Ever since I've won the Lotus Europa I've been a big fan of it, so I figured I'd try to use it in the 24h on the ring. I ran some trial laps with it tuning it to the maximum without a spoiler, but that was just hopeless. The thing bounces around like a skippyball on grass. That can be taken two ways by the way 
So unfortunately I had to add the butt-ugly spoiler. I set the downforce to 15 front, 30 rear. Anything higher on the front causes the thing to understeer way too much, especially on near-finished tyres. I used all upgrades except the brake balance controller and the lsd upgrades (used the standard LSD). Suspension settings I left standard.
At first without the spoiler I was running hard tires on the front and superhard tires on the rear, but that quickly proved a very big mistake and as a result the car was practically uncontrollable (even though B-spec apparently had no problems whatsoever), way too much oversteer. So I switched to hard tires front and rear. I ran some test laps with it and eventually managed a 7:11 by not making any serious mistake (only missing a couple of apexes, no side trips or spins). By this time I had B-specced the ring with a lot of opponents to see the speed of the AI, and these were the results:
Unfortunately the B-spec times of the Europa were so bad (7:30s) that I was going to A-spec the entire race. I estimate that the M3 GTR pits about every 5 laps, but I could only get 3 laps out of my Europa on hard tires. I never tried superhards because I just didn't like the handling (I did enter the 24h on superhards once to see how many A-spec points I'd get: 160). The opponents I got were:
I started out great by spinning the first lap and losing 30 seconds getting out.. After that I put the pace on and didn't make any serious mistake for two hours. I overtook everyone without too many problems. The fastest laps I got these first hours were about 7:09s (the laps between pit-out and pit-in).
I figured this was very fast and I couldn't go much faster, since in my test laps I did 7:11s. I didn't do everything in one go by the way, I took about 3-4 hours per day.
The second day I wasn't exactly full on concentration and went off track 4-5 times. Besides that I barely ran any lap under 7:10 due to small mistakes. After that everything seemed to go great, I got my concentration back and began to find the right lines on the track. I first managed a 7:07.0xx by slipstreaming twice in a lap, but only a couple of laps after that I made the same time without encountering any traffic. I figured I was very close to the best possible lap using the car-track combination, which I estimated would be about 7:06.xx in a Lotus Europa on the ring. By about 6 hours in the race I lapped the number 2 car, the M3 GTR, for the first time.
It turns out I was wrong about that. I learned some more tricks the 4th and 5th day and managed a 7:05.xx by slipstreaming once. Then I really got into the groove and began to turn out fast laps all the time. I consistently rode fast laps of 7:05.xx for 2 hours without making any serious or even small mistake. (that is not to say that I rode the best line or the highest speed on every piece of track ofcourse). The sixth day also went by like this. I managed to overtake the M3 GTR 2 times more during these days.
The seventh day I pushed myself a bit more and managed to drive my fastest lap in the race: a 7:04.435 without traffic/slipstreaming. I honestly don't think it's possible to go much faster than this wihtout using any dirty tricks. By the way, I want to say that I didn't use one trick or cheat at all. I never took shortcuts over the grass (intended shortcuts, anyway..), I never wallrode the carousel or any other part. In fact, all time I spent riding the walls and the grass actually cost me time instead of gaining it.
The eight day I did about 5 hours worth of racing because I wanted to finish the race. I was still consistently lapping 7:05s for the fast laps. In the end I managed to overtake the M3 GTR once more and I had about three-quarters of a lap extra on him when I finished.
The end result:
Car used: Lotus Europa, Max NA Tune, Standard Diff, No brake controller, Everything else maxed out.
Tyres: Front: Racing Hard, Rear: Racing Hard
Fastest Lap: 7:04.435
Laps ahead of number two (M3 GTR): ~4.75 laps
Total number of laps: 197Laps
Total time: 24:04? (I don't remember exactly, I was about halfway in the lap when the timer reacher 24 hours)
Pit stops: every 3 laps
A-Spec points: 120 A-spec points (would've gotten 160 if I started with super hard tires)
Transmission: Auto-12
Horsepower: 226 BHP with oil change
Weight: 664kg
Suspension: Racing, Default
Downforce: Front: 15 Rear: 30
In the end the car didn't even call for an oil change. I changed the oil before the race and the car had done about 1000 kms before the race. The oil was looking a bit dirty at the end of the race and it probably wouldn't have lasted long. I could (and did) do a chassis refresh after the race.
