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

  • Thread starter Famine
  • 313 comments
  • 38,841 views
Or sits alongside a car doing tortoise racing when he could use the slipstream.

One of my Bobs in the R390 was passed at Mulsanne corner twice. At the same time. A GT-One went up the inside of him and the V12 LMR went round the outside. Ludicrous.
 
Or sits alongside a car doing tortoise racing when he could use the slipstream.

One of my Bobs in the R390 was passed at Mulsanne corner twice. At the same time. A GT-One went up the inside of him and the V12 LMR went round the outside. Ludicrous.


Bobs can be annoying sometimes. I do find that how they will behave comes down to how they were "raised" and their character traits though. In this case I recognized that cooler experienced and hotter less experienced work well.
 
Thanks for the great write up. I used the advise last night to win finally after about 15 tries before reading this!
I used the Minolta with sport soft tires and the transmission set at 236.
Bob did not even ask to pit on lap 3 when the rest of the field were. I forced him to pit on lap 4. That was the only pit, I denied him going in on lap 9. At the finish he barely won over a green colored Peugeot.
I took the advise and kept Bob almost at the red but not fully in it.

Thanks a lot for the 6 million credits!
 
Also, I'm sure my overtake button doesn't work and has been replaced with a "Hit the car in front up the arse" button....

I never use the overtake instruction, I prefer to let them drive up behind someone and then "say" maintain pace as that seems to make Bob do a nice smooth overtake with a draft or under braking.
 
I've just acquired a hyperfridge from a Level 23 ticket, so I've set it to shared on my account if anyone wants to borrow one.
 
iv got the 2j you can use add me and message me when you want me to share it

thank you very much, i will add you soon !

I've just acquired a hyperfridge from a Level 23 ticket, so I've set it to shared on my account if anyone wants to borrow one.

i will be adding you too Famine !

EDIT: i tried to add you but you can not have more friends
 
Last edited:
I cannot do better than 6th. Chap 2J and SS and no pit, it would not work for me. 30 minutes per race is a huge chunk of time if you have to grind at it much.
 
I would like to add my findings to Famine's excellent thread about the La Sarthe Seasonal:

I've now run this race with quite a number of cars. I've won the race with the following cars:
Audi R8 Race Car '01
Audi R8 Playstation '05
Bentley Speed 8
BMW V12 LMR
Pescarolo C60 Hybride '05
Pescarolo Courage C60 '03
Pescarolo Courage Judd '04
Chaparral 2J

I've lost the race with just about everything else:
Toyota GT-ONE
Nissan R89C
Nissan R92CP
Mazda 787B
Peugeot 908 FAP
Sauber C9 Mercedes

During all of these races, I was experimenting with quite a variety of tire strategies. So no two races were identical, really.

Running all these races has stuffed my pockets full of cash! The $20 million limit is quite a thorn in my side!

In an effort to add to our knowledge base about this race, last night I decided to try a little pit-stop strategy testing.

So I took out my trusty Audi R8 '01 Race Car and cycled thru the La Sarthe lineups until lineup # 6 which has the following cars:

Peugeot 905
Pescarolo C60 Hybride '05
Bentley Speed 8
Mazda 787B
Pescarolo Courage C60 '03
Pescarolo Courage Judd '04
BMW V12 LMR
Toyota GT-ONE
Nissan R390
Mercedes CLK-LM
Audi R10 TDI

I used the same two B-spec drivers for every race, and they started as 38/37 level drivers. At the end of the testing they were both level 38 drivers.

For my first race, I pitted on lap # 4 for inter's and then ran to the end of the race without pitting.

For my second race, I pitted on lap # 3 for inter's and then again on lap # 9 for RH's

These 1st two races were run against the exact same grid of cars, since I did not leave the race screen once the 1st race was won.

After my first two races in my Audi, I went back to the main GT screen and changed the Audi's oil since my Audi now had 340 miles on it.

