GTsail's 4 Hour Nurburgring Races

GTsail's Excellent Adventure's at the 'Ring

I have begun my 28th running of the 4 Hour Nurburgring race.

For my most recent attempt, I used a the Honda NSX Type R '02, with sport soft tires, and I will document my progress in a separate post below.

For my previous races, I have listed them below.

I have short write-ups for some of these earlier races, but most were fairly un-eventful, so I'm not going to bore everyone with too much detail.

1st Race:
Car used: TVR Tuscan Speed 6 Race Mod
Tune: HP403
------885kg
------PP569
------RM tires
Race notes: the TVR is waaaaaay to strong, so I lap the field, and actually lap some cars twice.

2nd Race:
Car used: RUF CTR2 '96
Tune: HP528
------1230kg
------PP553
------RM tires
Race notes: another easy race, but driving the RUF is great fun! I have written up more details about this race in another thread, so I won't repeat myself here.

3rd Race:
Car used: Chevy Corvette Z06 C5 '04
Tune: HP433
------1410kg
------PP522
------RM tires
Race notes: a very nice drive! My main competition was the RUF CTR2 '96 which ended up over 6 minutes behind me. The FT565 Audi came in 3rd.

4th Race:
Car used: Nissan Fairlady Z Z34 '08
Tune: HP374
------1530kg
------PP486
------RM tires
Race notes: a decent drive and I have a nice write-up of the race. Interesting occurance, I paused the game at the first hour mark to write some notes and record the grid order and I actually stopped the clock at exactly 1 hour and 1 second, so the clock read: 1.00.01.000. I'm up against the following cars: which are the cars that I'm getting pretty used to beating: HKS CT230R, RUF CTR2 '96, and the HPA FT565 twin turbo Audi.

5th Race:
Car used: Nissan Skyline GTR Vspec II Nur R34 '02
Tune: HP344
------1560kg
------PP475
------RM tires
Race notes: finally, a close race! I win by only 8 seconds, but the margin was less than it could have been because I was intentionally giving the AI a chance to catch me at each pit stop. The HKS CT230R is the car that came in second.

6th Race:
Car used: BMW Concept 1 Series tii '07
Tune: HP336
------1530kg
------PP470
------RM tires
Race notes: The ART Morrison Corvette showed up, so it was fun to race against for a while, but then the Corvette falls away. I win the race by 46 seconds over the HKS CT230R with the HPA FT565 Audi following closely in third. When I ended this race, my level popped to "40"!!!! I had been re-running these races in an effort to get to the 40 A-Spec level, so my goal is achieved!

7th Race:
Car used: Toyota Supra 3.0GT Turbo A '88
Tune: HP350
------1530kg
------PP470
------RM tires
Race notes: I have a nice race against the RUF CTR2 '96 again. I win the race by over 45 seconds but don't have an exact time because of the finishing order quirk that I was experimenting with. This quirk actually put the Opera Performance 350Z in 2nd place at the end of the race even though he was a full lap down to most of the over cars (but he was second to cross the finish line after the 4 hour mark was reached).

8th Race:
Car used: Opel Speedster Turbo '00
Tune: HP266
------1065kg
------PP465
------RM tires
------Wing at 12
Race notes: A quite decent race, the Speedster does quite well, so I win by about 2 minutes and 45 seconds over the 2nd place Mine's BNR34 GTR and the 3rd place Amuse S2000 GTI. I have to install quite a few parts to bring the Opel up to this level of tune.

9th Race:
Car used: Mazda RX-7 Spirit R Type A FD '02
Tune: HP290
------1300kg
------PP463
------RM tires
Race notes: The Mazda RX-7 is great! It feels built for the 'Ring and does an excellent job of smashing the field even at this lowered level of tune. I win by 2 minutes and 30+ seconds over the 2nd place HKS CT230R and even more over the 3rd place Mine's BNR34 GTR.

10th Race:
Car used: Honda NSX Type R '02
Tune: HP256
------1300kg
------PP450
------RM tires
Race notes: The races are starting to get tougher since I keep lowering my car's PP value for each subsequent attempt. The Honda NSX is does extremely well as well at this level of tune. I win by about 1 minute and 30 seconds over the 2nd place HKS CT230R. The Honda could win with an even lower tune.

11th Race:
Car used: Mazda RX-7 Spirit R Type A '02
Tune: HP240
------1300kg
------PP440
------RM tires
Race notes: I enjoyed driving the Mazda RX-7 so much that I decided to give it another go with a lower PP value! After a great race, I won by about 20 seconds over the HPA FT565 Audi who puts up a great fight! The Audi only gets 4th place money since an Option Stream Z and the Opera Performance 350Z (who had both been lapped) snuck in after the 4 hour mark but before the Audi was able to cross the S/F line.

12th Race:
Car used: Lotus Elise 111R '04
Tune: HP187
------900kg
------PP435
------RM tires
------Wing at 5
Race notes: The Lotus Elise does quite well at the 'Ring at this level of tune. I have a great time and win by 41 seconds over the Amuse S2000 GT1. See my post below for more details.

13th Race:
Car used: Honda NSX Type R '02
Tune: HP225
------1300kg
------PP435
------RM tires
Race notes: The Honda did well in the earlier 450PP tune, so I give it another chance. I have a great race against a RUF CTR2 '96, that ends the race in 3rd place, about 20 seconds behind my NSX, with the Nissan Option Stream sneaking in for 2nd place monies even though it was one lap down. The Honda does a great job at the 'Ring, so the race was quite enjoyable (except for the part where I lose 5 seconds down each straight!).

14th Race:
Car used: Toyota FT-86 Concept '09
Tune: HP215
------1010kg
------PP430
------RM tires
Race notes: I have a quite decent race with the Toyota FT-86. It does an excellant job at the 'Ring at this level of tune. See below for my race report.

15th Race:
Car used: Ford Focus RS '02
Tune: HP241
------1060kg
------PP450
------RM tires
Race notes: After a very close race against the usual suspects, I lose by 10 seconds to a fast finishing Amuse S2000 GT1. See my post below for additional details.

16th Race:
Car used: Aston Martin DB9 Coupe '03
Tune: HP435
------1710kg
------PP500
------All tire grades
Race notes: This race was undertaken to do a little tire testing in the 4 hour Endurace Race. I ended up with some decent results, so see my post below for additional details.

17th Race:
Car used: Ford Focus RS '02
Tune: HP286
------1060kg
------PP475
------RH tires
Race notes: See my detailed notes about this race in the separate post below.

18th Race:
Car used: Mazda RX-7 Spirit R Type A FD '02
Tune: HP299
------1300kg
------PP470
------RH tires
Race notes: The Mazda RX-7 is a great car for this 4 hour race. See my detailed notes about this race in the separate post below.

19th Race:
Car used: Mazda RX-7 Spirit R Type A FD '02
Tune: HP285
------1302kg
------PP465
------RH tires
Race notes: the Mazda is very strong, so I beat the 2nd place RUF CTR2 by 65 seconds. See my race notes below:

20th Race:
Car used: Nissan Skyline GTR Vspec II Nur R34 '02
Tune: HP335
------1500kg
------PP475
------Wing @ 3
------RH tires
Race notes: the Skyline is a nice car to drive for 4 hours, but it is a little slow at this level of tune. I only won the race by 4 seconds, and this was after a little grass-cutting to make up some time towards the end of the race. With all the weight the Skyline is carrying, it is just too slow to accelerate up to speed.

21st Race:
Car used: Honda Integra Type R DC5 '04
Tune: HP288
------1050kg
------PP470
------RH tires used throughout race
Race notes: I have a very close race against the strong RUF CTR2 and win by 10 seconds. The Integra does a good job on the 'Ring, so I highly recommend it. See my detailed race notes below.

22nd Race:
Car used: Amuse NISMO 380RS Super Leggera
Tune: HP364
------1150kg
------PP520
------Wing @ 10/20
------SS tires used throughout race
Race notes: See my detailed race notes below.

23rd Race:
Car used: Nissan Fairlady Z Z34 '08
Tune: HP405
------1350kg
------PP510
------Wing @ 8
------SS tires used throughout race
Race notes: See my detailed race notes below.

24th Race:
Car used: Infiniti Coupe Concept '06
Tune: HP397
------1360kg
------PP500
------SS tires used throughout race
Race notes: See my detailed race notes below.

25th Race:
Car used: BMW M3 CSL '03
Tune: HP363
------1380kg
------PP495
------SS tires used throughout race
Race notes: See my detailed race notes below.

26th Race:
Car used: Acura NSX '04
Tune: HP385
------1445kg
------PP490
------SS tires used throughout race
Race notes: See my detailed race notes below.

27th Race:
Car used: RUF RGT '00
Tune: HP337
------1390kg
------PP480
------SS tires used throughout race
Race notes: See my detailed race notes below.

28th Race:
Car used: Honda NSX Type R '02
Tune: HP321
------1350kg
------PP478
------SS tires used throughout race
Race notes: See my detailed race notes below.

More races to follow...
GTsail

The following are my race notes for my Nurburgring Race with the Lotus Elise 111R '04:

My garage already had a Lotus Elise 111R that I've used for some on-line racing so it had a few parts already installed plus the wing. So my Lotus has 187HP, weighted in at 900kg, showed a PP value of 435, I had both RH and RM tires installed, but would race on the RM tires, and since I had a wing installed, I lowered the DF to "5" which is the lowest it would go.

On the starting grid were the following cars:
High End G37
AEM S2000
RUF CTR2 '96
Mine's BNR34 Skyline GTR
Lexus ISF Racing Concept
Nissan Skyline GTR S-tune
(me) in the Lotus Elise 111R
RE Amemiya FD35 RX-7
NISMO 400R
Amuse S2000 GTI
Nissan Gran Turismo 350Z
Amuse Carbon R

From the start I get dropped down the order to last place as everyone beats me off the line! No worries, I pass the NISMO 400R going into turn # 1. I next pass the Nissan Gran Turismo 350Z going thru turn # 3. I also quickly pass the Carbon R going thru turn # 5. And just as we leave the GP circuit, I pass the RE Amemiya RX-7 and take over 8th place in the race. At the end of lap 1, I'm 28 seconds behind the leader (who is unknown at this point).

During lap 2, I catch and battle both the AEM S2000 and the High End G37, and actually pass them both by the Kleine-Karussel. However, they are both able to blast past me on the long straight, so at the end of lap 2 I'm still in 7th place, now 38 seconds behind the leader.

At the beginning of lap # 3, I pass the AEM S2000 by out-braking it going into turn # 1. A bit later on lap 3, going thru the Hatzenbach esses, I pass the High End G37 and take over 5th place in the race. The next checkpoint says that the leader is some 39 seconds up the road. I now know that the leader is the RUF CTR2.

As I cross the S/F line to begin lap # 4, I get passed by both the AEM S2000 and the High End G37. Again, no worries, since I re-pass them both going thru turn # 1. The Hud now says that the leadig RUF has a 51 second lead over me. The rest of lap # 4 was un-eventful.

When I begin lap # 5, the news is flashed that the RUF has a 52 second lead, so I was able to hold my own thoughout the lap. As I get to Brunnchen on lap 5, I catch and pass the Lexus ISF Concept, who is moving fairly slowly on its worn tires. I'm now in 4th place!! At the end of lap 5, the leading RUF pits, and it gets followed into the pits by the 2nd place Mine's BNR34 and the 3rd place car.

I welcome the clean air and an empty track, so I head off on lap # 6 in the lead of the race! At the second checkpoint on lap # 6, I see that I have a 9 second lead over the AEM S2000, who is now in 2nd place because he did not pit yet. The RUF CTR2 is in 3rd. The Amuse S2000 GTI is in 4th, the RE Amemiya RX-7 is in 5th, the Mine's BNR34 is in 6th and the Lexus ISF Concept is in 7th place. I see that the RUF takes over 2nd place in the race as it blasts past the AEM going down the Kesselchen curves. The RUF eliminates my lead almost entirely as we go down the long straight at the end of lap 6.

The RUF CTR2 passes me as we cross the S/F line to begin lap 7. I re-pay the favor and pass him right back going into turn # 1. Going down the long straight at the end of the lap, I get passed by both the RUF and the Amuse S2000 GTI, so when I enter the pits at the end of the lap I've fallen to 3rd place in the race. While I'm in the pits the Mine's BNR34 drives on by and drops me to 4th place.

At the first checkpoint on lap # 8, I see that the Amuse S2000 (who has taken over the lead of the race) has a 33 second lead over me. Not too bad, it could have been worse, but I only took on limited fuel so I saved considerable time in the pits.

When I begin lap # 9, the leading Amuse S2000 is shown as being 48 seconds ahead of me, so I lost some ground during lap # 8 on the cold tires.

At the beginning of lap # 10, the leading Amuse S2000 has a 58 second lead over me. It was much closer during the lap, but I always lose a huge amount of time going down the long straight at the end of each lap. At the end of lap 3 10, the RUF pits again from 2nd place, and again is followed into the pits by the Mine's BNR34 who was in 3rd, so I neatly slide into 2nd place in the race at the beginning of lap # 11.

The leading Amuse S2000 now has a 62 second lead over me. On lap # 11, I can see that the leading Amuse S2000 has slowed considerably (it must ve on very worn tires by now). By the end of the lap, the Amuse only has a 15 second lead over me when he enteres the pits for some new tires. I'm surprised that the Amuse S2000 has pitted on lap # 11, because in all previous races that I've run, the Amuse would not have pitted until lap 3 12 (since he has always been on 6 lap stints). Thinking back, the Amuse may have pitted for some reason on lap # 5, so he had to pit on lap # 11 (I wish the game would tell us when the other AI pits (like GT4 did), but alas it does not).

So I begin lap # 12 with a 10 second lead over the RUF CTR2 who has regained 2nd place in the race. Once again the RUF essentially eliminates my lead as we go down the long straight, so he easily blasts past me as we cross the S/F line at the end of the lap.

I quickly re-pass the RUF CTR2 as we go thru turn # 1 at the beginning of lap # 13. I have a small lead over the RUF as I begin my drive down the long straight, so I hope to be able to draft behing the RUF down the straitht, but the RUF drives by at such a huge speed differential, that I'm unable to catch and hold his draft. Rats!

As we both begin lap # 14, I can see that I've fallen 5 seconds behind the RUF. I push hard during lap #14, so I'm able to catch and pass the leading RUF as we go thru Wehrseifen. Going down the Kesselchen curves, I have to block the RUF a few times to keep him behind me. This allows the 3rd place Mine's BNR34 to catch up with both of us. Going down the long straight I employ a few more blocking manuevers, so the 4th place Amuse S200 catches up as well! My tires are still ok, but since I'm on a 7 lap stint cycle, I pit at the end of the lap and immediately fall down to 4th place in the race as all the trailing cars stream on by.

The Amuse S2000 takes over first place, the RUF CTR2 is shown in 2nd, and the Mine's BNR34 has dibs on third place. The news at the 1st checkpoint on lap # 15 shows that I have fallen 48 seconds behind the Amuse. At the end of lap 15, both the RUF and the Mine's BNR34 pit, so as I begin lap # 16, I pass them both and re-gain 2nd place in the race. I'm some 53 seconds behind the leading Amuse S2000.

Lap # 16 goes well, so as I begin lap # 17, I see that the Amuse has only been able to increase his lead by 4 seconds to 57 seconds over me. The leading Amuse S2000 really struggles on its worn tires during lap 17, so by the Galgenkopf curve I've caught and passed him! I've re-taken the lead of the race! The Amuse obviously needs new tires, so it pits at the end of the lap.

