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THE PITS NEWS
HOME | NEWS | CREW | LINKS | STOCKCAR | GP2 & CART | OTHER SIMS | MULTIPLAYER | ERIK'S EXPOSE | FEEDBACK | NO PIRACY
For more sim racing news, check out SRN.
SITE OF THE MONTH Three sites of the month! We've been behind, so we're catching up...Unofficial F1RS Page, The Apex, and The Internet Track Locator make the cut this month.
Oops! In our work to get out our Portland graphics update, we neglected to add the 'save' feature for the old .dat file. That's now fixed. As well, we also fixed some of the graphics that were showing up weird on some tracks. Being that I run Rendition, I had no problems with any of the graphics, and now that we've fixed it, hopefully everyone else won't either.
We've slowly but surely been updating the AI for all the converted ICR2 tracks, the TPTCC drivers have gotten to try them out already. Now we're releasing them to everyone, complete with graphics upgrades for the converted tracks. The first one is Portland, and you can get it at the TPTCC.com, site tonight, or the TPTCC pages on The Pits until everything moves to the TPTCC.com site.As well, Cory Walker has completed his carset, bodies and templates for the N@50 Project, you can get them on the N@50 page. Very nice, lots of new templates as well.
Ok, go into your room with your computer, shut the door, put on a firesuit and full face helmet. Make sure the window is closed. Turn up your furnace as high as it will go (make sure it's at least 90 degrees F outside). Put a radiant heater under your desk, and crank that on as well. Now, sit down at your computer, bring up NASCAR Racing, crank the competition up to about 101-102%, and run 500 laps at Martinsville. Think you can do it? Ok, now, don't forget, you have to win the race! Oh, and twice every lap, have someone try and push you out of your chair every time you go into the corner. Your computer will die very quickly at that temperature, and I'm sure most everyone won't last too much longer...But that's what Ricky Rudd did yesterday, and for anyone who says that racing isn't a physical sport, they need to be forced to do this and see how many laps THEY last. I've never seen any other type of athelete, except for marathon runners, who were completely exhausted as Ricky was yesterday. From about lap 5, his cooling system on his helmet froze up, and he couldn't get any air as the heat in the car soared to 140 degrees F. His backside got blistered as the seat got superheated from the hot exhaust of the car. 495 laps later, he was pulled from his car in victory lane. It took 30 minutes of oxygen and cold packs before he could even stand up. "At lap 100 I almost got out. It was that bad that early," he said. "I had Hut Stricklin standing by all day and I want to thank Hut for doing that, because we needed him, but man, I had such a great car I didn't want to give it up." Hats off to Ricky, who was definitely THE MAN at Martinsville, and no one can take that away from him.
The great race, the Bullrun 1000, is now open to any and all drivers who want to enter. Registration was open this last week for TPTCC entrants, this week it's open for anyone who wants to register. Get ready, this is the endurance race of all endurance races, 1000 kilometers at Bullrun. You should have a teammate, if not, let us know and we'll find you one. For registration and other race info, check out the Bullrun 1000 race site.
Dan Stromer has forsaken family, friends and funding to bring you a superb N@50 carset...great job Dan! Check it out on the N@50 page, and let Dan know that you appreciate all his hard work...
25 Sep - Fun, fun, fun? NOT!!!
Anyone know what this is? Well, instead of getting to watch Winston Cup racing this weekend, I'll probably be seeing how long I can hold my breath...or bailing water. The main thing I can thank Georges for right now is undermining the attempts of the media to overload us with ClintonGate...Anyhow, greetings from sunny? Florida...
Another great Erik's Expose' this week, Erik and I discuss the merits of hammering drivers for actions on track...
You won't believe it, but we've got a whole website dedicated to the sport of sim touring car racing now, at tptcc.com...check it out, we plan on adding alot of stuff to it as NASCAR 99, NASCAR III, and TOCA II come out...
