America's weekend warriors

The Dirt Late Model

A dirt Late Model is a full-bodied, purpose-built race car that headlines arguably the most popular dirt track division in the U.S. and Canada. There is no cubic inch limit for the aluminum-head engines, but most teams use power plants of 400-430 cubic inches that produce over 800 horsepower. Dozens of builders construct dirt Late Model chassis, and the bodies of the cars are designed to resemble popular street-car makes from manufacturers such as Chevrolet, Ford, Pontiac, etc. The cars weigh 2,350 pounds and run on racing gasoline.
Taken from the world of outlaws website. Check it out if you wanna learn more or want to see a race at your local track

What in the Hell is Dirt Track Racing

If you've never heard or seen dirt track racing in north america it's a chaotic yet highly entertaining sport where in the main divisions cars have 800hp+ cars in large fields running around 1/4-1/2 mile tracks always on the edge of grip. There's multiple different types of tracks from traditional ovals, to paperclip style, to d-shaped, to bull rings, and each have variations of different dirt, from clay, to red dirt, loam, and what it called gumbo. Each drive different, and dirt racing is know to change track conditions rapidly. Often qualifying to the main event is completely different track conditions.
If you want to learn more about dirt track racing here is the link on the world of outlaws website

my local track willams grove with sprint cars. A very popular track on the world of outlaws schedule with people waiting outside the gates days before the races start.

the livery

The livery is a poor attempt at trying to make a traditional dirt track livery. Many dirt cars have very abstract liveries and this example i had no idea what i wanted to do and ended up going with a jundroo livery mixed with simple planes. I think it came out pretty ok but definitely wish it was better.

features

-simple yet accurate body
-fully modeled straight rail chassis with body supports
-modeled v8 engine, with custom headers
-realistic drive train with accurate looking transmission, driveshaft, and solid axle
-realistic suspension, with 4 point fully adjustable rear track bars

gallery

controls

-Pitch up/down: throttle
- yaw: steering
Please read below if you plan to drive the car, it is very important to drive the car good enough for the game
- ag1-4+VTOL Up: individual adjustments to the track bars. The stock tune is pretty hard to drive, mainly a sp thing i think but mess around with it and see what works best for you. Here are some examples of different chassis adjustments.

Ag1 and 4 adjust top track bars

Ag2 and 3 adjust the bottom track bars

Adjusting the bottom track bars down helps tighten the car, and adjusting the top loosens the car up. Basically the bottom track bars move the rear end to be more inline with the car and the top adjustments make it point down more in front of the housing. Same concept as with a shopping cart, the weight is riding more on the front of the wheel making it loose, where tightening it helps plant it more. From my experience tightening the car like this makes it the easiest to drive. Adjusting the rear bars helps the most. Definitely experiment tho to see what works best for you.

There are problems with the car and it's handling and i feel it's more a limitation of the game and the lack of having a proper track i can test this on. The only places that have enough room to be able to drive it the best is bandit airport and Wright airport. I found that driving between the ramps on Wright is the best as it has a somewhat accurate size to go off of, but with no banking it doesn't handle as well as it could. Hopefully in sp2 there is some sort of dirt track so I can actually get the planned dirt track cars to work properly.

Builders note: This was originally going to be made for mouses merica challenge but I ended up switching gears after I got stuck on the handling mechanics of this thing but I finally got it to a place I'm ok with. It's a very fun yet very challenging car to drive that no one besides American country folk know and I am proud of how it came out and the customizablity I was able to put into it. I still plan to make a dirt modified and might make more dirt cars but I'm not super sure quite yet. An asphalt super late model is also on the way. Not as extreme as the dirt car but definitely unique in its own right. Should be out within the next month or two depending how motivated I am to build on it. Thanks for downloading and driving if you do and please be mindful that it is suppose to be a handful to drive and only go left.

thanks to kerbango for his help with text labels

keep looking to the stars