By the way, in considering a car for the 24h ring I compared some other cars as well. I put my complete list of tested cars and laptimes in this post. Maybe it can help someone. All of these cars I tested once or twice on the ring using free run. Some of them I tested in B-spec to find out how long the tires would last (I tested all cars with racing hard tyres front and rear). The times shouldn't be taken seriously, but they can be used as a pointer to find out the difference in cars. I also logged a fun/danger factor for every car. The higher the number, the more fun the car is and the more risk it has to spin out or get off track. The most boring cars I rated negatively.
Some images from the start of the race:
So unfortunately I had to add the butt-ugly spoiler. I set the downforce to 15 front, 30 rear. Anything higher on the front causes the thing to understeer way too much, especially on near-finished tyres. I used all upgrades except the brake balance controller and the lsd upgrades (used the standard LSD). Suspension settings I left standard.
At first without the spoiler I was running hard tires on the front and superhard tires on the rear, but that quickly proved a very big mistake and as a result the car was practically uncontrollable (even though B-spec apparently had no problems whatsoever), way too much oversteer. So I switched to hard tires front and rear. I ran some test laps with it and eventually managed a 7:11 by not making any serious mistake (only missing a couple of apexes, no side trips or spins). By this time I had B-specced the ring with a lot of opponents to see the speed of the AI, and these were the results:
Code:
AI Car Fastest lap
Chaparral 2D Race Car 7:01
Abt Audi TT-R Touring Car 7:18
Vauxhall Calibra Super TC 7:20
BMW M3 GTR Race car 7:21
Audi A4 Touring Car 7:22
Alfa Romeo 155 2.5 V6 TI 7:24
Opel Calibra Touring car 7:29
AMG Mercedes 190 E EvoII 7:36
ASL ARTA Garaiya 7:45
Toyota WEDSSPORT Celica 7:47
Toyota SUPERAUTOBACS APEX MR-S 7:51
CUSCO Subaru Advan Impreza 7:54
Nissan C-WEST RAZO SILVIA 7:59
Spoon S2000 Race car 8:31Unfortunately the B-spec times of the Europa were so bad (7:30s) that I was going to A-spec the entire race. I estimate that the M3 GTR pits about every 5 laps, but I could only get 3 laps out of my Europa on hard tires. I never tried superhards because I just didn't like the handling (I did enter the 24h on superhards once to see how many A-spec points I'd get: 160). The opponents I got were:
Code:
- The Nissan C-WEST RAZO SILVIA
- The BMW M3 GTR Race Car
- The Spoon S2000 (yay!)
- The Opel Calibra Touring Car
- The Mercedes Evo thingieI started out great by spinning the first lap and losing 30 seconds getting out.. After that I put the pace on and didn't make any serious mistake for two hours. I overtook everyone without too many problems. The fastest laps I got these first hours were about 7:09s (the laps between pit-out and pit-in).
I figured this was very fast and I couldn't go much faster, since in my test laps I did 7:11s. I didn't do everything in one go by the way, I took about 3-4 hours per day.
The second day I wasn't exactly full on concentration and went off track 4-5 times. Besides that I barely ran any lap under 7:10 due to small mistakes. After that everything seemed to go great, I got my concentration back and began to find the right lines on the track. I first managed a 7:07.0xx by slipstreaming twice in a lap, but only a couple of laps after that I made the same time without encountering any traffic. I figured I was very close to the best possible lap using the car-track combination, which I estimated would be about 7:06.xx in a Lotus Europa on the ring. By about 6 hours in the race I lapped the number 2 car, the M3 GTR, for the first time.
It turns out I was wrong about that. I learned some more tricks the 4th and 5th day and managed a 7:05.xx by slipstreaming once. Then I really got into the groove and began to turn out fast laps all the time. I consistently rode fast laps of 7:05.xx for 2 hours without making any serious or even small mistake. (that is not to say that I rode the best line or the highest speed on every piece of track ofcourse). The sixth day also went by like this. I managed to overtake the M3 GTR 2 times more during these days.
