All-Purpose Guide to the B-Spec Online Seasonal: La Sarthe

[shikirocks]

GT-ONE Race Car with level 34(hot) and 30(cold) bob, downforce 60-85, Top speed 400, power limit at 95%. Pit at 5th lap, RH entire thing. Did it with first attempt, but with lot of difficulty, Pescarolo C60 hybrid on my tail the whole time.

 

[garbuckle]

For those trying one-stop races, and finding the RI's completely worn by the last lap, try pitting on lap 4, instead of 2 or 3. The extra lap on RH at the beginning is probably faster than coasting on ruined RI's at the end.

 

[garbuckle]

Getting a little closer with the Ford GT. This time I went with grid #7, and instead of pitting on 8, and getting RI, I pitted on 9 and got RH. I came in 2nd with a time of 40:44

 

[GavBlade]

For those trying one-stop races, and finding the RI's completely worn by the last lap, try pitting on lap 4, instead of 2 or 3. The extra lap on RH at the beginning is probably faster than coasting on ruined RI's at the end.

I thought about doing that but thought I might be all over the place with hard tyres on a wet track. I'll give it a try though. Just created 3 new drivers though so I'm levelling them up at the minute while I watch Super Sunday!

 

[GavBlade]

The general perception here seems to be to start on Racing Hards, why is that? Surely it would be much quicker to go with Racing Softs? Or will they not last till the pit stop at the end of lap 3?

EDIT - I've decided that as you almost always get stuck behind other cars, that I'm trying pitting on lap 8 instead of 9 to give myself a clear track so I can just nail it. Tried it twice so far and on both occasions, in the laps before making my second pit stop, I've gone wide and so lost a lot of time due to the numpty only going at 50mph for what seems like forever. After making the pit though I've obviosuly done a very quick outlap and although I've still only finished 2nd & 3rd, it has actually seemed like its quicker to pit on lap 8 instead of 9. Just trying it again now and I'm hoping I can have a mistake free race as I think it might work out for me.

 

[GTsail]

The general perception here seems to be to start on Racing Hards, why is that? Surely it would be much quicker to go with Racing Softs? Or will they not last till the pit stop at the end of lap 3?
.

The race does not allow race soft tires

 

[GavBlade]

AAARGHHHH!! The numpty has gone into the sand again on lap 9! Thats another 45 minutes wasted!

 

[elric718]

Mauled them in a tuned Pescarolo Courage '04

40'04" 27 secs ahead.

40 & 39 Bobs.

Would have been way under 40', only Bob's keep snoozing and I had one of those excursions where the wheels touched dirt and the car dropped to 50 for about 10 seconds.

 

[Haitauer]

ALRIGHT!

Finally managed to win the sarthe - and since the car was one from NCD and tactics were different I shall report to fellow GTfans.

I was using lvl34 (hot) and lvl37(a bit cooler) bobs and the 908 HPI from NCD . Took a while to find the tactics (have 1300 km on the 908 now ). I was running highish downforce 55/75 maybe and tranny at around 410km/h.

I tried the SS no pitstop - not quite there with this car. Then i noticed that there was no problem on tyrewear of the FRONT tyres so I went out with RI front SS rear -combination. Can be done with one good bob no pit - just have to take it down cold on first 2 and last 2 laps as RIs run hot on more dry track and wear fast otherwise.

The winning tactic then. I started RH/RH tires with the hot bob pushing hard (around 90%) the first 3laps trying to take as many cars as possile before usual pitstop at beginning of lap 4. Here it was a change of tactic - Changed to the cool bob and RI/SS tire combination to run the remaining 7laps (around 60%) without the other pit stop. Came to this as RI/SS tires keep up with the pack slightly better on the wet laps compared to SS front tyres. And as a bonus you will have fresh set of RI/SS tyres at the beginning of lap 8 - no tyre wear on wet cool track. So as others go to pits at the beginning of lap 10 you have WARM fresh tyres. This was key as the R8 '01 came out of pits neck to neck with my 908. It was a close race on lap 10 - but pushing hard I managed to drive the R8 making mistakes as it had still COLD TIRES.

Finally finished some good 15sec ahead in time around 40.50.

 

[GavBlade]

Can someone who has won this using the Audi Team Oreca please post their tune?

At the minute I'm simply reducing the power but I want to try it out my changing downforce and weight but I'm not really sure how much I should change them by to get the right balance.

EDIT - Just about to give it another go now. Have added 25kg of ballast, set the downforce to 50/95 and as a result I've been able to adjust the power to 747BHP as opposed to the circa 650BHP that I had before.

 

[GavBlade]

NOOOOOOOO!! I almost had it!!!

As usual, pit at the end of lap 8 to get a clear track and put a flier in on fresh tyres. My Bob did just that and gained 3 places in the pit stops. That left 1 car in front of and on fresh tyres, he was all over the place. Took him without a problem them, at the end of the Mulsanne, despite me telling my Bob to decrease the pace, him and the 2 cars behind him all went into the gravel leaving the way for the Bentley in 4th to come crusing past. I could cry

EDIT - Finally done it!!!

Decided to pit on lap 2 instead of lap 3 and it worked and absolute treat. Jumped 6 places in the swap over to take the lead any by the time I took my second pit stop at the end of lap 8, I was so far in front that I came out less than a second behind the first placed car.

Total time was 40.18.924 and I won by so much that the 2nd placed car hadn't even finished before the game closed the screen.

 

[Tehdas]

What a tyre shredding beast that ZR1 RM is...

Tried a one-stopper at the end of lap 4 and even then it didn't last till the end on it's racing inters, lead the final lap with about 10 seconds, but still got overtaken...

Reckon a win is possible though with the ZR1 RM.

The Nomad GT-1, Panoz and Viper GTS-R are all too slow imho, the BMW McLaren F1 is much quicker even on the same PP-level for some reason...

 

[obsessive rules]

What a tyre shredding beast that ZR1 RM is...

Tried a one-stopper at the end of lap 4 and even then it didn't last till the end on it's racing inters, lead the final lap with about 10 seconds, but still got overtaken...

Reckon a win is possible though with the ZR1 RM.

The Nomad GT-1, Panoz and Viper GTS-R are all too slow imho, the BMW McLaren F1 is much quicker even on the same PP-level for some reason...

F1 is quicker because it's British!

 

[kj_mil]

@ Famine & YuRiPa

I'll check the settings as well. With the set-up I used (not a tune as such)

Regarding the car, i'll try to get the changes I made to the set-up (likely to be gearing, power, downforce, weight, ride-height). I had some upgrades installed, but I'll have to check whether I took some off to meet the regulations.

Nissan R92CP Settings Used:

972BHP - 100.0% power (requires oil change)
900kg - 0kg ballast
700pp
Downforce 45/56
Gears - set to 242mph Max Speed (247mph shows next to chart). No individual gear ratios changed to my memory.

All upgrade parts fitted
No ride height or suspension tuning changes from stock

 

[Kaiser1]

NOOOOOOOO!! I almost had it!!!

As usual, pit at the end of lap 8 to get a clear track and put a flier in on fresh tyres. My Bob did just that and gained 3 places in the pit stops. That left 1 car in front of and on fresh tyres, he was all over the place. Took him without a problem them, at the end of the Mulsanne, despite me telling my Bob to decrease the pace, him and the 2 cars behind him all went into the gravel leaving the way for the Bentley in 4th to come crusing past. I could cry

EDIT - Finally done it!!!

Decided to pit on lap 2 instead of lap 3 and it worked and absolute treat. Jumped 6 places in the swap over to take the lead any by the time I took my second pit stop at the end of lap 8, I was so far in front that I came out less than a second behind the first placed car.

Total time was 40.18.924 and I won by so much that the 2nd placed car hadn't even finished before the game closed the screen.

Do you use one BOB or two?

 

[calico]

Do you use one BOB or two?

If you have 2 similar level and type bobs there is no reason why you wouldnt change them if you are pitting anyway.

 

[Kaiser1]

Problem is I have one BOB at 35 and the other at 8 lol

 

[GavBlade]

Do you use one BOB or two?

I used 2. An L37 & L35. My L35 driver drove the middle stint and the L37 the other 2. My L35 was very casual though in his stint so I had to keep telling him to either increase or maintain pace. I was amazed at how much of a lead I pulled out though simply by pitting one lap before the AI.

I'd run your L8 Bob (along with your L35 Bob and one other, don't know if you've got one but I'd create one) in the Tskuba 9 Hour using the Formula GT. Just leave it running overnight. You'll level your L8 Bob up hugely. Once you've done that, run him in the B-Spec Spa Seasonal in the Mobil 1 NSX on Sports Soft tyres a few times and you'll level him up even more rather quickly. It won't take long at all to get him to 35 so you can run him in the La Sarthe Seasonal.

 

[GavBlade]

Much easier this in the 2J. I tried going with RH then switching to SS (albeit with a level 19 Bob) and he still managed a 2nd.

Just done it with my 37 Bob, started on RH then switched to RI on lap 3 then went to the end of the race and, obviously, won comfortably. Only 9 seconds quicker than the time I got with the R8 Oreca though and only won by 14 seconds compared to I don't know what from the Oreca as the screen closed before the 2nd placed car finished. I wasn't hitting Increase Pace anywhere near as much though with the 2J.

 

[garbuckle]

YES! I knew it was possible! I finally won with the Ford GT LM Spec II Test Car.

I went with a totally different strategy this time. I set the tranny to 370km/h (230mph), used my good level 38 bob (just above neutral in "coolness", and the best I found when it comes to passing / consistency), and just sports soft with no pitting. I was lucky that the trailing Audi spun at Mulsanne, after having passed me on lap 10. The car was set the same as usual in other regards (max downforce, all possible upgrades, no change to other settings except the tranny).

Now I am content, and prepared for when PD remove this seasonal lol

 

[xEnZo]

Just won in the Pescarolo Courage-Judd GV5 '04
Won 40:37,
Bobs were 38 and 37,
Max power was 790, weight 900, pp 700, Aero 60 front and 69 rear
it was mere luck cause the bentley let me draft it on the last lap, swerving all over the place, then the Audi R8 wanted to Spin out at Mulsanne letting me pass no problem
Pitted with the AI which was lap 3 and lap 9

 

[garbuckle]

After winning with the Ford GT, I am astonished at just how BAD the Mercedes C9 is. If you crank up the HP for the straights, then it's horrible around the corners. If you trade HP for downforce, then it can no longer reach speed for the straights. The kicker, though, is just how SLOW it is when it rains... it just goes at a crawl, allowing everything to pass. I'd think even the Zonda R is better than the C9 lol

 

[Voxalizer]

Just won this race using the Pescarolo C60 Hybride–Judd '05. I went for a one-stop racing intermediate strategy, well.. Ended up winning by 4 sec on the Audi R8, but had no tires left during the last turns. Audi was in the pit when I entered the last lap.

700PP, 40.12min.

 

[GTMunky]

For those who are still having trouble with the event, here's a video example of the entire race using the Peugeot 908 on my channel. It's 45 mins uncut. Good luck and hope you earn P1!


Another video example of the entire race using the Mazda 787B.

 

[DCSemi]

Now I am content, and prepared for when PD remove this seasonal lol

I'll be sad when it'll happen...

I hope they will come up with a new one, with the same (or almost the same) payouts! 👍

 

[mcsimfan]

Definitely need a high level BOB for this (using the Audi R8 '05). My 31 rated guy grabs the lead on lap 10, but my tires are so far gone that keeping BOB cool results in him slowing down so much that he gets past just after the last long straight. If I don't keep him cool he spins out.

 

[Namaker]

I just won the race using a Toyota Minolta 88C-V '89 with a level 38 and level 0 driver for the last two laps. Took him right up to level 21

Settings used:
-Aerodynamics: Front 60, back 50
-Additional weight: 20kg in the front
-Engine: Turbo stage 3, no power reduction
-Drivetrain: All default, except max. speed set to 430km/h

An oil change bringing the engine to 776kW is needed, as lower power will lead to higher pp.

 

[YuRiPa]

@ Famine & YuRiPa





Nissan R92CP Settings Used:

972BHP - 100.0% power (requires oil change)
900kg - 0kg ballast
700pp
Downforce 45/56
Gears - set to 242mph Max Speed (247mph shows next to chart). No individual gear ratios changed to my memory.

All upgrade parts fitted
No ride height or suspension tuning changes from stock

Thanks. Will try this today.