Wow, where to start...ok, first, we've finally updated our Site of the Month to include THREE this time, to catch up from our N@50 work. This next month and a half, Unofficial F1RS Page, The Apex, and The Internet Track Locator all are the Sites of the Month to make up for us not having one last month, and getting up for this month and next. The F1RS page is a definative guide for everyone wanting to race F1RS, which, if you don't have it..is a MUST GET ITEM! Great racing, excellent graphics, you can still read our review on the other sims page. The Apex has been on top of all the Grand Prix Legends news since the beginning while the rest of us have been languishing in nostalgic NASCAR, you need to get the demo and go check out The Apex for the latest. While both of the previous sites have excellent graphics, the last site makes it without a single picture except it's sponsors. It's only been open for about a month, but the work done to Bob's Internet Track Locator is excellent. Want to find a NASCAR II track, but not sure where to find it, or if it has a 'real' homepage, or what other track you may need to use it? Go here, he's got ALL the info, and you can definitely see he's done alot of work to bring this to you..Next, our Utility of the Month goes to Jon and Greg's Craftsman Truck patch. They've done alot of work putting together new screens, new bodies, paintjobs, ect for anyone who wants to sim-race trucks. You can get it at the link above.
Site-Bashing. Uncalled for and totally unreasonable. I've seen nothing but continual site bashing on alot of the bulletin boards, and beings I don't frequent them that much, don't expect me to show up there anymore. Some people have incurred the wrath of the NPN in the past, but have cleaned up their act, yet they still get hammered for previous encounters. As the lead site for the No Piracy Network, I've got no problem with people who have seen the 'light' of not posting pirated software, so why can't everyone else leave them alone? Or, not to mention, this is a SIMULATOR! You are not getting paid money to put up a website for this, Mark Martin and Roush Racing are not sponsoring anyone to put up a sim website, if you have nothing better to do that go around and trash people...then obviously, you don't have a life either. I do this for fun, I enjoy racing, and since I can't afford a REAL race car (sponsors, anyone?), this is how I get my jollies. I LOVE sim racing, I think even if I did get a real ride I would still do this, it's just so fun to go against Jeff Gordon, Alain Menu, and even Richard Petty in a Dodge Charger! So why the fuss? This is supposed to be fun! No one to tell you that you'll not be racing the next race because you wrecked out of the previous 10, no one to tell you that your track is going to go bankrupt because your well overbudgeted and your investors are going nuts...so GIVE IT UP! And get a life...
Speaking of being told that he wasn't going racing anymore, did anyone notice that Jerry Nadeau has consistently out-qualified and out-finished Bill Elliott since Bill kicked him out? HA! There you go, Bill...like I said before...FIRE YOURSELF!
Other BIG news...we've redone our Links page (again) and now have a 'sim racing' area to go to, as well as people. Plus, it's broken down so you can easily find different types of sim-sites, hopefully even the one you are looking for...(besides us, of course) ;].
A brand-NEW track created by the track-wizard David Noonan. David did all the work putting together the track converters, you can expect that he creates something wild for his first venture into the track-building arena! Go to the TPTCC page (bottom of the "Files" page) to see what he built for sim racers.
Roberto Arosteguy has now unveiled his Top Driver's Challenge 2. If you missed out on the first one, don't miss this one! A great patch, using touring cars, that allows you to race the other drivers of the major racing series of the world in an all-out "IROC" series.
Yep, you bet your boots! And now go take a look at our version of Texas World Speedway for N@50! Superb work again by the N@50 track guys, Chas and Dave.
Jim now has his F1RS page up and going, and he's got alot of great stuff on it...so check it out HERE! You can also get to it from his GP2 page, we'll change it so you can get to it directly here very shortly.
Dale Hillan of Sim Australia was kind enough to cut me some 3dfx shots of the nightime Felton Park track found on our TPTCC page. Since I run Rendition, and you cannot take screenshots in N2 Rendition, he sent me these to post. Very Nice! IMAGE 1 | IMAGE 2
Erik and I have a good hot topic this week that get's hotly discussed on Erik's Expose'...was Jeff Gordon cheating or was Roush just a sore loser?
Yep, more fixes, and a new track! We've done the version 1.02, which has patches for 1.01 users, plus the main installers have been updated to version 1.02. Some of the changes, David Pearson's gold roof, a better tire squeal, fixed the AI pit window at The Rock, and the AI for Richmond Fairgrounds is fixed! The cars will pit now, no problem. Click here for the N@50 page. As well, we've done a new track, Nashville 1970, that is really awesome...better than Bristol! Stay tuned for another new N@50 track over the next couple of days...
