Tripoli - An Appreciation

Tripoli - An Appreciation As far as I'm concerned, the four-year odyssey of track-building for GPL can cease. The last great undeveloped track, Mellaha, active in colonial Italy's Tripoli from 1933 to 1940, has been finally created by by Sergio Loro, ably assisted by Pete Forster (AI, textures), Robert Zeugin (graphics, esp. the lovely period billboards), Paul Jackson (groove), J. Basara (animated flags), Mario Wojahn and Kevin Clark (alternative camera files), among others. Alternative covers are provided by Zeugin and BAPOM's John Bradley. Like Andre Streu's Grenzlandring, the 8.165-mile Mellaha circuit (built in the middle of the desert) is all about speed in a straight line. Although there are nominally 15 turns, most are taken flat out in top gear. The 1967 F1 cars can barely touch 200 mph, but the single-seaters of 1938 were well over the "double tonne" ... on 4.5-inch rims! Loro's re-creation is meticulous. The far scenery looks straight out of "Lawrence of Arabia" and the trackside palm and date trees appear startlingly real at speed, particularly if you have eDimensional's 3D glasses. The massive grandstand is faithfully reproduced, as are the comically-antique support vehicles (ambulances dating from the 1930s, etc.). To give you an idea of the accuracy of this effort, there is a green light at the S/F line, which I assumed was a mistake. It isn't. The race was started with both the light and the traditional flag (waved by Marshal Balbo, Tripoli's equivalent of Reichsportfuehrer Huhnlein, who is accurately depicted trackside in Loro's Mellaha). The readme (http://gplmz.speedgeezers.com/tracks/Tripoli_Readme.mht) gives the more important dates for the track, but doesn't say much abt. its most famous race, the 1939 Grande Epreuve, won by Hermann Lang in a Mercedes. Thirty cars (!) qualified, led by Villoresi's Maserati at 3:41.8. Lang and Caracciola in the other W165 finished 1-2, with Rudi 3-1/2 minutes behind after 2 hours of racing. Before the race, there was intrigue aplenty. In a desperate attempt to derail the big Nazi-sponsored racing Mercedes-Benz and Auto Union racing teams, the Italian organizers only weeks before the event switched the race from the F1 cars of the day to the F2 (Voiturette) class, which favored Maserati and Alfa Romeo. Mercedes somehow got wind of this enough in advance to develop, in strictest secrecy, the 1.5-liter (supercharged) W165, probably the most perfect of all the pre-war single seaters. To test out their creation at the flat-out speeds expected at Mellaha, Mercedes engineers laid out a high-speed track at Hockenheim, which, until the Darmstadt autobahn cut it off, had one long straight rivalling that of Mulsanne and another gently-curved return, terminating at both ends in hairpins (the current F1 venue is a go-kart track by comparison). Full specs from the '39 race here: http://www.kolumbus.fi/leif.snellman/gp392.htm Get Tripoli at Magnus' justly famous GPL track database: http://trackdb.d2g.com or here: http://gplmz.speedgeezers.com/tracks/tripoli_gpl.zip Thanks too, to Paul Jackson, for his splendid replay (included), his comprehensive setup guide (for all GPL tracks) here: http://gpladdicts.speedgeezers.com/pjsetupguide/pjsetupguide.html and for his luscious hi-rez texture pack, here: http://dixierunners.speedgeezers.com/files/tripoli_512_mips.zip See you at the races. --Steve Smith

Amen, brother. "Steve Smith" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<_lZ3d.78199$[email hidden]>...