I then saved and re-started GT5 so I could get the same lineup # 6 as before.

For my third race, I pitted on lap # 2 for inter's and then again on lap # 7 for inter's, and then ran to the end of the race.

For my forth race, I pitted on lap # 3 for inter's and then again on lap # 8 for inter's, and then ran to the end of the race.

The following grid shows my lap times and race winning times:

Code:
La Sarthe B-spec Seasonal
GTsail’s Pit Stop testing with Audi R8 ’01 Race Car
Against lineup # 6

			Pit Stop Strategy
	---------------------------------------------------------------
Lap  	Lap 4 only	Laps 3/9	Laps 2/7	Laps 3/8
-------	------------	-----------	----------	----------
# 1	3m45.2  	3m47.2	      3m44.2	      3m44.5
# 2	3m46.6	        3m48.3	      3m50.2	      3m44.8
# 3	4m01.4	        4m07.0	      4m19.2          4m05.4	
# 4	4m25.6	        4m30.1	      3m55.7	      4m29.3
# 5	4m43.4	        4m10.2	      4m05.1	      4m14.5
# 6	4m05.2	        4m06.9	      4m08.9	      4m09.1
# 7	3m59.9	        3m58.3	      4m03.2          3m59.6
# 8	3m49.8	        3m48.4	      4m17.5	      3m54.2
# 9	3m51.1	        3m52.4        3m45.9	      4m16.4
#10	3m59.9	        4m18.9	      3m50.4	      3m47.7	
	-------		-------		-------		-------
Sec’s	2428.1		2427.7		2400.3		2425.6

Min’s	40m28.1s	40m27.7s	40m00.3s	40m25.6s

During the races I would keep my B-spec drivers just about at 50% when they were alone, but allow them to go into the red for passing purposes. I would always slow them down just before the Mulsanne corner to stay out of the sand. The main AI competition is almost always the Pescarolo C60 Hybride. However, for the first two races I had strong competition from an unusually strong Mazda 787B for at least half of each race. For the 4th race, there was a strong BMW V12 LMR that stayed with us and finished the race in 3rd.

So even though every race was run against the same # 6 lineup, the AI in the races behaved somewhat differently as the races un-folded.

As you can see from my results, three of the races had very near identical times, while race # 3 was waaaay above the norm, and I just spanked the field. I actually could have pitted again if necessary! I'm not really sure of the explanation, but I would say that the 2/7 pit strategy is the best if you drive the Audi R8. My Audi spent quite a bit of time with no track company since it was off sequence to many of the AI cars, so this just worked out for the best. I intend to try this again with a different car and see if the 2/7 pit strategy is best for other cars as well, or was this was just something un-usual about this particular race.

Enjoy the virtual racing!
GTsail
 
Last edited:
I would have won in the R35 TC if I had taken fuel at the pit stop. I foolishly assumed the car could do the 10 laps on a full tank. It will do 9.

What?! And how?!

Edit: Lv38 Bob just got one to 5th overall, 40s down. I can see a fifteen second gain from strategy in there now, but those other 25s are still asking "What?! And how?!".


I finally got around to running it again with the R35 TC.

I set the car up for even tire wear with Bob driving it.

Started on Race Hard. I stopped on lap 3 and put on intermediates (and took on 10 liters, unlike my first attempt!). I kept Bob running bottom of the red the whole race. I was running 5th most of the time. I was maybe 20 seconds down on lap 9 when the leaders stopped. I stayed out. I put Bob at the top of the blue and cruised to victory.

700PP
897hp
1215kg
Aero 35/55
Speed 250mph

finishz.jpg


resultsm.jpg
 
Last edited:
i pitted on lap 3 and 7 and on lap 9 was still behind the leaders and was 5 seconds behind the leader in the Audi R8 PS Car
 
I think the Mazda 787B can do it with a lot of babysitting. Ran stock settings with 38&35 bobs starting with RH tires. Audi R8 Oreca, Prescarolo C60, Bentley Speed 8 and another 787B on the field

-Bob very quickly works his way up the field

- Bob wants to pit on lap 2, but I deny and instead pit on lap 3 with everyone else. Change to RI tires.