This allows the RUF CTR2 to regain 2nd place and the Mine's BNR34 takes over 3rd. The RUF is shown as being 9 seconds behind me as I begin lap # 18.

As I cross the S/F line to begin lap # 19, the 2nd place RUF is just behind me (less than a second back). I'm able to stay in front of the RUF due to my serpentine path down the S/F straight!
As I continue driving on lap # 19, I see that the 3rd place Mine's BNR34 is gaining on us again and is about 3 seconds behind the RUF.

As I cross the S/F line to begin lap # 20, I see that there is a car in the pits who gets put a lap down to my streaking Lotus. My lead over the 2nd place RUF is just over 1 second! Once again the RUF is able to blast past me on the S/F straight only to be out-braked going into turn # 1, so I maintain my slim lead as I begin lap 20.

As I begin lap # 21, I can see that the 2nd place RUF and the 3rd place Mine's BNR34 both pit. This allows the Amuse S2000 GTI to take over 2nd place in the race. At the first checkpoint on lap 21, the Hud tells me that my lead over the Amuse is 23 seconds. As I continue driving on lap 21, I can tell that my tires are getting quite worn out, so I make sure to be extra careful with my racing lines and slow down a bit to stay off the grass. This allows the Amuse S2000 to make up quite a bit of time on me, so by the end of the lap, when I pit for tires, the Amuse is only 8 seconds behind me. So of course, the Amuse steams on by when I'm in the pits for tires, and he takes over 1st place in the race. Looking at the race clock, I see that there are only 45 minutes left in the race. Can I pull out the win?

Just as I exit the pits to begin lap # 22, the last place NISMO 400R blasts on by. I quickly re-pass the NISMO 400R going thru turn # 1, and put it a lap down again. At the first checkpoint on lap # 22, I see that the leading Amuse S2000 has a 37 second lead over my Lotus Elise.

Lap # 22 goes well because I'm back on fresh tires, so when I begin lap # 23, I'm still in 2nd place, only 36 seconds behind the leading Amuse S2000.

I begin lap # 23 just in front of the 11th place Nissan Gran Turismo 350Z who has just exited the pits. As I get to Eiskurve on lap 23, I've caught up with the leading Amuse S2000, who is struggling again on worn tires. It only takes one more corner to pass the Amuse and take over the lead of the race! Looking back thru the rear-view mirror (I was watching to see if the Amuse would also get caught by the 3rd place RUF) I put some tires on the grass while under full throttle......... and totally lose control and smack the nearby armco. By the time I get sorted and underway again, the RUF, who has passed the Amuse (unseen by me because I was checking for missing body parts (both mine and my cars)) is right on my rear bumper! I have to employ some blocking down the long straight to maintain my lead.

As I cross the S/F line to begin lap # 24 the RUF drives past me, but again it gets out-braked by me going into turn # 1. I've re-gained my composure on lap 24, so by the T10 checkpoint I have a 8 second lead over the 2nd place RUF. As usual the RUF eliminates my lead as I drive down the long straight, so when I cross the S/F line to begin lap # 25, I only have a 1.1 second lead.

The RUF blasts right past me on the S/F straight, but again is re-passed going thru turn # 1. Looking at the track map I can see that the 3rd place Mine's BNR34 is only about 3 seconds behind the RUF, so it has a chance of catching the RUF during this lap.

When I cross the S/F line to begin lap # 26, the race clock shows exactly 8 minutes left, and I have a 5 second lead over the everpresent RUF. I then watch both the RUF and the Mine's BNR34 enter the pits for their final stop (since they are on 5 lap tire stints). The Amuse S2000, who was in 4th place, passes them both before they exit the pits, so the Amuse takes over 2nd place in the race, but is shown as being 49 seconds behind me as my Lotus passes the 2nd checkpoint.

After 4 hours, 1 minute and 23 seconds I cross the Finish line and win another 'Ring race!

My margin over the Amuse S2000 was 41 seconds.

The Elise 111R was great fun to drive on the 'Ring. I just needed to be fairly careful to stay off the grass because it was pretty un-forgiving if you did not have all four tires on the paved tarmac when under full power.

Enjoy the racing!
GTsail

The following are my race notes for my 4 Hour Nurburgring Race with my Toyota FT-86 Concept '09:

I have searched my garage high and low for another car that can be used to take on the 4 hour 'Ring race. After quite a few aborted attempts I come upon a very nice looking Toyota FT-86 that is in desparate need of a race. I check its odometer and see that it reads zero, so I guess it must be a prize car or something!

I grab the Toyota and have my mechanics take a look. After some upgrades and downgrades my Toyota has the following spec's:

Horsepower: 215
Weight: 1010kg (some ballast was added)
PP value: 430
Tires: Race mediums
Custom trans: 174 mph

I get behind the wheel of the FT-86 and give it a short test drive. Its apparent that its a great car to drive, but it does exhibit a bit of understeer so I have my pit crew adjust some of the suspension bits. I then head on down to the Nurburgring track and see who has shown up for a nice 4 hour drive.

Sitting on the starting grid are the following usual suspects:
1) High End Performance G37
2) NISMO Skyline GTR S-tune
3) Amuse S2000 GT1
4) Lexus ISF Racing Concept
5) Opera Performance 350Z
6) Art Morrison Corvette
7) (me) Toyota FT-86 Concept
8) GT Gran Turismo 350Z RS
9) NISMO 380RS Super Leg
10) NISMO Fairlady Z Z-tune
11) HKS CT230R
12) AEM S2000

The flag drops and from the start I get dropped to last place as the rest of the field shows off their horsepower advantage.

Going thru turn one, I dive in tight to the apex and pass the AEM S2000, the NISMO Fairlady Z-tune, the NISMO 380RS, the Gran Turismo 350Z RS, and the Opera Performance 350Z! Going thru turn two I also pass the HKS CT230R and take over 6th place in the race. Up next is the NISMO GTR S-tune which gets passed going thru turn five. Going thru the last left-hander on the GP circuit, I pass the 4th place Art Morrison Corvette. Somewhat further on, I go up the inside of the Lexus ISF Concept going thru Ex-Muhle. Driving down the long straight the Lexus ISF Concept catches me, so I let it pass and get in its draft for a while before it pulls away at the end of the straight. At the end of lap # 1, I'm shown in 4th place some 28 seconds behind the leading Amuse S2000 GT1. The High End G37 is in 2nd, and the Lexus ISF Concept is in 3rd place.

On lap # 2, going down the Kesselchen straight, the NISMO Fairlady Z-tune catches and passes me. I immediately jump into his draft a get a speed boost for about half of the Kesselchen back straight. I dog the Fairlady Z-tune thru the Karussel and stay close so I'm able to re-pass the Fairlady going thru Brunnchen. Continuing on I'm at full throttle as I pass the 3rd place High End G37 going thru the Pflanzgarten III high-speed esses. Driving down the long straight, I get caught and passed by the NISMO Fairlady Z-tune and the High End G37. I jump in their draft for a tow for about half of the straight.

When I cross the S/F line to begin lap # 3, I see that I'm in 5th place some 44 seconds behind the leading Amuse S2000. Going thru the last left-hander on the GP circuit, I pass the 4th place High End G37.

When I begin lap # 4, I see that I'm 59 seconds behind the Amuse S2000.

At the beginning of lap # 5, I'm 69 seconds behind the Amuse S2000. As I get to Streilstreke, I catch the Lexus ISF Concept and pass it going down the short chute befor the Karussel since the ISF Concept was moving pretty slowly on worn tires. I've climbed into 3rd place in the race, but I'm still 72 seconds behind the leading Amuse S2000 who has pulled a rabbit on me! Going thru Pflanzgarten III, I catch and pass the 2nd place NISMO Fairlady Z-tune without any fanfare.

When I begin lap # 6, I see that I'm 1 minute and 18 seconds behind the Amuse S2000. Looking back I see that most of the field enters the pits at the end of lap five. This gives the HKS CT230R a chance to take over 3rd place in the race because it does not pit at the end of lap # 5. The HKS CT230R is about 12 seconds behind me. As I drive thru Wipperman I see that the margin to the leading Amuse S2000 is now only 45 seconds. Great! The Amuse is finally struggling on it tires! I'm also starting to drive somewhat slower because my tires are presenting evidence that they've been used past their prime, so I intend to pit at the end of this lap. Up ahead on the track map, I see the Amuse S2000 enter the pits, so 35 seconds later, I do the same. I take on only 20 liters of fuel because my Toyota gets great gas mileage, so I have a very short pit stop.

This short pit stop enables me to exit the pits before the Amuse S2000, so I take over the lead of the race!! When I got past the 1st checkpoint on lap # 7, I see that I have a 14 second lead over the Amuse S2000. The NISMO Fairlady Z-tune is in 3rd. The HKS CT230R is in 4th. The NISMO 380RS Super is in 5th, and the AEM S2000 is in 6th place. Going down the long straight the Amuse S2000 catches and passes me! He made up 14 seconds on me during the lap! Yikes! I elbow the Amuse S2000 aside going thru the Hohenrain esses, but then get re-passed going up the S/F straight.

Going thru turn one on lap # 8 I out-brake the Amuse S2000 and re-take first place in the race. Driving nearly full -speed thru Kottenborn, I get passed by the Amuse S2000 who's really flying! I do what I can to stay with the Amuse S2000, but once we get to the Kesselchen backstraight, I have no chance and the Amuse immediately gaps me by 5 seconds. At the end of the Kesselchen curves, the 3rd place NISMO Fairlady Z-tune has reached my rear-bumper and gives me a love-tap to remind me that he would like a chance to chase the leading Amuse S2000 as well. As we go down the long straight, the 3rd place NISMO Farilady Z-tune catches and easily passes me.

When I cross the S/F line to begin lap # 9, I see that I'm 14 seconds behind the leading Amuse S2000 and now about 5 seconds behind the 2nd place NISMO Fairlady Z-tune. For some reason the Fairlady Z-tune goes really slowly thru Adenaur Forst, so I go ahead and pass it and take over 2nd place again. The Fairlady Z-tune stays in my mirrors for most of the lap, but then once we get to the long straight, he blasts on by again, which gives me a bit of a boost as I follow in his draft. I rub some paint off the Fairlady Z-tune going thru the Hohenrain esses, and re-gain my position, but then immediately get dropped behind as we both accelerate up the S/F straight.

As I begin lap # 10, I see that I'm 31 seconds behind the leading Amuse S2000. I out-brake the Fairlady Z-tune going into turn one, and immediately re-take 2nd place in the race. Going down the long straight at the end of the lap, I look around for the expected Fairlady Z-tune, but don't see him. What's the story? I look back at the track map and see that he's fallen into the clutches of the 4th place HKS CT230R. The Fairlady's tires must be worn out, so I shortly see that the HKS CT230R takes over 3rd place in the race. They are about 15 seconds behind me.

When I begin lap # 11, I see that I'm now 43 seconds behind the leading Amuse S2000.

At the beginning of lap # 12, I'm 52 seconds behind the leading Amuse S2000. Towards the end of lap # 12, I notice that the leading Amuse is coming back to me. He must have pushed his tires too hard! Since I expect that we will both pit at the end of this lap, I look forward to taking over the lead of the race again (for the sake of my sponsors, of course) after this round of pit stops. As I swing around Galgenkopf, I get a glimpse of the leading Amuse S2000 who is only about 3 seconds ahead of me at the T10 checkpoint. When I dive into the pits at the end of lap # 12, I can see the Amuse S2000 who is still driving down the pit lane toward his pit stall. I add 40 liters of fuel and get going again before the Amuse does, so as I start lap # 13, I'm back in the lead of the race again!

At the 2nd checkpoint on lap # 13, I see that I've pulled out to a 31 second lead over the 2nd place Fairlady Z-tune. The Amuse S2000 is in 3rd, the HKS CT230R is in 4th, and the NISMO 380RS is in 5th place.

When I begin lap # 14, I have a 21 second lead over the Fairlady Z-tune.

When I begin lap # 15, I have a 13 second lead over the Fairlady Z-tune, who is just ahead of the 3rd place Amuse S2000. About half-way thru lap 15, I see that the Amuse S2000 passes the NISMO Fairlady Z-tune (who must be struggling again on worn tires because he should be pitting this lap).

When I begin lap # 16, I see that I have a 6 second lead over the Amuse S2000. As I drive up the Kesselchen backstraight the Amuse S2000 drives right up to my rear-bumper. The Amuse follows me closely for the next few minutes and then once again drives past me going down the long straight. I get a tremendous draft up to 158 mph (which is about 14 mph faster than my normal speed down this straight). I can't hold the draft, so the Amuse S2000 pulls away a bit. When we cross the S/F line at the end of the lap, the Amuse has a 2 second lead over my Toyota.

As I begin lap # 17, I see the 12th place Art Morrison Corvette exit the pits. The leading Amuse S2000 passes the Corvette going thru turn # 1. I pass the Corvette as well going thru turn # 3. Much later on the same lap I catch the leading Amuse going thru Ex-Muhle. The Amuse S2000 returns the favor going down the Kesselchen backstraight. I stay close to the Amuse and then execute a clean pass going thru Schwalbenschwanz. The Amuse S2000 powers pon past me going down the long straight, so I immediately latch on his draft and get pulled up to 158 mph again. I late brake going into the Hohenrain esses, and re-take the lead of the race from the be-dazzled Amuse.

The Amuse S2000 drives past me again as we cross the S/F line to begin lap # 18. Closely following the Amuse is the lapped Art Morrison Corvette who also drives past me going down the S/F straight. I out-brake both cars going into turn one and re-take 1st place in the race! Looking at the track map, I also see that the 3rd place HKS CR230R has caught up with the AM corvette as well. For a few turns there's a nice three car pack that begins to fall back from my streaking Toyota. By the time I get to Bergwerk, the HKS CT230R has passed the Amuse S2000, and taken over 2nd place about 10 seconds behind me. Their three car battle must have slowed them all down, which gave me a chance to pull away a bit. My tires are beginning to show evidence of being worn out, so I pit at the end of the lap with a 12 second lead. While I'm in the pits the Art Morrison Corvette drives past and un-laps himself.

At the first checkpoint on lap # 19, I see that I have a 12 second lead over the NISMO Fairlady Z-tune, who has leap-froged the other AI who just pitted. The HKS CT230R is in 3rd and the Amuse S2000 is in 4th place. I push hard on lap # 19 so that by the time I get to Galgenkopf I've caught up with the Art Morrison Corvette. The Corvette does a 180 going into Galgenkopf, which makes him hard to miss..... so I don't.... I get bye with some minor fender damage, but probably lose about a second or so, since I had to brake heavily to avoid a major impact. The Art Morrison Corvette catches me towards the end of the long straight and we go side-by-side under the Antoniusbuche overpass. The Corvette side-swipes me just past the overpass and spins me out into the grass! Once I'm finished moving the armco back a foot or so, I get going again, but not before the 2nd place NISMO Fairlady Z-tune has a chance to motor by.

