Hello and welcome to my blog.
I'm Kev (aka fongu, a moniker I've had for over 20 years) and I've loved making cars and content for GP4 for around 20 years. I have also enjoyed collecting 1/43 models although in recent years that has halted due to the price of new models and second hand models sky rocketing. This blog started out as a public memoir, a place where I can share my content, my collections and my memories. As time has gone on, it's only deepened my passion for GP4 and I wanted to share some of that with you in terms of my growing collection of content from authors old and new.
I've always loved cars since I was a little boy, but occasionally I'd catch a little bit of the end of a Grand Prix when the TV was on, but I'd never watched a whole race before. I remember being intrigued when Mansell won the championship, and kept remembering seeing a young German by the name of Schumacher on the podium in 1993. So come 1994, again I caught the end of the first race in Brazil and thought I'd make some effort to try and watch it, but not really knowing when the Grand Prix would pop up.
But it was on Saturday 30th April, 1994 that I caught the news that Roland Ratzenberger had lost his life in practice for the San Marino Grand Prix. I was going to be out on Sunday, but I set my VCR recorder to tape the race in the morning. When I got home, I was disappointed to find that I forgot to rewind the tape to catch the whole Grand Prix, it only recorded up to the end of lap 3 (thankfully!).
I watched the build up, from Ruben's horror crash, but lucky to get away without major injuries, to reports of Roland's brief career. And then the race start saw J. J. Lehto in the Benetton stall on the grid as the field sped past him. But Pedro Lamy in the Lotus did not have enough time to react and BANG into the back of the Benetton. Then out comes the safety car and my video ended. Dramatic, sad, engaging, full of tension; I was hooked
I went to sleep and turned on the news the next morning to find out a few laps after my video had stopped, more tragedy. I was 10 at the time and pretty glad that I didn't see the accident nor the prolonged footage from the stoppage. But though I was new to the sport, I was deeply struck by Senna's death. I heard clips from the post-race press conferences, would Schumacher continue his career? And would Gerhard Berger, ex team-mate and friend to Ayrton and fellow Austrian with Ratzenberger, tearfully considered the same thing in front of the cameras. The emotions were gripping and I was keen to know how all the drivers and teams would move on from the tragedy. I don't watch the sport for crashes, I don't wish anybody be hurt in motorsports, and I'm pretty squeamish and I have to look away when I see a crash and I know the driver gets injured. But it was the human emotion and reactions and how to move on from such tragedy that got me interested.
I don't remember much about the Monaco Grand Prix weekend, except that Karl Wendlinger ended up in a coma following his crash in practice. Schumacher duly won his fourth race in a row. Onto Spain and I remember Schumacher's brilliant drive when stuck in 5th gear for two-thirds of the race. Though I acknowledged that Schumacher was brilliant, my patriotic side was glad that Damon Hill won, from the same team as Senna and for the rest of the season, it was the Brit who I wanted to win the Championship.
I loved the racing, but it was the technical side that drew me in. I loved that it wasn't a spec series, that every constructor made their own car, and I loved the different aerodynamic solutions: high nose/low nose, anhedral lower rear wings to double-decker rear wings, how many barge-boards can you go and how would the teams handle the mid-season regulation changes. I suppose that's where my fascination with F1 and aero-surfaces comes from.
25 years on, and I still love F1, and I'm still fascinated by the drama of the 1994 season.
Read my model collecting story: Part 1
A guide to navigating around this site: GP4 Downloads
Hello, can you check the message I left on 2022 helmet downloads
ReplyDeleteSorry for bothering again. Could you tell me how to use Slimtex. Because my texture is all messed up in game.
ReplyDeleteGo to the convert to tga tab, drag and drop your files in, click select all and flip, and then convert.
ReplyDeleteso the only thing where I can select is Batch to TEX.So then should Iselect all and flip?
DeleteSo I am not sure if I am doing it right or not. For example the texture for Leclerc 21 french gp texture seems fine. As I said there is only Batch to TEX or Batch to TGA and the third option that I dont remember. Select all is only possible in Batch to TEX tab. When I try to put files in it does not let me do it untill I open the tex file with Slimtex.I am a bit confused so sorry for that.I really want to use your textures.
DeleteIt's called the 'Batch to TGA' tab.
DeleteYou can either use Slimtex to flip the textures or some other image editing tool that can edit TGA files once they are converted.
Ok, I know. The only thing is that Batch to TGA does not have the select all feature. As soon as I get home I will try it again. But I am not sure if it would work.
DeleteThe only thing I might be doing wrong is that I am using online converter to convert from tga to dds. Maybe I need that 3ds program or photoshop. But I do not want to buy it
ReplyDeleteHi mate its me yet again. Just wanted to say that it worked out at the end. I had to use Batch to TEX tab, change the format to tga then flip it and then convert it. After that it said error, I thought it cannot work but it did.
ReplyDeleteGlad you got it sorted. Sorry it took a while, I've always relied on others to convert my files in the past.
DeleteYeah I am happy now. But the only thing is when using these textures on rss fh 2021 car with f1 skins it seems that the only good extention is bell with a wing, when using bell with no wing the textures are pink. But when using the same extention with default skin from Rss or with a different car then its ok. Looks like its a skin problem.
DeletePlus if you want to I can do some conversions for you just let me know. If it is hard for you ofcourse.
ReplyDeleteFree time is more the issue for me, thanks. Enjoy the helmets
DeleteHi its me again. When I put the helmet inside of a skin it was pink or gray rather than usual white or some other colour. I have found a solution for that by removing a dds file named MAT_white. But that texture file turned out to be needed for the gloves as the gloves texture is shiny and bright without that mat_white file. So I have tried other helmet textures and it worked fine. It is only with your helmets that I have this problem. I am guessing it is because of the material that its made from. My only option is to use Photoshop but I dont want to pay for it, the 3dsimed is confusing and I cant load a texture in the programme. Plus I did not find a tutorial for that. Also if you know what is the best format to use with the helmets in Slimtex and how do I get the helmet_2019_map.
ReplyDeleteI recommend Photopea - a very useful online tool that is very similar to Photoshop... and it's free
DeleteI would suggest removing the alpha layer before saving as DDS.
In fact, the alpha layer should be saved in a separate file, the map or something like that. I don't know, I've never done it, but I suspect that is where the fix is
Ok because I was using texresizer. There is a box you can tick that says show alpha layer. I made separate files like that and also its always 5400x2400,it is never 2048x1024 which is the usual size even if I put on that size. I suppose its something to do with the material of both dds files.
DeleteMate this Photopea is a life saver. Thank you so much.
ReplyDeleteI will do this for every helmet. And if you want I can upload it on RD. It is miles better when I convert it through Photopea. Plus its easy. You only need to get the tga. file from the tex. with Slimtex and then drop the tga file in Photopea, export it as dds. Job done!
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear it. Feel free to upload to RD, just include my name on the credits. Thanks.
DeleteMate its done. Helmets are up on RD. "F1 2022 driver helmets from Fongu converted by me | RaceDepartment" https://www.racedepartment.com/downloads/f1-2022-driver-helmets-from-fongu-converted-by-me.53355/. The only thing is wierd that when I search it it says that it is posted two days ago and it also has a typo which I corrected. Share it with friends if you want
ReplyDeleteHi, i wanna make a YT serie simulating season by season every race, but i need some fantasy cars (with 2022-2024 car shape) you are capable of doing them?
ReplyDelete