The odd one out at Laguna Seca

Hi..

Since race reports are by far my favourite thing about the GTP board I have lately been a bit dissapointed with the lack of new good reports coming in. Having already read all the "good stuff" by the likes of Old Geezer, Famine, Alfaholic and niky I decided that if I want more, perhaps I should first give more.. When I wrote my first race report (https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/showthread.php?t=69577) I really had a blast so I have in the last few days been looking for a good, close, fun race at an entertaining venue to follow up my outing in the JGTC championship..

Preparations

I had very recently run the Nürburgring 4h endurance in my a bit over powered NSX '90 (about 370hp), and I ended up winning the race after 31 laps by a little over a lap in front of the eleven years younger NSX Type S. Not close enough! The NSX I used is extremely entertaining to drive, albeit a bit unstable at speeds above 200km/h. Now, for my next race I opted not to use it in order to get some variation.. Oh well, I might as well decide on the track first! I wanted a long race but not a 24h one (you guys who run them a-spec are crazy, but my hat's off to you!) and definately not a normal race in a series - too short. Endurance it is then. Looking through them I found I had done maybe 5-6 (in my second, a-spec only game) of them and didn't want to repeat myself. Laguna Seca caught my eye as it is a track I can't drive fast to save my life after they redid it for GT4. I knew it well in GT3 but now when I run it they might aswell have thrown in 10 completely new turns as I spend more time in the kitty-litter than on the tarmac. I had my track!

The car

Now to decide on the car. As I have always been far too lazy to test drive a bunch of cars and figure out the best settings and my pit strategy and so on I often end up using a car that is total over-kill and win by a day or two. I prefer when someone else does all the leg work and test cars out and then I read about it and try it for my self.. Not this time though..

Having checked the preview of the race (for the first time in the game) I new what I was up against and started sifting through my garage.. I wanted something just a little bit slower than my opposition that could still win, preferrably with a nice chunk of a-spec points. I must have test driven 8-9 cars that I thought would do the trick but always coming to the conclusion that I couldn't win. Not saying that the car could not do it, just that I couldn't.. I tried the TVR Tamora, the BMW M5 and my NSX (again) but to no avail.. They couldn't keep up.. No way near..

Perhaps something light then? Something that could be quite low on power but quick all the same, not to mention tyre-saving? Nice. The pit lane at Laguna Seca takes forever to drive trough so I wanted to spend as little time as I could in there.. The fewer pit stops, the better.. I decided to try the ASL Garaiya car. I considered the JGTC version, but that would almost be cheating, wouldn't it? The normal car would have to do. Light, nimble and fun to drive. Now for the tuning. I realised I'd have to tune it quite heavily so I stated buying kit for it and adding on more power and stripping off weight.. Eventually after having tested many versions and checking the a-spec points I ended up with a car with the following upgrades:

Racing Exhaust
New ECU
NA tune-up stage 3
Brake balance controller (the sports breaks add nothing anyway..)
Racing suspension
Triple clutch
Racing fly-wheel
Fully cust LSD
+30Kg of weight at -30 (to get it to the a-spec points I wanted 👍)

I ended up fitting RSH tyres to get a maxximum of tyre life and a good grip, opted for no wing (=no downforce) and no driving aids..

All this gave me a suggested 200 a-spec points IF I COULD WIN, that is..

With this equipment and my "standard" settings (available on request) m car had 300 hp in the settings menu and 281 in replays. Time to drive it!

The race

My opposition was quite impressive I must say. I felt a bit "small" in my midget-size car against the GT40, Dodge Viper GTS, Callaway C12, Camaro SS and the Shelby Series 1 Supercharged.. But my research said it could be done! At the start I thought I could keep up with them quite reasonably and I even got up to 2nd place on lap 2. On lap 3 I attacked the Shelby in the lead and actually passed him! "This might prove to be an easy win!" I thought.. No. 2 turns later I make a not-so-brief visit to the sand and the Shelby zooms past me at lightning speed. The Camaro also goes past but Im not gonna take that lying down! I get back on track and catch and pass the Camaro again just half a lap later on. the Shelby however is a completely different matter. He's off in the distance and the gap is groooowing..