When I begin lap # 20, I fully 5 seconds behind the leading Fairlady Z-tune. I lost about 12 seconds because of the AM Corvette!! A bit annoyed, I go charging off after the Fairlady and the Corvette. I catch the Fairlady Z-tune by the Hocheichen corner, and easily pass it because its tires are worn out. I catch the AM Corvette just after Flugplatz and see that the Corvette is swerving all over the track. I just squeeze past when the Covette goes off into the grass on the right side of the track and get lightly tagged for my troubles by the Corvette who comes right back on the track as I pass by. I have to make a few steering-wheel corrections in order to stay on the tarmac, but thankfully pull it off without another disaster. As I drive thru Wipperman, I see that the HKS CT230R has been able to catch and pass the Fairlady Z-tune and take over 2nd place. The HKS CT230R is about 19 seconds behind me.

When I begin lap # 21, I still have a 14 second lead over the HKS CT230R.

As I begin lap # 22, I have a 10 second lead over the HKS CT230R.

When I begin lap # 23, I have a 6 second lead over the HKS CT230R.

At the beginning of lap # 24, I have a 3 second lead over the HKS CT230R. The HKS CR230R stays with me thoughout the lap, and closely follows me into the pits at the end of the lap for our final pit stops.

At the first checkpoint on lap # 25, I'm told that I have a 27 second lead over the 2nd place Fairlady Z-tune, who has leap-froged over the HKS CR230R during the pit stop exchange. About half-way thru lap # 25, I see that the 3rd place HKS CT230R has caught and passed the NISMO Fairlady Z-tune, and is shows as being 43 seconds behind me.

At the beginning of lap # 26, I see that I have a 39 second lead over the HKS CT230R. And since the race clock says that there are only 7 minutes and 15 seconds to go before the 4 hour mark, I have started my final lap.

Looking ahead on the track map, I can see that I'm catching the 11thh place car who is about 20 seconds ahead of me on the track. I will see if I can catch this car. By the end of the lap, its apparent that the 20 second margin was too much because I've only halved the margin to this 11th place car. The 11th place car is the Opera Performance 350Z. I find this out when it crosses the finish line and drops me to 2nd place. Ten seconds later I cross the Finish line and win the race!

Total race time was 4 hours 1 minute and 35 seconds.

The HKS CT230R ends the race in 3rd place, about 40 seconds behind me.

The Toyota FT-86 Concept does very well at this level of tune. It has a bit too much understeer, but overall its a great car. Top speed without a draft was only 144 to 145 down the long straight before the overpass.

Enjoy the racing!
GTsail

Great writeups!

Thanks SVX!

I guess you can tell that I enjoy driving the 'Ring!

Eventually (GT6?) I need to learn how to post pictures of the cars I drive, but in the meantime, I hope my write-up's give everyone an impression of how the races unfold.

I'm not sure what car I will use for my next attempt, but I'm inclined to give a Vauxhall a shot.

I'm currently doing some tire testing in a Aston Martin DB9 at the 'Ring while I'm thinking about it.

Respectfully,
GTsail

You should of used the Mech Motorsport Lotus tune.

Great write up GTSail! Impressive amount of attempts you've given this brilliant event. It sure does give me motivation to get going on this one. During Le Mans this past weekend we had 3 drivers rotate through on the Grand Valley, Laguna Seca and Tsukuba 4 Hour events. Good fun was had by all.

I'm noticing your consistantly dropping your performance points and in doing so trying more and more underpowered cars. What we actually did in the 4 Hour Roadster event was take the stock ride and had all 3 drivers qualify with it to get in the range of lap times we wanted (1:09-1:12) by adjusting the tire combinations. I ended up with Comfort soft to start, my buddy on sports hard and my pops on racing soft.

This allowed us to have roughly the same hp as them and still make for a competitive race. One stint pops lost us 2 laps so I jumped to the sports hard to get them back and my buddy to the mediums. It was quite a nice bit of pressure to stay consistent, yet you still have a fail safe in your back pocket.

Perhaps with your next run you could match their hp down the straights and drop your tires to another compound in an attempt to slow your speeds down in the corners (where the ai have the most trouble keeping pace). I'd be very interested to see your car choice, tire selection and results.

Thanks Bri-Y

Yes, the 4 hour 'Ring race is great because it gives you the opportunity to run it both with a strong car that can overpower the AI, or run it with a car that is vastly over-matched and then one's own driving skills and tire management come into play.

I have been running all my races with race medium tires because that's what the AI use, however, like you mention, the AI can't handle the turns so this is where we have the advantage.

After 15 races I've pretty much explored what the various cars will do on RM tires so I will now be trying other tire compounds.

I have already finished another race which I will post shortly and I'm currently 2 hours into my next race using Race Hard tires thru out, but with more horsepower. The additional horsepower enables me to mostly stay with the AI going down the straights and it means that I can't really push the turns like I'm used to.

Respectfully,
GTsail

I decided that it was time to shift gears, well maybe shift drivetrains, so I did a search of my garage and for my first Nurburgring race with an FF car, I've settled on a nice Ford Focus RS '02 that's only slightly used.

Since the car was slightly used, before any hot laps are attempted on a track I take the Focus to the local Ford dealer and have them rebuild the engine and install a few parts. After the engine rebuild my Ford Focus RS has the following basic specs:

Horsepower: 241
Weight: 1060kg (10 kg's were added)
PP value: 450
Tires: Race mediums

I take my Ford Focus to the 'Ring and after handing over a small entrance fee (made smaller by the volume discount that they give me), I check out the following cars that are on the starting grid:

1) Nissan Gran Turismo Skyline GTR
2) High End G37
3) Amuse S2000 GT1
4) NISMO Fairlady Z Z-tune
5) Mine's Lancer EVO
6) Opera Performance Gran Turismo 350Z
7) me (in the Ford Focus)
8) Opera Performance 350Z '04
9) NISMO Skyline GTR S-tune
10) AEM S2000
11) RE Amemiya FD35 RX-7
12) NISMO 380RS Super Leggera

From the start, as usual I get dropped to 12th place. I out-brake the RE Amemiya RX-7, the NISMO 380RS and the AEM S2000 going into the first turn and I immediately get into 9th place. Going thru turn # 3, I pass the NISMO Skyline S-tune and going thru turn # 5, I pass the Mine's Lancer EVO and re-gain my 7th place starting position in the race. Going thru Hocheichen the first time I pass the Opera 350Z '04. A bit further along on lap one I pass the Opera GT 350Z RS going thru Speigelkurve. Next up is the Nissan Gran Turismo Skyline GTR which I pass going thru Schwalbenschwanz. I can now see who is the leader of the race, when I check the grid listing. Its the Amuse S2000 GT1, and he has a 24 second lead over my Ford Focus. Lap # 1 ends after 9 minutes and 27 seconds and I see that I'm 30 seconds behind the leading Amuse S2000.

Lap # 2 is uneventful since my position in the race does not change. After a 9:10 lap I begin lap # 3 some 51 seconds behind the leading Amuse S2000.

Lap # 3 is also quiet, so after a 9:09 lap I begin lap # 4 a full 67 seconds behind the leading Amuse S2000.

On lap 4, I'm starting to get in contact with the 3rd place High End G37. The G37 slows a bit too much going into Eschback, so I pounce and take over 3rd place in the race. The G37 is able to re-pass me going down the long straight. Taking up the challenge, I trade a little paint going thru the Hohenrain esses and regain my 3rd place position at the end of lap 4.

As I begin lap # 5, I see that I'm 1 minute and 20 seconds behind the Amuse S2000. Lap five goes pretty well, but by the end, I can tell that my tires are starting to slow me down (so they must be pretty worn out). I decide that I will have to pit at the end of this lap. So I enter the pits at the end of the lap and see that the 2nd place NISMO Fairlady Z-tune is already there. The Fairlady Z-tune takes its time on its re-fueling so I get underway just in front of it and begin lap # 6 in 2nd place.

At the first checkpoint on lap # 6 I can see that the NISMO Fairlady Z-tune has re-joined the race in 4th place. The NISMO 380RS has taken over 3rd place since it has not pitted. The AEM S2000 is in 5th place (also without a pit stop). The leading Amuse S2000 is now 1 minute and 59 seconds in front of me!! During lap # 6 I get hounded every step of the way by the NISMO Fairlady Z-tune. Though thankfully, at every checkpoint I'm finally making major in-roads into the Amuse's lead. When we get to the long straight, I let the NISMO Fairlady Z-tune drive past so I can get a decent draft. The T11 checkpoint shows that I'm only 1 minute and 8 seconds behind the Amuse S2000 who will pit at the end of this lap.

As I start lap # 7, I see that I'm about 5 seconds behind the NISMO Fairlady Z-tune who has just passed the Amuse S200 who is still in the pits. The Amuse S2000 finally exits the pits after quite a long pit stop, and takes up the chase about 5 seconds behind my 2nd place Ford Focus. The RE Amemiya RX-7 is shown in 4th and the High End G37 is shown in 5th place. Lap seven goes well, and the 3rd place Amuse does not catch me until the long straight. At this point, the Amuse drives past me and gives me a nice boost for the rest of the lap.

When I cross the S/F line to begin lap # 8, I'm in 3rd place some 18 seconds behind the leading NISMO Fairlady Z-tune.

When I cross the S/F line to begin lap # 9, I see that I'm still some 26 seconds behind the leading NISMO Fairlady, and about 13 seconds behind the 2nd place Amuse S2000.

As I begin lap # 10, I see that I'm 37 seconds behind the leading NISMO Fairlady Z-tune, who is only about 3 seconds ahead of the Amuse S2000. The Amuse is likely to catch the Fairlady this lap. As I drive thru Wipperman, the news is flashed that we have a new leader in the race! The Amuse has passed the Fairlady Z-tune! They must have had a tough battle for a while, which slowed them both down because I'm now only 24 seconds behind the Amuse S2000. My tires look ok, but I'm starting to slow down again, so I will pit at the end of the lap. When I get to the pits I see that the 2nd place NISMO Fairlady Z-tune is already there. I join the Fairlady and take on 30 liters of fuel.

When I exit the pits to begin lap # 11, I've been able to pass the NISMO Fairlady Z-tune who is still taking on fuel. At the 1st checkpoint on lap # 11, I see that the leading Amuse S2000 has pulled out a 68 second lead over me.

Lap # 11 goes very well, and the 3rd place Fairlady Z-tune does not catch me until the long straight. It drives past me gives me a nice boost up to 160mph so I'm able to re-pass the Fairlady Z-tune going thru the Hohenrain esses. The Fairlady re-passes me on the S/F straight.

As I begin lap # 12, I see that I'm in 3rd place 68 seconds behind the Amuse S2000. I brake late going into turn # 1, but can only get to the rear-bumper of the 2nd place NISMO Fairlady. I'm going to stay close and see if he makes a mistake that will enable me to get past. I get close to the Fairlady Z-tune going thru Ex-Muhle but then get gapped by 4 seconds by the NISMO Fairlady going down the Kesselchen straight. That's the bad new! The good news is that the leading Amuse S2000 is only 48 seconds ahead of me! I've taken 20 seconds off his lead this lap! At the T10 checkpoint, I'm only 15 seconds behind the leading Amuse. Obviously, the Amuse has pushed his tires too far! When I get to the end of the lap I see that the Amuse S2000 has pitted and has given the lead of the race to the NISMO Fairlady Z-tune.

As I cross the S/F line to begin lap # 13, I see that I'm now only 13 seconds behind the leading NISMO Fairlady Z-tune.

When I cross the S/F line to begin lap # 14, I see that I'm 28 seconds behind the leading Fairlady Z-tune. I have a little trouble getting thru Bergwerk -- I drive in too deep and slide off into the grass. This probably costs me 2 seconds.

As I cross the S/F line to begin lap # 15, I've fallen 42 seconds behind the Fairlady Z-tune. Near the end of the Kesselchen curves, the 3rd place Amuse S2000 latches on to my rear-bumper and stays there until we get to the long straight, where he easily motors on past. I jump into his draft and get a decent tow, and then pit for new tires at the end of the lap. The leading NISMO Fairlady Z-tune is already in the pits, so he falls to 2nd place when the Amuse S2000 continues on without a pit stop.

When I exit the pits I beat the Fairlady Z-tune out, so I'm back into 2nd place in the race. At the first checkpoint on lap # 16 I see that I've fallen 40 seconds behind the leading Amuse S2000. And the Fairlady Z-tune is about 12 seconds behind me. The AME S2000 is in 4th place. I push my Ford Focus pretty hard for most of lap # 16 in an effort to stay in front of the 3rd place Fairlady Z-tune. At the end of the lap, I see that I've run a 9:41 lap, which is pretty goood for an pit-out lap. But even so, as I go down the S/F straight to end the lap, my mirrors are completely filled by the Fairlady Z-tune.

The margin to the leading Amuse S2000 is 47 seconds as I begin lap # 17. The NISMO Fairlady has pulled along-side me as we enter turn # 1, but he doesn't have a chance as I easily beat him thru the corner. The Fairlady Z-tune dogs me for most of the lap and almost pulls alongside going down the Kesselchen backstraight. Thankfully he pulls back or someone might have done some grass-cutting! The Fairlady Z-tune backs off a bit after that, but then powers past me going down the long straight. I get a good draft up to 162mph and hit my rev-limiter. My tires still have decent grip, so I out-brake the Fairlady and slide past him going thru the Hohenrain esses.

Just as I cross the S/F line to begin lap # 18, the Fairlady Z-tune comes past me again, but I just repay the favor and out-brake him in turn one. I notice that the Amuse S2000 is 48 seconds up the road. During lap # 18, once again the NISMO Fairlady hounds me the entire first part of the lap. As we get to Klosteral, he actually pulls even with me on my right side. I brake a little later than him so I'm able to stay in front for the drive up the short chute towards the Karussel. Pushing so hard to stay ahead of the Fairlady has made me miss the fact that we are catching the 1st place Amuse S2000 at a speedy rate. As I drive thru the Kleine-Karussel, I can see a very slow Amuse S2000 just ahead! The Amuse's tires must be really shot because we've made up 45 seconds during this lap. I get to the Amuse's rear bumper going into Galgenkopf and give him a light tap because he's in the middle of the road and didn't give me any room to get by. The Amuse gets my signal and moves over so I power past and head down the long straight with the lead of the race. As I motor down the straight, I look back and see that the Amuse and the NISMO Fairlady Z-tune are side by side, about 2 seconds back. I know that this gap won't be enough! Both cars easily catch me and blast on past, one on each side! As the three of us get to the Antoniusbuche overpass, the Amuse and the Fairlady smack each other, door to door. This impact is too much for the Amuse (whose tires are shot), so the Amuse starts a tank-slapping weave. I ease off the accelerator and try to decide which "hole" to drive thru. Luckily I guess correctly and drive smoothly past the Amuse who is in the process of doing a 180 and sliding off into the grass. I look back and see that the Amuse is a good 10 seconds back, so sadly for him, his race may be over.

At the beginning of lap # 19, I'm shown in 2nd place, only 2 seconds behind the NISMO Fairlady Z-tune. I push hard during the first part of lap 19, so I'm in the Fairlady's draft going down into Quiddelbacher Hohe. I stay with the Fairlady thru Flugplatz and thru Kottenborn, so I pull right up to the Fairlady as we get to Aremburg. The Fairlady slows a bit too much at Aremburg, so I drive around the outside of the Fairlady and take over the lead of the race. I'm able to pull away from the Fairlady over the next few turns, but then going down the Kesselchen curves, the NISMO Fairlady is right back on my rear bumper. After the Karussel I pull away again, and actually have a 2 second lead at the T10 checkpoint. This won't be enough! As expected the Fairlady comes past me a bit before the Antoniusbuche overpass. I follow for the draft and re-pass the Fairlady going thru the Hohenrain esses.

