Endurance Events

Austin343

Oh, and Smallhorses, if you're reading this, I too have had the "wrong way" icon pop up on the Hunaudieres - twice! I don't remember the hours in which these occurred, but they seemed to happen in the same place, less than a third of the way down the straight. [Edit: It happened a third time! It appears where an unused public road comes in from the right, and if you look back after passing the point, you can see a roundabout sign on the right-hand side (of the screen, not the road) that is more or less in line with the point in question.]

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I had that too while practising for La Sarthe I, just shy of the roundabout sign at the top of Hunaudieres...

Out of curiosity, I just tested a mostly fresh 905 at Sarthe II with an R3/R2 tire combination, TCS 1, and otherwise the same setup I used to actually do the race. I drove by WRS rules, which is to say that I kept at least two tires on the rumble strip (where there was one) and could put the rest of the car in the runoff. With a fastest lap well into the 3'02s and the tire combination lasting eight laps , even with my tire-shredding driving, this car could make an absolute laugher of La Sarthe II for 200 points as long as you found the lineup I did and started on R1/R1. I mean, this would even be faster than the 787B by a large margin, which is really saying something.

Speaking of the 787B, it is predictably very easy to win with it at La Sarthe I, even with the same driving style I used with the Peugeot. Driving in such a clean way and with a 200-point stock-car-thread-ready setup, I could reach the 3'23s in just a nine-lap testing period (when I had to pit for fuel), giving me a lot of leeway to take turns and make passes cautiously and keep the race truly as clean as possible.

Would you mind revealing what car you're using? I'm almost sure it's the Zonda, but it could be the Ford GT LM Spec II. I tried those cars, but they had neither the speed nor the tire life to come even close - on NTSC, that is, where 3'36 laps will most definitely not do the job with any field. You need very low 3'3x times to stand a chance against the LMPs and obviously won't come close to the Group Cs.

Roadster 4 hour Endurance
Tsukuba Circuit


Lineup 1
Mazda MX-5 SR-Limited (J) '97
Mazda MX-5 1.8 RS (J) '98
Mazda MX-5 S-Special Type I (J) '95
Mazda MX-5 1800 RS (J) '00
Mazda MX-5 VR-Limited (J) '95
Mazda MX-5 1600 NR-A (J) '04 (me) - 113hp

Setup

I'm not good with tuning, and tried many of the setups in this thread. I eventually decided to use nige's setup, which I repeat here:

Suspension
- Springs 6.8/3.4
- Ride height 89/89
- Damper Bound 3/10
- Rebound 5/7
- Camber 2.5/1.5
- Toe 0/0
- Stabiliser 7/7

Transmission

Auto 1
Gears
2.744
1.806
1.405
1.091
0.893
Final : 5.400
Ballast 189 at +50

Aids 0/0/0

NOS @ 100

Tyres E/RD, change to RD/RD on first stop



This was my final race to obtain the maximum A-Spec points and one of the hardest. It wasn't as difficult as I'd initially thought it would be. It just takes a LOT of practice to get used to the car and track.

I started two places behind the 1800 RS, and planned to ram him off the track at turn 2. The economy tyres really slowed me down, so after turn 1 I had to use NOS to catch the 1800Rs, cutting the grass at turn 2 to ram him off the track. He falls to 6th while I take 4th place after cutting the hairpin at T2. I pit on the first lap and change to RD/RD tyres. I come out 31.5 seconds behind at T1. I had nine bars of NOS left at this stage, and used an estimated 0.7 bars per lap. I'd use the NOS on the long straight and the section just after turn 1. I got the lead on lap 13, while the 1800 RS was still in 4th place. At this stage, I had ONE bar of NOS left for the remaining 3 and a half hours. The 1800 RS caught up after a couple more laps, and from there I was blocking it for the next 3 and a half hours. Every lap I had to be watching my rear view mirror.

Blocking the 1800 RS is the key to winning the race. Once you become good at blocking, this race will be easy. I'm not that good of a driver, my laps were an average of 1'13.5 to 1'14 , which is not nearly as good as drivers such as Austin343 and bttlefed who average in the 1'12s. The other MX-5's do laps in the 1'13 range, so they were also keeping up with me and even beating my lap times when their tyres were warm. I was so off the pace, that while driving and keeping the 1800 RS behind me, the other MX-5's caught up, and all the cars started to bunch up together. The SR-Limited even passed me on the long straight, but I caught up (no NOS) and used the SR-Limited to help me take the last turn. All the cars were bunched together until me and the 1800 RS pitted on lap 77. We came out in 5th and 6th. The key to me pulling away from the other MX-5's were their pit strategies. They'd run about 40 laps before pitting, and for the few laps when their tyres were worn, I was probably about 0.5 seconds faster per lap. I'd also make up time when their tyres were cold. Last week when I B-Spec'd and checked on lap times, their lap times were in the higher 1'14s on cold tyres, while my laps were in the low 1'14s on cold tyres, and in the 1'13s on warm tyres.

