Smallhorses
Staff Emeritus
- 7,260
Motegi 8hrs Endurance
200 A-Spec Points!
200 A-Spec Points!
Welcome back again. 👍
This is a race I've run just once before, and I left 32 A-Spec points behind from the maximum 200 available. As I'm now precisely 32 A-Spec points away from hitting 100,000 total this seemed like a great excuse to try this out again.
Thanks to some painstaking research by Austin343 over in the Stock Car thread (clicky the link in my signature) it has been determined that a stock car other than a Lotus Elise may have a shot at this if equipped with appropriate tyres to meet the Sports/Normal requirement for race entry and is pitted against the right AI field.
Given that the car in question is exactly the same age as me too, it's an opportunity too good to pass up, so here it is.
I'm taking it on...
Car: Mitsubishi Lancer 1600 GSR Rally Car '74 (fitted S1 tyres) / FR / ?HP (160HP on garage screen) / 825kg / ?HP/kg (5.2kg/HP using garage value)
This how to find the magic lineup:
Enter Sunday Cup, Autumn Ring Mini race, exit without starting.
Enter/Exit Motegi 8hrs 54 times.
The 55th lineup (NTSC U/C version) should be:
1st Trial Celica SS-II (ZZT231) '03
2nd Tom's X540 Chaser '00
3rd Nismo GT-R LM Road Going Version '95
4th Spoon Civic Type R (EK) '00
5th Spoon Integra Type R (DC2) '99
6th Mitsubishi Lancer 1600 GSR Rally Car '74
Thanks, as ever, to AMG. for the trackmap that I'll be using to reference the turn numbers and names. 👍
Hour 1:
Careful beginnings...
Followed the field around for the first 2 laps, trapped behind the Integra, who is much quicker in a straightline, but painfully slow in the bends. Get alongside out of several turns, but can't compete on the straights. He's cleanly outbraked into turn 3 after a good exit from turns 1 & 2 on lap 3, and I'm then easily able to pull away to close up on the 4th placed Civic. Down by 14s from the leading Celica at this point. Catching the Civic is 1 thing, passing is another, he's even quicker than the Integra and he holds me up for several laps, running in the 2'23 - 2'24 range although the leaders don't get away too much. Eventually get a good run through turns 3 & 4 on lap 6, putting me briefly alongside the Civic, and close enough that I leave my braking very, very late into turn 5 and slip inside cleanly, although I do run deep, deep into the bend, and while the Civic takes a nicer line through the apex, he's still slower at the exit than I am, running up onto the rumble strip onto the rumble strip to make sure he doesn't move across into me. Complete the rest of the lap cleanly, opening a gap to the Civic, finishing it in a mostly unhindered 2'20.810 for my fastest lap so far, and leaving 12.155s to the leading Celica.
Next up, the GT-R...
This little car is just a blast to drive!
Only 160HP, but light enough that it'll still spin it's rear tyres if it's booted too hard out of a 2nd gear bend! It takes just 2 laps to catch the GT-R, with a new fastlap time of 2'18.921 contributing a lot to that, and I go into lap 9 right on his tail. Once again catching is easy, but passing is hard. Although heavier and slower straightline-wise than the Spoon pairing, he's got FR drivetrain, and some downforce which make him faster through the turns. Followed him for most of the lap but get a run out of Hairpin turn, and outbrake him cleanly into 90 Degree turn. "Done" methinks.
Not so...
He blasts up to the back of me on the start/finish straight, and I move right to avoid any contact. We're alongside into the braking zone for the first 2 turns, and while I leave my braking later, I run deeper into the bend and am forced to back down from his better line through the exit as I drop back down into 4th place again.
No matter.
I set off in pursuit again and by Hairpin turn I'm right on his bumper again. This time I get an even better exit, pulling alongside him on the right as we drag race down to 90 Degree turn. It's no contest, he's got more than 140 extra ponies working for him, so I ease into his slipstream as he draws away. It keeps me close enough that I can easily outbrake him into the sharp righthander though, and this time I'm able to put enough distance between us that he's unable to take back his position.
