I started my maximum A-spec points quest some months ago and now I decided to tackle my first 24h race. I wanted to save the Nurburgring last so I picked le Sarthe II to be the first race. 24 hours is a loooong time for me to spend in one race so I thought I should make it as challenging as possible to keep it interesting. After trying various cars on the track and comparing laptimes I finally decided my ride for the race. My choice was a stock BMW McLaren F1 GTR. My testing proved that with this car the race should be extremely close so I changed new oil for the car and headed towards the grid...
Sarthe II 24h - 200pts. race
Against first lineup which was:
Nissan R89C Race Car - pits every 7 laps
Mazda 787B Race Car - pits every 9 laps
Sauber Mercedes C9 Race Car - pits every 8 laps
Minolta Toyota 88C-V Race Car - pits every 7 laps
Jaguar XJR-9 Race Car - pits every 8 laps
BMW McLaren F1 GTR(me) - pits every 7 laps
Car Setup: Stock, new oil and R3/R2 tyres
susp: 9.0/10.5
75/75
3/3 4/4
2.0/1.0
+1/0
4/3
brakes: 5/4
lsd: 10/35/25
gears: tranny trick, auto 1 final 2.700
max downforce
Pit Strategies:
7 laps with R3/R2 and 52 units of fuel (2 units left when pitting in) <== laps ~ 3'15 mins
11 laps with R2/R1 and 80 units of fuel, 0-1 units left when pitting in) <== laps ~ 3'20 mins
The Race:
I had a pretty good start for the race and I took the lead on the first lap. I couldn't keep it for long though, as I started to make small but time consuming mistakes. I pushed the car a little too much and made frequent trips to the many sandtraps on the track. My laptimes were horrible for many laps and I didn't found a good driving rhythm. I also tried R2/R1 tyres but this combo was too slow and the gap was only getting bigger instead of decreasing. Thus quite early on my gap to 1st place was already over a minute and 30 secs. At this point I seriously thought about retiring from the race...
Few hours later I continued again refusing to give up and I went to the pits to get a new set of tyres and fuel. After my tyres warmed up the laptimes started to improve to the level they needed to be. I made some good and consistent laps and I was getting closer to the leader which at the time was the Sauber. I also found out that the AI drivers did some wallbanging from time to time in Mulsanne straight and they lost about 10-20 secs each time. After hours of hard work I finally managed to get 1st place when the Sauber went to the pits. After that I slowly started building up my lead 1-2 seconds per lap.
During this time I also made my fastest lap, 1'13.864. 👍 Despite my best efforts I never managed to beat this time later on because of the bad oil and handling in further stages of the race.
At the beginning of the 8th hour my lead was getting "comfortable", 1 minute and 20 secs ahead of the 787B which was on 2nd place before the Sauber and rest of the gang. I was quite suprised by the fact that the Sauber was now slower than the Mazda. 10 hours and 15 minutes into the race I was on lap 182 and I lapped the Sauber (3rd place) for the first time.
Time went by and I slowly got nearer the 787B which was the only car I hadn't lapped yet. During this time I lost my concentration many times and I found myself visiting sandtraps and hitting walls way too often. At this point the handling was also getting bad at high speeds and I began to truly fear the Mulsanne Kink/Indianapolis corners as the car was VERY hard to control in these sections. I tested R2/R1 combo again for about 30-40 laps but I found out that my lead was diminishing and I was much faster with the R3/R2 tyres.
14th hour came and on lap 249 the gap was little over 2 mins to the 787B.
16th hour started and I finally managed to lap the 787B, he had eluded me for 285 laps!!! 👎 My objective for the rest of the race was to lap the Mazda one more time. This proved to be very difficult because by now my laptimes were at best around 3'16-3'18 compared to 3'14 laps earlier in the race...
By 20th hour (lap 355) the race order was the same as before and I couldn't increase the gap between me and the 787B. On some laps I was faster but then I always made some stupid mistake and the Mazda catched me up again
As the final hour started I was on lap 408 and it became clear that I wasn't going catch the 787B. Despite some lightning fast laps the gap proved to be too much. The race clock finally stopped at 24:00'23.536 and I was only about 30 secs away from lapping the 787B again.
Final standings:
1st: BMW McLaren F1 GTR Race Car laps: 425 time 24:00'23.536
2nd: Mazda 787B Race Car -1 lap
3rd: Sauber Mercedes C9 Race Car -3 laps
4th: Minolta Toyota 88C-V Race Car -3 laps
5th: Jaguar XJR-9 Race Car -4 laps
6th: Nissan R89C Race Car -5 laps
After I completed my first 24h race I got 1000000 credits, Bentley Speed 8 Race Car and most importantly 200 A-spec points!!!