The VR-Limited was also a problem for me, mainly because of its pit strategy. It pitted every 45 laps, which meant it had lots of clear laps to achieve its 1'13 lap times. When it came out of the pits on lap 91, it was in front of me. Luckily I caught it due to its slow pace on cold tyres. For the rest of the race I was trying to improve my lap times so that I would be able to stay ahead of the VR-Limited, whilst still keeping the 1800 RS behind me. When the 1800 RS went to pit on 190, the VR-Limited took second place and was 12 seconds behind. I went on to win the race by 9.9 seconds and achieve my final 200 points.


Distance Covered: 193 Laps
Fastest Lap (NOS) 1'11.165
Fastest Lap (without NOS) 1'13.137


Always make sure to block the inside of the corner when taking each and every turn. If the 1800RS passes on the inside, he'll push you wide and make it difficult to catch up. The 1800 RS only passed me 3 times, twice at the end of the long straight where he is most dangerous, and once in the first turn. Another tip is to use as little fuel as is required. This of course makes the car lighter giving it better handling. I kept a maximum of 25 litres of fuel between stops and pressed off the fuel in the stops to keep as little fuel as is required.

Pit Stops:

Lap 1, 40, 77, 114, 152

That's an impressive achievement. 👍 Judging by your lap times and the number of occasions on which the opponents passed you, it sounds like you're much better at blocking than I am, certainly a valuable skill. It's funny that because of pit strategies and your blocking, the 1800 RS didn't even finish in second place.

Completed the Laguna Seca 200 Mile Endurance race yesterday with my C5 Corvette, was really pleased, enjoyed a good race although the challenging Saleen S7 tailed off towards the end.

I made one or two adjustments to the car, added the Weight Reduction Stage 1 and then fitted R2 tires, which dropped the A-Spec points to 162. If you keep Sports Hard tires on, A-Spec remains at 200, but once I entered, I stuck to my guns and didn't bother quitting back out to get the extra 38 points, leaving that for another time.

Anyway, the race turned out to be relatively comfortable in the end, the winning margin reading approximately 1 min and 20 seconds, judging from previous splits. Other competitors with the S7 were the Ford GT, Shelby Series 1, Chevy Camaro SS and the Pontiac GTO 5.7.

I will be trying this later on in my GT4 save for the 200, but felt I should mention that it most definitely is possible in a C5, it really drove like a dream, and is an enjoyable race. 👍

Le Sarthe II 24 hours - for 200 A-spec points

I just completed the 24 hour race at LeMans in my Black Toyota GT-ONE against the following lineup:

Minolta Toyota 88CV, Mercedes Sauber C9, Nissan R92CP, Nissan R89C, Jaguar XJR-9

My Toyota GT-ONE had 700HP at the start of the race. I started on R1/R2 tires and switched to R2/R2 tires at the first pit stop on lap 10. I had 20kg of ballast and a moderate amount of downforce.

My main competition of course, was the Minolta, however, the Sauber was only about 30 seconds behind the Minolta all race long. A fairly easy race since I lapped the field numerous times, and toyed with the Minolta and the Sauber during the final three hours of the race when I got bored.

Austin343

I'm done! I ended up with 443 laps in 24:00'05.804 with the same best lap as before, a 3'08.279, and put about 3745 miles on the odometer. My margin of victory was 8 laps over the 88C-V, about two or three seconds from lapping it for a ninth time (albeit only because it pitted with about eight minutes left), 9 laps over the Sauber, 10 laps over the R92CP, 13 or so laps over the R89C, and 17 laps over the Jaguar. Those statistics betray how evenly matched the best three opponents were; all three were still on the same lap relative to each other about three-quarters of the way through the race....

:

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Good job Austin343, with your win in the Peugeot 905. The Peugeot must really suit your driving style. You don't mention any special tuning tweaks, so your driving skills must make all the difference.

I tried the Peugeot at Le Sarthe II, and was only up by one lap after 10 hours when I lost power and had to re-start the race (we've been having lots of thunder storms lately). This is why I haven't made any posts lately since I had to drive for 34 hours to complete a 24 hour race

While I found that the Peugeot 905 is faster than the competition, I kept having too many off track excursions. Usually, about once or twice a stint, I would lose 10 to 20 seconds by driving off into the sand somewhere.

I was much happier when I re-started the race in my Toyota GT-ONE.