The leading Celica is now only 5s-or-so distant, and clearly holding up the 2nd placed Chaser. As I'm passing under the bridge after turn 5 on lap 12, I get the first pit-message to say that the last placed Integra has stopped ending his 11th lap. The Civic stops next ending lap 13, while I'm still running in 3rd place, but less than 1s now separates the top 3. I'm starting to see why the Chaser is having trouble getting by though, the Celica is quicker than the heavy Chaser in a straightline, yet much much slower on the brakes and is weaving at the exit of almost every bend. The Chaser is therefore being understandably cautious, but perhaps overly so. It soon becomes clear why the Celica is so erratic, his tyres are shot and he goes for the pits ending lap 14, leaving the Chaser in clear air to take over 1st place and me right up his exhaust pipe into 2nd. The GT-R has made up some time while our Celica shaped roadblock was holding us up, and sits only a few seconds behind me in 3rd.
The Chaser's resistance is short-lived...
He gives up 1st place at 90 Degree turn to a clinically clean outbraking manoeuvre and leaves him to fall back, quite alarmingly quickly in fact, into the clutches of the GT-R. Beginning lap 20, the gap to the 2nd / 3rd battle which the Chaser is still leading, despite losing 5s in the last lap alone, is now up to over 15s and it's not expected that it'll be too much longer before the GT-R takes over the chase by overtaking or by default as the Chaser pits.
Sure enough by the 2nd checkpoint of lap 20, the GT-R registers in 2nd place around 20s behind, while the Chaser does indeed pit at the end of the lap. Just to clarify, I've not been doing anything spectacular to open the gap like this, running consistent low to mid-2'19 laps cleanly has been enough.
I'm presented with an Integral problem on lap 21 though...
Yup, less than an hour into the eight, and I've caught the last placed Integra already. He's on his 9th lap on this set of tyres already, and they're clearly worn as he's slow into every bend and snakey on the way out. Have to hit the brakes hard to avoid contact with him as he weaves his way through Hairpin turn, which allows him to build too much of a gap to lap him into 90 Degree turn this time around. He's finally passed cleanly as he runs wider than normal exiting S-curve on lap 23 and I'm able to pass on the right as we head towards V-curve, I put 2 wheels on the grass to ensure I leave a huge enough gap between us so he's not tempted to move across into the space I'm in until I'm certain he's visible in the mirror! He then pits at the end of his 22nd lap, having held me up a lot and knocked off 5s of me lead over the GT-R, he's not going to present the same issue to the GT-R who passes him in the pits.
We're thus differentiated by only 15s going into lap 24.
Ooh.
Calculus humour.
I'll stop that here & now.
Ending lap 25 my left side tyres are a healthy shade of orange, but seemingly evenly balance front to rear, while the right rear appears ever so slightly darker than the peachy-coloured front right tyre. With the hour mark approaching I head into the pitlane, and grab some new tyres for my 35-year old chariot. It's only used 33 out of 80 fuel units, so I've waved away the fuelling rig for now. Lose the lead to the GT-R while I'm stopped, and emerge into 2nd place to round out an hour of WRS standard clean racing. (No AI contact, no barrier contact & 2 tyres on track/rumble strip at all times.
)Hour mark passes 26.996s into lap 26, in 2nd place, 6.422s behind the leading GT-R.
Hour 2:
The Civic steals the first action of the hour, pitting at the end of his 25th lap. The GT-R is clearly struggling with worn tyres himself as he's easily reeled in from 7s behind to be cleanly passed for 1st place under braking for 90 Degree turn on lap 27. Sure enough he's headed pitwards and I'm surprised to note that it's the Celica, not the Chaser that resumes 2nd place, albeit 18s behind and dropping back quickly, so it's no further shock when he pits ending this lap. It is now the Chaser that takes over 2nd place, but he's 35s in arrears, and I rub salt in his wounds by completing lap 29 in 2'18.883 for a marginal drop in the fast laptime.
Cutting deeper...
I proceed to run cleanly, and get into a groove with this car / track combo such that as my tyres are now that nice light green colour, I'm able to shave 8/10ths off the fastlap time, down to 2'18.083, cutting the Chaser deeper still and rubbing in yet more salt as he's back to 48s beginning lap 33, and as ever, I'm tempted to go faster still, with a target within the 2'17s. Doesn't take long to achieve either, lap 33 registers at 2'17.913! And for consistency's sake, at just 11ms different, lap 34 is 2'17.902!
Civic liberties...
Catching up to the Civic during lap 35 ends the spate of fast laps as I'm forced to follow him through the final stages of the circuit and on into lap 36... and lap 37 as he's making the Civic difficult to pass cleanly
, and I'm desperately trying to keep contact free and WRS clean. He's eventually dispatched as I take the liberty of outbraking him into 90 Degree turn, and goes a lap down. Next victim is the Integra, again. He'd stopped ending his 33rd lap, already a lap behind, and is now in imminent danger of losing another. The Civic pits at the end of his 37th lap, and meanwhile the Chaser is 54s back but with 3rd & 4th placed cars spread way out behind him. The Integra's 2nd lapping happens in an identical fashion to the Civic's lapping at 90 Degree turn on my 39th lap.It's a rout...
The Chaser's 2nd stop ending his 39th lap sees the GT-R take over 2nd place, well over a minute behind and it's sadly clear with only just over and hour and a half gone that this is going to be a walkover.
The Celica's 3rd stop comes ending his 42nd lap, and as I come round to the start/finish straight to complete my 43rd lap he's visible leaving the pits. Caught him during lap 46, and follow him until turn 5 on lap 47 where he's cleanly passed under braking. The Integra pits a 4th time during my 47th lap, putting himself a step closer to a 3rd lapping already, although I do have to pit myself soon. Stopped in ending lap 50, taking on tyres and topping fuel up to a safe 38 unit level.
The Celica gratefully steals his lap back while I'm stopped, and I roll off into my outlap, during which the Civic makes his 4th stop, as the hour mark gets closer, and it passes to mark a second completely WRS standard period of clean racing. 👍
Hour mark passes 1'43.193 into my outlap (lap 51), in 1st place, 1'07.416 ahead of 2nd placed GT-R.
Hour 3:
The GT-R pitting at the end of his 53rd lap if the first noteworthy event of the hour, as he surrenders 2nd place back to the Chaser again. As I begin to close up on the Celica to hand him what I hope will be a permanent lapping this time, my fastest laptime drops by another couple of tenths, the 2'17.732 of lap 56 being the next benchmark. The Celica's lapping happens during lap 57 in a carbon-copy of the clean move I passed him with on lap 47 at turn 5! He pits at the end of his 56th lap for a 4th time.
Resistance is useless...
Caught the GT-R & Integra together at S-curve on lap 58, just in time to see the GT-R barge his way through inside V-curve to steal another lap from the Integra himself. Get a good run on the exit from Hairpin turn, and although the Integra easily pulls away down the straight, his next lapping is inevitable as he brakes mega-early
for 90 Degree turn and loses a 3rd lap to me before he then pits ending his own 55th lap. The GT-R's resistance lasts until 90-Degree turn on my 59th lap, where he's cleanly passed after we've had notification of the Chaser's pitstop ending his own 58th lap. He's visible leaving the pits as I begin lap 60, and it's easy to close on him during the rest of the lap. Crunch...
My WRS standard cleanliness ends on lap 61 though, just as the fat-lady was about to start singing. I'm close behind into turn 3, and I try to outbrake a big heavy car on cold tyres, realising too late that I'm not going to make it through far enough ahead of the dumb AI driver to register that I'm definitely a solid object ahead of him that he shouldn't run into, and sure enough although the pass was clean, he ruins the clean stretch by solidly tagging the back of my Mitsubishi
as we set up for the 2nd apex that is turn 4. Oh well, it was good while it lasted, and I'm too far in now to worry about resetting! Sadly that means that at just over 1/4 distance I've lapped the field in a 200 point race, so much for "difficulty".Almost a relaps(e)...
Take another lap from the Civic at turn 5 on lap 63, he's once again cleanly outbraked into the turn and left for dead, pitting from the end of his 62nd lap as I'm into my 65th. The Integra's 66th lap pitstop also coincides with me completing my 70th lap while he's stopped. He's passed in the pits for a 4th lapping. Out of schedule with his previous 14 lap pit-window, the Celica stops ending his 71st lap as I'm leaving Hairpin turn on my 73rd. My tyres are at the end of their life on lap 75, and they're swapped in the pits, topping fuel back up to 38 units again while the Chaser just manages to sneak back onto the lead lap, albeit 2'22.201 behind by the end of my outlap! Still not had more than 2 tyres off track at any time so far, some close calls, but all saved by appropriate action or jumping on the brakes.
Hour mark passes 38.941s into lap 77, in 1st place, 2'18.546 ahead of 2nd placed Chaser.
Hour 4:
Surprise, surprise, it's a pitstop from one of the Spoon cars that collects the first event of note in hour 4, can you guess which one? It's the Civic, of course, pitting at the end of his 74th lap. More cautious with the Chaser this time, following him round until 90-Degree turn on lap 78 where he's cleanly passed to take back the lap, before he pits ending his 77th lap and makes the situation permanent.
I'm startled to note that the GT-R takes over 2nd place again too, I thought he had dropped way out of contention for the runner's up spot, seems I'm mistaken. He gives back the spot to the Chaser when he stops ending his 80th lap though, and he's joined in the pitlane by the Integra stopping again ending his own 77th lap.Dirrrrrty...
The somewhat inevitable happens on lap 84, as I return to a game paused at 3 & 1/4 hours going into lap 84, after 4 hours of intensive house cleaning ironically, I make my race fully dirty by briefly running all 4 tyres onto the grass before the sandtrap outside of turns 1 & 2 as I miss my braking point. D'oh.
Two lappings occur in lap 88 as I've caught up to the Celica and Civic again. The Celica goes 2 laps behind with an immaculate pass into turn 3, before he pits ending his 86th lap, and the Civic goes 3 laps behind with a similarly tidy pass at 90-Degree turn. It's not long before his next stop either, going in ending his 86th lap as I'm into my 90th.
High five...
That being a high for me, and a definitive low point for the Integra who is lapped a 5th time at turn 5 on lap 91 with another comprehensive clean manoeuvre. Another high (or should that be low?
) follows on lap 93, as the fastset laptime tumbles by almost 4/10ths, coming in at 2'17.398. Right on cue the Integra stops ending his 88th lap, while I'm into lap 94 already. Regular as clockwork that guy.
Keep on keepin' cleanly on for a few more laps until anything to write home about happens. I'm exiting V-Curve on lap 98 when I get notification of the 2nd placed Chaser's stop ending his 96th lap.`Once again it's the GT-R who benefits from his holding station in 3rd place, and he moves up the rankings a notch for a while. Made my own 4th stop ending lap 100, again taking tyres and a top up to 38 units, which takes more or less exactly as long as the tyre switch. Trundle off into lap 101, and complete most of lap 102 before the hour expires.
Hour mark passes 1'59.225 into lap 102, in 1st place, 1 lap ahead of 2nd placed GT-R.
Standings at halfway point:
1st Mitsubishi Lancer 1600 GSR Rally Car '74 4:00'00.000
2nd NISMO GT-R LM Road Going Version '95 (+ 1 lap)
3rd Tom's X540 CHASER '00 (+ 1 lap)
4th TRIAL CELICA SS-II (ZZT231) '03 (+ 2 laps)
5th Spoon CIVIC TYPE R (EK) '00 (+ 3 laps)
6th Spoon INTEGRA TYPE R (DC2) '99 (+ 5 laps)
Hour 5:
It takes just over a minute and a half of this hour for the Civic to steal the headlines as he makes another stop ending his 98th lap. This is followed by the Celica's 101st lap stop while I'm rounding V-Curve on my 104th lap and the Integra's 99th lap stop while I'm haring down the backstraight on my 105th lap. He emerges from the pits as I'm coming onto the pitstraight, and I easily catch him during lap 106, pulling up to the back of him in the S-Curves. Draft him down the backstretch and though he draws away considerably, it's no problem on my warmer tyres to cleanly outbrake him into 90-Degree turn, for a 6th lapping.
2nd place swapshop...
There's already over a minute and a half of my 108th lap elapsed when the GT-R pits from 2nd place ending his own 106th lap, and the Chaser resumes 2nd place again. The GT-R is easily caught during lap 109, and I'm on his tail for the first part of lap 110, outbraking him in a tidy manner into turn 3 to put him 2 laps behind as I set off in pursuit of the Celica and Civic who're also visible ahead. Begin lap 111 on the back of the Celica like a bad rash, but I more cautious with him at turn 3 and don't attempt the pass, waiting instead to go up the inside of turn 5. He's quick out of there on warm tyres though and pulls right up to the back of my 35-year old steed through 130R but thankfully his common sense (at least I'd like to think it was that) sees him lift off before he runs into me, the thought of a 3 times lapped car tangling with the race leader not being something that the race stewards would look favourably on methinks!
