with the track.

3/31/2002 - #135: rrv (205KB)  
The most recent track from Madcowie, Red Rock Valley Speedway, is another fine remake of a Gran Turismo track. It's also a complete blast to drive, in the same vein as Dragon and RidgeHill. If you enjoy a well-made fantasy track, then you should go check this one out!

Note that Red Rock Valley has nothing to do with the earlier Red Rock track, which was an escaped beta conversion of an old N2 track.

3/30/2002 - #134: grandgt3 (251KB)  
This recent track from Madcowie (the most prolific track creator out there!) is a fine remake of the Grand Valley Speedway from the Gran Turismo series of Playstation games.
3/4/2002 - #133: tomioka (244KB)  
Another long-time beta that's just gone final, Tomioka is a big (5+ miles), complicated (23 turns) Japanese fantasy track by first-timer "Polar Blue 21". Not my personal cup of tea, but a fine track nonetheless. As for the cover, hopefully I haven't made a mockery of the Japanese language. The Kanji is supposed to say "highest speed!" (which is, admittedly, a slightly odd thing to say, but not entirely out of character!)
3/2/2002 - #132: dragon (256KB)  
Dragon's Nest is an interesting fantasy track from first-timer Andrea "Squizzo" Pezzot. While the beta's been out for a while, I have a long-standing "don't download betas" policy, so I've only just seen the track for the first time now that it's gone final. I'd personally like to see a few more billboards or other track-side objects, as there's a certain 'sameness' to much of the track. Easy to forget where you are. Still, it's pretty fun to drive on. Sort of reminds me of a cross between, oh, say RidgeHill and Glacier, with a touch of Hilverstone thrown in for good measure. Big, fast and hilly, with a few tight corners to keep you paying attention.
2/24/2002 - #131: falken (275KB)  
A new track from Martin Granberg (of Replay Analyzer fame) and Fredrik Nornemark (Castle Combe), this is a very short (1.2 mile / 1.8km) real-life track in Sweden. It's excellent!
2/19/2002 - #130: croftnew (258KB)  
Sabre Team's modern version of the Croft track, a real-life British road course.
2/19/2002 - #129: croftst (260KB)  
The Croft short track, also by Sabre Team. It's like Croft, only less so...
2/17/2002 - #128: saargp (213KB)  
Saar. A German fantasy track. And that's about all I know about it.
2/16/2002 - #127: edring (260KB)  
Another beta track, but this one's been in beta for so long (over a year) that one has to assume it's as 'final' as it's ever going to be. Mr. A. Witecki of Australia recently asked us to crank one out (so to speak), and recommends everyone download the track and drive it with an F2/FD car. So there!

P.S. Looks like the damned hippy design firm that got the East London contract got their hands on another one!

2/15/2002 - #126: zeltweg (260KB)  
Someone recently pointed out to me that there were more than simple texture changes between Ronnie Bresich's Austria and Zeltweg tracks. The newer Zeltweg has a somewhat different shape, more in-line with David Noonan's Osterreichring. Well, Zeltweg required new maps, and one thing led to another, yada yada yada...and the end result is just a simple click away!
2/15/2002 - #125: blodbath (267KB)  
The latest release from smogbike, who sure does love his drafting, is Circuito Bloodbath, a fantasy 15-mile (!) oval. Pedal to the metal all the way!
2/12/2002 - #124: pebble (256KB)  
Jim Turley (aka RoadHazard) has released a public beta of his Pebble Beach circuit, a real-life road course that hosted sports-car races in the 1950s. As such, it's fairly narrow and slow for a 1967 F1 car, but hey, if I can manage it, so can you!

Jim offers up a lot of background info on the track on his website, and it's an entertaining, recommended read. Note that this track is also a 'beta' (same deal as Jim, below), but other than being missing a few minor things (e.g. the newspaper pic) this track is done to my eyes! Also, despite what Jim says on his website, I think he did a bang-up job on the textures and scenery - the place looks stunning, as befits such a high-rent district!