- Drop from 5th to 6th in the pit scramble.

- Race continues without incident, keeping bob at 60-70% pace (before the bar is red), but generally allowing him to get hot when near other cars. Pass the other 787B on lap 5 and sit behind the Bentley until the lap 9 pit. Deny and try to finish the race on RI tires.

- Bob loses control on very last corner and is passed by the R8. Takes 2nd place.

Disappointing to say the least, but it's definitely winnable, bone-stock with some strategy. I'm going to try one-pitting on lap 4 and seeing if that does it.

Will post results (in more detail to boot) after I finish the race.
 
I'm sorry I've not updated the first post recently with successful attempts, but I'm doing a little B-Spec research project that's sucking up my non-baby time :lol: Sadly it's taking fifteen times longer than I thought, but I hope it'll be done in time to help people with this event a bit more.
 
Here's something astonishing:

I managed a reasonable 3rd in a Ford GT LM Spec II Test Car! I did RH to begin, and pitted on lap 4, running RI to the end (no pit). Fuel and tires were down to zip for the last few corners. My time ended up being 41:10.

I'm convinced that with perhaps a better lineup / better drivers / different or no pits, that it may be winnable!
 
I won the race with the Mazda 787B, by a fairly large margin. I'll outline the details below:

Car: Mazda 787B - 749 HP, 830Kg (no ballast), 700PP.
Transmission settings: Top Speed 377Km/h

Tires: Start with Racing Hard, switch to Racing Intermediate on 4th lap pit.

Strategy: One-pit on the 4th lap so as to maintain tire durability into the last lap when the water level returns to normal. Keep approx 65% pace throughout the race, allowing drivers to run hot when overtaking.

Drivers

Start: X.He (Lvl 35, Personality about 1/3 of the way from middle to hot)
Switch: G.Van der Veen (Lvl 38, Peronality about 9/10 of the way from middle to cold)

Starting Grid

1st: Peugeot 905
2nd: C60 Hybride - Judd
3rd: Bentley Speed 8
4th: Mazda 787B
5th: Audi R8 (Team Oreca)
6th: Courage C60 Peugeot Race Car
7th: Courage - Judd GV5
8th: BMW V12 LMR
9th: Toyota GT-ONE
10th: Nissan R390 GT1
11th: Audi R10 TDI
12th: Mazda 787B


Onto the race...

Lap 1: Pass Audi R10 at Dunlop Chicane, Double pass R390 and GT-ONE at Mulsanne corner --------- 9th place

Lap 2: Pass Courage C60 Peugeot at Mulsanne Straight, Pass V12 LMR and Mazda 787B as they pit ------------- 6th place

Lap 3: Deny pit as lap starts, Pass Courage - Judd GV5 at Mulsanne straight, Passed by Judd GV5 at Indianapolis, Pass into 1st as everyone else pits ------------- 1st Place

Lap 4: Hold 1st into pit (although 2nd-6th cars have caught up), change drivers, change tires to Racing Intermediate, drop into 8th place ------- 8th place

Lap 5: No incident. Water level peaks at 63% --------- 8th place

Lap 6: Pass Peugeot 905 at Mulsanne Straight --------- 7th place

Lap 7: Pass Mazda 787B at Esses, pass Audi R8 (Team Oreca) at Ford Chicanes --------- 5th place

Lap 8: Passed by Audi R8 (team oreca) at Mulsanne Straight, Pass Audi R8 and Judd GV5 at Mulsanne Straight ------- 4th place

Lap 9: Deny pit at lap start, passed by Audi R8 and Judd GV5 at Mulsanne Straight,Pass Audi R8 and Judd GV5 as they wipe out at Mulsanne Corner, Pass into 1st as everyone else pits ----------- 1st place

Lap 10: No incident. Car's a little wobbly and slow as back-right tire gives out, but G.Van der Veen manages to keep it together. Back-left tire with a sliver of durability left.