As I don't have a clue when he is going to pit (or when I am going to, for that matter!) I start to sweat now.. He is maybe 15 seconds in front on lap 12 showing no sign of losing time anywhere.. I catch .5 of a second on the last part of the track but in all other places he pulls away, fast. I start to do my maths. If he pits on lap so-and-so and I on lap so-and-so, I might still have a chance.. My calculations are interrupted on lap 17 as he dives into the pits and I'm still on yellow-ish tyres! Yes! I will be able to stay out a bit longer than him, but how much?

When he gets out of the pits I'm 15 seconds in front and now it's my time to pull away! I manage to get y lead up to almost 20 seconds by lap 20 when disaster strikes.. In the second-to-last turn I put a wheel in the grass and the cars starts to spin round and around and around.. I slam into the wall and realise that I now have a long patch of sand and grass to cross at crawl speed before I can even start to regain what I've lost. 👎

As I cross the finishline for that lap I see I've lost maybe 10-12 seconds and the Shelby is now gaining on me like there's no tomorrow.. I've so far been doing between high 1'31s and low 1'33s with my fastest being 1'31.6XX.. My tyres are turning orange and I try to work out in my head how many times I and the Shelby will have to pit.. On lap 25 I can't strech it any longer and drive into the pits with my right front tyre almost completely red. I have 8 or so seconds to spare on the Shelby and when i finally get control again he's well in front, leading the race by some 14 seconds.. His tyres are now warm and sticky while mine are cold. But since the car weighs just 800 Kg or so it's really not that crippling.. I lose maybe a second or so on the first laps but not more. But the Shelby however must have really put his foot down.. He streches his lead up to a worrying 26 seconds before going into the pits again on lap 34. Ok, so he'll pit every 17 laps or so.. And me every 25. Hmm.. That makes 3 stops for me and.. 5 for him? Good, I'm going to need it! When he exits the pits I'm only 1,5 seconds in front and I'm looking as much in my rear-view mirror as on the track in front of me.. This makes me nervous and my concentration drops, putting me again off the track! 👎 Almost time for a pit stop. On lap 50 I go in, despite that I don't want to. The fuel situation is fine. After two stints I've left with 30 something units.. I fill up to make it 40. Exiting the pits the Shelby is nowhere to be seen again. Well in front, putting down record times each lap. I start to doubt my ability to win this race in spite of my huge tyre wear advantage..

I start with atleast doing my best and gradually warm up the tyres and getting helf-decent lap times.. 1'32.9, 1'32,4 etc etc.. I have to go faster! I get very surprised when I see my arch-enemy heading into the pits on lap 51 as i get close to the cork-screw.. A quick maths session later I realise he's just following his schedule.. Darn, I was hoping that he'd lost it and slid into the pits unintentionally.. No such luck.. The middle part of the race we trade places with each pit stop and I have a faint hope of being able to win this after all.. Provided he will take his last stop that should come on lap 85 or so.. He can't skip it, can he?

Come lap 73 i go in for my last stop, in the lead. But not by as much as I'd have liked. I'm hoping to come out still in front. My crew must have been drinking during my last stint as te stop seems to take forever, but finally Im released again with a 3 second lead. I've made my stops and he SHOULD have one more.. SHOULD. No guarantees as far as I'm concerned.. I again start to lose my concentration and rythm as he's so close behind and my lap times are dreadful.. Still in front though.. I catch up to the Callaway and the Camaro that are keeping company around the track and I almost want to stay behind that Callaway for the rest of the race. That engine-note must be the sweetest in the game! A quick look in the mirror however snap me back to reality and I quickly pass them both with a bit of luck entering the cork-screw.. The Shelby however, is not as lucky! I had under a second before I hit traffic and now it seems my main opponant is swearing inside his helmet as the two cars in front of him refuses to see the blue flags waving furiously at them.. I get almost a whole lap to myslef and I see the gap groing to almost 6 seconds before I realise that the Shelby has managed to pass the two idiots.. Now he's out for revenge.. I can't really explain how, but while I actulally run quite good laps, he starts gaining HUGE chunks on me each split time.. He must be aiming to beat the track record with all of his laps now! Each lap I seem to lose more than a second and I realise that if he doesn't take his scheduled stop, I'm toast! However on lap 85 of 90, he does, leaving me to draw a huge breath of relief only to almost lose it and go off in the sand again.. I now know that nobody can really threaten me anymore and the last 4 laps are completed without drama and in good order, as I take the flag to win the race!