We apologize to our users for being down the past couple of days...actually we weren't really down, the DNS server got a bad backup and was giving out the wrong address for The Pits. You could connect using the IP address. But that's all fixed now. As well, many people have mentioned problems with downloading .exe files. That problem will be fixed shortly as well. Now to the last problem (whew!) on that loading pages seem to come up with a ton of strange characters. This is a Javascript we are running, it works fine with new browsers, but older ones don't understand it. We're trying to get it fixed, and should hopefully have that done over the next couple of days. You can keep this from happening in the meantime by either turning off Javascript on your browser, or hitting the 'stop' button. If it goes to the page with the numbers, just hit 'back' then 'stop' and you can press on as normal. Our apologies for these problems.
We now have a complete bunch of pages dedicated to this race of sim racing, be sure to visit the Bullrun 1000 pages. If you are wanting to enter, registration will begin shortly, visit the site for more details. This promises to be a great race, sponsored by Sim Gallery, we're looking forwards to it!
Ready to try out the Monza track for GPL? Get it HERE! And yes, we will have our GPL page up shortly, along with a new page for F1RS...and some drag racing stuff too! Unzip the monza.zip into your \tracks directory. You'll have to remove your other track from that directory for it to work ok.
Everyone here at The Pits wishes to express our sorrow at the loss of Chad Coleman, who died late Friday as a result of his injuries suffered in a first lap crash at Atlanta Motor Speedway, as part of the ARCA (stock car) event. Our prayers go out to his friends and family."You know how you are supposed to make stuff keep? You smoke it and dunk it in alcohaul. Well, I'm taking no chances..." -Dick Trickle
Yep, we've done it again...the British Touring Car Championship next year will be running Snetterton at night with the touring cars...but why wait until then? Go to our TPTCC page, and you can run Felton Park at night now! Click here for the TPTCC page.
We've updated the v1.01 patch to ask what type of cockpit you are using, so as to install the correct one, as well, it fixes the problem of the yellow Goodyears. More new stuff on the N@50 page, new cars, and .zip files for all you people having problems with the regular installer! Click here for the N@50 page. As well, our stockcar page has some new items, 2 new bodies for N2 (both standard stock cars), and a great utility, CarToy, for swapping out wheels/bodies with an easy interface.
The official N@50 League has finally started, so get your Torino, Cyclone, Charger or Roadrunner and get ready to hit the track! You can find it at N@50: The Series.
Something I found in my email box from last month that I forgot to mention...sorry, Dan!The United States Racing Series is currently accepting applications from drivers to race in this new and exciting series. Please visit our web site and help us get the word around so we can begin the process of organizing this simulated stock car racing series.
Chris Frederick and Chris Thompson (of Racing Headquarters and Sim-World Online respectively) have decided that one site is better than two, and combined them into the all new NASCAR Sim-World. Check it out, I don't think you'll be disappointed. I still think the name should be C&C NASCAR Factory, though...
The author of our setup program we use emailed me back about the errors...he's never heard of anyone having these errors, and I know many people have downloaded it without any problems. However, he mentioned that this error is common with corrupted files. So, my guess is that some of you are having your download cut short, therefore having problems with the file. Two ways to fix that...first, go to Getright, and get right! This program will make sure that your downloads do not get corrupted, and if the transfer fails in the middle, it will restart the transfer to make sure it comes out ok. Second, when you download, compare your file (right click on the file, go to "properties") and check to make sure that your file sizes compare with ours...N@50p101.exe -1644759 bytes, N@50v101.exe -2181579 bytes, and N@50trak101.exe -5980353 bytes. If they do not, you'll need to redownload.!
20 Aug - Birdbrained Idea...
We're almost done with something quite a few people have been waiting for...some people almost since they started racing NASCAR Racing...I know *I've* always wanted to drive one...and they should be done pretty shortly...and now you will be able to as well, for a fraction of the cost!
I want to take the time to personally thank someone who is the epitomy of a 'good guy', who takes the time (like sending quite a few several meg files over his email every night) to help out people, no matter how thankful they may be, who ask for help. He never says a bad word about anyone (even if they deserve a severe thrashing with their printer cable for insolence and rudeness) and is always around to point people in the right direction. This person goes by the name of 'hckynut', if you've ever visited message boards, you've probably seen his posts. Take a little time and say a thanks to a really nice person, you can do so by just clicking HERE!