FINISH 1st place: Final time: 40.24.351
2nd place: Bentley Speed 8: 40.45.875 (+0.21.524)
3rd place: BMW V12 LMR: 40.47.xxx (+0.23.xxx)

So the race was won with pretty much stock settings. I dropped the power to meet regulation PP and set the transmission top speed higher. You definitely have to babysit the whole way though.
 
Just won in the Bentley, Bobs at 31 and 30. I started with the better of the two, came in on lap 3 for inters and to switch Bobs, then came back in on lap 8 for fresh inters and another switch. Glad I managed to win on my first attempt and didn't have to try every car in my garage.
 
Tried like crazy with the Premium Audi R10, but doubt better than 3rd is possible.

Won with no problem in 05 Pescarolo. No Audi 01's in that race tho.

I would like to see a complete listing of every car anyone ever used to beat the race.
 
I've decided the Minolta is a pile of crap. Tried about 4 times and failed every time. Looking at the sector timing, it's just too slow everywhere.

The Hybride however, is amazing. I must confess that I'd forgotten about the glitched extra wing that you can buy in GT Auto and so I was was running way too much DF the first time, which also ate up valuable PP. After lowering the DF and raising the power, I had several easy wins, including one where I accidentally pitted 3 times :D I forgot to cancel the lap 9 pit, but even then, I still won by about 20 secs. I think my best time so far is 40:01.xxx, and more time can definitely be found.
 
Audi R8 '01
822 hp weight 900 kg 700 PP
Downforce 55/55
Trans top speed 249
suspension
ride hgt -12/-11
everything else default.

Best time 39:22.533
Best lap 3:37.742
Pit at end of lap 2 and lap 8 took on 11 liters fuel both times for the weight.
Start with RH then RI both pit stops.
 
Tried like crazy with the Premium Audi R10, but doubt better than 3rd is possible.

Won with no problem in 05 Pescarolo. No Audi 01's in that race tho.

I would like to see a complete listing of every car anyone ever used to beat the race.

That'll get added to post one shortly. I've just finished phase 1 of the utterly ridiculous project I started - which I hope will help even more with this race when done (if I can get it finished in time!) - so I'll go through and add some times and more general car notes... err... tomorrow. Probably.
 
I tried playing this one for the first time with the Audi R8 Team Playstation. I had a 36 and 35 level Bob. Is there a bug or something about the Bob if he slides in to the dirt after the Mulsanne straight that he will finish the rest of the race at 60 mph?!?! It made me so mad! I nearly threw my controller :( I was leading by quite a bit putting in 3 min 53 sec laps with inters. I was finishing the 9th lap too! Is that a known bug? What is the remedy? I guess I could have told him to hold it steady instead of to try and put a slight bit more of a gap...*sigh*...gonna go do some studying and then later on before I hit the bed give it another shot and hopefully win this one!
 
I tried playing this one for the first time with the Audi R8 Team Playstation. I had a 36 and 35 level Bob. Is there a bug or something about the Bob if he slides in to the dirt after the Mulsanne straight that he will finish the rest of the race at 60 mph?!?! It made me so mad! I nearly threw my controller :( I was leading by quite a bit putting in 3 min 53 sec laps with inters. I was finishing the 9th lap too! Is that a known bug? What is the remedy? I guess I could have told him to hold it steady instead of to try and put a slight bit more of a gap...*sigh*...gonna go do some studying and then later on before I hit the bed give it another shot and hopefully win this one!

Hit 'pace down' just before that corner once your bob is not at full strength. Problem solved. 👍
 
Is there a bug or something about the Bob if he slides in to the dirt after the Mulsanne straight that he will finish the rest of the race at 60 mph?!?!