Epilogue

Whew.. A close one. Well, sort of, anyway.. I ended up winning over the Shelby by 35 seconds after 2 hours and 20 minutes on the track. The GT40 was put 1 lap behind and the others a few more, as I recall, the gorgeous-sounding Callaway ending up the runt of the litter..

I fulfilled my main goals with this race though.. I won, managed to scrape together 200 a-spec points, learned the track MUCH better and even had a great time (not at all un-important)!

Only one thing that annoys me. I never managed to get my head around turn 5 (I think it is - the left-hander just after T2)! I went off several times with atleast one set of wheels and if I didn't I felt I was WAY too slow. My opponants where much faster. Tips, anyone? Pointers?

Ohwell.. Thought I might put some pictures here aswell if I can find them, thank you so much for taking the time to read this if you're still here, hope you had as much fun as I had both driving and writing!

Ps. What is up with the Shelby's camber angle??

Cheers!

I just raced this yesterday in my RE Amemiya RX-7, worth 146 points. I learned some things about that turn #5 and it seems that the most effective way is to turn in and shift down at about the same moment. This causes slight oversteer which in turn allows earlier acceleration. You can also cut it slightly so that the right wheels stay on track all the time. Just don't do both of these at the same time, that will likely end up as a spin. 👍

Maybe all that torque in the Shelby cracked the rear axle, that's the most sensible idea I can think of.

A good write-up, I hope it's not the last one we'll see from you!

Thanks for the tips Greycap.. Though I think it's me that just can't figure out that bend... It seems to me that I've tried everything but I still can't crack it.. Oh well.. I lost plenty of time there but it didn't cost me the race luckily.. 👍

Now looking for a new endurance to run.. Too bad that so many of them are in way too fast cars for my liking.. I would prefer a 2-4 hour race in 2-400hp cars.. Perhaps in the next game?

Cheers!

Good writeup! I need to try an endurance at Laguna as it is a track that I have always found difficult. The ASL is a nice little car though!

I can't remember which turn is turn 5. If it's the second left hander going up the hill (the one just after the bridge) I also find it catches me out in a number of ways:
1) the outside kerb kinks to the left slightly on the approach, making it easy to get two wheels on the dirt just as I am applying maximum braking, and resulting in a spin that takes me miles away from the track.
2) the apex is blind, making it easy to turn in too late and run off the outside of the track in understeer. This is compounded by the fact that the kinked kerb on the approach is distracting me from the apex
3) the lack of markers to use as braking points or turn in points also makes me turn too early. Get on the dirt on the inside and you waste momentum in an oversteer slide.

My best success with most of the corners at Laguna comes from generally braking a tad earlier than neccessary, focusing as far up the road as I can, and just trying to keep smooth.

I actually found another nice race today.. Didn't have to look for too long either.. Took the NY 200 miles in my stock black BMW M3 CSL for 200 a-spec points. In my opinion I had MASSIVE bad-luck AND got shoved and crashed into every lap in turn 3 (I think it is). The one after the first long straight that isn't the finish straight.. EVERY lap they smacked into my back-side and sent me off into the wall.. Frustrating to say the least.. But anyway, I ended up winnig the race som 9.221 seconds in front of the TVR Cerbera Speed Six '97 who had an absolutely MASSIVE amount of torque more than me.. On the straights I was left for dead, but I managed to win thanks to good cornering and that the AI can't drive on cold tyres.. 👍

EDIT: Oh, just remembered, I had to add some 180 kg of ballast to the car for it to reach 200 points.. 👍

Cheers!

I'm intrigued, because I could only get 193pts against that line-up using the same car, same ballast. Perhaps my oil change threw the bhp up a touch too much?? I think it had 295bhp. I tried fighting the other line-up with the Saleen, but the Saleen is a tad quicker than the Shelby - and somehow manages to go 21 laps without stopping!! it's unbeatable

I might buy an ASL now - I always thought it'd be a pig (it's american) and it looks like one from side-on with those windows. I think i've just changed my mind!