The seventh day I pushed myself a bit more and managed to drive my fastest lap in the race: a 7:04.435 without traffic/slipstreaming. I honestly don't think it's possible to go much faster than this wihtout using any dirty tricks. By the way, I want to say that I didn't use one trick or cheat at all. I never took shortcuts over the grass (intended shortcuts, anyway..), I never wallrode the carousel or any other part. In fact, all time I spent riding the walls and the grass actually cost me time instead of gaining it.
The eight day I did about 5 hours worth of racing because I wanted to finish the race. I was still consistently lapping 7:05s for the fast laps. In the end I managed to overtake the M3 GTR once more and I had about three-quarters of a lap extra on him when I finished.
The end result:
Car used: Lotus Europa, Max NA Tune, Standard Diff, No brake controller, Everything else maxed out.
Tyres: Front: Racing Hard, Rear: Racing Hard
Fastest Lap: 7:04.435
Laps ahead of number two (M3 GTR): ~4.75 laps
Total number of laps: 197Laps
Total time: 24:04? (I don't remember exactly, I was about halfway in the lap when the timer reacher 24 hours)
Pit stops: every 3 laps
A-Spec points: 120 A-spec points (would've gotten 160 if I started with super hard tires)
Transmission: Auto-12
Horsepower: 226 BHP with oil change
Weight: 664kg
Suspension: Racing, Default
Downforce: Front: 15 Rear: 30
In the end the car didn't even call for an oil change. I changed the oil before the race and the car had done about 1000 kms before the race. The oil was looking a bit dirty at the end of the race and it probably wouldn't have lasted long. I could (and did) do a chassis refresh after the race.
By the way, in considering a car for the 24h ring I compared some other cars as well. I put my complete list of tested cars and laptimes in this post. Maybe it can help someone. All of these cars I tested once or twice on the ring using free run. Some of them I tested in B-spec to find out how long the tires would last (I tested all cars with racing hard tyres front and rear). The times shouldn't be taken seriously, but they can be used as a pointer to find out the difference in cars. I also logged a fun/danger factor for every car. The higher the number, the more fun the car is and the more risk it has to spin out or get off track. The most boring cars I rated negatively.
Code:
Own times (racing hard tires): mistake timeloss -5 stable/boring/safe_unstable/fun/dangerous +5
Mazda RX-7 Bathurst R FD 6:58 0 -2
Mazda BP Falken RX-7 6:59 0 +3.5
Nissan 300ZX Z31 '81 S2 7:05 5 +1
Mitsu LanEvo 6 TME 7:07 0 +2
Mazda RX-7 GT-X FC - S5 Turbo 7:09 0 0
Chrysler Crossfire 7:11 5 -3
Lotus Europa Maxtune+Spoiler 7:11 0 +4
BMW M3 GTR 7:12 0 -4
Toyota Supra 2.5GT - S1 Turbo 7:13 5 0
Opera Performance S2000 7:14 0 +1
Opera Performance 350Z 7:16 5 +2
Lotus Elise 111R 7:16 5 +5USNF
Mazda RX-8 Type S 7:18 5 -2
Sileighty - S2 Turbo 7:20 5 0
Toyota Celica XX 2800GT '81 7:20 5 -2
Nissan Skyline HT2000 '83 7:22 0 -1
AMUSE S2000 R1 7:23 5 +1
Nissan Fairlady 280Z 7:23 0 +2
Fiat Coupe 7:24 0 -5
Sprinter Trueno S.S. Maxtune 7:25 0 +1
Lancia Stratos Maxtune 7:29 30 +5
BMW 2002 Turbo '73 7:29 5 +3
Nissan Fairlady 2000 '68Maxtune 7:30 3 +3
Renault Clio Sport V6 7:32 30 +4
Spoon Civic Type R 7:45 10 -5
Volvo 240 '88 8:05 3 -5
Fiat Panda 8:19 0 -5Some images from the start of the race:
:tup:
