- 203
- UK
- FLK_255
Infineon World Sport Car Race
After being robbed in my last endurance by a dastardly powercut I took the Black Mazda 787B Race Car '91 to Infineon with ballast added and without doing an oil change. I'd already performed a chassis refresh and bought some R1 & R2 tyres. I also increased the ballast to 150 kg from 88Kg thus giving me 200 A-spec points against the following line up, which is displayed below.
Grid Line Up:
Panoz Esperante GTR-1 Race Car '98
Mazda 787B Race Car '91
Pescarolo Courage C60 Race Car '03
Nissan R89C Race Car '89
Sauber Mercedes C 9 Race Car '89
Black Mazda 787B Race Car '91 (Me) [725ps]
Happy with this lineup it was looking like it would be a close race, I think everyone was going to be a strong contender bar the Esperante GTR-1.
Circuit Map: http://www.infineonraceway.com/images/facility_ama_irl_web.jpg
Race Report
Hour 1
After the rolling start I immediately forgot I had manual gears on as I'd only just switched over this week from auto gears thus leaving me bouncing off the rev limit in 3rd, after the brain cells clicked I was back on my way tailing the Sauber. The pack quickly bunched up as they all tried to pass the much slower GTR-1 from turn 6 all the way up to 8a. The C60 was also starting to pull away and I'd need to hunt it down quickly.
By the end of the 1st lap I was up to 3rd towing the R89C down the start/finish stretch. For the first half of the next lap I had to fend off the R89C but by turn 11 I was on the C60's rear end and I managed to pass it into turn 1 to take the lead.
On lap 7 the R89C passed the Pescarolo some 4 seconds behind me, still getting to grips with gear changes I was struggling to maintain the gap due to the inconsistancy of my cornering. On lap 12 the gap was now down to 1.53 seconds after running wide at turn 2 and losing 2 seconds. I was hoping the R89C would have to pit soon, luckily my tyres were still good (bright yellow colour) and were also wearing evenly. To my relief both the R89C and Sauber pitted at the end of the lap (lap 12) along with the Esperante. On the next lap disaster nearly struck as I tagged the grass braking into turn 7, the 787B now chased me closely til the start finish line. At the end of lap 14 the 787B pitted after following me closely for most of the lap, I predicted that I'd have to pit in the next 2-3 laps as I started lap 15. I decided to pit the following lap after making more mistakes on lap 15 costing me time and now my tyres were beginning to turn dark orange. The Pescarolo C60 also pitted behind me at the end of lap 16.
To my surprise I came out in front of the R89C with a 3.4 second lead as I expected to be behind after the amount of mistakes I'd made in the last few laps. By the time the R89C and Sauber pitted at the end of lap 24 the gap was still only 3 seconds. I had pulled it out to 5 seconds but I was still making braking errors mostly at turns 2,3a and 4 which have the be the most tricky corners on the circuit, the best approach to these turns seemed to be slow in and fast out making sure to do your braking before the second apex in turns 2 & 3. The Panoz pitted on lap 26 and then the 787B made it's second stop at the end of lap 29 as I began to get near my own pit window. Some 38 seconds ahead I pitted at the end of lap 32 taking on my second batch of tyres and fuel.
I exited 11 seconds ahead of the R89C as the Pescarolo C60 made it's 2nd stop and entered turn 2 carefully making sure I didn't run wide. I seem to be getting the hang of manual gears now as the gap stabilised around 9 seconds by lap 34, two laps later the R89C and Sauber C9 made their third stop of the race.
As the hour ended on lap 43 the 787B pitted behind me and I was closing in on the Esperante, which had already stopped on lap 38.
Hour 2
On lap 45 I spun out after carelessly exiting turn 10 and almost ended up pitting backwards, luckily it cost me only 9 seconds, I feared what would have happened if i'd slid into the pits backwards under AI control!