GTsail290

I'm glad you enjoyed racing in the GT-ONE, and congratulations on a convincing and well-deserved victory. 👍

It's actually a bit of an interesting story that I used the Peugeot for this race, because even relatively recently, I had really struggled badly with the car and, specifically, the infamous gearbox. That may have been largely due to my use of automatic transmission, which is at its absolute worst on a slow-shifting and wheelspinning car, but I really never did get to grips with it until a few months ago. So completing the race with that car must have represented my triumph over my biggest weaknesses, or something deep like that.

No, really, even if you were using the same downforce/ballast setup I was (and I'm not sure you were), being up by one lap after 10 hours is still good; I was probably only three laps ahead, and I had practiced a fair amount for the race already. The car does require a lot of practice, even with essentially no suspension changes like I did, and La Sarthe has always been one of the places where I'm fastest, anyway (I'm much less competitive on tracks like Trial Mountain and many city tracks ). And if you were making mistakes at that rate, then your lap times must have been near mine. I made plenty of little errors, like putting two wheels in sand or running wide and brushing the wall exiting the final Porsche Curve, but made all of three "major" (5+ second) mistakes, mostly because the way I drove put a swath of runoff tarmac between me and the sand in many key places.

I'm over 16 hours into La Sarthe I, using a stock black 787B with no ballast, reduced downforce, and no oil change or chassis refresh (all done with the stock car thread in mind). I haven't been doing quasi-race-report updates like I did last time because I found that I was making many more mistakes than in the previous race, mostly of the two-tires-on-red-tarmac-or-grass variety but also more careless offs and idiotic moves passing AI. That means that there's really nothing notable about my race (not that what I did at La Sarthe II really was, either ), particularly because I'm using just about the most predictable car possible. I am still trying to take the more realistic lines I did last race, but I'm just not executing it as well as I was, partly because of the car's handling characteristics (primarily the "weaviness" caused by the already-bent chassis) and partly because of my lack of concentration. I'm not enjoying myself nearly as much this time; driving La Sarthe for 48 hours really wears on you.

Austin343

I'm glad you enjoyed racing in the GT-ONE, and congratulations on a convincing and well-deserved victory. 👍

It's actually a bit of an interesting story that I used the Peugeot for this race, because even relatively recently, I had really struggled badly with the car and, specifically, the infamous gearbox. That may have been largely due to my use of automatic transmission, which is at its absolute worst on a slow-shifting and wheelspinning car, but I really never did get to grips with it until a few months ago. So completing the race with that car must have represented my triumph over my biggest weaknesses, or something deep like that.

No, really, even if you were using the same downforce/ballast setup I was (and I'm not sure you were), being up by one lap after 10 hours is still good; I was probably only three laps ahead, and I had practiced a fair amount for the race already. The car does require a lot of practice, even with essentially no suspension changes like I did, and La Sarthe has always been one of the places where I'm fastest, anyway (I'm much less competitive on tracks like Trial Mountain and many city tracks ). And if you were making mistakes at that rate, then your lap times must have been near mine. I made plenty of little errors, like putting two wheels in sand or running wide and brushing the wall exiting the final Porsche Curve, but made all of three "major" (5+ second) mistakes, mostly because the way I drove put a swath of runoff tarmac between me and the sand in many key places....

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I think my laps in the Peugeot 905 were about one second slower than yours, however, I was cutting the Ford chicane just before the start/finish line. My problem at Le Sarthe is the Porsche Curves. I lose a ton of time going thru them, so I get the time back by cutting the Ford chicane.

I drive mostly automatic as well, except when I need a few tenths like in some of the License Tests (the New York Mission in the Toyota also comes to mind). I might break down and use the manual next time I drive the Peugeot 905 because its gearbox is so slow. I figured that the slow gearbox would not hurt me at Le Sarthe because there is not that much shifting involved on each lap. I have previously used the Peugeot 905 Race Car at Motegi Superspeedway to win 200 points against the Formula GT cars, so IMO its a decent race car if used properly.

Good luck at Sarthe I Austin343, not that you need it. Doing another 24 hour race so soon is quite a challenge. I have only 4 points there, so expect me to try it shortly. I have no idea what car I used, but it must have had some extra horsepower!

I am currently 118 laps into the 228 lap endurance race at Fuji in my Black Toyota GT-ONE. I am up by about seven laps, so I should easily claim another 131 A-spec points since I had previously won 69 there.

GTsail290

Laguna Seca 200 miles - for 200 A-spec points

I just finished a nice challenging race at Laguna Seca for 200 points in my Chevy Corvette Grand Sport. After 90 laps, my margin of victory was 7 seconds!!

The finishing order was:

Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport '96 2.20.25.051
Saleen S7 '02 2.20.32.607
Ford GT '05 2.20.34.125
Shelby Series 1 SuperCharged 2.20.40.182
Chevy Camaro SS '00 over 1 lap down
Pontiac GTO 5.7 Coupe '04 over 1 lap down

A very interesting race due to the various pit strategies that my competition employed.
The Saleen pits on laps 22,44,66,88
The Ford GT pits on laps 16,32,48,64,80
The Shelby pits like me on laps 18,36,54,72

So even though the Saleen finishes second, you almost never see him. The car you race against is the Ford GT who is right on your back bumper all race long (or at least in your mirror).

