>> You WILL need the DMR GN55 *CONVERTIBLES* mod to run this carset, it will not work with the regular GN55 mod. <<
DOWNLOAD: http://stunodracing.net/index.php?resources/gn55-convertible-beta-mod.1700/
ADD-ON PACK: http://stunodracing.net/index.php?resources/nascar-convertibles-add-on-pack.7180/
This set includes 73 cars from the NASCAR Convertible Series circa 1956-1957. A majority of these cars are from the 1956 season, but I've included a handful of '57 drivers to round out the roster. This set includes ratings - I wanted to rate the cars in such a way that created a racing environment similar to how the series ran back then. This series was fairly spread out, there were some very fast guys and some very slow guys - expect lapped traffic to be an integral part of racing this series. In reality, the backmarker ratings should be much lower to be 100% realistic... I'm talking 10 and 20 max. However, this can lead to some other AI issues and some folks don't like the AI to be rated that low so I went as low as the Papyrus defaults were, ~40 max. As always, please feel free to tweak the ratings to your own liking.
Just a note on the paints included in this carset... I had plenty of reference photos to work with for this series. To be fair most of these photos were from a handful of races, but I was able to find even more photos scattered across the internet. I'm fairly pleased with how these cars turned out, most of them are near replicas of the versions found on-track. I did have to take some liberties with the backmarker cars as they didn't have many reference photos to go off of. For this mod I would say most of these cars are 'very accurate' and the rest are 'somewhat accurate'.
This series had quite a few regulars, both in terms of drivers and cars. There are a few duplicate cars - for example: Darel Dieringer, Gene Blair and Bob Pronger all took turns driving Don Oldenberg's #186 so I've included all 3. In addition, a few drivers have multiple cars: Curtis Turner and Joe Weatherly both have two different paints as they switched mid-season to the newly upgraded Ford Sunliner and the schemes were different. Glen Wood also has two paints, his regular White #22 he ran most of the season in the Convertible Series, and his more iconic Red #21 Convertible he ran in the Grand National race at Martinsville, which would also run in a few '57 Convertible races.
You'll notice some familiar cars if you've downloaded my MARC set. MARC ran a mixed series that allowed soft tops and hard tops to run together - so the drivers that had convertibles that also ran in NASCAR are included in this set.
Three of the cars included in this set were originally painted by Jebrown for his 1956 Grand National Carset. I made a few tweaks, mainly to the numbers and converted these paints to the convertible template. I also did a few driver switches to reflect the correct roster for this series. He did 90% of the work on these cars and deserves credit for his contribution. THANK YOU Jebrown! These cars are tagged in the sim with his name so you know which cars are his.
#25 DINK WIDENHOUSE
#48 JIMMIE LEWALLEN
#49 BOB WELBORN
I have used the Pit Crews from MartinRace and Jebrown's carsets as they are simply the best, most accurate pit crews for this era of racing. I genuinely appreciate their hard work and thank them for their contributions.
I again want to thank MartinRace, Jebrown and Dennis Rioux for creating the templates for this mod, as without their hard work and dedication this carset would simply not be possible. THANK YOU!
OPTIONAL ADD-ON: This update included in the carset... I have updated the specular reflections (Shiny.mip) for this mod, making the leather/cloth portion of the paints a matte finish, and adding a tiny bit of shine to the rollcage. Instructions on how to install this are located in the INSTALLATION section of the ReadMe. This is an optional addition but highly recommended as it looks more authentic and will not cause any framerate issues.
[ CREDITS ]
Steve Rosswick - Paints
Jebrown - Paints
Jebrown, MartinRace, Dennis Rioux - Templates
Jebrown, MartinRace - Pit Crews
Jebrown - Contingency Decal Set
Dennis Rioux - GN55 Mod
Garrett1127 - Renders by Stunod
Special Thanks to Garrett1127 for spending several days trying to find the render scene I needed for my previews, and Thank You to Dennis Rioux for letting us use the GN55 Convertible 3D Scene for the awesome renders. Another shoutout to Paul Sutton for going above and beyond and creating some really awesome Hero Card renders for some of the cars.