Roadblock...
I'm stuck like epoxy to the back of the Civic going into lap 112 too, but throughout the lap he makes the Civic seem as wide as a Zonda, not a Honda and I can't get past. Even have to hit the brakes exiting Hairpin turn as he wiggles into my exit line, and this loses me the opportunity to be close enough to him to take him into 90-Degree turn as he's now easily able to win the drag race down to that bend. He's eventually passed cleanly into turn 5 on lap 113 to be relegated to 4 laps behind, and leaving me with a lot of clear track in front of me to go in search of that sub-2'17 lap that I'm targeting as a personal best while my tyres are in their optimal range.
Off-roading...
No sooner have I made that previous statement than I run wide exiting turn 2 for just my 2nd momentary off-track excursion of the race, getting 4 tyres onto the grass & mud, but avoiding the yawning sandtrap that awaits. Meh. It's a Rally Car I'm driving, it wants to get dirty.
I blame the machinery! The Civic's 9th stop ending his 111th lap comes during my 116th lap, and is followed by the Integra's 10th stop from his 110th lap during my 117th, and the Chaser ending his 115th lap as I'm approaching Victory Corner. This means he drops to 2 laps behind as I begin my 118th lap, although he does manage to keep hold of his 2nd position when he leaves the pitlane this time. I'm guilty of another faux-pas on lap 119 when I see my fastest T3 time yet and think that the lap record should fall, something that's never going to happen when you try to take 90-Degree turn too fast and pop 3 wheels up over the kerb. Moron. 
Close shave...
The Celica's 8th stop ending his 116th lap comes during my 120th lap as I'm closing in on the backmarking Integra again. I'm right with him by the final 1/3rd of lap 121, but struggle again to find a way by as my tyres are starting to go orange and I can't trust them to push too hard on. I abort an outbraking manoeuvre at 90-Degree turn, taking evasive action, and narrowly avoid contact the the "Teggy" as he turns in. Too close for comfort and I slot back in behind him to complete the lap. He's passed neatly into turn 3 on lap 122 instead, although this 7th lapping is probably only a temporary fixture at the moment since I'm due to stop in 3 laps time, and doubt I can pull out a significant enough gap on worn tyres. I have been wrong before, but this time I'm not. Stopped ending lap 125, and give back a lap to the Integra, and also to the Chaser right as I exit the pitlane, as he's crept closer than I thought as I ran my last couple of slow laps on worn tyres.
Exciting finale...
It's not a situation that's got any longevity though, and I'm right with the Chaser going into lap 126. On cold tyres I'm cautious though, and don't force the issue. We both close up on the Integra as we cruise through lap 127 as well. Into lap 128 I'm swarming all over the Chaser who, in turn, is swarming over the Integra as we go into turns 1 & 2. The Integra is gang-passed on the way out, by myself on a quick exit line out on his left, and by the Chaser on his right. Unfortunately the Chaser is right where I'd like to be to set up for turn 3 as we approach the braking area. I hit the brakes later than him though, as late as I dare to ensure that I go into the turn before him and contact free, but from the left side of the track there's no way I can turn in as hard as I need to, so I brake some more as I started to run wide, maintaining track contact, but allowing the Chaser to sweep back ahead in between turns 3 & 4.
Hour mark passes 53.083s into lap 128, in 1st place, just yards away from making it 2 laps lead over 2nd placed Chaser.
Hour 6:
As I complete my 128th lap still sat on the back of the Chaser, it's a Spoon yet again that takes the first pitstop of the hour, the Integra at the end of his 121st lap, 7 laps behind me. Passed the Chaser with a clean outbraking into turn 3 on lap 129, just before the Civic pits at the end of his 124th lap. After a 5 day gap between the end of hour 5 and settling back into my racing seat, I'm impressed that it takes me only 1 1/2 laps to drop straight back into my groove, and post a high-2'17 laptime on lap 130! Some time passes before the Celica pits during my 134th lap as I'm seeking to catch the Civic again.
Next round...