I jumped into the lead at the end of lap one since all the cars are slow on cold tires. I stayed in front until I pitted on lap 18, when the Saleen took over the lead until he pitted on lap 22. I passed the Saleen while he was getting fresh rubber and re-took the lead. This continued all race. I was in second place, 24 seconds down when the Saleen pitted for his final time on lap 88, so I passed him while he was in the pits, and drove on for two laps to get my 7 second margin of victory!!

The Ford GT pits before me (after riding my back bumper) so I would pull out a 4 to 8 second lead over him after each round of pit stops. However, the Ford GT would then run faster laps than me which would eliminate this gap by the time he needed to pit again.

The Shelby Series 1 pits on the same laps as me but was never in contention, so I never saw him except at the start.

My Grand Sport had a number of upgrades to compete in this endurance race.

I went to my friendly Chevy dealer and purchased all non-point parts. I had them give my engine a nice "port polish", plus I had them perform a Stage 1 weight reduction by having them throw out the back seats and my sixteen speaker radio/CD player. I also installed a semi-racing exhaust, a racing chip and the Stage 1 NA tune.

So after all these modifications my Grand Sport had 385HP (at the garage screen) and weighted 1496kg (I had to add back 15kg of ballast to get the 200 points after the Stage 1 weight reduction was performed. I ran all race on R1/R2 tires.

Without drafting or NOS my best lap was a 1.31.163 screamer. I was normally running 1 minute and 32 second laps once my tires warmed up.

Using the Chevy Grand Sport was great fun and just another way of winning the beautiful 1969 Ford GT40 in Gulf colors.

GTsail290

That sounds like a great race, GTsail. Congratulations on persevering through all the uncertainty brought about by the different pit strategies to win. 👍

I've finished my 24 hour race, finally. I completed 413 laps in 24:02'24.483 with a fastest lap (on my second-to-last lap!) of 3'22.298, and pitted every 9 laps. My margin of victory, against lineup 2, was 8 laps over the Sauber (lapped with under 10 minutes left), which was followed by the R92CP, 787B, R89C, and GT-ONE. I used a setup from GTP, either Duckracer's or Mt. Lynx's, but any setup should win without a problem. Also, I turned off the driving aids, adjusted the transmission to top out in the draft at a bit over 240 mph, and lowered the downforce to 49/62. It wasn't a very satisfying race, as I was very inconsistent and made a huge number of small mistakes (plus a few major ones), so in retrospect, I probably should have used the black GT-ONE even though it's already been done. At least I have 200 more points to show for my effort.

Austin343

That sounds like a great race, GTsail. Congratulations on persevering through all the uncertainty brought about by the different pit strategies to win. 👍

I've finished my 24 hour race, finally. I completed 413 laps in 24:02'24.483 with a fastest lap (on my second-to-last lap!) of 3'22.298, and pitted every 9 laps. My margin of victory, against lineup 2, was 8 laps over the Sauber (lapped with under 10 minutes left), which was followed by the R92CP, 787B, R89C, and GT-ONE. I used a setup from GTP, either Duckracer's or Mt. Lynx's, but any setup should win without a problem. Also, I turned off the driving aids, adjusted the transmission to top out in the draft at a bit over 240 mph, and lowered the downforce to 49/62. It wasn't a very satisfying race, as I was very inconsistent and made a huge number of small mistakes (plus a few major ones), so in retrospect, I probably should have used the black GT-ONE even though it's already been done. At least I have 200 more points to show for my effort.

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Good job Austin343 at Le Sarthe I

Back to back 24 hour races must be tough.

I hope I didn't slow you down at Le Sarthe. I was testing both my Black Mazda 787B and my Toyota GT-ONE at Le Sarthe this past week and I might have gotten in the way of another Mazda 787B (was that you?). In an effort to get maximum pace at Le Sarthe, I always take off my outside mirrors, so I don't always see overtaking cars. Of course, there shouldn't be any overtaking cars once I dial in my race car, but I guess you would be an exception!

I am also considering using a AMG Mercedes CLK-GTR Race Car at LeSarthe I, but have done no testing with it. I think its fast enough, but I wonder if the tires hold up.

I am currently testing a couple of race cars at Infineon in anticipation of a run for 200 points in the Infineon endurance race (a track that I really like).

GTsail290

Is it in any way possible to use the Saleen S7 for Sarthe endurance (either on or 2) for 200 spec and/or Bspec.. Would be grand, cause I need the mileage on it to get the Saleen Cup for 200 specpoints

??