Dale Jarrett had this to say after Gordon's win at Michigan..."You all have to tell us," Jarrett said. "We don't know. Obviously, we're doing everything we can and it's not working. We just have to keep working harder and see if we can make it happen. (Having good fortune) I guess that's what it takes to have a winning streak, to have those things happen your way. He's (Gordon) got them going his way right now and it just doesn't seem anything Mark or I can do is gonna make any difference." - NASCAR ONLINE
Erik and I have come up with a new format for the Expose' page, each week Erik and I will be having animated discussions on controversial topics on the real and simulator world of racing...this week...was it OK for Mark's crew not to inform him of his father's death? Check it out on Erik's Expose'!
We've done version 1.01 of the N@50 now, the new version changes alot of things, removes the catch fencing at several tracks (thanks, Matt Harper!), adds a new car (Chevy, for you Chevy lovers!), raises pit road speed for the AI, fixes some problems as several other tracks, and fixes the mirror. NOTE If you have used any of the 'directory' tools out on the 'net to change the location of your N@50 so you can run it with regular NASCAR, this patch WILL NOT WORK! You'll have to move everything back to patch it. As well, Simulator Cyberworld's Jaroslaw Polewka has created a nifty utility that will do all the modifications to change directories for N@50 if you want to do so...make sure that you do this AFTER installing the patch. It will also move all the stuff to the new directory. As well, the main N@50 downloads are all now updated to v1.01 as well. Hit the N@50 page to check it all out.
We've completed a bunch of updates, new tracks (both in the TPTCC and Stockcar pages), new cars and new AI. Dave Turman has completed (for all you Aussies) Calder Park..the REAL Thunderdome, and we've gotten permission from Simulator Cyberworld to post the Dusen-Ring for N2 for all you touring buffs...take a look, some great tracks.
Thanks to all the people who've written us already, we thank you for all your support and are glad you are having fun! We had great fun making this patch, it was very interesting and quite a big challenge. And it looks like it all paid off!I want to take this little moment to personally thank Chas, Aaron, Dave, Sean, Gilles, Gregg, Cory, Bill, Magic Shoes, Marc, Brandon, Ken at Superbird.com, and Mike at Cyclone's Famous Fords for all the help they've done, and thank them yourselves...without them, this patch would have not been possible. They were all a dream to work with, and I'll gladly work with them again on any other projects (not for awhile, though, think I need some R&R after this big plunge!).
4 Aug - IT'S HERE!
Yes, the long awaited N@50 patch is up! We've tested and ran it, and ran it and tested it, and after a few days of that now, we're finally happy with the finished project. We've spent countless manhours trying to get this right, so we're actually very, very happy that it's out the door! ;] We welcome feedback, of course, and want everyone to enjoy our dedication to the best 50 years of racing from anywhere. So are you ready? Click here for the NASCAR 50th Anniversary dedication patch, the N@50 Project.
The guys have got it up and running again, thanks to Tom for doing all the html. Click here for the new IWCCCARS.
The TPTCC season is on to our last race, and it's looking good for Jake 'the Snake' Myers to take the Championship, with his MIRacing Team taking the team honors as well. Group B is a battle between Tommy Brolsma and Sandy Robinson...we'll see how it pans out in the wash!This last outing at Toronto didn't fare so well for The Pits team, however, we did well with the competition to take home 3 wins in group A, and 2 wins in Group B. Goy took all the honors, racking up another win at Watkins Glen 2 weeks ago.
Speaking of TPTCC, we'll be starting our Winter season here in a few weeks or so, and it looks to be real fun with some racing done on some of the more unconventional circuits, such as Mantorp Park and a few others. If anyone is interested in signing up, do so now to get your spot ready! Plus, drivers, don't forget to sign up for this year's Bullrun 1000, the '1000' signifying that it will be a 1000 kilometre event. Driving will be done in teams, and it's great fun! Last year The Pit's car didn't make it but to lap 26, with a backmarker slamming into us coming off the high banked last turn, sending us into a 600 foot slide down into the pit road wall...scratch one Saab! The brotherly team of KMK Racing took Group A, while Brothers Blackadder Racing took Group B. Maybe this year Baldric will do a little 'work' on the Blackadder car..."I've got an idea...."
Sean has gone for broke and made some updates to the ICR2 page...so all you people who've been wondering if we've dropped it? No dice! We're still ICR2 compatible! ;]
We've got another great new utility, courtesy of Dave "Trackman" Turman, it's a Honda for Grand Prix Legends. As well, new reviews are up on the "other" page, a hardware review for a very economical alternative to controllers, and the full version of F1RS.
Donald English emailed us to let us know he's got a utility posted that will total up your NROS points, and let you know how many points you need to gain another skill level. Makes it easy to decide how hard you need to try to win races. (HA, HA..on NROS, everyone wants to win at the end of lap 1) You can get it at Donald's NASCAR2 Page.
Leonardo Vidal, our very good car paint contributer, has been working on something in secret with Roberto Arosteguy that he's just unveiled to me...the TOP Driver's Challenge. Roberto's put together his own touring car patch, with the new bodies, but with nice new twist...want to compete against ALL the best drivers in the world? Well, now you can, everyone gets identical E-class Mercedes (sort of a German IROC, I guess), and go out to trash the track! Great job..new menus, new sounds, new cockpit...great job Roberto and Leonardo! Anyhow, you can check it out at the TOP Driver's Challenge. Note that this will replace all your current install of TPTCC or whatever...you may want to make ANOTHER backup before running this one. Warning, his site is right now in it's native Portuguese, but he'll have the English version up shortly...I'm sure that everyone can figure out what "download" means...
Man, our own Dave "Trackman" Turman has been a busy camper...check out these new excellent Win95 backgrounds with a distinctly Grand Prix Legends flavor...
Wondering about the Ferrari in the pic? Wanna drive it? Well, go for it, as our Dave "Trackman" Turman decided he wanted a Ferrari as well...click HERE to get it. Enjoy!
Yes, Of course...we are! The first 3rd party utility for GPL is here...by Dave Noonan, the GPL mip-bmp converter. Enjoy!
is out! You can get it by clicking HERE! Note, you will probably need a P160 or better plus video card to run this. Initial review of this demo will be out shortly...in the meantime...GET IT! By far, it's the most rewarding experience driving a sim car any of us has had...
1998 NASCAR Schedules Want a pocket copy of the schedule for the Winston Cup, BGN, and Craftsman Trucks? Click on the picture! Excel V.4 format.
Link to us? Here's a banner or a button! Cheers!
Jan Kohl
Sept 1998
THE PITS HISTORY
19 Nov 1995 - Jed wrote a utility to fix the damage and other options for the Indycar II demo. Shortly thereafter, he started "The Pits" for this utility and others that he wrote. Meanwhile, over here, I had the "Castle Graphics" site, dedicated to real and simulator racing, and wrote the Quikfix Guide, to aid people in setting up their NASCAR Racing cars.
December 1995 - I had been in conversation with Jed, and on a visit to the UK over Christmas, we met briefly in a pub in his local villiage and had a few beers. Much about racing was discussed, and many beers consumed. All in all, an enjoyable afternoon...
January 1996 - Jed wrote me an email about setting up a mirror site over here, as the transmission band of his site was rather slow from the US. I quickly agreed, and The Pits US Mirror was born. Meanwhile, Gerhard Lingenberg was creating the track coverters, and Jed began working with him to make other excellent patches.
February 1996 - Work began on the "Daytona Project". This was and idea of Jed's to take the Talladega track, and modify it so that it resembled the Daytona Motor Speedway. The AI would be fixed as well, so that they would take more realistic lines through the corners.
late March 1996 - The Pits was growing by leaps and bounds. I combined my simulator racing side of Castle Graphics with The Pits. The Daytona Project was nearing completion. Things were looking great... rather like the calm before the storm...
April 1996 - On a fateful day in April...I recieved a phone call. The caller was Andrew from ISC...International Speedways Corp. "So what?" ..you may say. ICS owns the REAL Daytona and Talladega tracks...and they were calling me personally to let me know that their next move would be to call a lawyer to deliver a letter to "cease and desist" all efforts on the Daytona Project. Why? Their copyright laws were being violated. If Sega, who had the rights to use the Daytona name for their arcade racing game were to be informed that our Daytona Project was being made for NASCAR Racing...they would be a bit upset. As well, ISC and any other company is bound by US copyright laws to use all legal effort to protect those copyrights, or risk losing them. So we had no leg to stand on. Jed and I spoke, and we decided it was best to drop the Daytona Project. That triggered one of the biggest newsgroup/email wars in Rec.autos.simulators short little history. People were incensed...who does ISC think they are to bully two small non-profit programmers and not let them modify some tracks in a racing simulator? But ISC was right...and Jed and I cancelled the Daytona Project before a working copy ever made the Internet.
