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February 17, 2003 - Yes, an actual update! I've been away from sim racing for several months, but am back to devoting at least a bit of time to it. I've gotten Rally Trophy and NASCAR Racing 2003 Season - both are superb and highly recommended. Take a look at the shots below. Top: The Renault Alpine I drive in RT. Bottom: The return of the #68 Player's stock car, this time as a Dodge in NR2003.   June 15, 2002 - It's probably clear that sim-racing is not a priority with me these days, but that doesn't mean I don't jump in a virtual racing machine now and then. When I do, it's usually into the cockpit of my F1RC Ferrari. So, while the site hasn't had any major updates in a long time - and likely won't for a long time - there are some new F1RC setups and best laps posted. February 23, 2002 - Host-related issues have caused Velocity Motorsports to be unavailable for several weeks. As I couldn't justify a monthly fee for that account any longer, it reverted to a "free" account, which somehow prevented pages from loading properly. I was told by tech support that the only solution was to upgrade the account ... clever little trick. So velocity-motorsports.com now points to this location, shanepitkin.com/velocity, where the site has been transferred in its entirety. As this is a paid account and I wasn't taking advantage of my free space in any case, this seemed the best alternative. Advertising will remain absent. If and when I find a suitable host, Velocity Motorsports will return to its familiar velocity-motorsports.com domain. Until then, you can always punch in that address to be taken here. December 6, 2002 - Having neglected the site for some time, I decided it was time to do a revamp of sorts to update content and to make the site easier to modify in the future. I've also extensively link-checked the entire site. Portions will no doubt remain under construction for a while, particularly the new F1RC section, but most of the old content is still here, along with some new. In glancing at my site statistics I realized how many folks were still visiting the site (the ICR2 section in particular), and felt it was only appropriate that I do something to bring the site back up to date. I also want to post here a link to CD-ROM Access, the only vendor I know of who still offers CART Racing for sale (when I checked, there were still 14 in stock). CD-ROM Access also offers the original DOS-only ICR2 (7 in stock at last glance). And finally ... happy holidays!
11/01 - The sim community learns of the passing of Neil Bainbridge, master SCGT car modeler. The long-awaited Rally Trophy is released. 6/01 - Two new GPL circuits are released - Le Mans Circuit la Sarthe and Circuito di Milano, the latter of which allows GPL enthusiasts to finally race on the old Monza banking! 5/01 - Mario Fernandez is at it again - he releases his version of Fundidora Park for ICR2. 4/01 - Mario Fernandez releases his 2001 Fed Ex car set for ICR2. Tom Grandgent's ShiftIt! utility for the ACT LABS RS Shifter is updated to include "direct support" for NFS: Porsche Unleashed - a feature which would soon encompass many more titles. Michele Alboreto is killed in a testing accident. I defend my dissertation after six years of work! 3/01 - F1RC is released and doesn't disappoint. I discover Neil Bainbridge's superb sports and racing cars from the '30s through the '60s for SCGT. 2/01 - The F1RC demo is released, and it shows great promise. Keimola, Glacier, and updated Snetterton circuits are available for GPL. Dale Earnhardt's tragic fatal crash at Daytona reminds us all of the dark side of racing. 1/01 - Le Mans Circuit Bugatti, Anderstorp, and Bremgarten are released for GPL, as is the clever Snowitude patch. I create a Flash intro sequence for the site. The long-awaited release of F1RC is delayed. 12/00 - Creation of Le Mans Circuit Bugatti for GPL is announced - this, not Rouen, was the site of the French GP in 1967. 11/00 - The Pits releases touring car and Trans-Am patches for N3 and NL. The Unofficial closes its doors after 3 years of fine support for the Ubi Soft F1 sims. I finally get around to trying VROC and get hooked, winning a couple of races in the process. The GPLEA releases Crystal Palace for GPL. ACT LABS confirms plans for a clutch pedal system. The N4 demo is made available and the frenzy to download it is staggering, as is the hype ... which goes a little overboard for a demo in which one can't even race against AI cars! 10/00 - Excellent Dirt Track Racing - Sprint Cars demo from Ratbag is released. With the newly-found utils to allow free shifting with the RS Shifter in GPL, ACT LABS announces that it will produce a five-speed shifter plate specifically for that sim. Are these guys great or what? 9/00 - The big breakthrough for RS Shifter owners: first Julien Lardy's legacy utility, then the refined version by Tom Grandgent, and finally the dedicated GPL util of JSJ. The joy of shifting in such great sims as NFS5 and TOCA2 is overshadowed by the long-awaited ecstasy of proper support in GPL. I renovate the site a bit, including shifter and snapshot sections as well as a general racing sim roundup area. Also add ICR2 Troubleshooting section. Finally get back to my MGP season with a win at Magny-Cours. 8/00 - Dave Noonan releases Road Atlanta for GPL. The GPLEA releases Solitude and Goodwood for GPL, and their Sports Car Legends series of classic sports cars from the '60s for SCGT is phenomenal. Finally, we can race a Chaparral! 