GTsail290

Good job Austin343 at Le Sarthe I

Back to back 24 hour races must be tough.

I hope I didn't slow you down at Le Sarthe. I was testing both my Black Mazda 787B and my Toyota GT-ONE at Le Sarthe this past week and I might have gotten in the way of another Mazda 787B (was that you?). In an effort to get maximum pace at Le Sarthe, I always take off my outside mirrors, so I don't always see overtaking cars. Of course, there shouldn't be any overtaking cars once I dial in my race car, but I guess you would be an exception!

I am also considering using a AMG Mercedes CLK-GTR Race Car at LeSarthe I, but have done no testing with it. I think its fast enough, but I wonder if the tires hold up.

I am currently testing a couple of race cars at Infineon in anticipation of a run for 200 points in the Infineon endurance race (a track that I really like).

GTsail290

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Well good luck on the AMG CLKGTR.. I tried it for B-spec but it totally didn't work out .. Maybe when the right settings are used it'll be easier but for now I'm B-speccin' sarte 1 with the playstation pescarolo

Djeng

Well good luck on the AMG CLKGTR.. I tried it for B-spec but it totally didn't work out .. Maybe when the right settings are used it'll be easier but for now I'm B-speccin' sarte 1 with the playstation pescarolo

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Good luck at Le Sarthe with the Playstation Pescarolo. I have not B-spec'd it there, but I imagine that it can win. The Playstation can definitely win at Le Sarthe in A-spec mode.

I have used both the Sauber Mercedes C9 and the Minolta Toyota 88CV in B-spec mode to win at Le Sarthe. The only trouble that I had when B-specing Le Sarthe is the Mulsanne corner where all my race cars like to go into the sand.

GTsail290

Djeng

Is it in any way possible to use the Saleen S7 for Sarthe endurance (either on or 2) for 200 spec and/or Bspec.. Would be grand, cause I need the mileage on it to get the Saleen Cup for 200 specpoints

??

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I would be astonished if it were capable of either, because it has no downforce (you can't put a wing on it). Doing so wouldn't be useful anyway because wearing a car down fully means you have to take it to Test Course in practice mode with all removable power modifications applied and run it in the redline on B-Spec for 9000 miles. At La Sarthe, you would spend most of your time not in the redline, and the race is under 4000 miles long, anyway.

Completed the Laguna Seca race last night for 200 points in a stock Honda NSX-R Concept (1162 miles on the clock, oil change) with R1 tyres on.

It was a reasonably good race, took 5 laps to get to first place lapping within 0.2 of each other, but when i got past my lap times dropped a second and i pulled out an easy lead.

I made things interesting however by continually falling asleep and doing lap times in second places range, so i grabbed a cold beer to keep me awake. Eventually came home with a ~43 second win and a fastest lap of 1'33.072.

Total race time: 2:23'42.425, 4 stops.
298BHP, 1270kg

Line up

Dodge Viper GTS
Dodge Viper SRT10
Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport
Chevrolet Camaro SS
Ford Mustang SVT Cobra R

The only problem was picking a lineup without any really quick cars like these:

Saleen S7, Ford GT etc.

Does this count for the stock car race thread? For some reason the BHP figure seams a bit high (i could've sworn NSX's were 278BHP) but i haven't touched the thing?

That's because you changed the oil. It gives a 5% power boost, and the Concept might have a few more horsepower than a normal NSX anyway (although I doubt it). It's still eligible for the stock car thread, though. 👍

ABud

Does this count for the stock car race thread?

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C'mon Abud, you've been here long enough to know that a little bit of searching won't harm anyone. Read the rules in the 1st post in the stockcar thread and you have your answer.

[/politeness]

AMG.

My apologies AMG, i'd misread the tire allowances last time i looked at the thread (more like, skipped the bit about the AI using R1's in this race). I think i'll add this up now, but i may run the race again in a slower NSX (or NSX-S if too slow) tonight.

Infineon World Sports Car Race - for 200 A-spec points

Very straightforward race. I used the ubiquitous Black Mazda 787B, which is almost like cheating. Getting the full 200 points on offer has nicely pushed my A-spec total over 107,000 points.

The finishing order was:

Black Mazda 787B (me)
Nissan R92CP Race Car (2 laps down)
Audi R8 Race Car (4 laps down)
Pescarolo Courage C60 (4 laps down)
Bentley Speed 8 (5 laps down)
Toyota GT-ONE (5 laps down)

The Nissan R92CP is the main competition, but he usually pits every 12 laps, so you gain quite a bit thru the pit stop sequences. I did ride the tires on the hairpin turn on about half the laps, but otherwise a nice clean race.