2/12/2002 - #123: jim (222KB)  
Mark Daniels (aka markBAR) has released a public beta of his latest and greatest, Jim's Club Circuit (aka Neuvil Club Circuit), a short, high-speed fantasy track. It is not to be confused with an earlier, unrelated Neuvil GP track he was working on (and has apparently withdrawn).

I know, I keep saying "I don't do betas!" - but I'll make an exception here, primarily because the track comes with a BAPOM program set already, and I'm just announcing its availability!

You don't need to download this program set - it's included with the track.

That said, it's a very good track, with enjoyable 1-minute-flat(ish) laptimes. I prefer short tracks; you get to practice the turns more frequently! The track is pretty well finished, the 'beta' status primarily reflecting it's lack of a track installer, and some planned texture updates. But there's no reason to wait until then - grab it now!

2/12/2002 - #122: ridge (279KB)  
Bill Cooper and TopLoader recently released RidgeHill, and while it's taken us a good chunk of time to get around to it, well, better late than never. The track (fantasy) is a blast to drive - insanely fast , with huge corners. Some clever person described it as a Wipeout track for GPL, and that's as fair a description as any!

Note that my cover is done in (sort of) a period style, whereas their original cover pretends that it's a vintage GP being held in the current day. Given that there's nothing about the track that feels '60s-ish, TopLoader's original cover is arguably more appropriate. Personally, I'm driven by the newspaper page - since it's hard-coded to 1967, I date my covers in 1967 to match. In any event - even if you prefer the original cover for this track, you'll probably appreciate my map pages...

1/31/2002 - #121: thornham (242KB)  
First-timer Alan Goss has just released an impressive 'semi-fantasy' track, Thornham Circuit. It's a high-speed romp around some actual roads in Greater Manchester, England, though the marshalls have thankfully cleared the streets of the regular commuter traffic!
1/27/2002 - #120: ccombe (264KB)  
A real-life British circuit (home to F3 and F5000 races back in the GPL era) by Michael Cotchin & Fredrik Nornemark.
1/25/2002 - #119: aldo (246KB)  
The most recent release from Jonathan Merry (maker of East London) is Aldo Scribante, another real-life track in South Africa. For my tastes, it's a little slow and 'fiddly' for the F1 cars, and presumably better suited to F2 or F3. Since Jonathan runs an F2 league, that's not particularly surprising!
1/25/2002 - #118: daymk (276KB)  
Been meaning to get around to this one for a while. My personal favorite of the three tracks that Martin Cooper and the guys over at Swift MK Racing released back in October 2001. If you haven't checked it out, it's a scaled-up version of a real-life carting track, and it's surprisingly fun. As a little bonus, this program set contains a fixed trees.mip file that fixes the white spots in the tree wall...
1/18/2002 - #117: adelaide (266KB)  
Jim Pearson has created and released a stunning vision of what the Adelaide Grand Prix Circuit might have looked like in 1967.
1/13/2002 - #116: harewood (240KB)  
The latest (well, not quite...) from madcowie, maker of the "UK-US As One" circuit. This one's a real-life British hillclimb, with a GPL-dictated fantasy section connecting the two ends. It appears that it only works in Training Mode, though it's possible that someone (aka Mark Beckman) may have released an AI patch for this track, and I just haven't seen it. Don't know.
1/12/2002 - #115: legion (240KB)  
The latest release from those cool dudes over at SabreTeam is Legion, an interesting fantasy track that combines at least one turn from each of the original 11 GPL tracks into a 13-mile über-circuit.
1/6/2002 - #114: leipzig (244KB)  
The most recent release from Andre Streu, maker of really cool historic German tracks the rest of us never knew existed! (Previous releases: Grenzlandring and Halle-Saale-Schleife) There's some really beautiful texture work in this one (love the buildings).
1/6/2002 - #113: liege (232KB)  
Another track trilogy - the third (and reportedly final) release from Belgian trackmeister Van Gossum (maker of GOSSUM and Cilce). By all accounts, this one is the best of the three. In keeping with his track-building philosophy, this is a fantasy track designed specifically for on-line racing, with a nice wide track surface and plenty of run-off. You can race it offline as well, thanks to the efforts of Mr. AI, Mark Beckman.
1/4/2002 - #112: kansas (236KB)  
The latest from everyone's favorite Australian crazy-man, Mark Beckman. (And if you don't believe me, check the Legends Central forums some time!) A real-life (now defunct) club-level road course in Garnett, Kansas.
1/3/2002 - #111: panorama (222KB)  
Chris Kelly's long-awaited final release of his previously-available Bathurst track. The damnedest thing is that it's a real-life track that's more fantastic (in the "Jesus Christ, don't tell me they actually race on this thing!" sense) than most fantasy tracks!
11/10/2001 - #110: ukus (271KB)  
A surprisingly well-done fantasy track by first-timer 'Madcowie', this is a fast, flowing track that's just plain fun to drive. In feel, it reminds me somewhat of a scaled-up version of Diamante, one of my all-time favorites.
10/28/2001 - #109: stjovite (301KB)  
A beautifully well-done version of Le Circuit Mont-Tremblant, which is an interesting hilly real-life track in Quebec. It seems like a somewhat-more-forgiving version of Mosport, at least to my tastes.
10/27/2001 - #108: wildsr (218KB)  
The Wild South Raceway, a 'fantasy' track that bears a striking resemblance to a real-life circuit. (hint: it rhymes with 'Zolder')

You don't need to download this program set - it comes with the track.

10/15/2001 - #107: eastlndn (175KB)  
South Africa's first real-life Grand Prix circuit. It hosted GPs in 1962, 1963, and 1965 - but now you can pretend that it also got the '67 GP, instead of Kyalami.
9/27/2001 - #106: malloval (194KB)  
Those Sabre Team guys are at it again with the pure-oval version Mallory Park - this version doesn't have the 'appendix'! One interesting feature: it's the only oval I can think of that is driven clockwise!
9/26/2001 - #105: campalto (212KB)  
Zampedri Stefano has produced this lovely little (fantasy) drive through the Italian countryside.
9/11/2001 - #104: sanjose (220KB)  
A 1-mile, heavily-banked fantasy oval put out by Eric Bourgouin and the guys at Team Friendship. It has the distinction of being one of the few ovals (along with Daytona) directly created for GPL with all the modern tools. As such, it looks great!

New Thing! Eric has put out 'day' and 'night' textures for his track. I decided that the original black cover makes a decent 'night' cover, so I quickly whipped up a 'daytime' cover in white, for your downloading pleasure.

9/9/2001 - #103: rock (203KB)  
Last week, four new tracks were publicized on the Legends Central forums. All the tracks are by one (presumably busy!) guy, Martin Cooper. Aida and Hring are (by design) semi-realistic versions of those two real-life circuits. Rock is a manual re-do of the Rock Island circuit from Viper Racing (there is no converter, so settle down!), and Legends is a pure fantasy track containing a very entertaining mix of corners. It's also (imho) the best of the batch!
9/9/2001 - #102: legends (245KB)  
Last week, four new tracks were publicized on the Legends Central forums. All the tracks are by one (presumably busy!) guy, Martin Cooper. Aida and Hring are (by design) semi-realistic versions of those two real-life circuits. Rock is a manual re-do of the Rock Island circuit from Viper Racing (there is no converter, so settle down!), and Legends is a pure fantasy track containing a very entertaining mix of corners. It's also (imho) the best of the batch!
9/9/2001 - #101: hring (196KB)  
Last week, four new tracks were publicized on the Legends Central forums. All the tracks are by one (presumably busy!) guy, Martin Cooper. Aida and Hring are (by design) semi-realistic versions of those two real-life circuits. Rock is a manual re-do of the Rock Island circuit from Viper Racing (there is no converter, so settle down!), and Legends is a pure fantasy track containing a very entertaining mix of corners. It's also (imho) the best of the batch!
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