Smallhorses
Staff Emeritus
- 7,260
A long while ago in Slowmans Rome write up, I promised Id get round to writing up the race I finished here with under 3s MOV! Its been ages, and I forgot about it to be honest until I came across 2 crumpled bits of paper at the bottom of my laptop bag last night.
As Im away from home and the comforts of GT4 at the moment, I thought Id kill some time by getting this written up, finally!
Ill use the same corner notations as I did in my other Rome enduro write-up, Why I hate AI (part 1)
I wanted a really really close race round here in another attempt to lay my hands on the Lancia Delta Rally Car, and after a little testing came up with an excellent match. 💡
The Spoon Civic Type-R with no modifications, no oil change and racing medium tyres.
Turned off ASM & TCS. Gives 214HP and 820Kg for WPR of 3.832. The tyre choice means Im reasonably quick, but will have to use the same 6 lap pit strategy as the Clio which ensures a real humdinger of a race.
The rest of the field was Renault Clio Sport V6 24V, BMW 328Ci, Audi S4, Peugeot 206 S16 and Audi TT 1.8T Quattro.
Started in 6th place and by T7 Im in 4th place challenging the BMW and S4 for 2nd. Took 2nd place after T13 onto start/finish (SF) straight. The Clio has a 6.6s lead. Held off the challenge of the S4 and maintained a good line through T1 and begin to pull away from the pack.
Laps 2 -5 I chipped down the lead to 6.2s, 5.8s and 4.8s respectively. Tyres were very orange at the front, but the Clio is struggling on worn tyres too. Caught up to 1.990s back at Checkpoint (CP) 3 and pit in at the end of lap 6 just behind the Clio.
The Clios pit crew is far superior to mine,
and he gets away way before me, an outlap of 153.072 on lap 7 sees me trail the Clio by 4.444s.
Laps 8 11 I lapped in the mid 135s and the gap lengthens to 5.134s on lap 9 before falling to 4.046s at the end of lap 11.
Lap 12 the gap comes down significantly as the Clios tyres wear out again, 1.812s gap at CP3 and we pit in together at the end of the lap with the Clio just in front.
Laps 13 16 the gap goes up from just over 2.5s to 3.816s at the end of lap 16 after I missed a gear coming into T12,
but by the end of lap 17 its down to 3s again.
Lap 18 and I gain on the Clio again, to pass CP3 just 0.096s back. Right alongside Clio down the backstraight and take 1st place under braking for T12 as the Clio brakes very early. Dive into the pits followed by the Renault, in 1st place. He exits the pits before me after a sterling effort by his pitcrew, and a tidy outlap on lap 19 of 152.258 sees me complete the lap only 1.613s back.
Drop the gap by 0.3s on lap 20, and on lap 21 the Clio laps the TT into T7. I squeeze by on the inside of T8 to finish 1.131s back.
Lap 22 the Clio holds a 0.580s lead and were gaining on the 216.
Lap 23 Clio passes 216 on the outside rumblies of T1. 216 blocks me through T2 and pulls back into me as I attempt to pass on the inside of T3. I pass him through T4 and T5,
but he T-bones me into T6 and I lose some time. 
Im able to pass him cleanly again into T7 and pull away. End the lap 1.371s behind the Clio after a 137.487 lap.
Passed the Clio cleanly through T10 out onto the backstraight, and lead by 0.208s at CP3, before diving into the pits at the end of lap 24. The Clio is off his jacks before me again though and I exit the pits behind him. I put in a rather shoddy outlap of 153.831 to finish lap 25 3.018s behind the Clio.
Lap 26 and the Clio re-laps the 216 between T9 & T10, the end of lap gap is 3.599s.
Lap 27 passed the 216 without incident this time,
in the run up to T2 after he drifts wide at T1 and scrubs off some speed.
Laps 28 30, the gap falls to 1.837s at the end of lap 29. I pass the Clio on the outside of T10 and lead by 0.081s at CP3. Pit in at the end of lap 30 in the lead, but once again the Renault crew outperforms the Spoon mechanics and Im left eating Clio exhaust out of the pits.
Lap 31 34, the gap after the outlap is 1.300s and it comes down to 0.372s after a stunning 134.769 on lap 33. Im able to stay with the Clio and brake much later, but his superior acceleration gets the better of me out of the bends. Finish lap 34 0.556s back.