My Black Mazda 787B had 725HP at the start of the race. I started on R1/R1 tires, and took on 40kg of ballast, so my Mazda weighted in at 870kg. Downforce was set to 53/77. My best lap was 1.18.358

I really like the Infineon race track, so this was probably about the 10th time I've completed this Endurance Race (some races used a mixture of A-spec and B-spec driving).

I can remember the first time that I tried this race about two years ago and struggled to win using the Minolta Toyota 88CV. I had to switch my tires back and forth during the pit stops, in an effort to sometimes have fast laps, and then sometimes to make the tires last longer to equal the competition's pit schedules. I remember being slower than the competition when I was on R1 tires.

GTsail290

Well, after finally finding work, I've been spending time playing GT4 again...


Endurance Events / Circuit de la Sarthe II 24 h Endurance
vs Lineup #1 (NTSC/USA)
Nissan R89C Race Car '89
Mazda 787B Race Car '91
Sauber Mercedes C 9 Race Car '89
MINOLTA Toyota 88C-V Race Car '89
Jaguar XJR-9 Race Car '88

Driving: Abt Audi TT-R Touring Car '02 (234.2 miles, Pre-Race Oil Change)
Mods: R2 Tires, Oil Change, Turbo 4, Nitrous
Settings: R2/R2, Turbo 4 (768 SettingsHP); Nitrous @ 30; Brake Balance 4/4; Auto Gearing 19 (6th @ 0.758); Aids 002; Downforce 38/53; 0 Ballast

I'd pit every 9 laps, as would the 787, but everyone else came in after 8. With good oil, I could hit 214 down the straight, but that would drop to 207 by the end of the race. With a draft, this baby could climb to the mid 230s and stay just under the limiter.

With 3947.3 miles now on the odometer, I completed 440 laps to the Minolta's 434. The Oil Light came on with 3680 miles on the clock (Lap 409). Drafting the Sauber onto Hunaudiers and out of Mulsanne and Arnage led to a best lap 3'05.338 (no bottle), and I cut the Dunlop and Start/Finish curves on every lap (averaging around 3'10 to 3'13). Total Race Time of 24:01'00.990

Read my name... Don't ever expect me to drive clean... EVER! 👍
The Post-Race Settings HP dropped to 703 with T4 (452 "stock").
...

I wanted to wear the car down some more before entering the DTM (more details later in the Euro thread), and I figured that if I could beat this field at CdlSII, then Fuji 90's would be cake.

Endurance Events / Fuji 1000 km
vs Lineup #1 (NTSC/USA)
Nissan R92CP Race Car '92
Chevrolet Corvette C5R (C5) '00
Sauber Mercedes C 9 Race Car '89
Nissan R390 GT1 Race Car '98
Nissan R89C Race Car '89

Driving: Abt Audi TT-R Touring Car '02 (3947.3 miles, NO Oil since 234.2)
Mods: R2 Tires, Turbo 4, Nitrous
Settings: R2/R2, Turbo 4 (703 SettingsHP); Nitrous @ 30; Brake Balance 4/4; Auto Gearing 17; Aids 002; Downforce 38/53; 0 Ballast

Cutting through the left hander just after T1 and the chicane (EVERY Lap), I ended up with a 16 Lap lead. I'd pit after every 12 laps, with a bottle-assisted best of 1'10.493. Total Race Time of 4:46'06.747

The TTR finished with 4559.9 miles and 677 Settings HP with T4 (435 "stock").
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Endurance Events / Suzuka 1000 km
vs Lineup #13 (NTSC/USA)
Opel Astra Touring Car '00
Toyota au CERUMO Supra (JGTC) '01
Mazda RX-8 Concept LM Race Car '01
Nissan XANAVI HIROTO GT-R (JGTC) '01
2000 Ford Falcon XR8

Driving: Abt Audi TT-R Touring Car '02 (4671.0 miles, NO Oil since 234.2)
Mods: R1 Tires, Nitrous
Settings: R1/R1, 435 SettingsHP; Nitrous @ 30; Brake Balance 4/4; Auto Gearing 14; Aids 002; Downforce 28/43; 200 Ballast @ 0

After running in the DTM, the TTR had 4671.0 miles, still with 435 SettingsHP "stock". I loaded up Lineup #13, equipped the R1 Tires, took the downforce down 10 ticks F/R. I would've won by 3 laps over the RX8 if I didn't run out of gas out of Spoon on the last lap. It got by, despite my laughable efforts to block it while coming up the final hill. Total Race Time of 6:01'18.045

I'd cut the grass out of 2nd Curve and into the Esses, the Degner kink, and through Casio. I'd make anywhere from 2-3 seconds per lap, saving the bottle until lap 168 or so. With it, I posted a 1'59.383, and without I posted a 2'01.466. The TTR finished with 5284.5 miles and 433 SettingsHP.

As a side note, I originally planned on doing this race with the M3 (production model). After a couple of failed test runs, I realized that the TTR was a better plan.
...