Sarthe II 24h - 200pts. race
Against first lineup which was:
Nissan R89C Race Car - pits every 7 laps
Mazda 787B Race Car - pits every 9 laps
Sauber Mercedes C9 Race Car - pits every 8 laps
Minolta Toyota 88C-V Race Car - pits every 7 laps
Jaguar XJR-9 Race Car - pits every 8 laps
BMW McLaren F1 GTR(me) - pits every 7 laps
Car Setup: Stock, new oil and R3/R2 tyres
susp: 9.0/10.5
75/75
3/3 4/4
2.0/1.0
+1/0
4/3
brakes: 5/4
lsd: 10/35/25
gears: tranny trick, auto 1 final 2.700
max downforce
Pit Strategies:
7 laps with R3/R2 and 52 units of fuel (2 units left when pitting in) <== laps ~ 3'15 mins
11 laps with R2/R1 and 80 units of fuel, 0-1 units left when pitting in) <== laps ~ 3'20 mins
The Race:
I had a pretty good start for the race and I took the lead on the first lap. I couldn't keep it for long though, as I started to make small but time consuming mistakes. I pushed the car a little too much and made frequent trips to the many sandtraps on the track. My laptimes were horrible for many laps and I didn't found a good driving rhythm. I also tried R2/R1 tyres but this combo was too slow and the gap was only getting bigger instead of decreasing. Thus quite early on my gap to 1st place was already over a minute and 30 secs. At this point I seriously thought about retiring from the race...
Few hours later I continued again refusing to give up and I went to the pits to get a new set of tyres and fuel. After my tyres warmed up the laptimes started to improve to the level they needed to be. I made some good and consistent laps and I was getting closer to the leader which at the time was the Sauber. I also found out that the AI drivers did some wallbanging from time to time in Mulsanne straight and they lost about 10-20 secs each time. After hours of hard work I finally managed to get 1st place when the Sauber went to the pits. After that I slowly started building up my lead 1-2 seconds per lap.
During this time I also made my fastest lap, 1'13.864. 👍 Despite my best efforts I never managed to beat this time later on because of the bad oil and handling in further stages of the race.
At the beginning of the 8th hour my lead was getting "comfortable", 1 minute and 20 secs ahead of the 787B which was on 2nd place before the Sauber and rest of the gang. I was quite suprised by the fact that the Sauber was now slower than the Mazda. 10 hours and 15 minutes into the race I was on lap 182 and I lapped the Sauber (3rd place) for the first time.
Time went by and I slowly got nearer the 787B which was the only car I hadn't lapped yet. During this time I lost my concentration many times and I found myself visiting sandtraps and hitting walls way too often. At this point the handling was also getting bad at high speeds and I began to truly fear the Mulsanne Kink/Indianapolis corners as the car was VERY hard to control in these sections. I tested R2/R1 combo again for about 30-40 laps but I found out that my lead was diminishing and I was much faster with the R3/R2 tyres.
14th hour came and on lap 249 the gap was little over 2 mins to the 787B.
16th hour started and I finally managed to lap the 787B, he had eluded me for 285 laps!!! 👎 My objective for the rest of the race was to lap the Mazda one more time. This proved to be very difficult because by now my laptimes were at best around 3'16-3'18 compared to 3'14 laps earlier in the race...
By 20th hour (lap 355) the race order was the same as before and I couldn't increase the gap between me and the 787B. On some laps I was faster but then I always made some stupid mistake and the Mazda catched me up again
As the final hour started I was on lap 408 and it became clear that I wasn't going catch the 787B. Despite some lightning fast laps the gap proved to be too much. The race clock finally stopped at 24:00'23.536 and I was only about 30 secs away from lapping the 787B again.
Final standings:
1st: BMW McLaren F1 GTR Race Car laps: 425 time 24:00'23.536
2nd: Mazda 787B Race Car -1 lap
3rd: Sauber Mercedes C9 Race Car -3 laps
4th: Minolta Toyota 88C-V Race Car -3 laps
5th: Jaguar XJR-9 Race Car -4 laps
6th: Nissan R89C Race Car -5 laps
After I completed my first 24h race I got 1000000 credits, Bentley Speed 8 Race Car and most importantly 200 A-spec points!!!