Yesterday I ran the race a couple of times again, first with the 908 HDi again. Again stopped in lap 2 and 8 for fresh inters and won the race in 40:13.756s, winning with a lead of 7 (or 17) seconds. The '05 R8 finished second, the '01 R8 third, or the Bentley finished third, don't exactly remember. Again, an easy victory and with this car you shouldn't have any problems.

Then I used the '01 R8, got third. Was leading comfortably and decided to take the gamble and switch to racing hards on lap 8 (after my first stop in lap 2), that didn't turn out too great, lost too much time. The second race with the '01 R8 was a breeze, stopped in lap 2, got in the lead after the AI cars stopped and the opposition (two R8's (the '01 and '05 ones), Speed 8, Pesky Judd, 787B, BMW V12 etc) didn't come close ever again. When I stopped for fresh inters in lap 8 I got back on track with around a 10 second lead and must have won by 30-40 (maybe even more) seconds. My completion time was 39:43.

then I tried the Sauber Mercedes, ended up in third place, could have won I think if my drivers would be a little quicker and wouldn't crash off at Mulsanne. Strategy was the same again, stopping for fresh inters on lap 2 and 8. Stopping on lap 2 and 8 seems to be the best strategy for this race, doesn't matter which car you use. If you change to inters on lap 2 you gain so much time in the third lap, often even passing the lead cars when they're pitting. If you don't, make sure you stay close to them, pit on lap 8, gain some time on them during lap 9, and if you're not leading at the start of lap 10 you've got a big chance of overtaking them since the AI cars will go wide on numerous corners using slicks.

One thing about the Sauber Mercedes I don't really understand. In GT4 it was by far the quickest Group C car (along with the Minolta Toyota), but my B-spec drivers can't even accelerate faster than the AMG Mercedes, R390 GT1 etc... They're out-accelerated by (almost) all cars in the race with a top speed of around 350-360 km/h. I have no idea how they mess up all the time, or the Sauber is not as quick as in GT4 anymore... Haven't really tested it in A-spec yet.

 

[Haitauer]

Theres also one other thing concerning the BOBs - I noticed that my hotter bob was able to stay on track on around 90% while the cooler one started to make mistakes around 75% already. So one should make notice of each bobs "natural" heat level to know how that individual bob performs best and pace them accordingly. The heat bar doesnt indicate the actual speed of the bob as my cooler bob is way faster around 60% than his hotter colleague at 90%. 💡

 

[NorrisMorris]

This is my first post (even though I've been a GTP "voyeur" for a good few years now), so hello everyone.

Anyway, after success with the usual cars, I finally managed to win this event using a Peugeot 905.

I used a 'Cool' (around 30% on the slider) Level 37 Bob and a 'Hot' (95%) Level 38 Bob for the event. I started with the Hot Bob on RH tyres, telling him to overtake often, and pitted at the end of lap 2 a few seconds behind the BMW V12 LMR. I then changed to the Cool Bob and used RH tyres on the front and SS tyres on the rear until the end. After lap 3 I had managed to overtake the BMW and was in 6th place, not far behind the leading pack that pits at the end of lap 3. I lost an increasing amount of time per lap as the track got wetter, and due to my Bob's dim-wittedness I babysat him almost constantly, keeping him around 70%. At the beginning of lap 10 the two Audis came out of the pits around 5-8seconds ahead of me and I thought I would narrowly miss out on the victory. However, at Mulsanne the two Audis collided, allowing my Cool-but-intellectually-stunted Bob to sweep past for a relatively easy victory. Of course, for the remainder of the lap he did his very best to screw up, but I pre-empted this by keeping him relatively calm at around 30%.

I finished with a time of 40'50", just under 4 seconds ahead of the 3rd-placed Bentley. I might experiment later with a RH/RH (lap 2) > RI/RI (lap 7 or 8) > RI/RI strategy.

My settings (if relevant) were:

Power 919HP (stage 3 turbo), Aero 60/80, Ballast to make the car 700PP.
Top speed around the 270MPH mark.
Suspension height -10 front and rear; Springs 16.5F/17.5R; Dampers 8F/7R (ext) 7F/6R (com); Anti-roll bars 6/6; Camber 1.9F/1.3R; toe 0F/0.10R.
Brakes 6/6.