As I cross the S/F line to begin lap # 20 I'm side-by-side with the NISMO Fairlady. This means that its pretty easy to out-brake the Fairlady in turn one, so I quickly get back in the lead of the race. About half-way thru this lap I get the feeling that my tires are pretty much worn out, so I will pit this lap. The 2nd place NISMO Fairlady is also on its 5th lap with its current tires so he starts to fall behind a bit. He's suffering more than me. NICE! I continue on and start to build up a lead over the Fairlady which grows to 15 seconds by the time I pit at the end of the lap.

When I exit the pits to begin lap # 21, who do I see come whistling by? The 3rd place Amuse S2000, who jumps into the lead of the race! I follow the Amuse for the first few minutes of the lap, sometimes getting a nice draft. When we get to the Adenaur Forst, the Amuse takes a very conservative line thru the second part, and I'm able to drive up the inside of the turn and accelerate away as we leave the Forst and head towards Metzgesfeld. The Amuse is all over me going up the Kesselchen curves so I let him by and get a tow. I hound the Amuse for the next few turns so when he slows early for the Schwalbenschwanz bend I'm able to slide past and regain the lead of the race. The Amuse S2000 comes on past me going down the long straight but I stay close and I'm able to re-pass him going thru the Hohenrain esses. The Amuse must be a little shocked that I got past because he's a little slow to chase after me, so I make it to the end of the lap with a 1 second lead!

Immediately after beginning lap # 22 I get passed by the Amuse, so once again I use turn # 1 to out-brake an opponent and re-take the lead. About 30 seconds later, I look back and see the 3rd place Fairlady Z-tune cross the S/F line. The 4th place car is the NISMO 380RS Leggera who is over a minute further back. During lap 22 I can always see the Amuse S2000 who is lurking in my mirrors but he is never really close enough to try to get past. Finally though, going down the long straight, the Amuse makes his move and motors past my Ford Focus. I get another good tow but can't catch the Amuse going thru the final esses, so I end lap 22 with a 2 second deficit.

This makes the margin too great in turn one, so I can't pull off one of my patented turn one over-taking moves! So the early part of lap 23 sees me in the chase mode again. When we get to the Hatzenbach esses I've closed up on the Amuse's bumper, and get a nice draft down into Quiddelbacher Hohe. Looking ahead on the track map I can see another car who is likely to be the 12th place car. I expect to find out who it is shortly. I'm close behind the Amuse for a while longer but then get gapped going up the Kesselchen curves by 5 seconds. I'm back on the Amuse's rear-bumper when we get to Brunnchen because the Amuse has gotten stuck behind the Opera 350Z RS. I don't hesitate, so I pass them both going thru Eiskurve! All this side-by-side racing has slowed me down somewhat, so when we get to the long straight, I see that we've been caught by the NISMO Fairlady Z-tune who blasts past both of us!

When I begin lap # 24, I've fallen to 2nd place some 2.8 seconds behind the NISMO Fairlady. The Fairlady pulls away from me a little a the beginning of the lap, so it takes me until Ex-Muhle before I'm able to catch and pass him again. The Fairlady fills my mirrors going down the Kesselchen straight but does not make a strong move to get past. At the T10 checkpoint I have a 1.5 second lead which I know is about to evaporate. I check my tires and see that the tire bar is about half gone. I know that this would mean my next lap would be somewhat compromised by worn tires, so I decide to pit this lap for fresh tires. As usual the NISMO Fairlady blasts past me down the long straight, but I'm ready for this, so I re-pass him going thru the Hohenrain esses. When I enter the pits for my final stop I have a slim lead. I only take on 20 liters of fuel which should be enough to get me to the end of the race since there are only 16 1/2 minutes left.

While I'm in the pits I get passed by the 12th place Opera 350Z RS. At the first checkpoint on lap # 25 I see that I've fallen 30 seconds behind the NISMO Fairlady. Since I have fresh tires, lets see what kind of damage I can do to the Fairlady's lead. I make short work of the Opera 350Z RS when I catch him going thru Steilstreke, so I continue after the leading NISMO Fairlady with a full head of steam. The Fairlady now has only a 22 second lead over me. I push on and get a glimpse of the leading Fairlady when I get to the Kleine-Karussel. I catch the Fairlady just before Galgenkopf and easily slide past because he's really moving slowly on his worn tires! Going down the long straight, I get caught and passed by the Fairlady, and then out of nowhere, I get passed by the Amuse S2000! I was not expecting the Amuse S2000 because I thought he would have had a slow pit stop and lose too much time to me. The NISMO Fairlady is not a problem because he immediately pits, but the Amuse S2000 is!

I'm 5 seconds behind the Amuse S2000 when we begin lap 26. I push all lap long to catch the Amuse, but can never quite get in touch. Down the final straight the Amuse just powers away into the distance and leaves me sucking his exhaust!

At the end of the lap, 4 hours have been reached so I cross the finish line about 10 seconds behind the Amuse S2000 GT1, and take second place honors. My last lap was my fastest lap, a 9:04, but it wasn't enough!

Post race notes: the Ford Focus RS does quite well at the 'Ring. It of course wears out its front tires, but I was getting decent laps for 4 1/2 laps, and the 5th lap was not entirely compromised. I want to re-run the race against the exact same lineup and find the 10 seconds, but alas, my Ford Focus now has only 229 horsepower, so I can't rerun the race with the same horsepower, I need another trip to the garage.

Enjoy the racing!
GTsail

Up to this point, I have been running all my 4 Hour 'Ring races on RM tires (which I would use thru-out the race), which are the same tires that the AI use for the race. But I felt it was time to try out the different tire grades.

Now based upon my experience with GT4, I had made the assumption that I might be able to get slightly longer tire life with RH tires and would get slightly shorter tire life with RS tires. I had a discussion with Famine about this, and he pointed out that GT5 did not work this way. Famine said that from his experience with GT5, the RS tires had the longest tire life and that the RH tires had the shortest tire life. And that this was due to GT5's modeling of tire slipage. Ie. that your car would slide its tires more if on RH tires and would wear them out faster than if you were on RS tires, where your car would slide around less.

I decided to see how pronounced this tire effect is during a run at the 'Ring. And it gave me an excuse for another race at my favorite track!

So I checked my garage for a heavier car that should wear out its tires, and settled on a slightly used Aston Martin DB9 Coupe '03.

After a little bit of tuning, my DB9 had the following basic specs:

Horsepower: 435
Weight: 1710
PP value: 500
Tires: all 3 race grades

I start my 4 Hour race on race medium tires since I've had so much experience with them. My DB9 is pretty fast so I power past the field and run the race with clear track mostly. After six laps my tires are shot so I enter the pits and put on race soft tires. I run six more laps, and then pit with pretty worn out RS tires. I now install the race hard tires and set off. The RH are much slower, but again I get about 6 six laps from them, and then see that the RH tires are shot.

At the end of each of these 6 lap stints I check the tire bars for remaining tire life.

At the end of 6 RS laps: 12% life remaining
At the end of 6 RM laps: 10% life remaining
At the end of 6 RH laps: 8% life remaining

The above percents are just rough estimates, but basically it seemed that the tire bars showed fairly equal life remaining but for sure the race soft tires had the most life remaining.

My Lap times were as follows:
RM tires ------- RS tires ------- RH tires
lap 1: 9:09 --- lap 1: 9:50 --- lap 1: 9:58
lap 2: 8:45 --- lap 2: 8:43 --- lap 2: 8:57
lap 3: 8:47 --- lap 3: 8:45 --- lap 3: 8:58
lap 4: 8:53 --- lap 4: 8:48 --- lap 4: 9:02
lap 5: 8:59 --- lap 5: 8:51 --- lap 5: 9:04
lap 6: 9:23 --- lap 6: 9:03 --- lap 6: 9:44

You can see from the above lap times that on RM and RH tires, my 6th lap falls pretty far off because the tires are worn out, but that the RS tires hold up pretty well on the 6th lap.

Now back in my actual race, after 18 laps I'm on worn out RH tires, but they have about 8% tire life left. So I decide to run another lap just to see if the life will go to zero. My 19th lap, which is run on RH's ends up being a 11:06!! Every turn is an adventure! When I pit after 19 laps, my 3 minute lead is down to less than one minute! When I enter the pits the tire bar shows about 1% life remaining, so I was almost able to use it up completely. I re-install RS tires on my Aston Martin and go ahead and finish and win the race un-eventfully since I'm back up to full speed.

Interim conclusion:
GT5's tire modeling is a little strange. Soft tires last longer than hard tires! And when your hard tires start to go, they really go away. Never buy hard tires!

After the above race is complete, I decide to give my B-spec Bob a go with the Aston Martin DB9, and have him try out the tire grades as well. So I take my DB9 to the dealer and have him perform an engine over-haul since my DB9 had lost some horsepower during the previous 4 hour race. After the engine rebuild my DB9 has 434HP and a PP value of 501.

As before, I start the race on race medium tires. After the start of the race, my B-spec Bob maneuvers himself into 10th place and settles in for the next 4 hours. I push the various pace buttons to keep my Bob in the middle of the pace bar for the first six laps. After 6 laps, I pit my DB9 and have my pit crew install race soft tires. B-spec Bob's lap times improve a little (even though I've stopped pressing the pace up and down buttons, so he's left to his own devices), but he stays in 10th place in the race. After the 12th lap, I pit my DB9 and install race hard tires. My DB9 is pretty slow on RH tires, so I continue to lose time to the leading Amuse S2000, but I'm still able to maintain my 10th place position. After 18 laps I pit my DB9 again and install RS tires for the run to the end. When lap # 24 begins, I'm still in 10th place some 8 minutes behind the leading Amuse S2000 GT1. About 2 minutes past the 4 hour mark the 9th place NISMO GTR R-tune crosses the S/F line and takes the race win. I follow about a minute later from my 10th place position and get promoted to 2nd place and get to collect the 2nd place earnings.

B-spec tire bars:
At the end of 6 RM laps: 5% life remaining
At the end of 6 RS laps: 10% life remaining
At the end of 6 RH laps: 10% life remaining

The above tire bars are for the rear tires, which my B-spec Bob was wearing out about twice as fast as the fronts.

B-spec lap times:
-RM tires ----- RS tires ----- RH tires
lap 1: 9:52 --- lap 1: 10:54 -- lap 1: 11:07
lap 2: 9:36 --- lap 2: 9:42 --- lap 2: 10:13
lap 3: 9:43 --- lap 3: 9:36 --- lap 3: 10:09
lap 4: 9:45 --- lap 4: 9:48 --- lap 4: 10:24
lap 5: 9:44 --- lap 5: 9:49 --- lap 5: 10:30
lap 6: 10:26 -- lap 6: 9:55 --- lap 6: 10:38

You can see from the above lap times that my B-spec Bob is slightly faster on RS tires than on RM tires, and both are much faster than the race hard tires which are just worthless.

Conclusion:
While the above study is very un-scientific, its quite apparent that GT5 models its tire life quite strangely. The result that soft tires last longer than hard tires is just crazy, but its what's evident from both tests.

GTsail

Just wanted to thank you again for you race reports, it encouraged me to start on these endurance events and create reports of my own! First one is up https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/showthread.php?p=5511167#post5511167

I decided to give my Ford Focus RS another chance for some champagne, so I've given it a few upgrades and taken it back to the 'Ring for another go...

After the upgrades my Ford Focus RS '02 had the following specs:

Horsepower: 286
Weight: 1060
PPvalue: 475
Tires: Race Hard (these will be used throughout the race)

On the starting grid are the following competitors:
HPA FT565 Audi TT
RE Amemiya FD35 RX-7
Opera Performance 350Z
HKS CT230R
NISMO Fairlady Z Z-tune
RUF CTR2 '96
NISMO Skyline GTR R-tune
NISMO 380RS Super Leg
Opera Performance Gran Turismo 350Z
AEM S2000
Mine's BNR34 GTR N1 base

From the start I get dropped to 9th place. I take the apex thru turn # 1 and pass the NISMO 380RS. I then go around the outside of the NISMO GTR R-tune going thru turn # 2. I then out-accelerate the Opera Performance 350Z as we both exit turn # 5. When we get to Aremburg I'm able to drive around the outside of the RUF CTR2. On the exit from Wehrseifen I'm able to pass the NISMO Fairlady Z Z-tune. Up next is the RE Amemiya FD35 who gets passed going thru Ex-Muhle.

I give the 2nd place HKS CT230R a slight tap on its rear-bumper when he slows excessively in the Kleine-Karussel, but there isn't room to get past, so the HKS powers away towards Galgenkopf. As we start the run down the long straight I've pulled right up on the rear-bumper of the HKS CT230R again and get a good draft down the entire straight....hitting my rev limiter at 168mph a couple of times. Just before the Antoniusbuche overpass the RUF CTR2 and the NISMO Fairlady Z-tune both catch me, and blow past me, one on each side! When I cross the S/F line at the end of lap # 1 I see that I'm 9 seconds behind the leading HPA FT565 Audi.

Immediately as I begin lap # 2 I get passed by the trailing RE Amemiya RX-7, which drops me to 6th place in the race. I out-brake the RE Amemiya RX-7 going into turn # 1 and re-take 5th place. Going thru Aremburg for the 2nd time I drive around the outside of both the NISMO Fairlady Z-tune and the RUF CTR2. Next up is the HKS CT230R who I'm able to pass going thru the sweeping Drei-Fach Rechts. I'm now in 2nd place with a clear track ahead because the leading Audi is some 9 seconds up the road. Going down the long straight I get passed by the 3rd place RUF CTR2.

Just as I cross the S/F line to begin lap # 3 I get passed by both the NISMO Fairlady Z-tune and the HKS CT230R. The HPA Audi has a 11 second lead over me at this point. I brake very late for turn # 1 and re-pass both the HKS CT230R and the NISMO Fairlady, so I'm back in 3rd place again. The 2nd place RUF CT230R is passed when I drive around the outside of turn one on the Nordschleife track proper. Going down the long straight, I get passed by the RUF CTR2 and get dropped back to 3rd place.

As I begin lap # 4 I see that I'm 19 seconds behind the leading HPA Audi. Going thru the last left-hander on the GP circuit I'm able to pass the 2nd place RUF CTR2.

When I begin lap # 5 I get the news that the leading HPA Audi has a 22 second lead over me. A second later the 3rd place RUF CTR2 flashes by on my right side! and the 4th place NISMO Fairlady Z-tune flashes past on my left side! I out-brake and pass the RUF CTR2 in turn # 1. In turn # 3 I'm able to re-pass the NISMO Fairlady Z-tune. My tires are pretty shot by about half-way thru lap # 5, so I have to be extra careful not to overcook some of the turns towards the end of the lap. I follow the HPA Audi into the pits about 29 seconds in arrears. Just as I pit we get passed by the HKS CT230R who takes over the lead of the race since he's on a 6 lap tire stint. A few seconds later we also get passed by the NISMO 380RS Leggera and the RE Amemiya RX-7.

Just as I exit the pits, the AEM S2000 whistles past and drops me to 5th place. It takes me until turn # 5 before I'm able to re-pass the 4th place AEM S2000. At the first checkpoint on lap # 6 I see that I'm 26 seconds behind the leading HKS CT230R. At Kallenhard I catch and pass the RE Amemiya RX-7. I then catch and pass the NISMO 380RS going thru Wippermann.