Lap 35 gets alongside Clio through gentle T5 and outbrake him into T6. Clio bumps the back of me under acceleration out of the bend, but I held a clean line through the next few turns to keep him at bay. Finish lap 0.604s ahead.
Lap 36 the gap at CP3 is 2.474s in my favour, and I pit in followed by the Clio. We drop from the jacks simultaneously, and I exit the pits in clean air for the 1st time, but the Clio is approaching rapidly in the rearview mirror!
Lap 37 finishes with a 0.532s advantage over the Clio, but hes flying and he passes me on the inside at T2. Gentlemanly let him go as hes got a clear straightline advantage over the Spoon. I close up and nose ahead before T6, but pull back to avoid a collision into the turn and finish lap 38 0.627s behind.
We catch the BMW at T6 on lap 39, he unsportingly blocks us through T7 & T8. The Clio passes through T9 and I follow through T10. 0.439s behind Clio at the end of the lap.
Lap 40 we catch the TT again, Clio passes through T2 and I hold back and outbrake him into T3. We also catch the S4, and the Clio audaciously takes him round the outside of T9. I squeeze past through T10, but the S4 passes me again down the backstretch. I pass him finally for good under braking for T12. Lap ends with 1.331s gap to leader.
Lap 41 closed on Clio under braking for T12, and finish lap like a tin can on a wedding car, tied to his bumper
0.364s back.
Lap 42 passed Clio and was repassed several time throughout the lap. Pit in so close behind him that the autodrive only narrowly missed him as he brakes to enter his garage area! Outlap of 151.962 ends lap 43 with 2.817s gap to the Clio, and were gaining on the BMW and S4 again.
Lap 44 the Clio passes S4 out of T4, but S4 takes him back again into T6. Clio takes him again through T8 and holds it through T9, while I slip inside the S4 on the inside. Clio rounds the BMW through T10 and I pull alongside it down the backstraight. He moves away along the straight, but I lap him into T12. Finish the lap in 135.842, not bad for such an active lap, and the Clio leads by 1.165s.
Lap 45 is a 134.863 and leaves me close enough to count the layers of Nocturne coloured paint on the Clios rear bumper!
Lap 46 finished with 0.281s gap to Clio, took the lead briefly under braking for T12 after a good slipstream down the backstraight, but hes able to pull away with his extra HP.
Lap 47 48 passed Clio after holding a good line through T7, and pull away, to pass CP3 with 0.250s lead. Pit in at end of lap 48 from 1st place, but predictably leave pits 2nd!
Lap 49 50, outlap of 152.688 leaves 2.213s gap to Clio and it comes down to 2.027s at the end of lap 50.
Lap 51 Clio passes 216 through T13, gap is 2.205s.
Lap 52 216 collects me as he bounces off barrier outside T1, finish lap 3.319s behind Clio. Damned Peugeot!
Lap 53 54, gap falls to 2.445s and I pass Clio out of T10 on lap 54 and pit in ahead of him once again.
Lap 55 56 outlap sees me 2.3s behind and the gap falls on lap 56 to 1.9s after a 134.835.
Lap 57 I was rudely interrupted by a firealarm! Seems the girls in the apartment at the end of my corridor had decided to reheat last nights takeaway pizza in the oven. And left it in the bloody box!!!!
Come back in 45 minutes later to finish lap in 136.039 and leaving a 2.518s gap to Clio as I settled back into rhythm.
Lap 58 60, we both lap TT again and I catch & pass Clio on lap 60, exiting T10. Pit in ahead and leave pits behind him once more!
The TT gets between us as we leave the pits on lap 61. I pass him into T6 and finish the lap 1.824s behind the leader.
Put in 2 consecutive 134 laps (lap 63 is fastest lap of the race at 134.480
) after this and catch to within a half-second of Clio, but then I immediately stuff T6 in lap 64 and lose over a second and a half to finish lap 1.9s down. 
Lap 65 I catch up to within a second again.