The 3rd placed GT-R finally completes his 5th pitstop ending his 133rd lap as I'm into my 136th lap and is followed shortly afterwards by the Chaser's 6th stop ending his 134th lap as I'm into lap 137 and getting ready to pass the Civic after an abortive move into turn 5 on lap 136 where I slipped cleanly by under braking, but couldn't turn in quick enough and had to back out from a wide line to avoid getting collected by the Civic exiting the turn.
Pull off the move with much more conviction on lap 138, and make it stick. Pull away and begin to catch the next 2 cars, which turn out to be the Celica and Integra. The Integra spares me the bother of passing him on track as he pits ending his 132nd lap from right in front of the Celica who is completing his 136th lap and myself completing lap 140. Passed the Celica into 90-Degree turn on lap 141 and shortly after the start of my 142nd lap the Civic makes another stop.Grassy allergy? Perhaps not...
While I've done my best to stay on the track, and logged only 3 x "4-wheels off track" moments up to now, leading everyone to believe I have a serious grass allergy, I make another momentary excursion onto the green stuff exiting V-curve on lap 143, drifting out onto the grass a little before the exit rumble strip starts as I misjudge my speed. No bother though, it's only a fraction of a second, and I'm soon back onto the rumbly, and from there, the tarmac. Seems the antihistamines have kicked in though
and it's only 3 laps later that I have another "moment" exiting S-curve on lap 146. Humph. Tyres are showing signs of wear ahead of my 150th lap stop though and I need to back off a little to avoid more incidents. The Celica pits ending his 144th lap as I begin my 149th, ensuring that his 4th lapping will stay permanent even though I'm due a stop myself. Pitted ending lap 150 without further incidents and roll away towards the next hour mark. The Integra pits again during my 152nd lap, ensuring that he'll not be stealing the headlines for hour 7! Bets on the Civic anyone?!!Hour mark passes 2'07.560 into lap 153, in 1st place, 2 laps ahead of 2nd placed Chaser.
Hour 7:
Those of you with money on "Civic" get paid out at 2:1 for the first action of the hour!
During my 154th lap, approaching S-curve I get the message to let me know that the Civic is indeed pitting from 5 laps down ending his 148th lap. There's a sudden change of 2nd place when the Chaser pits ending his 153rd lap for a 7th time, which allows the GT-R whose pitted just 5 times so far through into the 1st runners-up spot. A milestone pops up during lap 157 as my aged Mitsubishi registers it's 500th mile driven in the game. It started this race with between 20 & 30 miles on the clock from other rally races. Caught the Integra during lap 159 and easily handed him a 9th lapping into 90-Degree turn. Once again get dirty while pushing for a fastlap time ending lap 160, going too hard through Victory Corner at the end of the lap and putting 4 tyres up over the rumble strip, although thankfully not catching any of the sandtrap, only grass. Not quite thrice...
The GT-R finally makes his 6th stop ending his 159th lap, and exits the pits as I'm beginning lap 163. He's also allowed the Chaser back into 2nd place and I'm setting them both up for lapping thrice. The GT-R is passed at 90-Degree turn on lap 164, and leaves me free to catch up to the Civic again who is passed cleanly once more into turn 5 on lap 166 to go 6 laps down and it's not long later that he makes his next pistop during my 168th lap. It also seems that somewhere within the last 10 or so laps I've neglected to notice stops by both the Celica and Integra. Come the end of my 175th lap and my tyres are somewhat red, so I'm heading pitwards. The Integra, with the Chaser directly behind him also come in and I pass both cars up on their jacks. The GT-R has started lapping quicker and the time I've lost on my worn tyres allows him to sneak back his 3rd lap from me as he runs through into 2nd place again. Exit the pits with 8 minutes of the hour to go, and with 3 cars in relatively close distance ahead of me, albeit well behind in terms of actual racing. The Celica pits ending his 172nd lap just after I easily pass the Integra, a 10th time, between turns 2 & 3 on lap 177 as he runs wide over the rumbly exiting turn 2 and takes a while to recover his composure. I'm within yards of the Chaser as the hour ends.
Hour mark passes 55.194s into lap 179, in 1st place, 2 laps ahead of 2nd placed GT-R.