When I cross the S/F line to end the lap, I see that I'm 15 seconds behind the leading HKS CT230R, who has just entered the pits. So by the time I get to turn one, I take over the lead of the race for the first time! At the first checkpoint on lap # 7 I see that I have a 14 second lead over the HPA FT565 Audi. The RE Amemiya is in 3rd, the HKS CT230R in in 4th, the RUF CTR2 is in 5th, and the Mine's BNR34 GTR is in 6th place. Lap # 7 goes well with clean air, so by the end I have a 15 second lead over the HPA FT565 Audi.

I have a minor off during lap # 8, so as I cross the S/F line to begin lap # 9 I only have a 10 second lead over the FT565 Audi.

At the start of lap # 10 my lead over the very strong FT565 Audi is only 5 seconds. My tires are pretty well used up during most of lap # 10, so I know its past time for another pitstop. The orange Audi catches me and power's past going down the long straight, so I get a decent draft down most of the straight. I just have to follow the FT565 Audi thru the Hohenrain esses because my tires are way too far gone to pull off any heroics. I follow the FT565 Audi into the pits and take on 50 liters of fuel. While we are in the pits we get passed by the HKS CT230R.

So when I exit the pits to begin lap # 11 I'm 10 seconds behind the HKS CT230R. The HPA FT565 Audi resumes the race in 3rd. The NISMO 380RS is in 4th and the AEM S200 is in 5th place. The Mine's BRN34 is in 6th, while the RUF CTR2 has fallen all the way to 7th place, which is quite surprising. During lap # 11, I'm able to narrow the gap to the leading HKS CT230R so by the end of the lap I'm only 2 seconds behind.

Lap # 12 should be the leading HKS's last lap of a 6 lap tire stint, so I expect to be able to catch and pass him once he begins to slow on his worn tires. I get a great run thru Flugplatz and Kottenborn so I'm right on the HKS's rear-bumper going into Aremburg. So when he slows, I drive around the ourside of the turn and take over the lead of the race again! Looking back at the track map it looks like the 3rd place HPA FT565 Audi is about 10 seconds behind us.

As I cross the S/F line to begin lap # 13, I have a 8 second lead over the FT565 Audi and see that the HKS CT230R has entered the pits. The RUF CTR2 is in 4th place and is about 60 seconds behind me.

As I cross the S/F line to begin lap # 14 I have a 5 second lead over the FT565 Audi and just as I enter turn one, the 2 hour mark is reached, so I'm half-way home! When I get to the long straight, the FT565 Audi is able to catch and pass me and gives me a speed boost once he comes past, so I'm able to re-pass the Audi going into the Hohenrain esses.

I have a 0.082 second lead at the end of the lap # 14, but immediately get passed by the Audi going up the S/F straight. I go deep into turn # 1, so I'm able to re-pass the FT565 Audi again and re-gain first place. On lap # 15 when I get to the Karussel the FT565 Audi has taken up residence on my rear-bumper. Its clear that I've pushed my tires too hard and can no longer carry any speed thru the turns. The Audi powers past my Ford Focus going down the long straight, so I get a decent draft for the rest of the lap, and then follow the Audi into the pits for some much needed tires. With only 20 liters of fuel remaining, I take on 40 liters of additional fuel.

I beat the FT565 Audi out of the pits and take over the lead of the race again! I make a note to myself that I should take my pit crew out to dinnner for all the excellent pit stops during the race, since time-and-time-again they save me gobs of time in the pits! At the first checkpoint on lap # 16 I see that I have a 10 second lead over the HKS CT230R. The HPA FT565 Audi is in 3rd and the Mine's BNR34 is in 4th place. The RUF CTR2 has fallen back to 5th place.

At the beginning of lap # 17 I have a 16 second lead over the HKS CT230R.

At the beginning of lap # 18 I have a 21 second lead over the FT565 Audi, who has demoted the HKS CT230R to 3rd place after a drafting duel down the long straight.

The HPA Audi is only 17 seconds behind me at the beginning of lap # 19. Since I expect that I will only need to drive 7 more laps, I decide to split the remaining laps with my pit stops, so I go ahead and pit for new tires at the end of the lap. After 9 seconds the FT565 Audi streams on by and drops me to second place.

At the first checkpoint on lap # 20 I see that the leading FT565 Audi has a 25 second lead over me. The 3rd place RUF CTR2 is about 27 seconds behind me. By the T11 checkpoint I have reduced the Audi's lead to about 15 seconds. At the end of the lap I see that the FT565 Audi has pitted, so when I begin lap # 21 I re-take the lead of the race.

At the 2nd checkpoint on lap # 21, I get the news that I have a 56 second lead over the FT565 Audi.

At the beginning of lap # 22 I see that I have a 59 second lead over the FT565 Audi. As I drive down the long straight I can see that I'm about to catch the 12th place car. I wonder who it might be. When I get to the end of the lap I see that the 12th place car has entered the pits, so I'm un-able to tell which car it might be.

At the beginning of lap # 23, I see that I have a 48 second lead over the FT565 Audi. Sticking with my plan, I pit at the end of the lap for 20 more liters of fuel and some new RH tires.

I don't need very much fuel, so my pit stop is pretty quick. I leave the pits before the 2nd place FT565 Audi can catch up with me, but my lead has shrunk to 3.5 seconds.

At the beginning of lap # 25 I see that I have a 7 second lead over the FT565 Audi.

When I cross the S/F line to begin lap # 26, I see that there are 9 minutes and 7 seconds left before the 4 hour mark. I also see that the 11th place car is in the pits, but because the game does not tell us when each AI pits, I remain in the dark as to who it might be.

I head off on lap # 26 and can see that the FT565 Audi has pitted one final time. He was about 15 seconds behind me in the Ford Focus. The FT565 Audi has a very long pit stop because by the 2nd checkpoint on lap # 26 my lead has grown to 1 minute and 24 seconds!

After 4 hours and 2 seconds my Ford Focus drives across the Finish line and takes the win!

Great fun! The Focus RS does quite well and doesn't use up its front tires too badly. You just have to watch them so you don't forget to pit after 5 laps.

After the race I check the my Ford's specs and see that the horsepower is down to 272 and the PPvalue is now 468.

Enjoy the racing!
GTsail

Great race Sail! Seems like it was a nice fight with the Audi TT the whole time. I didn't like the cliffhanger though, lol. I was on the edge of my seat waiting for you to put up the second half of the race!

For my next 'Ring attempt with race hard tires, I decided to go back and use the Mazda RX-7 Spirit R Type A FD '02 that did so well on RM tires. so after a little tuning my RX-7 has the following specs:

Horsepower: 299
Weight: 1300kg (30kg of ballast was added)
PP value: 470
Wing at: 5
Tires: Race Hard used throughout race

Sitting on the starting grid are many of the usual suspects:
1) High End Performance G37
2) AEM S2000
3) RUF CTR2 '96
4) Mine's BNR34 GTR N1 base
5) Lexus ISF Racing Concept
6) NISMO Skyline GTR S-tune
7) me in the Mazda RX-7
8) RE Amemiya FD35 RX-7
9) NISMO 400R '96
10) Amuse S2000 GT1
11) Opera Gran Turismo 350Z RS
12) Amuse Carbon R

From the start I get dropped to 10th place, but then out-brake the RE Amemiya RX-7, the NISMO 400R, the NISMO GTR S-tune, and the Amuse S2000 GT1 and launch myself into 6th place in the race! A bit of paint was exchanged, but no pernament damage was incurred by the parties involved! I then make short work of the AEM S2000 going thru the last left-hander on the GP circuit and take over 5th place. I get a great run down into Fuchsrohre, so I'm able to pass the 4th place Mine's BNR34 Skyline just as we get to Adenaur Forst. Up next is the High End G37 who I pass going thru Breidscheid. I'm in 3rd place with a clear track ahead when I get the news at the next checkpoint that the leading RUF CTR2 has a 10 second lead over me.

When I begin lap # 2, I see that I'm 16 seconds behind the leading RUF CTR2. Lap two goes well even though I don't pass anyone!

When I begin lap # 3, I see that I'm 21 seconds behind the leading RUF CTR2. I continue to be lonely on lap three.

As I begin lap # 4, I see that I'm 23 seconds behind the leading RUF. During lap 4 I keep expecting that the 2nd place Lexus ISF Concept will come back to me, but he does not. Instead he's been staying within 3 seconds of the leading RUF CTR2.

When I begin lap # 5, I see that I'm 22 seconds behind the leading RUF. Finally on lap 5, I catch a glimpse of the 2nd place Lexus ISF Concept as it dives into the Karussel. I get a much better exit from the Karussel than he, so by the time we get to Steilstreke I've pulled along-side the Lexus and complete the pass by Hohe Acht. I'm now in 2nd place in the race, some 18 seconds behind the leading RUF. The tire bar on my tires shows that half their live has been used, so I decide that its time to pit this lap. The RUF CTR2 is already in the pits when I get there. I've used 50 liters of fuel, so to save some time, I take on only 20 additional liters. While I'm in the pits the Amuse S2000 GT1 drives by and takes over the lead of the race. The AEM S2000 also drives by, so he's now in 2nd place.

I beat the RUF CTR2 out of the pits, so when I begin lap # 6, I'm in 3rd place. At the first checkpoint on lap # 6, I see that I'm 26 seconds behind the leading Amuse S2000. When I get to the Karussel on lap # 6, I've caught up with the 2nd place AEM S2000 who is moving slowly on worn tires. I pass the AEM S2000 easily on the exit from the Karussel. I catch the slowly moving Amuse S2000 (whose tires must be shot) at Eschbach and drive right past into the lead of the race!!!

When I begin lap # 7, I see that I have a 12 second lead over the RUF CTR2 who has taken over 2nd place. When I look back after the 2nd checkpoint, I see that the Mine's BNR34 is in 3rd, the RE Amemiya FD35 is in 4th, the Lexus ISF Concept is in 5th, and the Amuse Carbon R is in 6th, the High End G37 is in 7th, and the Amuse S2000 GT1 has fallen all the way down to 8th place.

As I begin lap # 8, I have a 8 second lead over the RUF CTR2.

When I begin lap # 9, I have a 6 second lead over the RUF. He's getting closer!

As I begin lap # 10, I have a 10 second lead over the RUF. Whew! My tires are starting to show evidence of being worn out, so I pit at the end of the lap for tires and 36 liters of fuel. The 2nd place RUF follows me into the pits about 15 seconds behind me. A bit later the 3rd place Mine's BNR34 and the 4th place Lexus ISF Concept also pit.

At the 2nd checkpoint on lap # 11, I see that I have a 44 second lead over the RUF CTR2 who must have had a very slow driver change!💡 In 3rd is the Amuse S2000 GT1 who did not pit, so he leap-frogged over the other cars.

At the beginning of lap # 12, I have a 33 second lead over the RUF CTR2.

At the beginning of lap # 13, I have a 25 second lead over the RUF CTR2.

At the beginning of lap # 14, I have a 22 second lead over the RUF CTR2.

When I begin lap # 15, I have a 25 second lead over the RUF CTR2. I pit at the end of the lap since my tires are starting to give up in the turns. I hit the pits with a 33 second lead over the RUF and take on 50 liters of fuel. On the track map I can see the 12th place car who is about 1 minute and 30 seconds ahead of me. I can also see the 11th place car, who is about another 20 seconds further ahead. The RUF CTR2 also pits about 25 seconds later, and is joined by the 3rd place Mine's BNR34 GTR. The 4th place Lexus ISF Concept is not in sight.

At the 2nd checkpoint on lap # 16, I see that I've increased my lead over the RUF CTR2 during the pit stop cycle to 54 seconds. I also see that the Amuse S2000 GT1 has pulled itself up into 4th place in the race due to its 6 lap tire stints.

When I begin lap # 17, I see that I still have a 53 second lead over the RUF. I set a new lap record of 8:58 during lap # 17.

As I begin lap # 18, I see that I have a 51 second lead over the RUF CTR2. On the track map I can now see that the 11th and 12th place cars are about 25 seconds ahead of me and they are fairly close together. I will see if I can catch them this lap or next. I catch my first glimpse of the 12th place car as it drives up the hill after the exit from the Karussel. I pull up on the rear-bumper of the Opera Performance GT 350Z RS as we get to Schwalbenschwanz. Just ahead of the Opera 350Z is the 11th place NISMO 400R. I pass the Opera 350Z RS going thru the Kleine-Karussel and pull up on the rear bumper of the NISMO 400R when we reach Galgenkopf. My Mazda RX-7 accelerates much faster than does the NISMO 400R, so by the T10 Audi R8 V10 checkpoint banner, I have completed the pass. The NISMO 400R stays with me going down the long straight, but he doesn't have the top end speed to power past me.

When I begin lap # 19, I see that I have a 46 second lead over the RUF.

When I begin lap # 20, I see that I have a 47 second lead over the RUF. By the end of the lap my tires are showing signs of needing a refreshment, so I head for the pits at the end of the lap. I take on 50 liters of fuel.

I exit the pits to begin lap # 21 just as the RUF CTR2 enters the pits, so I have a 50 second lead at this point. The 3rd place Mine's BNR34 enters the pits just as the RUF is leaving the pits. The 4th place Lexus ISF Concept also pits so the 5th place Amuse S2000 GT1 re-gains 4th place in the race when he drives past the pits. At the 2nd checkpoint on lap # 21, I see that my lead over the RUF CTR2 is 65 seconds. This is only a guess because for some unknown reason, the game has stopped giving me the splits to the 2nd place car. Puzzled! The rest of lap # 21 goes well, but at no time do I get any splits back to the 2nd place RUF CTR2. Maybe timing and scoring is down! Or maybe my radio is broken!

I begin lap # 22 and still see no splits back to the 2nd place car. At 68 seconds into lap # 22, I watch the RUF CTR2 cross the S/F line and up pops the 68 second split time! Tech support must have fixed timing and scoring! I push hard on lap # 22 and set a new lap record of 8:56. I think I may be seeing the effects of extra horsepower from the engine break-in period, because I seem to be able to drive a little faster on these last few laps.

As I begin lap # 23, I see that I've increased my lead to 71 seconds over the RUF.

When I begin lap # 24, I see that I have a 70 second lead over the RUF.

At the first checkpoint on lap # 25, I see that I have a 75 second lead over the RUF. On lap # 25, I carry too much speed thru Schwedenkreuz, so I perform a nice 360 coming into Aremburg. Just for my cheering fans of course! This loses some time, but I still have a 75 second lead over the RUF CTR2 for most of the lap. My tires are a bit worn, so I enter the pits at the end of the lap and add 15 liters of fuel. This makes for a quick pit stop, so I'm easily out of the pits before the RUF CTR2 makes his own pit stop.

At the 3rd checkpoint on lap # 26, I see that I've opened up a 1 minute and 57 second lead over the RUF. The Mine's BNR34 is in 3rd, the Lexus ISF Concept is in 4th and the Amuse S2000 GT1 is in 5th place. With 1 minute and 54 seconds to go before the 4 hour mark, I reach the T10 checkpoint. Since I know it takes less than a minute to get to the end of the lap, I have a choice to make. Either (1) continue on and finish the lap and then run lap # 27 while the rest of the field travels 50 mph, or (2) slow down and waste 60 seconds, making sure that I don't cross the Finish line until the 4 hours have elapsed. Since I have 1 minute and 55 seconds in hand, either method will ensure a victory. When I get to the S/F straight, I see that the 10th place car (unknown) is in the pits. I make a quick decision to run another lap so I can get a chance to lap this car.