So, there you have it. 600 points after 35 hours of racing... [sarcasm]yay[/sarcasm]

The good thing is that the 200-pointer streak is still going. I'm at 249 in a row now, and theoretically, one can do more than 400. I've got a little more scheduling/planning to make sure I don't mess things up, as I'm nearing Week 75, after which my schedule will be REALLY tight.

I have a job again!👍 And, I'm playing GT4 again!!👍👍👍

Have A Great Drive
RoadHazard

The last of the 24h races are done, and I got my first FGT (White/Purple)!!👍

Endurance Events / Nurburgring 24 h Endurance
vs Lineup #13 (NTSC/USA)
Nissan FALKEN*GT-R Race Car '04
Abt Audi TT-R Touring Car '02
AMG Mercedes 190 E. EvoII Touring Car '92
Toyota WEDSSPORT CELICA (JGTC) '03
Alfa Romeo 155 2.5 V6 TI '93

Driving: BMW M3 '04 (0.0 miles, No Oil Change)
Mods: R1 Tires, Racing Muffler/Air Cleaner, Chip, NA2, Nitrous, Racing Brakes, Sports Suspension, Full Custom Transmission, Triple Plate Clutch, Racing Flywheel, Carbon Driveshaft
Settings: R1/R1; RC Muffler, Chip, NA2 (421 SettingsHP); Nitrous @ 40; Ride Ht 100/100, Shocks 6/5, Camber 0.0/0.5; Auto Gearing 12 (Default); Aids 000; 0 Ballast

Finally finished this one! 199 laps to the TT-R's 195. I might've been able to get 200 in if I didn't stay up 'til 3am on Friday (Saturday), running a couple laps in the 7'40" to 9'30" range, but whatever. Most laps were around 7'05 to 7'10, with a best of 6'59.590 (6'57.963 bottle-assisted).

Needless to say, I'd cut the grass leading into Hocheichen, through Adenauer-Forst, wallrides at Breidscheid, Bergwerk, and Karussel, and a final grass-cut through Hohenrain. Having to pit after 3 laps when the others went 5 or 6, I wanted to make sure I wasn't "wasting" my efforts on a failed run. I sat at the finish line for 2 minutes to wait for the FALKEN (192 laps) and TT-R (195 laps) to get close enough to post lap counts in the final results screen.

The M3 finished with 2565.0 miles and 415 Settings HP (339 stock).

Unfortunately, this wasn't enough wear-down to get 200 point offers in the Club "M" series using N3 Tires in the front (190). I'm going to have to run some more enduros before that happens... if at all. Laguna, Tokyo, El Capitan, and New York are scheduled next for this car.

I hope in later releases they have a race distance multiplier for A-spec points. It's nearly insulting to race this long for a mere 200 points when it accounts for as much mileage as it does...

In any case, Have A Great Drive!
RoadHazard

-----------------------------------

Thanks, tizocspeed8! After 250 races (272 to go!), I'm on 58500 with 52.8% complete...
http://img23.imageshack.us/img23/7168/nur24650001.jpg
👍👍

Congratulations Road Hazzard 👍

How much points do you have now?

Fuji's 1000 KM

What a long endurance this was. I decided to got with the black Toyota GT-One. 200kg Ballast. R1 Tires. Result: 200 points. The line-up wasn't that bad either. Consisting of:
- Sauber
- Nissan R92 or R89 (don't remember)
- Audi R8
- Panoz
- GT-One (regular one)

The race started off really quick. The Nissan is dangerously fast around the track and I struggled a bit with the tires and decided to pit and go for Racing Medium's after the first round.

At the start of the second round I was way behind of course but was gaining steadily. I did cut the chicane every lap, allowing me to be around 6 seconds faster counting towards a 10 second advantage on the whole lap, when driving cleanly.

The Nissan however was really fast. I pitted every 6 laps (could have been 7 maybe) and with the rest pitting about every 18 rounds I was starting to think this race doomed since my driving the first hour wasn't really what you could call consistent.

After 27 rounds I finally took the lead for the first time, but spun out in the first corner after the straight after having touched the grass lightly. I made similar mistakes up untill round 40 when i finally "got in the zone". Driving a lot more relaxed. Took the lead after 40 rounds after wich due to the pitting schedule of the AI I finally was able to maintain it.

The rest of the race was a cakewalk. Made lots of mistakes but still managed a 11 lap victory over the Sauber that came in second. Finally clocking in at 4:59:57.716

Next up is Sears Point (infineon). Hoping to use the GT-One there as well for 200 points.

