Holy cow it's been a while..
I hope to have the 1969 Charger 500 done in a couple of weeks. The lift/downforce numbers are looking really good (within 5# of the 1969 test data) and speed is looking good with a top speed around 197 MPH.
Daytona (JaxBR) lap times look good and tires (thx to Alberto Ibanez) are much better than the ones I'd put in there a couple of years ago.
Physics have been adjusted a bit since I now have a firm definition of where the 'reference plane' really is (a whole lot to 'tutorials' say it's the center of the wheels but it appears to be the lowest part of the 'body' model).
After reading just about every factory document I could find at
www.aerowarriors.com, I've got a much better handle on the drag and lift the cars should have, along with the correct HP, RPMs and such for different Mopar engines. And transmissions.
While GM and Chrysler product information is abundant, the Fords are almost total guess work because I can't find much information on them. Ford guys with info are welcome to chime in!
Hurdles I'm still trying to jump -
I have models for all kinds of cars from the 1950s through the 1980s, but have no clue how to get a texture to line up with the model so I have no templates or paints until I figure out how to get the parts of the texture I want to show to show up where I want them to be (ie trunk on trunk, hood on hood instead of hood on side of door and trunk on roof).
Finding information on the difference between the ARCA, USAC and NASCAR stock cars. I know ARCA allowed people to run a 1969 as a "1970" car in 1972, evidenced by pictures of dudes running around with 1970 noses on 1969 bodies.
Denis Rioux has given me permission to use his NR2003 GN70ST models (which would save a whole lot of work dealing with textures) but I have no clue how to extract the individual models from NR2003 (they are all one blob of a model in 3dSimEd). I asked for and recieved some help on that process but it involves using a program I don't have so I'm dead in the water right there.
I'm thinking I'll just update one car at a time instead of trying to get them all done before releasing them.
Anybody interested in helping out is welcome to PM me or post here. I'm hoping it doesn't take another 18 months to get it updated but that depends on how much I can get done and how much I have to learn to get things like the textures to line up or the leaf springs to 'bend'.