At the 1 minute and 46 second mark on lap # 27, I get dropped to 2nd place on the scoring grid. This means that the 2nd place RUF CTR2 has crossed the S/F line. At the 3 minute mark the 3rd place BNR34 crosses the S/F line and drops me to 3rd place. At the 4 minute and 15 second mark the 4th place Amuse S2000 GT1 crosses the S/F line and drops me to 4th place. At the 5 minute and 20 second mark the 5th place Lexus ISF Concept crosses the S/F line and drops me to 5th place. At the 6 minute and 30 second mark the 6th place AEM S2000 crosses the S/F line and drops me to 6th place. At the 7 minute mark the 7th place RE Amemiya RX-7 crosses the S/F line and drops me to 7th place. At the 7 minute and 50 second mark the 8th place High End G37 crosses the S/F line and drops me to 8th place. At the 8 minute and 30 second mark, the 9th place Amuse Carbon R crosses the S/F line and drops me to 9th place. At the 9 minute mark the 10th place NISMO GTR S-tune crosses the S/F line and drops me to 10th place in the race. This happens just before I start my final drive down the S/F straight myself. So the race ends about 10 seconds later as I cross the Finish line myself and get vaulted back into 1st place.

The Mazda RX-7 Spirit R Type A '02 does very well on race hard tires. I highly recommend it. Completing this race popped another 1000 Ticket, so I was suitably pleased afterwards heading back to the trailer.

GTsail

The Mazda RX-7 that I used just above did so well in 470 PP tune, I immediately decided to give it another shot.

I open up the tuning menu and adjust a few of the settings and end up with a Mazda RX-7 Spirit R Type A FD '02 that has the following spec's:

Horsepower: 285
Weight: 1302kg (32kg's were added)
PP value: 465
Wing at: 5
Tires: race hards only

Still sitting on the starting grid are the same AI group as before:
1) High End Performance G37
2) AEM S2000
3) RUF CTR2 '96
4) Mine's BNR34 GTR N1 base
5) Lexus ISF Racing Concept
6) NISMO Skyline GTR S-tune
7) me in the Mazda RX-7
8) RE Amemiya FD35 RX-7
9) NISMO 400R '96
10) Amuse S2000 GT1
11) Opera Gran Turismo 350Z RS
12) Amuse Carbon R

The flag drops and we're off again! Right from the start I get dropped to 11th place. Immediately, going thru turn one I pass the Amuse Carbon R and the NISMO 400R. I also quickly pass the 8th place RE Amemiya RX-7. Up next is the NISMO GTR S-tune, who I pass going thru turn six. I get a great draft behind the 6th place Amuse S2000 GT1 going thru Kottenborn, so I'm able to pass him going into Aremburg. Up next is the 5th place AEM S2000 who gives up his position going thru Wehrseifen. I then chase hard after the 4th place Mine's BNR34 GTR. I'm able to slide past the Mine's BNR34 going thru Ex-Muhle. I continue to push my Mazda RX-7 hard, so after a bit I catch and pass the 3rd place Lexus ISF Concept going thru Schwalbenschwanz. I immediately pass the High End G37 going thru the Kleine-Karussel. Going down the long straight I get passed by the Lexus ISF Concept, the High End G37 and the Mine's BNR34. I'm able to re-pass the High End G37 going thru the Hohenrain esses, but then get re-passed by the High End G37 as we start the drive up the S/F straight.

When I begin lap # 2, I'm in 5th place, some 18 seconds behind the leading RUF CTR2. I quickly pass both the Mine's BNR34 and the High End G37 going thru turn one. I then chase off after the 2nd place Lexus ISF Concept for the rest of the lap.

As I begin lap # 3, I see that I'm 23 seconds behind the leading RUF CTR2.

When I begin lap # 4, I see that I'm 25 seconds behind the leading RUF CTR2.

As I begin lap # 5, I see that I'm 24 seconds behind the leading RUF. I haven't made much headway! I also see that the Amuse S2000 GT1 has passed the Mine's BNR34 and taken over 4th place in the race. Finally on lap # 5, going thru Drei-Fach Rechts, I catch a glimpse of the 2nd place Lexus ISF Concept. I reach the ISF Concept's rear-bumper going into Breidscheid. I'm able to quickly pass the Lexus ISF Concept going thru Ex-Muhle. My RH tires are pretty worn out at this point, so I head into the pits at the end of the lap and change to a new set of RH tires. Already in the pits is the leading RUF CTR2. I add 19 liters of fuel and get some liquid refreshment handed to me (much needed after all the hard driving).

When I leave the pits to begin lap # 6, I take over the lead of the race for the first time since I beat the RUF CTR2 out! Looking back I see that the Amuse S2000 GT1 pitted as well (after a 5 lap stint, which is very unusual, but not un-heard of). The Amuse S2000 GT1 almost always runs his tires for 6 laps, but I have seen him do a 5 lap stint before to start the race. I'm not sure why he sometimes does a 5 lap stint. The AEM S2000 has taken over 2nd place in the race because he did not pit with everyone else. At the 2nd checkpoint on lap # 6, I see that I have a 5 second lead over the AEM S2000. The RUF CTR2 is in 3rd, the RE Amemiya RX-7 is in 4th, the Amuse S2000 GT1 is in 5th, the Mine's BNR34 is in 6th, and the Lexus ISF Concept is in 7th. Going up the Kesselchen curves I see that the RUF CTR2 passes the 2nd place AEM S2000 and gives chase. While watching the track map I drive off into the weeds and lose about 5 seconds near Steilstreke. Going down the long straight the RUF CTR2 almost reaches my Mazda's rear bumper.

When I cross the S/F line to begin lap # 7, I have a 0.2 second lead over the RUF. I immediately get passed by the RUF. I then out-brake the RUF going into turn one and re-take first place in the race. I pull away from the RUF during the first half of the lap, but then get passed by the RUF going down the Kesselchen straight. I follow the RUF closely for the next few turns and I'm able to re-pass the RUF going thru Kleine-Karussel. The RUF CTR2 easily comes back past me going down the long straight. I get a good draft and follow for the rest of the lap.

When I begin lap # 8, the RUF CTR2 has a 2.7 second lead over me. This is too much to make up in turn one, so I get to follow the RUF for the rest of the GP circuit. I push my RX-7 hard in an effort to catch the RUF, so I'm able to catch and pass him going thru Ex-Muhle. The RUF powers past me going up the Kesselchen straight again, but then I'm able to stay in his draft and re-pass him going thru Mutkurve. Looking back I see that my battle with the RUF has slowed us down a bit, so I can now see the 3rd place Amuse S2000 GT1 in my mirrors. At the beginning of my run down the long straight, I have built up a 3.5 second lead. This is just large enough to allow me to maintain my lead for the rest of the lap.

When I cross the S/F line to begin lap # 9, I have a 0.421 second lead over the Amuse S2000, who has passed the RUF CTR2 going down the long straight. The Amuse S2000 and the RUF drive past me going down the S/F straight, but I'm able to out-brake them both going into turn one and re-take the lead of the race. I push hard during lap # 9, and pull out to a 4.5 second lead by the T10 checkpoint.

When I cross the S/F line to begin lap # 10, I have a 1.1 second lead over the Amuse S2000. The Amuse beats me to turn one, but I'm just behind him, so its easy to dive up the inside near the apex, and re-take 1st place in the race as we head off towards turn two. I manage to eek out a 2 second lead over the Amuse S2000 during the first half of lap # 10, so the Amuse is only able to reach my Mazda's rear-bumper going down the Kesselchen straight. I pull out a bit of a margin over the Amuse during the rest of the lap. This margin gets eliminated by the Amuse once we get to the long straight. At the end of the lap I dive into the pits for some new tires. The Amuse continues on and takes over the lead of the race. I have about 24 liters of fuel in the tank, so I add 36 liters. The 3rd place RUF CTR2 joins me in the pits after about 10 seconds. After another 20 seconds we are joined by the 4th place Mine's BNR34.

When I get to the 1st checkpoint on lap # 11, I see that the Amuse S2000 has pulled out to a 43 second lead over me. I know that the Amuse is on its 6th lap with its current set of tires, so I'm not worried in the least! This should mean that the Amuse will have a very slow lap, and I should be able to reduce its lead considerably during this lap. When I get to Breicscheid, I'm told that the leading Amuse S2000 is only 30 seconds ahead. When I get to Wippermann, I'm told that the leading Amuse is only 20 seconds ahead of me. When I get to Eiskurve, I'm told that the leading Amuse is only 10 seconds ahead! When I get to Schwalbenschwanz, I've reached the rear-bumper of the Amuse. I pause briefly to say hello, and then drive past before the Kleine-Karussel.

As I begin lap # 12, I see that I have a 11 second lead over the Amuse S2000 who has just entered the pits for some new tires. The 3rd place RUF is another 10 seconds back, so he's about to inherit 2nd place in the race. At the first checkpoint on lap # 12, I see that I have a 20 second lead over the RUF CTR2. In third is the Mine's BNR34 who has passed the pitting Amuse S2000.

When I cross the S/F line to begin lap # 13, I see that I have a 11 second lead over the RUF.

As I cross the S/F line to begin lap # 14, I see that I have a 7 second lead over the RUF.

When I cross the S/F line to begin lap # 15, I'm told that I have a 6 second lead over the RUF. I dive into the pits at the end of lap # 15 for 44 liters of fuel. The RUF CTR2 closely follows me into the pits. About 20 seconds later, the 3rd place Mine's BNR34 pits as well. The 4th place Amuse S2000 was just behind the Mine's BNR34, so the Amuse continues on without pitting, and takes over the lead of the race.

When I exit the pits to begin lap # 16, I see that I'm 9 seconds behind the leading Amuse S2000. I drive a great lap 16, and actually catch the leading Amuse as we get to Galgenkopf. This allows me to get a good draft down most of the long straight.

When I cross the S/F line to begin lap # 17, I'm only 2 seconds behind the leading Amuse S2000. The Amuse is on very worn tires so it only takes me until turn seven to catch and pass him! I continue on with the lead of the race and do my best to open up some daylight between me and the Amuse S2000. The Amuse is really struggling now, and by the time he gets to Wippermann, he's been caught and passed by the RUF CTR2. I'm just about to go into Brunnchen when I get the news that I have a 25 second lead over the RUF.

When I cross the S/F line to begin lap # 18, I have a 22 second lead over the RUF. The Amuse S2000 pits at the end of lap # 17, which lets the 4th place Mine's BNR34 take over 3rd place.

When the RUF CTR2 crosses the S/F line to begin lap # 19, I see that I have a 16 second lead.

When the RUF CTR2 crosses the S/F line to begin lap # 20, I see that I have a 11 second lead. I have also just passed the 12th place car who was in the pits as I drove by.

When I enter the pits at the end of lap # 20, I see that I have a 17 second lead over the RUF. I add 46 liters of fuel. The RUF CTR2 joins me in the pits. The 3rd place Mine's BNR34 is about 45 seconds back when it also pits.

At the first checkpoint on lap # 21, I see that I have a 33 second lead over the Amuse S2000, who has taken over 2nd place because it did not pit.

When the Amuse S2000 crosses the S/F line to begin lap # 22, I see that I have a 32 second lead. When I get to the long straight, I can just barely see the 11th place Opera Gran Turismo 350Z ahead of me on the track. When I get to the S/F straight, I can see that the 11th place Opera Gran Turismo 350Z has entered the pits.

When the Amuse S2000 crosses the S/F line to begin lap # 23, I see that I have 31 second lead. When I get to the 3rd checkpoint on lap # 23, I notice that the 2nd place position has changed hands. The RUF CTR2 has been able to pass the Amuse S2000 who once again is traveling slowly on worn out tires. The RUF is 30 seconds behind my Mazda RX-7.

When the RUF crosses the S/F line to begin lap # 24, I see that my lead is 25 seconds. I also see that the Mine's NBR34 has taken over 3rd place from the Amuse S2000 who has fallen even further behind.

When the RUF crosses the S/F line to begin lap # 25, I see that I have a 24 second lead. I dive into the pits one final time at the end of this lap. I have about 7 liters of fuel in the tank, so I add 18 more liters just to give me enough for two more laps. The race clock shows that there are still 9 minutes and 20 second left before the 4 hour mark, so I want a little extra fuel for an extra lap, just in case.

I just begin to exit the pits when the 2nd place RUF CTR2 enters the pits behind me. After another 50 seconds or so, I see that the 3rd place Mine's BNR34 has pitted as well. The Amuse S2000 is in 4th place, but takes over 3rd place when it drives past the Mine's BNR34 who was still in the pits. At the 2nd checkpoint on lap # 26, I see that I have a 70 second lead over the RUF CTR2. So I just cruise for the rest of the lap.

After 4 hours and 14 seconds, I cross the Finish line and win the race with a 65 second lead over the RUF CTR2!

Once again, the my Mazda RX-7 does a great job! I highly recommend it. After the race my Mazda's horsepower is still 285, and the PP value is still 465, so my RX-7 has been fully broken in.

Enjoy the racing!
GTsail

Continuing on with my 'Ring attempts with race hard tires, I have my pit crew perform some of their magic on my slightly used: Nissan Skyline GTR Vspec II Nur R34 '02 (painted black).

After some lift work, my Nissan has the following spec's:

Horsepower: 335
Weight: 1500 (weight reduction, then added ballast)
PP value: 475
Wing @: 5
Tires: race hards used throughout the race

On the grid are the usual suspects:
1)High End Performance G37
2)AEM S2000
3)RUF CTR2 '96
4)Mine's BNR34 Skyline GTR N1 base
5)Lexus ISF Racing Concept
6)NISMO Skyline GTR S-tune
7)me in the Nissan Skyline GTR
8)RE Amemiya FD35 RX-7
9)NISMO 400R '96
10)Amuse S2000 GT1
11)Opera Gran Turismo 350Z RS
12)Amuse Carbon R

After the flag drops I get dropped to 11th place, but I quickly dispatch the NISMO 400R and the Amuse Carbon R going thru turn one. Going thru turn three, I also pass the RE Amemiya FD35 and the Amuse S2000 GT1, and regain my 7th place position. I'm very fast driving thru Kottenborn, so I catch and pass the NISMO Skyline S-tune, however, the closely following Amuse S2000 GT1 is even faster, so he comes past me just before we get to Aremburg! So I remain in 7th place. The Amuse S2000 pulls away a bit and catches the 5th place Lexus ISF Concept when they get to Wehrseifen. Just ahead of the Lexus is the 4th place AEM S2000, and just ahead of the AEM is the 3rd place Mine's BNR34 Skyline, who is just behind the 2nd place High End G37. This five car pack is bumper to bumper, and I'm only about 1 second behind the Amuse S2000, who is finding it hard to get past the Lexus ISF. The leading RUF CTR2 has pulled a rabbit on us and is about 15 seconds ahead of me. I'm close behind the Amuse S2000 when we get to the long straight, but I can't maintain the draft off the 5 car pack, who all pull away from me. So at the end of the lap, I'm still in 7th place, some 21 seconds behind the leading RUF CTR2.