I quickly recovered and stayed out until lap 48 when I made another scheduled pitstop. The R89C and Sauber made their stops as I left the pit lane giving me a comfortable gap due to not pitting as much as them. As the Pescarolo C60 pitted on the same lap the fourth placed 787B took over second place some 24 seconds behind me by the end of lap 49.I put a second lap on the last placed Esperante GTR-1 as it pitted at the end of lap 52 with the Pescarolo C60 not far ahead. I can't remember when I first lapped the GTR-1 but I probably did around the first set of pitstops as it was much slower than the C60. After being barged off at turn 5 by the C60 on the next lap it took me another 3 laps to catch and pass it, the 787B still had to pit and had closed the gap to 20 seconds after my fracas with the C60. At the end of lap 56 the 787B peeled off into the pits putting the R89C back into 2nd with the C9 close behind 40 seconds down the road. It would be at least another 8 laps before I had to stop again. On lap 60 the R89C and Sauber pitted again and on lap 63 I lapped the Esperante as we entered turn 11 side-by-side. The next lap I pitted changing tyres and also refuelling. As I finished the following lap both the C60 and the Esperante made another pitstop. The second placed 787B was now over 28 seconds behind and it was looking like I'd have a relatively easy last hour to the finish line. The R89C re took second place on lap 70 when the 787B stopped again though it looked like the R89C and Sauber would eventually lose out as the 787B like myself was running longer stints between it's pitstops.
On lap 76 I lapped the Esperante for the third time between turn 2 and 3, the 787B was now around a minute behind after the R89C and Sauber had pitted on lap 61. Meanwhile I had another stop to make in four laps time. I pitted again on lap 80 1 minute and 3 seconds ahead of the 787B, the Esperante had also stopped again on lap 77. I was over 40 seconds ahead of the 787B as I completed lap 84 and the second hour of the race having made another stop on lap 80. Now just 45 minutes to go!
Hour 3
As predicted the 787B took over 2nd place position on lap 85 when it pitted along with the R89C and Sauber C9 and came out over a minute behind of me. The Pescarolo C60 pitted two laps later and by lap 92 the 787B had decreased the gap from 1'07 to 1'02 behind me, the Esperante also pitted at the end of lap 92.
The 787B seemed to pick up it's pace after lap 92 and managed to close down the gap to 54 seconds, I upped my pace as well but the 787B still continued to close in. I stopped again on lap 96 and with just under half an hour left of racing I might make it to the end without needing to make another stop. As the 787B passed the start line 48 seconds adrift the Sauber C9 pitted in followed by the R89C which must have fallen back to 4th place somewhere out on track, both had been very close to each other for most of the race. Seconds after this I spun at turn 8 allowing the C60 to unlap itself and also noted that the 787B was much closer to me and was only 27 seconds behind before my spin! A lap later he was 16 seconds behind, hopefully the 787B would be stopping again or I'd be in trouble! I immediately began to up my pace further and I'd probably need maintain it for the remaining 25 minutes of the race. The 787B then pitted at the end of the lap (lap 98) giving me some needed breathing space. The Panoz Esperante pitted as I finished lap 104 and the 787B was now 43 seconds behind me, it was looking at the moment like both of us may not have to pit again.
By the time the Sauber and R89C pitted on lap 108 the 787B was still 41 seconds behind me and unfortunately I was probably going to have to stop again, hopefully so would the 787B as there was only 9 minutes of racing left. On lap 112 with 5 minutes left until the end I had to pit for fuel, the gap was about 39 seconds after taking a lap to pass the R89C, things were looking close but good whether the 787B pitted or not, as I exited the pits though the 787B pitted much to my relief.
Two laps later I crossed the line to win the race 35 seconds ahead of the 787B. For my efforts I won 500,000 credits and a Ford GT LM Race Car '02.
Final Standings:
Laps Completed: 114
1st: Black Mazda 787B Race Car '91 (Me) Time: 2:45'01.201
2nd: Mazda 787B Race Car '91 Time: - 35.641s
3rd: Nissan R89C Race Car '89 Time: - 52.000s*
4th: Sauber Mercedes C 9 Race Car '89 Time: -1'04.245s*
5th: Pescarolo Courage C60 Race Car '03 Time: -3 laps*
6th: Panoz Esperante GTR-1 Race Car '98 Time: -4 laps*
Time marked by * denote my best guess based on map overlay position or rough estimate.
Best Lap: 1'22.430 (Lap 52)
Pitstop (laps): 7 (16,32,48,64,80,96,112)
A-Spec Points: 200
Cones Maimed: 9