Infineon World Sports Car Race 200PTS

Not sure of the exact starting order from this race, but it was the first NTSC lineup:

This is the order in which it finished:

Toyota GT-ONE Race Car 99 Black Version (used oil) [ME]
Sauber Mercedes C 9 Race Car 89
Nissan R89C Race Car 89
Nissan R92CP Race Car 92
Nissan R390 GT1 Race Car 98
Chevrolet Corvette C5R (C5) 00

Pretty easy in the end, had to take all downforce off the car (as much as it would allow), add 50 ballast weight and I used R1 tires to enter the race for 200pts.

Was not getting anywhere using R1 tires, had to pit on lap 14 along with the Sauber and the 2 Nissans, I was about 16-18 seconds behind so I decided to switch to R3 tires. This had the desired effect, was easily able to claw back the deficit as I had so much more grip at the expense of more pits. As the game went on I was gaining that much time I was able to pit every 8-9 laps and come out always in front of the Nissan's and the Sauber. Was easy after that for the duration, very easy race in the end and one which I nearly gave up on before the first pit.

It's interesting to note the many approaches possible for the Sarthe I 24 Hour Endurance race. After a couple of months layoff due to karting and other summertime pursuits, I've resumed my hunt for 200 A-spec points with the trusty Pescarolo-Judd, but with a slight twist. I started on R1 tires but switched to R4/R4 at the end of the first lap. Pitting every 6 laps thereafter and exiting with 58 units of fuel, I was easily able to assume the lead in my 3rd stint. Being rusty from my layoff, I've spun numerous times, but even so have well over a lap in hand over the Sauber (2nd NTSC reset), now at the start of the two hour mark. I'm not expecting too many problems late in the race because I've developed my setup without chassis refresh. All details of my setup are available at the GTVault, posts 23-29: http://www.gtvault.com/gt4/setup-view/s_sid::7385/pos::0

4 Hour update: On plan with 2 laps up on Sauber. The rears now wear a bit more, but still far from orange.
6 Hour update: Finding some rhythm. Still on plan. Sauber 3 laps down.
8 Hour update: Missed a pitstop and suffered a 6+ minute lap! FL 3:13.492, Sauber down 4 laps.
10 Hour update: My chief amusement is lapping the Sauber. He's now down by 6 laps. All is on plan.
12 Hours: A low patch with erratic driving and improvident experimentation. Gained only 1 lap on Sauber.
14 Hours: Back on plan. Sauber is 8 laps back. A curious incident in the pitlane: My AI driver and the Sauber AI driver engaged in multiple nerfings in the pitlane getting in/out of their respective boxes.
16 Hours: Came across the Mazda weaving wildly along the backstretch to Indianapolis. Sauber 9 down.
18 Hours: This baby is still steady as a rock; complete control with the Sauber 10 laps down.
The 20th Hour dawns with a staggering 12 lap lead over the Sauber. This setup is awesome!
22nd Hour update: New FL of 3:13.102. Still getting 6 good laps on R4/R4's. 13 laps up on Sauber.

Finish: 1st place, 421 laps completed, + 15 laps over the Sauber, new FL (draft-aided) 3:12.991
Have now achieved the 111,000 A-Spec watermark. Sarthe II the only remaining "low-hanging fruit", then the going gets much, much tougher!

For easy reference, here are my Sarthe I settings:
Power: 727 on parts change/settings screen, very well worn oil
Brakes: 6/4
Springs: 10.0/9.7
Height: 65/67
Bound: 4/3
Rebound: 6/5
Camber: 2.0/0.7
Toe: -1/-1
Stabilizers: 5/4
Autoset: 22
Aids: 007
Downforce: 57/73
LSD: 10/30/15
Ballast 59 @-23
Rigidity Yes

Here's an exciting way to complete the 24 Hours Of Nurburgring 👍 :

'01 Suzuki GSX-R/4 equipped with the following:

S1 tires
racing brakes
triple plate clutch
racing flywheel
Racing transmission w/ tranny trick and Final drive set @ 4.650 (should've been 4.500), 6th gear was set at 1.230
Wing with full downforce settings (30/30)
Driving aids set @ 0/0/0

This setup is capable of 7:14-7:15 laps early in the race when the chassis is still fresh. Once the rigidity goes away, 7:17-7:18 becomes a good lap, which is still fast enough to defeat the Audi TT-R Touring Car, as he loses a lot of time on his in and out laps. No wallriding or grass shortcuts are required to achieve these times, just smooth driving. Here are my results from the race I completed last night after a 7 day marathon:

1. '01 Suzuki GSX-R/4 (195 laps)
2. '02 Abt Audi TT-R Touring Car (195 laps) - 1:33.112 behind at last seen checkpoint
3. '01 BMW M3 GTR Race Car- 1 lap down
4. '04 Audi A4 Touring Car- 2 laps down
5. '93 Alfa Romeo 155 2.5 V6 TI- 2 laps down
6. '04 Nissan Falken GT-R Racecar- 3 laps down