Hey, Hi, Howdy...and

What's your real name, age?
Bill Harrison, 56

From where you are?
Riverside, California USA

Which Sim games do you play?
GTR2, rFactor, GTL, NR2003, NASCAR HEAT, Rfactor2, Project:CARS, Asseto Corsa

How did You know about EEC Team?
Searching for something via Bing...

Do you ever race online?
I have in the past, I found the NR2003 online racing community to be largely vulgar and classless, not all but for the most part. It tuned me off so much that I turned to hosting offline leagues for 6 years until recently when I tried it out again with an rFactor based vintage Trans Am Series, but the times never made it easy to work into my schedule which seems to be a problem in any sim. I'll keep trying. But then again, I'm not that good either...LOL

Do you have enough free time to run on sundays?
At times, perhaps

Do you know something about modding, skinning?
I consider myself a "painter" of skins these days, focusing mainly on doing complete car sets...

Are you here only to grab mods and then leave us?
No, I really try not to be that way. I find the online communities very good places for the most part and enjoy sharing my work and seeing others projects, not to mention all there is to be learned...



So first off, Thanks for allowing me to join your community!

Second and perhaps more importantly, I want to apologize for being a total deadbeat and having to have my account "removed" do to no activity...shameful, and shame on me.

Maybe an excuse, but not the best, I've been very busy doing car sets for other sims (EEEEK!) I know, I know, but I made commitments and I want to keep them.  

My work has been centered on the American Trans Am Series over the last let's say year and a half. Presently I am completing a 1968 Trans Am car set for the NASCAR HEAT platform...it will then be ported over or maybe "redone" is a better word, on the NR2003 platform and then hopefully to GTR2 and/or GTL. I'm also in the middle of a 1988 Trans Am car set for NR2003. I had been attempting to do all three of those projects simultaneously, but it was just muddling up my brain and confusing me switching platforms back and forth, it slowed the work tremendously.

I am actually new to the GTR2 world, honestly I've had the game for a long time I just didn't get into it. Now I simply love it and I'm looking forward to learning to do car sets for the sim.

Thanks for a second chance to become an active member of your community, I'll try not to disappoint...

Hello there and wellcome aboard, looking forward to see your Trans-Am mod even from 88, it´s "yesterday" for me

Now, in order to get you filled in propperly, please add your real Name in your signature like we all do

About myself?

I'm a 56 year old sim enthusiast who is retired from 30 years in the Auto parts industry, and now pick up some spending money teaching guitar, mandolin, and banjo to willing, paying victims of folk and bluegrass addictions.

I'm and Air Force brat who was blessed to have been moved to within a half mile of riverside International Raceway in late 1968. I got to see all the greats driving the greatest cars of all time around what is my humble opinion what was once one of the worlds premier racing sites. I feel in love with the high winged Can Am and F5000 cars as well as the Golden Era Trans Am cars. Also witnessed the Plymouth Superbirds and Dodge Daytonas of historic NASCAR 1969 series. What was it about 1969 that everything had high wings?

So road racing got into my DNA, even though we did also attend races at Ontario Motor Speedway as well as the local dirt track Corona Speedway, the roadie hooked me. I'd say that it even affected my sports in high school as a distance runner. After 3 years lettering in track and cross country, I dropped the track team because I was sick and tired of running in a circle, the open cross country courses suited me just fine.

I have been messing around in the sim racing communities since 2007 and much of that has been in the NR2003 side of things running offline leagues primarily trying to use that sim for road racing. I bought GTL and GTR2 early on but struggled with it for some reason, now I love them. Then it was rFactor where I really left a lot of the NR2003 wannabe road racing behind and was enjoying more of the "real" thing. Then of course it was rF2 and Project:CARS as well as Assetto Corsa, but I find myself spending more time in GTL and GTR2 than the others these days.

I decided late in 2014 to begin painting Trans Am car sets in NR2003, mostly as a way to give back something lasting to that community that has been good to me. See even though my site had run over a hundred offline series over the course of six years, I just didn't feel like I'd really given anything back to the NR2003 community, nothing lasting anyway. So the car sets became my passion. Also I wanted to share my knowledge of the Trans Am Series with a younger community that really had very little exposure to what remains Americans greatest offering to the road racing world (not withstanding the Can Am, but I'm really talking about touring cars right now). I've received tremendous response to the 1985, 1992, and 1970 year sets I've done.

Presently I'm finishing a 1968 Trans Am series car set for the old NASCAR HEAT platform. I'm doing this because I've just always been grateful to that game and community for my first racing sim. It had(has) Can Am and Trans Am and Riverside to race them on. Early on that's all I needed to be happy. It's fun to learn how to work in this title and it's expanding my skills set in many ways. While it may not be a true "sim" it is a blast to drive. My plan is to finish set over the next few days and begin doing the same set in NR2003. Then I'll hopefully find the group of cars needed to do the same set for GTL and/or GTR2.  I also have a 1988 Trans Am set started for NR2003 that I want to finish.

I expect after those projects are completed to turn my paint brush on GTR2 to do some skin sets for the Trans Am series again I'm hoping to be able to find the car models I need to make this a reality. I do believe they are available. I'd love to do a 2015 or 2016 Trans Am car set...

