300k Endurance at Grand Valley :: Times, Cars, and Experience

[Thatperson]

I did it in a Suzuki Cappuccino RM. It is a fun little car to play with. Took about 2:10 or so to finish and my best lap as around 2:08. Took me about 7 laps to get the lead and then I just floored it after that and tried to get a better lap time. Won by a lap and a half.

EDIT: I pitted once for tires, (fronts were just about gone) and never need fuel. I still had almost half tank left.

 

[SagarisGTB]

Used a stock Griffith 500 on Racing Hards. Way too easy, took about 2hours, ten minutes and won by 3 laps even though I fooled around a bit (following AI closely, counting start grid on main straight etc.). I got the gold trophy and game completion, so next time I will try something much more challenging. You get the same experience for finishing first or last anyway.

 

[Daniel C]

I used a stock Toyota FT-86. I think it has 220bhp and weighs 1000kg.

I started on Sport Soft tyres and was lapping at 2.09. I gained a lead of about 20 seconds at 10 laps over the NSX in second. I pitted on lap 24 and changed for sport hard tyres.

I could only manage 2.13's so the NSX was eating into my 56 second lead quite quickly. But with my being on the Hards I could keep going. I pitted again at lap 55 for sport soft tyres and by the end, my lead was nearly 2 minutes.

The FT-86 is a brilliant car but I'd like to use something a little more competitive next time. I might try using Sport medium tyres on it. I think my overall time was 2.18

 

[Stune]

I wanted to use a car that was similar to what the AI was using. In the end I plumped for the 370Z GT academy edition. It was slightly more powerful, but I thought I might as well use it as its a fun car that I haven't been able to try yet.

So after the first 3 laps of attacking the circuit my Sport soft tires were ruined. So much so that I spun 4 times in the next 3 laps just trying to put a half decent lap together. On lap 7 I gave in, and pitted for some Sport hard tires. These were much better and lasted around 15 laps, but could have gone longer. I kept thinking about pit strategies in my head as i raced and i figured i could either make 3 stops stretching the tires every time or 4 stops comfortably. As I was 47 seconds behind first place thanks to my early pit stop and spinning I thought I might as well go for a 4 stop. I tried to slowly close the gap to the but my hard tires were wearing despite my best efforts to me conservative. The guy in first didn't pit untill lap 24 which seemed an extremely long time to keep his first set of tires so that had my worried. By lap 35 my next set of sport hards were loosing their grip, but i went on for a few more laps. The gap was down to 16 seconds to the leader but I was running out of time. My opponent porbally only had to make one more stop whearas i needed 2 more. Things were looking bad! I had thought that I would need to go for a short stint to make my pit strategy work so I put on some sport softs and went back out.

While i was driving the harder tires i changed my driving style significantly. I shifted up earlier, down later and tried to reduce the amount of sliding as much as possible. This driving technique along with the low amount of fuel left meant I could be both fast and good to the tires. I was pulled off 2.04s on a regular basis and I managed to catch the first place guy and pull out a decent lead. On lap 50 I was running out of fuel, but managed to squeeze one last lap. Since my soft tires lasted far better than I expected I decided to finish the race on a new set.

In the end i won the race by just over 1 min, but for the majority of the race it looked like I would have to settle for second. It was a really fun race and i learned so much about endurance racing in GT5 with Tire wear being much more sensitive to driving style in GT5. A great intro for sure.



Pit stops
7 soft> hard, no fuel
23 hard > hard, no fuel
38 hard> soft 15 litres
51 soft > soft 35 litres

Total time: 2 hours 13 mins
Fastest lap 2:03.515 (lap 55)

Assists: none, everything off (including ABS)

Car: 370Z GT5 academy version (unmodified)
hp: 375
mass: 1275kg
tires: Sport soft and Sport hard

 

[Crowood]

Mitsubishi FTO GP Version R '99
248 HP, 1200kg
Sport soft tires

1st: Time 2h 17min 25sec

Pitted lap 20 and 40

Best lap 2:12:458 (in lap 4) and average laptimes about 2:16:00

Topspeed 220 km/h

Did that race after 8hr of work and was tired....nearly fell asleep around lap 30 (crashed a few times ), then it got better.

 

[rotorite86]

Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 RM, 890hp.

2hrs 10mins approx, won by 5 laps, about 112,000 xp obtained...

I want to know about tyre wear though, is it me or is the tire wear awful? I was pitting every 4 laps for Racing Hard tyres at one point, though I managed a 6 lap stint one point...

Because you were abusing the hell out of the tires. What was your fastest lap? 2 hrs 10 mins is a LONG time for a RM ZR1. I assume you pitted like 8-10 times?

 

[Electric_Wizard]

Did it with a 458 Italia (Tuned with Engine powerup 1, Weight reduction 1, custom transmission and suspension, race soft tyres) I made it in 1:50-2:00, I don't remember the exact time. Pretty easy challenge, but I had a lot of fun driving my 458 Italia and drifting with it when tyres started to lose their wear.

 

[Furinkazen]

Because you were abusing the hell out of the tires. What was your fastest lap? 2 hrs 10 mins is a LONG time for a RM ZR1. I assume you pitted like 8-10 times?

14 Pit Stops. Did do a 1:53 once (Lap 52) but gradually settled into 1:58's roughly. Didn't help that my set-up was wrong, I had not changed it from my Indianapolis Oval set-up, to the car was naturally tail-happy. Still, I made use of my 3-4 lap lead and started playing around. I could double or triple-stint the front tyres, just the rear's that wore badly...

 

[EmptySoul]

Car: Jaguar XKR
HP: About 500HP
Stops: 3 (I used soft and middle tires)

Time: About 2 Hours.

Car is quite nice to handle and won this event very easy.... probably a little to easy for you maniacs?

 

[kishan1579]

i did it in a x1 in 1hr 22mins LOL overlapping them

 

[garbuckle]

Car: Lamborghini Gallardo (was tempted to use the Zonda F, but the Lambo sounded better)
HP: Around 700
Stops: 4 (first endurance, so was learning; used sport soft, sport hard, then found the racing medium the best)
Time: 2h:02m, 6 laps ahead, with lap times around 1:55 (best lap was 1:50)

 

[HBR-Roadhog]

I used the AEM S2000 which turned out to be way to much car. Oh well was an easy win.

 

[shadster]

Hello everyone (since this is my first post)

Just finished my first endurance race at Grand Valley in a Subaru Impreza Sedan WRX STI '10 in around 2h14'. It was actually like a walk in the park.

I took the lead in the first lap and finished with more than 1 lap ahead of the runner-up. My fastest lap was about 2:04:8xx. I only pitted once at the end of lap 41 and refueled 26 liters. I actually started to watch my fuel and be light on the gas pedal by lap 55 and finished with 2-3 pixels worth of fuel in my tank.

The only mod on the car was Sports ECU and Racing Softs. I had the car brand new and it had 326BHP before the event. After the race it showed 319 and after oil change is up to 334.

I could feel the tires wearing out and by the 40-th lap I was having difficulty controling the car. I never thought the tires would last this long, but I was careful with them anyway, only on five-six occasions I pressed the brake pedal in more than 50%.

 

[TobbE26]

2hours and 4 mins in my diet Nissan GT-R 07

 

[elrousso]

2:17:11.xxx
Car : Ford Focus ST
HP : 229hp
Wgt : 1430lbs

Won by about 12s, you can see the report here

 

[Hayman]

I just did this race yesterday, figured it would be a good way to try and get used to my new wheel and I had some time to kill anyways.

Used a slightly modded ZR1, dont remember what tires, but I did it in about 2 hours(not exactly sure, I wiped out many, many times). My fastest lap was 1:57.001 and most of my laps were between 1:59-2:05(some much higher, caused by wipeouts). I normally drove automatic, with all aids off except for abs:1, but after a few test laps I needed to put TCS on at around 3-4 because I couldn't control the oversteer. I changed to manual too when using the wheel because using the paddle shifters feels really natural, and also did some laps with the hpattern shifter too.

I took 1 break(for about 5 mins, to walk around and make tea) and also took 1 bathroom break. I pitted 3 times I think, might have been 4 actually as the tired were gone at lap 53/60 so I figured might as well.I totally forgot about fuel too and got lucky as I went to pit(3rd time I think) and I looked and it was on empty haha. Have to remember to check that for the longer races.

I am eventually going to go back to it and race it again with a much more competitive car, but that wasen't my main goal. Like I said I wanted to get used to using the wheel. It was fun and I will probably do the next one tomorrow or tuesday.

 

[dtn23]

I did it with my fully tuned spec v r35. It took me about two hours with a tune I found in these forums. Came in handy for getting full power out of the engine. Went in with about 845, left with like 830 and did an oil change for 868. I thought I would hate enduros but I'm learning to love them. Indy 500 tomorrow

 

[laserviper3]

Just finished this an hour or so ago so I'll post my stuff as well.

Car 2006 Honda S2000 or whatever year is the premium model
HP 340ish no turbo


Started and stayed on racing hards entire race.
Finished in 2 hours 7 minutes and some change
3 pit stops. one at 25 for fresh tires 40 for another set abused the heck out of them 50 cause I was almost out of gas.
Best lap 2.04.xxx think I caught a draft down the front straight averaged a 2.05 to a 2.08 lap through out the event

Car was repainted in a bright yellow since there is no bright yellow S2000 premium model. Added a wing and a nice set of rims. Car drove nice decent power despite me not putting a Turbo on it.

Winning Margin was 3 laps after the RX7 in second place got tangeled with the Legacy Wagon going into the 1st right hander. Weird field I faced was prepped for the NSX but got an RX7, Imprezza, Legacy Wagon, 3000gt, Celica GT4, 300 ZX and a Silva S16 can't recall which model.

 

[TopGearJB007]

It is way too !@#$ing easy to accidentally restart. In some freak occurrence (I have no idea how it happened) I accidentally restarted this race a half hour in. Kaz really needs to add an "are you sure you want to restart" option.

 

[Str|ke]

i did it in a x1 in 1hr 22mins LOL overlapping them

Word, same for me a little less than 80 minutes also, lapped the competition every other lap it was sad after awhile

 

[RacingManiac]

Tuned S2000(the premium one), full weight reduction, ~300bhp. Started race on Sports Medium then decided to speed up a bit using sports soft. Best lap I think was 2:10 ish....

 

[JesterHat84]

Didn't want to risk losing after an hour of racing, so I picked something "safe and powerful". Went with the Ford RS200 Rally Car... Was quite a fun time, great handling car!

Best lap was at 2.02 or so, but the Racing Hard tires were wearing out very quickly (front wheels were always sliding a bit when taking turns very tightly), so the lap times would slowly worsen up to 10 seconds worse! Had to pit at Laps 20 (tires completely worn), 40 (tires + fuel), and then 50 (just for the fun of running on fresh tires for the last few laps).

Hoping to do the Laguna Seca endurance in the same car next week-end...

I thought 60 laps of the same track would get terribly boring, or that I'd fall asleep half-way through, but surprisingly, I managed to stay interested.

 

[1Power1]

Just finished it with the GT-R Spec V (GT Academy), in a time of 2:01:485. Was so looking forward to getting under the 2 hour mark but silly AI pushed me into pits :S... twice fastest lap came in at 1:56:002. Good car to have fun with, ran it with racing hard and only had a medium turbo added on for a bit more oomph. Good fun this endurance races, managed to stay interested by beating my laps every time

 

[chrishan]

Audi R8 5.2 FSI
1:59:xx
3 stops.

 

[CaseK]

Did it yesterday in the Mazda Rx-8. It had about 30 more BHP then the top AI so i feared it would be a bit uneven. Didn't think it would be this bad though. Won by 5 laps easily. I liked the challenge in general but need to figure out a car that will make it a bit more of a race.

the next 4 hours on Tsukuba will be insane though but very much looking forward to the Laguna Seca race, not to mention the 4hr Nurburgring:tup: (i'll skip the 24h one, thank you very much)

 

[GinoLicious]

I used a skyline spec v 09 for this race. Had no problems. Even used the same car for the b spec endurance race, no issues there as well. Both results were golds on first tries.

 

[larsjuh33]

Wors fail : just bought Citroen GT Concept '08, rembering gt5p, it was pretty quick (didn't steer at all though). first 10 rounds going well, my tires completely ruined though, didn't steer anymore. Round 12 : no gas/petrol/diesel/ what ever it has/ dead battery xD. so i go into the pits, with maximum speed of 80, changed tires, coudn't get any propulsion in, so i left xD

 

[bimmer3002]

after being inspired by all the great stories in this thread, i went back and used a stock 1986 Ruf BTR. i loaded it up with all three sport tire options to give myself plenty of ways to adjust throughout the race if things got out of hand. i was concerned about keeping the tail in line and being able to keep up with the rx-7, sti and evo x at the front of the pack, so i started on softs, but quickly learned that was overkill, so after 6 laps, i pitted to get the hard tires on and exited the pits side by side with the second place sti.

for the first couple of laps i was able to put a second or two on my lead, but that quickly was negated as after the initial bite wore off, i lost all pretense of steering. it went something like 1) plow into turn in uncontrolled fashion. 2) straighten car at near idle speed. 3) blast away once car is pointed in right direction. 4) repeat as necessary. after 15 laps of that, the sti was on my a$$ so i pitted AGAIN to go back to the softs to get cought back up after i exited the pits a solid 36 seconds behind the leaders. this was probably the wrong decision, as mediums would have been ideal in that situation, as within just 3 or 4 laps i was again back in the lead. i decided that was defeating the purpose of the race so i pitted yet again after another 10 laps or so to take some mediums and some fuel.

i exited the pits still in first, and right about this time the ai decided to pit himself, which pretty much sealed the win for me. the rx-7 was now firmly in second place, but still a solid 40 seconds or so behind me. for my last pit i changed things up a little and went with mediums in the front to mantain steering with hards in the back so that i couldn't put down consistant 5 seconds faster lap times than the ai. i wish i would have done some testing beforehand, as this setup was by far the most competitive as my lead stayed pretty much unchanged for the last 10 laps or so as i finished off the race.

while better than my previous experiences, i still feel there's more room for improved enjoyment. i think i'll tackle it again in my 320i touring car on sport hards. while down on power, the lite weight and stiffer chassis should make for a nice balance and a more competitive event. cheers to all for the encouragement in trying an actual race this time!!

 

[TK42OnE]

Civic Type R (EK) '97

Tuned up pretty good, but not all the way.

245 hp
880 kg

It was pretty easy though. The car was a bit overpowered. I don't remember my final time, but I lapped the field.

I used racing mediums but took it easy on them, so I only needed to pit twice, at lap 20 and lap 40. Probably didn't even need to pit the second time.

My best lap was a 2:09, but I averaged about 2:12 or 2:13.

 

[Flogger]

Tommy Kira II. I didn't want to spend a lot of time on it.