7/00 - Dave Noonan's latest creation is Imola for GPL. MicroProse's GP3 is out, and while the Geoff Crammond worshippers blindly gush with praise, I and others are disappointed - Crammond is very obviously still stuck in DOS. On the other hand, Ubi Soft's next Formula One entry, F1 Racing Championship, is previewed and promises to be superb. 6/00 - Unsupported beta patch providing Direct 3D support for GPL is released by Papyrus (what, still no RS Shifter support?!). Create new Velocity Motorsports logo, and finally get my MGP 2000 season race recaps up. 5/00 - Add MGP race reports section, which includes recaps of races from my current (2000) season in addition to my final seven races running F1RS. Also add Site Map in addition to a page on controller maintenance. Finally, after a couple of requests for it, I get around to posting Papyrus/Sierra's Rendition patch for ICR2, which provides a convenient way for owners of Rendition cards to accelerate the original DOS version of the sim. 4/00 - EA Sports' Formula One 2000 is out and opinions vary from awful to excellent - personally I don't think it holds a candle to MGP. A new track, Snetterton, is released for GPL by the GPLEA and is definitely worth the download. Also new for GPL (from Alison and Nate Hine) is the GPL Race Engineer, a utility to help develop setups for this demanding sim. New 2000 paint schemes, cockpits, and track graphics are made available for MGP. Finally, due to the time involved in properly maintaining the hardware reviews and raceshop areas of the site, I decide to remove them. 3/00 - Mario Fernandez completes the first version of his excellent 2kFedEx set, the first 2000 car set for ICR2 available. I make a major hardware decision and purchase the ACT LABS RS wheel and RS Shifter - and fall in love with them immediately. 2/00 - Dave Noonan releases Österreichring for GPL. Magnetic Fields' Mobil 1 Rally Championship is out and it's top-notch. 1/00 - Complete renovation of site, inspired by the look of Rick Devente's excellent Ubi Soft sim site, The Unofficial. It's pretty much complete by the end of the month. Digital Illusions' very nice Swedish Touring Car Championship demo is made available. 12/99 - New "oval" version of Desert Speedway available for SCGT. Finally open the bookstore at Velocity, in addition to lots of other updates to the site. 11/99 - Win the 9th race of my F1RS season at Magny-Cours, and negotiate a contract with Benetton for next season - $1,246,644 salary with a $53,210 race bonus. Spirit of Speed 1937 and Dirt Track Racing demos available - the first very disappointing, the second fantastic. Final v1.2 patch for GPL appears, as does Steve Smith's F2 Superguide at The Sim Project. Bobonen unveils Carrera #1, the first original track for SCGT - and is it a blast! 10/99 - Complete the 8th race of my F1RS season at Montreal - after running in the top 5 throughout, I'm punted by Coulthard while challenging for 4th with just 7 laps remaining, and finish 18th. Make available PCXs of both N2/N99 and N3 versions of my Player's car, as well as the Player's Craftsman truck. Sadly, October 31, 1999 will be remembered by race fans everywhere as the day on which CART star Greg Moore lost his life at Fontana. 9/99 - The major event this month is the complete revamp of the site to eliminate the frames and spruce it up with tables and so forth. 8/99 - GT Insider moves to a new location; an N3 preview appears at GA Sports; and we finally have a visual damage patch for SCGT. I run the 7th race of my F1RS season at Barcelona, finish 19th after a shunt with Coulthard. Michael Schumacher wins. 7/99 - It's a good month for car sets: Denny Hoffmann updates his N2/N99 car shape to v2.0, and both Junae Ludvig and Mario Fernandez update their superb ICR2 sets. I run the 4th, 5th, and 6th races of my F1RS season. I win at the Nürburgring (yes, in a Minardi!) after a thrilling Grand Prix; I lose an engine while leading at Imola (Michael Schumacher wins); and after leading the entire Monaco Grand Prix, I lose the engine a mere 5 laps from the finish (Ralf Schumacher wins). 6/99 - Several SCGT updates, as well as updates to hardware reviews page. Mario Fernandez introduces his excellent ICR2 car set based on Marc Nelson's updated car 3DO. I run the 3rd race of my F1RS season at Buenos Aires, blowing an engine after a promising run; Wurz wins. 5/99 - Addition of SCGT and hardware reviews sections. SCGT v1.551 patch released. Update title GIFs, add my newly-rediscovered N1 setups to N1 nostalgia page. I begin my F1RS season with a 13th-place finish at Melbourne and a 15th-place finish at Interlagos (Hakkinen wins both). Still getting used to the sim, and the lack of power with the Minardi. Accidentally lose my five downloadable ICR2 replay ZIPs, which were unfortunately the result of a lot of work. 4/99 - Finish building my new PC, and it flies. Begin my N99 Craftsman Truck season with 6th-, 13th-, and 1st-place finishes at Homestead, Phoenix, and Portland Speedway; take early points lead. Add Rob Swindells' new champ car cockpit to the ICR2 files page. Marc Nelson unveils his excellent CART2K body shape for ICR2 at The Sim Project. 3/99 - Complete site revamp, and new entry page at velocitymotorsports.8m.com. I find original Velocity Motorsports logo from way back in 1996, so add the various logos to site awards area. Also create N1 nostalgia page. Updates to various areas, including new F1RS and N99 screen shots. New '99 ICR2 car set by Jeff McKeand available.
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