In the real world I built and club raced a 1971 Datsun 510, which has always remained one of my very favorite cars. I wish I never had sold that car. I owned several over the years and man they'd be worth a fortune now!

After many years living in Colorado and Idaho I have returned to Riverside, California about nine years ago to marry my high school sweetheart. Of course Riverside is gone. It was there when I left but now there stands a mostly under-patronized shopping mall a Costco, Lowes and movie theatre, I actually feel a tad bit ill when I drive in the area. I live in a house that is about two blocks from where Corona Speedway once filled the air with the sound of Late Models and Midget racers. Ontario of course is gone as well, banks and office buildings now cover the ground where the Indy car greats did battle.  Now we have AutoClub Speedway, they lost the Indycar race now so they really only have the one NASCAR event. I've attended it every year since my return to California and specifically as a memorial for my Father who just passed four years ago now. The best thing I've attended there over the years was the Historics Gatherings over the year on thee infield road course. I'd like to see more on the track.

So that's that, and again thanks for allowing me to rejoin this community.

Bill

Test.Pilot wrote:Hello there and wellcome aboard, looking forward to see your Trans-Am mod even from 88, it´s "yesterday" for me

Now, in order to get you filled in propperly, please add your real Name in your signature like we all do

Thanks!

The 1988 TA Set is being done on the NR2003 ASA90 mod, only the Camaro is modeled in that mod, the rest of the cars are being created with slight of hand via paint templates on car models that pass in at least a small degree...

I was going to add an image of what's been completed so far but apparently PhotoBucket is doing maintenance...go figure...

Added the signature...Thanks again

Hello Bill, and welcome to EEC!!
And really liked your presentation, has to be the longest one I've ever read here

Nice meeting you Bill, Riverside is one of my fav tracks, must have been a dream beening there in the flesh seeing those cool machines

Hi Bill & welcome to EEC...

Funny you should say "dream", when I go through my old stomping grounds over there it seems like a dream that it was ever even there, how very sad.

BUT on the good side of it, having seen the McLarens, Lolas, Porsches, Chaparrals and all the others working their way up the Esses was quite breath taking, especially on the parade lap, they'd come growling up around Turn 2 and everyone on the the Turn 6 stands where we mostly stayed would jump to their feet and cheer and clap and the field would get louder and louder and then you couldn't hear yourself speak as they came thru 6 and headed down to Turn 7, they'd come back up to Turn 8 then slowly disappear down the long back straight. We could see them going thru Turn 9 but then they would be gone, they took the green flag and suddenly they'd appear coming out of Turn 2 again but this time they'd be hauling butt and it was always the orange McLarens side by side or close ripping up thru the Esses, with a field of other chasing...it was simply glorious...Holmes, Stewart, McLaren, Donohue, Ickes, Gurney, Hall, Hill, Follmer and Hobbs, geez such talent, such legends...

It was the same with the Trans Am, my favorites were the Javelins, red white and blue and I just loved them. I loved 1969 and 1970 the most. Mark Donohue was so dominant most of the races no matter what he drove, but Riverside seemed to mix it up a lot for him. Follmer, Gurney, Savage, Revson, Titus, Posey, Adamowicz, Grable, Martin, Hobbs, etc....My gosh so many greats...

The 1969 Winston Western 500 NASCAR race was such a standout in my mind, Petty's blue Superbird, Isaac's red Daytona, Pearson in the blue and gold Torino, Cale Yarborough in the Wood Brothers red and white Cyclone, but what I remember so well was AJ Foyt in the Jack Bowsher Ford Torino white with dark blue, the number 1. AJ Foyt became my favorite driver that day, can't say why, but he did and he still is.

There were all the others as well...I remember the F5000 over the years, but I still go back to 1969 as my favorite year. John Cannon in that red, white, and blue Eagle, the number 2. Those high wings, man I loved those and still do.

I could go on and on, but I'll save it for later, not make this any longer than it is....but I will share one more thing about Riverside that was so cool to see.

They raced year around at Riverside, nothing really to stop them from scheduling anything in January in southern California. So they did. In January NASCAR used to open it's season at Riverside, in January we sometime get these low hanging fogs that would delay the start of races an hour or more, they'd send a pace car around to check how it was lifting and then they would start. Sometimes they would make the check run and go ahead with the race only to have the fog return as the field came around at speed for the first lap, they could be seen emerging out of the fog, blowing up thru the Esses, it was surreal looking. That image is sorta locked in my mind. The fog the cars punching out of it...

Just like Radio days, creating a mental stage only "old school" like us can do

Fantastic going through detailed emotions And well, good old days, because good old days, like me with the good old days Estoril, nothing to do with the new one

Hope GTR2 and rF1 will give you all you look for in a SIM

Well it has already been great fun, I have a bunch of time in rFactor, now wanting to put some laps in GTR2 under my belt...I've run a few races and enjoyed it, now I want to learn more about the painting skins side of it and get my first skins into the game then it's a matter of deciding what I want to paint (set wise) and get after it.

Well if you need tuts PM me, got a few

Test.Pilot wrote:Well if you need tuts PM me, got a few

Probably will, I will hit you up when I get going with something...THANKS!

Glad to have you here, Bill. Welcome.