As usual, I lose a bunch of time going down the S/F straight, so on lap two it takes me until the Karussel before I can reach the rear-bumper of the 6th place Amuse S2000 again, who is still stuck behind the 5th place AEM S2000. Its amazing, the 2nd thru 7th place cars are all nose-to-tail with my Nissan GTR as the tail!! The Amuse S2000 slows on the exit from Brunnchen, so I drive past and take over 6th place. Its like he missed a gear-shift or something, because we were already thru the turn, so there was no reason to slow! The Amuse S2000 finds it easy to came back past me once we get to the long straight. I catch his draft, and get boosted up to 170mph by the Antoniusbuche overpass.

When I begin lap # 3, I see that I'm 35 seconds behind the leading RUF CTR2. When we get to Adenaur Forst on lap # 3, I watch the Amuse S2000 get past the AEM S2000, who seems to be faltering, so I follow the Amuse's line and drive past the AEM S2000 as well! The Amuse S2000 is a bit slow going thru the Karussel, so I drive up the inside and take over 5th place in the race. Up next is the Mine's BNR34 Skyline who gets passed going thru Brunnchen. I'm right on the 3rd place High End G37's rear-bumper as we go down the long straight, so I get a good draft.

Just as I cross the S/F line to begin lap # 4, I get passed by the Mine's BNR34 Skyline and the Amuse S2000 GT1. I also see that I'm 45 seconds behind the leading RUF CTR2. I quickly pass both the Amuse S2000 and the Mine's BNR34 going thru turn one. When we get to the first turn on the Nordschleife track proper, I pass the High End G37 and take over 3rd place in the race. It takes the Amuse S2000 GT1 a bit longer, but he also passes teh other cars and takes up residence on my rear-bumper when we get to the Kesselchen curves. The Amuse S2000 powers past me going down the long straight so I get a good draft. I'm able to pass the Amuse S2000 going thru the Hohenrain esses, but then get re-passed as we drive down the S/F straight.

As we begin lap # 5, I see that I'm 53 seconds behind the very strong RUF CTR2. I once again out-brake the Amuse S2000 going into turn one, and re-claim 3rd place in the race. The Amuse S2000 follows me closely for the first three-quarters of the lap, and then I start to slow because my tires have been worn out. Up ahead I can see that the 2nd place Lexus ISF Concept is coming back to us, so I know that his tires must be worn out more than mine! I catch and pass the Lexus ISF Concept when we get to Brunnchen, so I've finally reached 2nd place in the race. Going down the long straight, I get passed by both the Amuse S2000 and the Mine's BNR34 Skyline, but get back past both of them going thru the Hohenrain esses, so I enter the pits from second place. The first place RUF CTR2 leaves the pits just as I enter. I take on 25 liters of fuel, which is added to the 45 liters of fuel still in the tank. The 3rd place Mine's BNR34 also follows me into the pits.

The Amuse S2000 takes over 1st place in the race when he wistles by without stopping in the pits! The AEM S2000 takes over 2nd place because he also continues on without stopping for tires. The RUF falls to 3rd after his pit stop. Just as I exit the pits to begin lap # 6, the RE Amemiya FD35 comes blasting past, and drops me to 5th place in the race. At the first checkpoint on lap # 6, I see that I'm 36 seconds behind the leading Amuse S2000. The RE Amemiya RX-7 proves to be no problem since he's six lap tires, so I pass him going thru the least left-hander on the GP circuit. When I get to Schwalbenschwanz, I catch and pass the AEM S2000, who is moving slowly on its worn out tires. Just ahead is the Amuse S2000, who is also moving quite slowly, finally. I go right on past the Amuse S2000 going thru the Kleine-Karussel and set off after the RUF CTR2, who has a 28 second lead over me at this point.

When I begin lap # 7, I see that I'm 34 seconds behind the leading RUF CTR2.

I think I'm in trouble, I just ran a 9:05 lap, and I've fallen further behind, to 44 seconds behind the leading RUF as we begin lap # 8.

At the beginning of lap # 9, I see that I'm 51 seconds behind the leading RUF CTR2.

At the beginning of lap # 10, I see that I'm 57 seconds behind the leading RUF CTR2. By the 2nd half of lap # 10, I can tell that I've used up my tires, so I pit for some new onces at the end of the lap. The leading RUF has pitted ahead of me. I have about 15 liters of fuel in the tank, so I take on 45 liters of fuel.

Just as I exit the pits to begin lap # 11, the Amuse S2000 comes whistling past and drops me to 3rd place in the race. At the first checkpoint on lap # 11, I see taht the leading RUF CTR2 has a 34 second lead over me. A bit later on, I catch and pass the Amuse S2000 going thru Hocheichen.

When I begin lap # 12, the RUF CTR2 has a 43 second lead over me.

When I begin lap # 13, the RUF CTR2 has a 52 second lead over me.

When I begin lap # 14, the RUF CTR2 has a 59 second lead over me. The above margin's are not showing a good trend. During lap # 14, I can see that I'm not making any in-roads into the RUF's lead so I decide to pit at the end of this lap and put on a new set of race hard tires, and to try to save some more re-fueling time. While I'm in the pits at the end of the lap, the 3rd place Mine's BNR34 Skyline comes past and drops me to third.

At the first checkpoint on lap # 15, I see that I'm 1 minute and 42 seconds behind the leading RUF CTR2. I push hard during lap # 15 since I see that I'm about 15 seconds behind the 2nd place Mine's BNR34. At the T11 checkpoint, I see that I have reduced the RUF's lead to 1 minute and 30 seconds.

The Mine's BNR34 Skyline pits in front of me, so I drive past and regain 2nd place in the race as I begin lap # 16. At the first checkpoint on lap # 16, I see that I'm only 20 seconds behind the leading RUF CTR2, so my pit strategy has already paid some dividends!

At the beginning of lap # 17, I see that I'm 30 seconds behind the leading RUF CTR2.

At the beginning of lap # 18, I see that I'm 41 seconds behind the leading RUF CTR2. I pit at the end of lap # 18 for new tires and 45 liters of fuel.

At the first checkpoint on lap # 19, I see that I'm 1 minute and 33 seconds behind the leading RUF CTR2. I also see that the 3rd place Mine's BNR34 Skyline is only 5 seconds behind me.

When I cross the S/F line to begin lap # 20, I see that I'm now only 1 minute and 26 seconds behind the leading RUF CTR2. I hope to be able to eat into this lead during lap # 20, because the RUF should be on worn tires. When I get to the beginning of the Kesselchen curves, I've caught the 12th place NISMO 400R, so I get a draft and drive past to put him a lap down to my Nissan. At the T7 checkpoint, I see that the RUF's lead over me is down to 1 minute and 15 seconds! I keep pushing my Nissan for every ounce of speed! As I begin my drive up the S/F straight, I see that the RUF is still in the pits!!

The RUF CTR2 pulls out of the pits just in front of me at the beginning of lap # 21, and beats me to turn one by about 2 seconds. I give chase for the rest of lap # 21, but can get no closer thatn 2 seconds before watching the RUF power away from me up the Kesselchen curves. At the T10 checkpoint, I see that I'm 6 seconds behind the RUF CTR2.

When I cross the S/F line to begin lap # 22, I see that I'm 12 seconds behind the RUF. When I get to Hohe Acht, I've caught up with the 11th place Opera Gran Turismo 350Z RS, so I pass him and put him a lap down, though he may get this lap back when I pit at the end of this lap. At the end of lap # 22, I pit and take on 44 liters of fuel and some new tires.

At the first checkpoint on lap # 23, I see that I'm 1 minute and 14 seconds behind the leading RUF CTR2. Is this too much? Do I have a chance?

When I cross the S/F line to begin lap # 24, I see that I'm still 1 minute and 10 seconds behind the leading RUF.

When I cross the S/F line to begin lap # 25, I see that I've reduced the RUF's lead to 1 minute and 4 seconds! I continue to push hard during lap # 25, so by the T10 checkpoint, the RUF's lead is only 52 seconds! The RUF is about to pit, so I'm about to find out if I have played my pit strategy correctly and if I've gotten enough speed out of my Nissan!

As I drive down the S/F straight to begin lap # 26, I see that the RUF CTR2 is still in the pits!!

I drive by and take over the lead of the race for the first time!!

At the first checkpoint on lap # 26, I see that I have a 14 second lead over the RUF. Will this be enough? The RUF has generally been taking 10 seconds from me during each lap. We only have this one lap to find out because there are only 8 minutes left before the 4 hour mark. The T10 checkpoint shows that I have a 8.7 second lead over the RUF and the 4 hour mark ticks over.

After 4 hours, 0 minutes and 44 seconds, I cross the FINISH LINE and take the win by only 4 seconds ahead of the rapidly closing RUF CTR2. YEAH!

That was a close race!

I hope that I don't run into this particular RUF again, because he was about 45 seconds faster than I've come to expect.

The Nissan Skyline GTR Vspec is a very nice car to drive for 4 hours, but with the weight it was carrying, it is slow to accelerate, so I lost a bunch of time to the other AI, anywhere that I had to slow and then re-accelerate up to top speed.

The following is a list of my lap times:
1)9:23 --7)9:05 -13)9:06 -19)9:44 -25)9:03
2)9:09 --8)9:06 -14)9:12 -20)9:00 -26)9:07
3)9:11 --9)9:12 -15)9:36 -21)9:05
4)9:13 -10)9:16 -16)9:04 -22)9:13
5)9:21 -11)9:48 -17)9:05 -23)9:41
6)9:41 -12)9:04 -18)9:06 -24)9:00

Enjoy the racing!
GTsail

I have decided that it was time to try another FWD vehicle, so after an exhaustive search of my limited garage, I found a lightly used Integra that could use some additional track time.

After a bit of greasy wrenching, my Honda Integra had the following spec's:

Horsepower: 288
Weight: 1050
PP value: 470
Tires: RH installed and used throughout the race

On the starting grid at Nurburgring were the following cars:
1) High End G37
2) AEM S2000
3) RUF CTR2 '96
4) Mine's BNR34 Sky GTR N1 base
5) Lexus ISF Racing Concept
6) NISMO Skyline S-tune
7) me in the Honda Integra
8) RE Amemiya FD3S RX-7
9) NISMO 400R '96
10) Amuse S2000 GT1
11) Opera Gran Turismo 350Z RS
12) Amuse Carbon R

Immediately from the start I get dropped to 9th place. No worries as I out-brake the 8th place RE Amemiya FD3S going thru turn one and take the position. Up next is the NISMO Skyline S-tune who I pass as we go thru turn four. I get thru the final chicane on the GP circuit very well, which allows me to catch the 6th place Amuse S2000, so I pass the Amuse going thru the last left-hander on the GP circuit. A little paint was exhanged because I really wanted to muscle my way past. The Amuse S2000 will often pull a "rabbit" on me, so making him have to re-pass me at some point is a worthwhile tactic, even this early in the race. I get a good draft off the 5th place AEM S2000 going thru Kottenborn, so I've pulled along side the AEM as we both have to brake for Schwedenkreuz. We both get a little out of shape, so we both slow a bit more than normal. The closely following Amuse S2000 decides to try to pass us so he makes it three wide at this point!! The Amuse S2000 GT1 runs out of room and ends up on the grass and falls back. I also back-off and let the AEM S2000 have the line into Aremburg. I'll get him shortly, so there was no need to push the issue. When we get to Breidscheid, I make my move and drive cleanly up the inside of the AEM S2000, and take over 5th place in the race. I can now tell that the leader of the race is the RUF CTR2, who can be a worthy opponent, so I hope its a rookie driver behind the wheel. I get a huge draft off the three car pack that has the High End G37 leading the Mine's BNR34 and the Lexus ISF Concept all the way up the Kesselchen curves. I dive up the inside of the Lexus ISF Concept when we get to the Karussel, so I take over 4th place in the race. I'm following the 3rd place Mine's BNR34 closely, so I get a great run thru Pflanzgarten III and drive past the Mine's BNR34 by straight-lining the bends a bit. Just ahead is the High End G37. The G37 slows a little too much going into Schwalbenschwanz, so I easily take over 2nd place from him and head off towards the Kleine-Karussel. At the T10 checkpoint, I look down the track and the 1st place RUF CTR2 is nowhere to be seen. The checkpoint flashes the news that he's 13.4 seconds ahead of me up the track, so I know that I have my work cut out for me over the next 4 hours. Without a draft, my top speed down the long straight is not that fast, so just before the Antoniusbuche overpass, I get passed by three cars, the High End G37, the Lexus ISF Concept and the Mine's BNR34 Skyline. The 6th place Amuse S2000 GT1 reaches my rear bumper, but does not come past since there was no room on the track as we all drive thru the high-speed kink!! I follow closely thru the Hohenrain esses and pass the Mine's BNR34 as we exit the last of the esses for the drive up the S/F straight. (side note: I took some pictures of the Amuse S2000 going three wide going thru Kottenborn, but I'm afraid I lost them when my old PS3 died).

When I cross the S/F line to begin lap # 2, I see that I'm 19 seconds behind the leading RUF CTR2. The 5th place Mine's BNR34 passes me on the S/F straight, but I quickly re-pass him going thru turn one. I get a good draft off the 4th place High End G37 going thru Kottenborn, so I'm able to make a clean pass going into Aremburg and find myself back in 3rd place in the race.

As I begin lap # 3, I see that I'm 27 seconds behind the leading RUF CTR2. The Amuse S2000, who has claimed 4th place, reaches my rear-bumper near the end of the Kesselchen curves. He stays there (in my mirrors, not in the Kesselchen curves) for the rest of the lap and then powers past me going down the long straight. I get up to terminal velocity in his draft and re-pass him going thru the Hohenrain esses.

When I begin lap # 4, I see that I'm 31 seconds behind the leading RUF and immediately get passed by the Amuse S2000, who blasts past me up the S/F straight. I quickly re-pass the Amuse going thru turn one. The Amuse dogs me for the entire lap but does not come past until we get to the long straight. I again get a good draft and I'm able to re-pass the Amuse going thru the Hohenrain esses.

When I begin lap # 5, I see that I'm 38 seconds behind the leading RUF. And once again I get passed by the Amuse S2000 on the S/F straight. I over-cook turn one in an effort to catch the Amuse, and go waaaay to deep into the turn, so I don't re-claim the the 3rd place position. My front tires are really starting to show wear, so even though I try, I'm not able to stay with the very fast Amuse S2000, who pulls away from me as we continue on the GP circuit. When I get to Wippermann, I see that the Amuse S2000 has caught and passed the 2nd place Lexus ISF Concept. When I get to Eiskurve, I've caught the Lexus ISF Concept as well. So I easily pass the Lexus before we get to Pflanzgarten I. My front tires only have about 10% left on the tire bar, so I head into the pits and see that the RUF is already there. The Amuse S2000 continues on without pitting, and takes over the lead of the race. I have only used 45 liters of fuel, so I don't take any fuel, just some new tires.

When I exit the pits to begin lap # 6, I immediately get dropped to 5th place because the RE Amemiya RX-7 comes whizzing by. I easily out-brake the RX-7 in turn one. I'm now back in 4th place behind the 1st place Amuse S2000, the 2nd place AEM S2000, and the 3rd place RUF CTR2. At the 1st checkpoint on lap # 6, I see that I'm 47 seconds behind the leading Amuse S2000. I estimate that I'm about 10 seconds behind the 3rd place RUF CTR2. Going thru Adenaur Forst, I see that the RUF CTR2 has caught and passed the 2nd place AEM S2000. I do the same to the AEM S2000 when I get to the Karussel. Looking ahead on the track map, I see that the RUF has caught the Amuse S2000, and they are both about 10 seconds ahead of me. The RUF easily gets past the Amuse S2000, who is now moving very slowly on worn tires. I catch and pass the beleaguered Amuse S2000 as we get to the Kleine-Karussel.