Lap 66 I closed up on Clio through T4 and outbrake him into T6 to take 1st. He nudges me into the barrier outside and I surrender the lead again. Held a good line through T7 to setup the pass through T8 and I hold the line through T9 & T10 to keep 1st place. Pass CP3 with 0.9s advantage and pit in at the end of the lap.
Lap 67 I get out of the pits just ahead of the Clio for a change, even though he dropped from his jacks just before I did. A friendly nudge from the Clio as he catches me through T13 allows him to squeeze past to take a 0.3s lead into lap 68.
Lap 68 got alongside Clio out of T4 and pulled an audacious pass round the outside of T6. The Clio closes under acceleration but isnt close enough to make a move into T7. Hold the line in T8 & T9 and out onto the backstretch where the Clio gains a lot of time back on me. Finish the lap in 134.619 and have a 0.624s lead.
Lap 69 the adrenaline is really pumping, were approaching the 2hr mark and Im just about racing in clean air for the 1st time, the Clio has the hammer down and closes right up on my back end through T1 & T2, and hangs off my bumper under braking for T3. Pull away for the rest of another storming lap, 134.650 (Hows that for consistency?!!! 
) and finish lap with nearly a 1s advantage.
Lap 70 the gap is up to 1.557
Lap 71 I pass the S4 into T6, and in my rearview I see the Clio get by him at T9. At the end of the lap the gap is up to 2.431s.
Lap 72 and with the 2hr mark fast approaching, the Spoons tyres are rapidly going iffy, but so are the Clios and Im 4.437s up at CP3. In a guts-or-glory move, I decide that the Clio must be pitting and Im after the really close finish so I go in too rather than risk cocking up completely on tyres thatd be red at the end of the next & final lap.
We both pit, and despite the Clios 2s gain from another excellent stop, Im able to pull a clean outlap of 152.392 and finish the race 2.699s ahead of the 2nd placed Clio in a total time of 12047.818.
I was rewarded finally with the coveted Lancia Delta Rally Car that completed my collection of Endurance prize cars in this GT3 gamesave after 9 tries in 8 different cars!
(Spoon Civic Type-R, BMW 328Ci, New Beetle 2.0, Fiat Coupe Turbo Plus, Aston Martin V8 Vantage, Alfa Romeo 156 2.5V6 24V, Audi S4 and the outrageous Mini Cooper 1.3i in which I had 2 attempts in, one good, one pipped at the post!)
As Im away from home and the comforts of GT4 at the moment, I thought Id kill some time by getting this written up, finally!
Ill use the same corner notations as I did in my other Rome enduro write-up, Why I hate AI (part 1)
I wanted a really really close race round here in another attempt to lay my hands on the Lancia Delta Rally Car, and after a little testing came up with an excellent match. 💡
The Spoon Civic Type-R with no modifications, no oil change and racing medium tyres.
Turned off ASM & TCS. Gives 214HP and 820Kg for WPR of 3.832. The tyre choice means Im reasonably quick, but will have to use the same 6 lap pit strategy as the Clio which ensures a real humdinger of a race.
The rest of the field was Renault Clio Sport V6 24V, BMW 328Ci, Audi S4, Peugeot 206 S16 and Audi TT 1.8T Quattro.
Started in 6th place and by T7 Im in 4th place challenging the BMW and S4 for 2nd. Took 2nd place after T13 onto start/finish (SF) straight. The Clio has a 6.6s lead. Held off the challenge of the S4 and maintained a good line through T1 and begin to pull away from the pack.
Laps 2 -5 I chipped down the lead to 6.2s, 5.8s and 4.8s respectively. Tyres were very orange at the front, but the Clio is struggling on worn tyres too. Caught up to 1.990s back at Checkpoint (CP) 3 and pit in at the end of lap 6 just behind the Clio.
The Clios pit crew is far superior to mine,
and he gets away way before me, an outlap of 153.072 on lap 7 sees me trail the Clio by 4.444s.Laps 8 11 I lapped in the mid 135s and the gap lengthens to 5.134s on lap 9 before falling to 4.046s at the end of lap 11.
Lap 12 the gap comes down significantly as the Clios tyres wear out again, 1.812s gap at CP3 and we pit in together at the end of the lap with the Clio just in front.
Laps 13 16 the gap goes up from just over 2.5s to 3.816s at the end of lap 16 after I missed a gear coming into T12,
but by the end of lap 17 its down to 3s again.Lap 18 and I gain on the Clio again, to pass CP3 just 0.096s back. Right alongside Clio down the backstraight and take 1st place under braking for T12 as the Clio brakes very early. Dive into the pits followed by the Renault, in 1st place. He exits the pits before me after a sterling effort by his pitcrew, and a tidy outlap on lap 19 of 152.258 sees me complete the lap only 1.613s back.
Drop the gap by 0.3s on lap 20, and on lap 21 the Clio laps the TT into T7. I squeeze by on the inside of T8 to finish 1.131s back.
Lap 22 the Clio holds a 0.580s lead and were gaining on the 216.
Lap 23 Clio passes 216 on the outside rumblies of T1. 216 blocks me through T2 and pulls back into me as I attempt to pass on the inside of T3. I pass him through T4 and T5,
but he T-bones me into T6 and I lose some time. Im able to pass him cleanly again into T7 and pull away. End the lap 1.371s behind the Clio after a 137.487 lap.Passed the Clio cleanly through T10 out onto the backstraight, and lead by 0.208s at CP3, before diving into the pits at the end of lap 24. The Clio is off his jacks before me again though and I exit the pits behind him. I put in a rather shoddy outlap of 153.831 to finish lap 25 3.018s behind the Clio.
Lap 26 and the Clio re-laps the 216 between T9 & T10, the end of lap gap is 3.599s.
Lap 27 passed the 216 without incident this time,
in the run up to T2 after he drifts wide at T1 and scrubs off some speed.Laps 28 30, the gap falls to 1.837s at the end of lap 29. I pass the Clio on the outside of T10 and lead by 0.081s at CP3. Pit in at the end of lap 30 in the lead, but once again the Renault crew outperforms the Spoon mechanics and Im left eating Clio exhaust out of the pits.
Lap 31 34, the gap after the outlap is 1.300s and it comes down to 0.372s after a stunning 134.769 on lap 33. Im able to stay with the Clio and brake much later, but his superior acceleration gets the better of me out of the bends. Finish lap 34 0.556s back.
Lap 35 gets alongside Clio through gentle T5 and outbrake him into T6. Clio bumps the back of me under acceleration out of the bend, but I held a clean line through the next few turns to keep him at bay. Finish lap 0.604s ahead.
Lap 36 the gap at CP3 is 2.474s in my favour, and I pit in followed by the Clio. We drop from the jacks simultaneously, and I exit the pits in clean air for the 1st time, but the Clio is approaching rapidly in the rearview mirror!
Lap 37 finishes with a 0.532s advantage over the Clio, but hes flying and he passes me on the inside at T2. Gentlemanly let him go as hes got a clear straightline advantage over the Spoon. I close up and nose ahead before T6, but pull back to avoid a collision into the turn and finish lap 38 0.627s behind.
We catch the BMW at T6 on lap 39, he unsportingly blocks us through T7 & T8. The Clio passes through T9 and I follow through T10. 0.439s behind Clio at the end of the lap.
Lap 40 we catch the TT again, Clio passes through T2 and I hold back and outbrake him into T3. We also catch the S4, and the Clio audaciously takes him round the outside of T9. I squeeze past through T10, but the S4 passes me again down the backstretch. I pass him finally for good under braking for T12. Lap ends with 1.331s gap to leader.
Lap 41 closed on Clio under braking for T12, and finish lap like a tin can on a wedding car, tied to his bumper
0.364s back.Lap 42 passed Clio and was repassed several time throughout the lap. Pit in so close behind him that the autodrive only narrowly missed him as he brakes to enter his garage area! Outlap of 151.962 ends lap 43 with 2.817s gap to the Clio, and were gaining on the BMW and S4 again.
Lap 44 the Clio passes S4 out of T4, but S4 takes him back again into T6. Clio takes him again through T8 and holds it through T9, while I slip inside the S4 on the inside. Clio rounds the BMW through T10 and I pull alongside it down the backstraight. He moves away along the straight, but I lap him into T12. Finish the lap in 135.842, not bad for such an active lap, and the Clio leads by 1.165s.
Lap 45 is a 134.863 and leaves me close enough to count the layers of Nocturne coloured paint on the Clios rear bumper!