I had the same thing happen to me with the 787B on the first lap. He came out of the dirt going 50mph. Out of curiosity I waited to see if he would speed up again. After about 10 seconds he took off again. Of course I quit the race.
 
I have noticed my really cool drivers do that more often than not. Going to gave to experiment with it but I have other problems. Suddenly my drivers are running the track like they never touched a steering wheel before in their lives. Its fantastic.
 
I've struggled with this with fairly weak bobs (Lv30).

Though i'd cracked it last night using a R8 Playstation. Followed the same pit strategy as the AI cars, took it easy throughout the race, asked bob to take it easy at the crucial parts of the track (chicanes, Mulsanne, Arnage and Maison Blanche) and was sitting in a close 2nd behind the Bentley when entering the pits at the end of lap 9. The Bentley got baulked during his stop so i emerged from the pit lane, with RH's in first with the Bentley 5 or 6 car lengths behind. The 3rd placed car wasn't even within tow distance.

Dunlop chicane and bob runs wide, Bentley now on my tail. Tertre Rouge and bob runs a little wide again and is slow onto the Mulsanne. Bentley pulls alongside and past with no need of a tow. Bob sits in the draft and even though i'd given him the instruction to slow down just before the breaking area for the first chicane, he takes a late dive down the inside and slides into the gravel on the outside :banghead:

Recovered to finish 7th after also running wide at Mulsanne.

Should i have fitted another set of inters at the last stop?
 
if you pit on the end of lap 7 with Inters and you have a decent enough bob you should make it no problem.

Usually if I remember to change my oil (which was my problem last night...apparently an oil change screws up the handling) I am entering the pits on the end of lap 7 with a 35 second lead. Inters end of lap 2 and end of lap 7. Bob#1 is faster but not as good through the corners by a hair, Bob 2 is a little slower but can hit the corners perfectly. I usually stay just below the Red when possible and spam maintain pace, Slowing it down as the tires wear.

Audi R8 '05 (Playstation) is what I use and have been fairly successful with it. Still trying to find the CJ int he UCD so I have been doing A-Spec Races for the time being so I am not just wasting money with the 20 mil cap.
 
Some more reports:

Minolta: Finally won with this hopeless car. Even then, I had a major slice of luck when the 2 lead AI decided they'd rather play sandcastles at Mulsanne Corner on the final lap.

Pros: Top end speed
Cons: Terrible at exits from low-speed corners

Verdict: Avoid unless you hate yourself.


Bentley Speed 8: Easy win, but then again, you'd expect that from one of the best cars in the AI's hands. Lost my first attempt due to 3 sandtrap excursions though.

Pros: Good overall handling, low tyre wear
Cons: Not the best top-end, constantly wants to crash at Mulsanne.

Verdict: Awesome car.


Toyota 7: Not a hope in hell. Despite having around 900bhp and still being the lightest car in the field even with ballast, this car has zero chance of winning. Can finish in the middle of the pack though.

Pros: Can do the whole lap flat out.
Cons: Despite huge power, has a terrible top speed. High tyre wear (probably due to driving the whole race in the red).

Verdict: Ignore the stats, this car is not going to win.


Toyota GT-ONE: A pretty rubbish car in the hands of the AI, I thought this would struggle, but in the hands of my awesome Bobs, I had a 20-second win.

Pros: Very secure handling, never crashes at Mulsanne, low tyre wear.
Cons: Not the fastest top-end. Sounds awful.

Verdict: Surprisingly good.
 
I have just lost this race using the Courage C60 2003 spec. I am using B spec drivers of 34 and 25. End result was 9th place so far with a time of just over 42 minutes. I am pitting for rain tires at the start of lap 4 and again for intermediates on lap 8.

I suggest not using this car.

I will look and see which of the "better" LMPs listed that I have.
 
Back