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> Tripoli - An Appreciation > > As far as I'm concerned, the four-year odyssey of track-building for GPL can > cease. The last great undeveloped track, Mellaha, active in colonial > Italy's Tripoli from 1933 to 1940, has been finally created by by Sergio > Loro, ably assisted by Pete Forster (AI, textures), Robert Zeugin (graphics, > esp. the lovely period billboards), Paul Jackson (groove), J. Basara > (animated flags), Mario Wojahn and Kevin Clark (alternative camera files), > among others. Alternative covers are provided by Zeugin and BAPOM's John > Bradley. > > > See you at the races. > > --Steve Smith

Steve Smith wrote: > The readme (http://gplmz.speedgeezers.com/tracks/Tripoli_Readme.mht) gives > the more important dates for the track, but doesn't say much abt. its most > famous race, the 1939 Grande Epreuve, won by Hermann Lang in a Mercedes. Yep, although I would guess the 1933 'race fixing' lottery controversy was an even more notorious Tripoli event Steve! http://www.kolumbus.fi/leif.snellman/trip33.htm Regards, Rudy -------------------- GPLRank: -24

Rudy, A better STORY, fersure. It would make a fabulous movie. The '39 race was more significant, mainly because the rules-jiggering resulted in the breathtaking W165. Either way, the circuit was abt. the same. It's a great 'drive' in GPL. --Steve "Ruud Dingemans" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:cir4id$k5d$[email hidden]... > Steve Smith wrote: > > > The readme (http://gplmz.speedgeezers.com/tracks/Tripoli_Readme.mht)gives > > the more important dates for the track, but doesn't say much abt. itsmost

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> > famous race, the 1939 Grande Epreuve, won by Hermann Lang in a Mercedes. > > Yep, although I would guess the 1933 'race fixing' lottery controversy > was an even more notorious Tripoli event Steve! > > http://www.kolumbus.fi/leif.snellman/trip33.htm > > Regards, Rudy > -------------------- > GPLRank: -24

Any screenshots of the GPL track available?

Yes, the readme includes a couple of shots (but doesn't to the track justice - d/l it; you'll love it), here: http://gplmz.speedgeezers.com/tracks/Tripoli_Readme.mht "Stephen F." <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:4151724b$[email hidden]... > Any screenshots of the GPL track available? > >

Steve Smith wrote: > A better STORY, fersure. It would make a fabulous movie. Yeah - personally I've already hadthe movie "NUVOLARI" in my head for a while, taking the great man's life story as the centerpiece of a magnificant 30's-style 'Grand Prix' beater. If done right, a real Grand Prix Titans movie would be a downright awesome cinematic spectacle. (Just imagine the camera closing right up behind an Auto Union Type C thundering out of the pits - the audio alone would make yer hair stand up!) You wouldn't need to make anything up in the script to spice it up, either.. the material would be quite impressive enough. The only thing missing is a daring cinemaker! > Either way, the circuit was abt. the same. It's a great 'drive' in GPL. Yep ..Unless you're in the Cooper! ;) Regards, Rudy -------------------- GPLRank: -24

Frankenheimer always said he took most of the, uh, character development in "Grand Prix" from the Golden Age drivers: wife-swapping, drug abuse, depraved indifference (now actually a crime in this country). And everybody accused him of making it up - a soap opera! Yes, the cars (esp. the 750kg formula) would look and sound great, the tracks would be scary as hell, and the Zeitgeist would be immersive. Perhaps now that "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow" is a hit.... "Ruud Dingemans" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:ciu0uu$jut$[email hidden]...

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> Steve Smith wrote: > > > A better STORY, fersure. It would make a fabulous movie. > > Yeah - personally I've already hadthe movie "NUVOLARI" in my head for a > while, taking the great man's life story as the centerpiece of a > magnificant 30's-style 'Grand Prix' beater. If done right, a real Grand > Prix Titans movie would be a downright awesome cinematic spectacle. > (Just imagine the camera closing right up behind an Auto Union Type C > thundering out of the pits - the audio alone would make yer hair stand > up!) You wouldn't need to make anything up in the script to spice it up, > either.. the material would be quite impressive enough. > The only thing missing is a daring cinemaker! > > > Either way, the circuit was abt. the same. It's a great 'drive' in GPL. > > Yep ..Unless you're in the Cooper! ;) > > Regards, Rudy > -------------------- > GPLRank: -24

Wrong, Ruud. The only thing missing is an audience. This subject would be about as successful (read "financially viable") as selling ham sandwiches in Tel Aviv. BK "Ruud Dingemans" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:ciu0uu$jut$[email hidden]... > The only thing missing is a daring cinemaker! >