Hour 8:
The final hour's action begins with a clean pass of the Chaser, down in 3rd place, into turn 5 on lap 180, and comes only moments before the attention seeking Civic tries once again to steal the headlines by registering a pitstop within the first 3 minutes of hour 8! Given that there'd been no new fastlap action since the end of the 4th hour, I finally get one in ending lap 181, dropping to within 6ms of breaking the 2'17 barrier with a 2'17.006 lap. Catch and re-lap the GT-R a 3rd time during lap 184, cleanly under braking for turn 3, and end this lap right on the tail of the Celica who will shortly be relegated to a 5th lap behind. Sadly he doesn't go down without a fight, and sullies my final hour by attempting to drive his car through mine on the stretch between turns 4 & 5 even though I've left a gap wide enough to pass a large ocean-going oil tanker through. Idiot.
2'16 fever...
I've caught a bug for fastlapping after the closeness of the previous fastlap to the magical realms of 2'16s, and I'm off in search of one again as I begin lap 187. I'm convinced I'm losing a little time in the first 2 turns, and push perhaps a little too hard, riding wide over the rumbly exiting the 2nd apex, and this time, for the first time in the race 2 of my tyres touch the sandtrap. Annoying.
The SpIntegra goes pitbound again ending his 176th lap, and is followed by the GT-R's next stop meaning he gives back 2nd to the chasing Chaser. Find a pair of Spoons on lap 191, good thing we're on a racetrack and not in Ireland or I'd be tempted to give you a tune with 'em!
Countdown...
Passed the Civic under braking for turn 5 on lap 192, and the Integra goes an embarrassing 11th lap behind around the outside of V-Curve on the same lap. A clean move that is made to stick, although he does get close to the back of my Mitsubishi on the run up to Hairpin. Meanwhile the Celica is making his 13th stop of the race and the Civic makes his 15th as I end my 192nd lap. With around 25 minutes remaining, I elect not to push this set of tyres until they die 💡 and end up finishing the race on a set of new tyres with only a couple of laps on them, I pit in after 19 laps, ending my 194th lap, taking new rubber and a splash of fuel to see me to the end, but giving me chance to warm this set up in an attempt to finally secure the elusive 2'16 laptime. I've only just left the pits when the 2nd placed Chaser stops again, ending his 191st lap.
Elevenses...
The Integra who'd unlapped himself as I was pitted is caught during lap 195, and passed cleanly into turn 5 on lap 196, to permanently lose his 11th lap to me before he pits ending his own 187th lap.
My last goal is achieved ending lap 200.
A glorious clean 2'16.861 laptime sits proudly on the screen with just 10 minutes of the race remaining.
Continue to run more or less cleanly for the remainder of the hour, having just 1 3-wheeler moment across the kerbing exiting 90-Degree turn on lap 203 as I was pushing for another attempt at dropping under the 2'17 barrier.
Rather freakily pause the game for the end of the 8th hour with exactly 8:00'00.000 showing on the time, which is a little scary, as I've done it once before at 6hrs during a Nurburgring race and said I'd probably never do it again!
I take a photo for posterity!
Hour mark passes 18.820s into lap 205, which will be the last lap of the race, 3 laps ahead of 2nd placed Chaser.
Result:-
1st Mitsubishi Lancer 1600 GSR Rally Car '74 8:01'59.934
2nd Tom's X540 CHASER '00 (+3 laps)
3rd NISMO GT-R LM Road Going Version '95 (+3 laps)
4th TRIAL CELICA SS-II (ZZT231) '03 (+5 laps)
5th Spoon CIVIC TYPE R (EK) '00 (+7 laps)
6th Spoon INTEGRA TYPE R (DC2) '99 (+11 laps)
Musical Accompaniment:
Leftfield - Leftism; David Gilmour - Live in Gdansk (Disc 2); Keane - Perfect Symmetry; Endorphin - Skin (Disc 1); Morrissey - Southpaw Grammar; Oppenheimer - Take The Whole Midrange And Boost It; Thievery Corporation - The Richest Man In Babylon; Kasabian - West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum; The Faint - Danse Macabre; Snow Patrol - A Hundred Million Suns; The Fratellis - Here We Stand; Doves - Kingdom Of Rust; LTJ Bukem - Logical Progression (Disc 1); Katie Melua - Pictures.
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Hopefully the latter half of the race provides as much entertainment as the former.