Lap 46 finished with 0.281s gap to Clio, took the lead briefly under braking for T12 after a good slipstream down the backstraight, but hes able to pull away with his extra HP.
Lap 47 48 passed Clio after holding a good line through T7, and pull away, to pass CP3 with 0.250s lead. Pit in at end of lap 48 from 1st place, but predictably leave pits 2nd!
Lap 49 50, outlap of 152.688 leaves 2.213s gap to Clio and it comes down to 2.027s at the end of lap 50.
Lap 51 Clio passes 216 through T13, gap is 2.205s.
Lap 52 216 collects me as he bounces off barrier outside T1, finish lap 3.319s behind Clio. Damned Peugeot!
Lap 53 54, gap falls to 2.445s and I pass Clio out of T10 on lap 54 and pit in ahead of him once again.
Lap 55 56 outlap sees me 2.3s behind and the gap falls on lap 56 to 1.9s after a 134.835.
Lap 57 I was rudely interrupted by a firealarm! Seems the girls in the apartment at the end of my corridor had decided to reheat last nights takeaway pizza in the oven. And left it in the bloody box!!!!
Come back in 45 minutes later to finish lap in 136.039 and leaving a 2.518s gap to Clio as I settled back into rhythm.Lap 58 60, we both lap TT again and I catch & pass Clio on lap 60, exiting T10. Pit in ahead and leave pits behind him once more!
The TT gets between us as we leave the pits on lap 61. I pass him into T6 and finish the lap 1.824s behind the leader.
Put in 2 consecutive 134 laps (lap 63 is fastest lap of the race at 134.480
) after this and catch to within a half-second of Clio, but then I immediately stuff T6 in lap 64 and lose over a second and a half to finish lap 1.9s down. Lap 65 I catch up to within a second again.
Lap 66 I closed up on Clio through T4 and outbrake him into T6 to take 1st. He nudges me into the barrier outside and I surrender the lead again. Held a good line through T7 to setup the pass through T8 and I hold the line through T9 & T10 to keep 1st place. Pass CP3 with 0.9s advantage and pit in at the end of the lap.
Lap 67 I get out of the pits just ahead of the Clio for a change, even though he dropped from his jacks just before I did. A friendly nudge from the Clio as he catches me through T13 allows him to squeeze past to take a 0.3s lead into lap 68.
Lap 68 got alongside Clio out of T4 and pulled an audacious pass round the outside of T6. The Clio closes under acceleration but isnt close enough to make a move into T7. Hold the line in T8 & T9 and out onto the backstretch where the Clio gains a lot of time back on me. Finish the lap in 134.619 and have a 0.624s lead.
Lap 69 the adrenaline is really pumping, were approaching the 2hr mark and Im just about racing in clean air for the 1st time, the Clio has the hammer down and closes right up on my back end through T1 & T2, and hangs off my bumper under braking for T3.
Pull away for the rest of another storming lap, 134.650 (Hows that for consistency?!!! ) and finish lap with nearly a 1s advantage.Lap 70 the gap is up to 1.557
Lap 71 I pass the S4 into T6, and in my rearview I see the Clio get by him at T9. At the end of the lap the gap is up to 2.431s.
Lap 72 and with the 2hr mark fast approaching, the Spoons tyres are rapidly going iffy, but so are the Clios and Im 4.437s up at CP3. In a guts-or-glory move, I decide that the Clio must be pitting and Im after the really close finish so I go in too rather than risk cocking up completely on tyres thatd be red at the end of the next & final lap.
We both pit, and despite the Clios 2s gain from another excellent stop, Im able to pull a clean outlap of 152.392 and finish the race 2.699s ahead of the 2nd placed Clio in a total time of 12047.818.
I was rewarded finally with the coveted Lancia Delta Rally Car that completed my collection of Endurance prize cars in this GT3 gamesave after 9 tries in 8 different cars!
(Spoon Civic Type-R, BMW 328Ci, New Beetle 2.0, Fiat Coupe Turbo Plus, Aston Martin V8 Vantage, Alfa Romeo 156 2.5V6 24V, Audi S4 and the outrageous Mini Cooper 1.3i in which I had 2 attempts in, one good, one pipped at the post!)