As I begin lap # 7, I see that I'm 14 seconds behind the leading RUF.

When I begin lap # 8, I see that I'm 19 seconds behind the leading RUF.

When I begin lap # 9, I see that I'm 25 seconds behind the leading RUF.

When I begin lap # 10, I see that I'm 33 seconds behind the leading RUF. My tires are pretty worn out, but I'm going to try to get another decent lap out of them. After this lap, I intend to run the rest of the race on 4 lap tire stints to get the most I can from the race hard tires. I lose some time when I have a bit of an off going thru Steilstreke. My tires only show about 10% of the tire bar remaining, so its surely about time for a new set! When I get to the pits at the end of the lap, I see that the RUF is already there. I tell my pit crew to only add 35 liters of fuel and give me some new RH tires and maybe we can catch the RUF. The 3rd place Mine's BNR34 joins us in the pits just as I get released. The RUF has already left the pits by the time I get underway.

When I get to the first checkpoint on lap # 11, I see that I'm 13.7 seconds behind the leading RUF. Looking at the track map, I also see that the Amuse S2000 is back in 3rd place again, and is only about 12 seconds behind me. I don't think that he can catch me during this lap, but you never know.

When I begin lap # 12, I see that I'm 21 seconds behind the leading RUF CTR2.

When I begin lap # 13, I see that I'm 27 seconds behind the leading RUF. The Amuse S2000 has fallen back to 4th place because he's still driving on 6 lap tires and he's slowed considerably. The Mine's BNR34 has taken over 3rd place.

When I begin lap # 14, I see that I'm 37 seconds behind the leading RUF. I enter the pits at the end of the lap and take on 34 liters of fuel. I still had 11 liters of fuel in the tank.

The 3rd place Mine's BNR34 pulls along-side me as I exit the pits to begin lap # 15, but does not get past since I do a better job of getting thru turn one. At the 1st checkpoint on lap # 15, I see that the leading RUF has a 1 minute and 22 second lead over me.

When I cross the S/F line to begin lap # 16, I see that the RUF CTR2 is in the pits but has gotten underway. I flash by the pit exit just as the RUF comes out, so I beat him into turn one and take over the lead of the race!! At the first checkpoint on lap # 16, I see that I have a 2.1 second lead over the RUF. The RUF catches up with me on the long straight and blows on by. I catch a draft, but can't stay in it because the RUF is just very fast.

When I cross the S/F line to begin lap # 17, I've fallen 2.3 seconds behind the RUF. The RUF continues to pull away from me, so when I begin lap # 18, I've fallen 11 seconds behind the RUF. I head into the pits at the end of the lap and take on 35 liters of fuel which gets added to the 10 liters left in the tank.

At the first checkpoint on lap # 19, I see that the RUF CTR2 has a 1 minute and 5 second lead over me. When I get to the end of the lap, I see that there is a car in the pits. I speculate that this is the NISMO 400R or the Opera Gran Turismo 350Z. (Aside--I wish the game would tell us when the AI pits).

As I begin lap # 20, I get the news that I'm only 60 seconds behind the leading RUF. I expect to be able to reduce this margin during lap # 20 because the RUF should be driving on very worn tires. At the end of lap # 20, I see that the RUF has pitted, so when I cross the S/F line I get the news that I'm only 49 seconds behind the RUF. This means that I've gained 11 seconds on the RUF during the lap.

I power down the S/F straight to begin lap # 21, and take over 1st place in the race. At the first checkpoint on lap # 21, I see that I'm 18 seconds ahead of the RUF.

When the RUF crosses the S/F line to begin lap # 22, I see that my lead is down to 7.6 seconds. The RUF CTR2 catches me as I drive down the long straight, so I let him past and get a decent draft for the rest of the straight. I pit at the end of the lap for 35 more liters of fuel. This should be my final stop. In the pits with me is the 11th place car.

At the first checkpoint on lap # 23, I see that I'm 46 seconds behind the leading RUF.

When I cross the S/F line to begin lap # 24, I see that I'm 44 seconds behind the RUF.

When I cross the S/F line to begin lap # 25, I see that I'm 43 seconds behind the leading RUF. 1 second closer!! During lap # 25, because the RUF has worn out its tires, I cut his lead down to 34 seconds as I pass the T10 checkpoint.

When I cross the S/F line to begin lap # 26, I see that there are on 8 minutes and 30 seconds left before the 4 hour mark, so I've started my final lap. This is shortly followed by me taking over 1st place in the race because the RUF has just pitted.

At the 1st checkpoint on lap # 26, I see that I have a 31 second lead over the 2nd place RUF CTR2. My lead is down to 12.7 seconds when I get to the T11 checkpoint.

After 4 hours, 0 minutes and 46 seconds, I cross the Finish line and win another 'Ring Trophy!

The 2nd place RUF is only 10 second behind my Integra
The 3rd place Mine's BNR34 is 1 minute and 45 seconds back
The 4th place Amuse S2000 GT1 is 2 minutes and 30 seconds back
The 5th place Lexus ISF Concept is 3 minutes back

Great fun!

The Honda Integra drives very nicely in 470 point tune. It does eat its front tires, but you can drive it until you essentially used up their entire life bars.

Enjoy the racing!
GTsail

Hey, it seems like you have no problem winning the race with just above 250+ HP. On what position do you usually end up after the first lap? I'm not that great at racing, but i'm decent enough to hang around.

I actually attempted doing the 4 hour 'Ring in Endurance with 430-532 HP cars, but I am having problem hanging on to the lead. I checked the "typical opponents" and I took the average of all HPs, and it ends up with 573HP. I'm not great at the 'Ring, but I would say I'm okay.... I spin out somehow at least 1 time each lap.

This is my second endurance race, I completed indy 500 with ease. I am just intrigue that you can win with cars just below 300HP. From my experience with the 4 hour 'Nurb, the GT1 are my best competitors. Once they take the lead, they're gone. Does it all come to your fuel/tire management? I mean you are racing against cars with 300-400 more HP.

mikekhel30

Hey, it seems like you have no problem winning the race with just above 250+ HP. On what position do you usually end up after the first lap? I'm not that great at racing, but i'm decent enough to hang around.

I actually attempted doing the 4 hour 'Ring in Endurance with 430-532 HP cars, but I am having problem hanging on to the lead. I checked the "typical opponents" and I took the average of all HPs, and it ends up with 573HP. I'm not great at the 'Ring, but I would say I'm okay.... I spin out somehow at least 1 time each lap.

This is my second endurance race, I completed indy 500 with ease. I am just intrigue that you can win with cars just below 300HP. From my experience with the 4 hour 'Nurb, the GT1 are my best competitors. Once they take the lead, they're gone. Does it all come to your fuel/tire management? I mean you are racing against cars with 300-400 more HP.

Click to expand...

Welcome to 'Ring racing mikekhel30!

There's no single answer to your questions because it all depends upon what car you use.

If I run the race with car that is equal to the AI competition, then at the end of the first lap I'm already in 1st place in the race, so the rest of the race is just a snooze.

So what a bunch of us have done is tried to find cars that are much weaker than the AI, and therefore have a decent battle for the entire 4 hours. With these weaker cars, in many cases we might be 15 seconds behind the leader at the end of the first lap. This time is made up during the pit stops because of better fuel management and better use of our tires when they are worn. The AI often drive one final lap on tires that are past their useful lives, and the AI will lose a bunch of time on the lap just before they pit.

There are two rabbits that sometimes show up, the Amuse S2000 GT1 Turbo that you mention and the Audi R8 LMS Race Car. If these show up in the starting lineup, I would recommend that you exit and re-enter against another lineup since they are considerably stronger than the rest of the AI cars.

Check out the thread that Famine started:

https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/showthread.php?t=207993

In regard to what car to use for your first attempt, pick something that is fast enough that you can run a lap in about 9 minutes flat, or slightly faster. The AI are all on RM tires, so for a good race you can use either RH or RM tires.

Good luck!
GTsail

GTsail290

There are two rabbits that sometimes show up, the Amuse S2000 GT1 Turbo that you mention and the Audi R8 LMS Race Car. If these show up in the starting lineup, I would recommend that you exit and re-enter against another lineup since they are considerably stronger than the rest of the AI cars.

Click to expand...

Or....

Tune your car to run a little faster and beat them!

It takes around a 8'50 average lap (including stops) to beat those 2 cars, so just plan accordingly.

Or practice the Nordschleife so you don't spin/crash once every lap.. that takes a lot of time during a 4hr race.

GTsail290

Welcome to 'Ring racing mikekhel30!

There's no single answer to your questions because it all depends upon what car you use.

If I run the race with car that is equal to the AI competition, then at the end of the first lap I'm already in 1st place in the race, so the rest of the race is just a snooze.

So what a bunch of us have done is tried to find cars that are much weaker than the AI, and therefore have a decent battle for the entire 4 hours. With these weaker cars, in many cases we might be 15 seconds behind the leader at the end of the first lap. This time is made up during the pit stops because of better fuel management and better use of our tires when they are worn. The AI often drive one final lap on tires that are past their useful lives, and the AI will lose a bunch of time on the lap just before they pit.

There are two rabbits that sometimes show up, the Amuse S2000 GT1 Turbo that you mention and the Audi R8 LMS Race Car. If these show up in the starting lineup, I would recommend that you exit and re-enter against another lineup since they are considerably stronger than the rest of the AI cars.

Check out the thread that Famine started:

https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/showthread.php?t=207993

In regard to what car to use for your first attempt, pick something that is fast enough that you can run a lap in about 9 minutes flat, or slightly faster. The AI are all on RM tires, so for a good race you can use either RH or RM tires.

Good luck!
GTsail

Click to expand...

Thanks for much informations. The thing with my opponent, the amuse GT1 Turbo is always there. I have no problem keeping up with the Yellowbird, which always spins out somewhere, the TT roar when he's behind me, but the GT1 Turbo is pretty the enemy. I can keep the lead up until the long straight, which I stand no chance. I took a chance with the ISF, but having 7 gears does not good for my Logitech G27, I love my clutch so going to shifter then to paddle then back to shifter is too much hassle and kills my rhythem.

Michel4AGE

Or practice the Nordschleife so you don't spin/crash once every lap.. that takes a lot of time during a 4hr race.

Click to expand...

Yeah. I know its kind of ambitious to learn the track and take a very underpowered car at the same time for the 4 hour 'Ring. Before I attempted this, I was just as bad as a beginner in the 'Ring. After a couple laps, I actually saw so much improvements. It seemed like I was hitting all apex. Anyway, the reason I think I spin out is my inability to control an FR car with so much grip. The only time I drive a rear wheel drive car is when I do drifting. But since I'm racing, I tend to drive with more grip. Once my front wheels gets grip from a somewhat short slide, boom I spin out.

I guess my mission for this 4 hour 'Ring are:

Learn the track
Learn my G35, rear wheel drivetrain in general, for drifting on a racing environment
And keep the race competitive, I don't want to go snooze off while I park my car.

Too ambitious I guess for just want race, but from the looks of it, it is very possible. I will try again for the entire race later tonight.

Famine

The IS F has eight gears

When you first boot up the console, the line-up for the race will be:
1. Mine's BNR34 Skyline GT-R V-Spec N1 Base '00
2. HPA FT565 Audi TT
3. Amuse S2000 GT1 '04 - not the Turbo
4. Nismo 400R '96
5. HPA Stage II R32
6. HKS CT230R '08
7. You!
8. Nismo Skyline GT-R R-Tune R34 '99
9. Nismo Fairlady Z Z-Tune Z33 '03
10. Mine's BNR34 Skyline GT-R N1 Base '06
11. Nissan Gran Turismo Skyline GT-R '01
12. Amuse Nismo 380RS Superleggera

That's just about the easiest line-up - the HKS CT230R will be a stern test - but the relatively quick CTR2 won't be there, nor will the massively fast R8 LMS or Amuse GT1 Turbo.

Click to expand...

Eight gears when using standard transmission. I'm using fully custom, and I only get 7, unless its just me. Scared. Its an easy line up, but I'm taking low powered cars compare to the rest of the line up. From what I recall, I have the least HP and PP by a huge margin out of the all cars, except for one point with the ISF when I set mine to the average HP from all 12 cars from the "typical opponent" screen which I kind of noticed like an over kill because I usually just lose the 1st place from my own mistakes rather than peformance wise.

The first time I ran the 4 hours I had little experience on the ring so I took a car that I was very comfortable with and ran fairly high PP (compared to others in this forum), but still less than the AI.

The second time I took a car with lower PP because I was getting better at the track.

The next time I will use lower PP again, this time going for the low horsepower record.

Each time I run the race I just get better at the track. And using slower cars each time is forcing me to be a better driver.

mikekhel30

Eight gears when using standard transmission. I'm using fully custom, and I only get 7, unless its just me.

Click to expand...

The IS F RM also has eight gears and that uses the IS F fully customised gearbox.

Unless you're talking about the IS F Racing Concept?

mikekhel30

Its an easy line up, but I'm taking low powered cars compare to the rest of the line up. From what I recall, I have the least HP and PP by a huge margin out of the all cars

Click to expand...

As you can see from the N4 Companion thread, that's the way to do it I know I've won the race using a 230hp, 425PP Honda S2000 on Racing Softs - the AI all use Racing Mediums. I was giving away 300-400hp to some of the opponents, and 40mph on the main straight. People have managed to win the race using less power than that, fewer PP than that and even both at the same time!

The Racing Soft "records" are 210hp, 415PP and 175hp/tonne.
The Racing Medium "records" are 187hp, 430PP and 208hp/tonne.
The Racing Hard "records" are 285hp, 465PP and 219hp/tonne.
The Sport Soft "records" are 349hp, 500PP and 292hp/tonne.
The Sport Hard "records" are 525hp, 568PP and 389hp/tonne.
The Comfort Soft "records" are 529hp, 586PP and 529hp/tonne.

We have a bit of a crowd who like to explore what the lower limits are for this race

Your race reports always interest me so I'll keep an eye on this thread.

Famine

The IS F RM also has eight gears and that uses the IS F fully customised gearbox.

Unless you're talking about the IS F Racing Concept?



As you can see from the N4 Companion thread, that's the way to do it I know I've won the race using a 230hp, 425PP Honda S2000 on Racing Softs - the AI all use Racing Mediums. I was giving away 300-400hp to some of the opponents, and 40mph on the main straight. People have managed to win the race using less power than that, fewer PP than that and even both at the same time!

The Racing Soft "records" are 210hp, 415PP and 175hp/tonne.
The Racing Medium "records" are 187hp, 430PP and 208hp/tonne.
The Racing Hard "records" are 285hp, 465PP and 219hp/tonne.
The Sport Soft "records" are 349hp, 500PP and 292hp/tonne.
The Sport Hard "records" are 525hp, 568PP and 389hp/tonne.
The Comfort Soft "records" are 529hp, 586PP and 529hp/tonne.

We have a bit of a crowd who like to explore what the lower limits are for this race

Click to expand...

I'm not talking about ISF RM or Concept. Now I am a bit scared that i'm missing one gear. .

^ It actually still has an 8-speed 'box.