May-July 1996 - The Pits was thrown into the doldrums...having played our biggest card, and the opponents holding a Royal Flush, we folded. No new utilities were released, and very little was done except answer email. Jed continued contact with ISC, and spoke of options for Daytona and for the track being released in future simulators. However, people had other ideas. Many tried to copy our lead, and create a Daytona, but all fell short, and not only that, but put ISC in a further bind. It would be possible if Sega and NASCAR became incensed at the at the amount of copyright violations on the 'net, that Daytona would not be seen in any simulator for a long, long time. But meanwhile, other things were happening...Ed of Papyrus had finished his project, Hawaii, and that threw a whole new monkeywrench into the equation. To be able to race 30 other people, in a simulator, REAL TIME! What a concept, and a racer's dream come true! Hawaii was put into beta-test stage, and a select few were competing on Hawaii to clear the bugs. Finally, it was opened to the public, and announced that next year NASCAR would sanction it as their new racing league...the NRL.
August 1996 - So opened a new chapter in The Pits. Papyrus had asked us to distribute the Hawaii software over the 'net via The Pits. Now we had a mission. Grand Prix II was released, and therefore more utilities were required. We obliged. The US Mirror gained it's own domain, the one you are sitting on right now...theuspits.com. Then...another swing and a miss. Jed, tired of the constant barrage of email and flames, decided that he had had enough. So on one fateful weekend, the original Pits disappeared from the 'net without a trace. I duly informed the public of what had transpired...and quickly became overwhelmed with letters of dismay over the loss of The Pits UK. Now the mirror became the primary...and we turn another page...
September 1996 - The long awaited arrival of the NASCAR II demo. It was unprecedented in the amount of people who attempted to get the sim on it's arrival at another site. The site went down under the heavy load of 100,000 hits in 12 hours!
November 1996 - The Pits finally made it to it's first birthday and had it's first 100,000 visitors at the same time! Things have certainly changed over the last year for The Pits, and we sincerely thank all our supporters who have made it what it is today.
December 1996 - NASCAR Racing II, Kahn, and Kali...what an addition to the racing arena. Now sim racers can enjoy multiplayer racing, free, anytime you want. This should add a whole new spectrum to the online racing scene.
May 1997 - Things are progressing smoothly in the racing sim world, the patches for NASCAR II were finally released, and the NASCAR Racing Organization seems to be on track to be released shortly. Track converters for NASCAR II have been released, so now stock car drivers can turn left and right again! 3D work has been going on by several members of the sim racing community, with lots of progress...new Indycar car shapes are being released right and left!
July 1997 - The Pits made history again with the release of the first package designed for NASCAR II racing, The Pits Touring Car Championship. This used a completely redesigned platform for N2 with different tracks, car bodies, and cockpit graphics.
Nov-Dec 1997 - Papyrus has finally come through in November, with both the BGN Track Pack and the NASCAR Racing Online Series...great time to be in Sim Racing. As well, CART Precision Racing has been released in December, along with Codemaster's TOCA Touring Car Championship. And we made three years on the net!
Mar 1998 - The Pits starts it's own online racing league, SuperCars! Online. This new series introduced a few new twists to the online racing world, with competition modeled after the Australian V8 Supercars, pitting many V8 performance sedans against each other in head-to-head racing. However, due to problems with TEN and NROS, it is discontinued only two months later.
Apr 1998 - The Pits went over half a million visits the first week of April...thanks to all our visitors and contributors!
Jul 1998 - Three short months later, The Pits goes over 600,000! And to think it took us a year to make our first 100,000! The Pits also moves in with GaGames, many thanks to their hosting for letting us have a place to stay.
Aug 1998 - Almost exactly a year from the release of our very successful touring car patch for NASCAR 2, we join forces with Simulator Cyberworld to bring out another big hit, the N@50 Project, designed to simulate racing in the glory years of NASCAR, the '60s and '70s.
