Endurance Events

[Dotini]

I have developed a 200 point candidate car for the 24 Hours of Nurburgring, one that is tuned on a worn out chassis without refresh, and that has enough "overkill" in terms of tap times and tire life to allow your friends and family to lap for you at times during the race without jeopardizing your victory chances. Fractional advantages like wallriding and grasscuts are not needed, so the purity of the driving is unspoiled.

The car is the ubiquitous GSX-R/4, versus Grid #9, consisting of BMW M3 GTR, Audi A4, Opel Calibra, Nissan Falken GT-R, and C-West Razo Silvia.

I have driven it several stints to verify ease of handling, speed and tire life, but like a lot of others, have not had the ideal opportunity to do the actual race itself. Luckily, next week a friend has agreed to co-drive at times so I will finally take the plunge!

http://www.gtvault.com/gt4/setup-view/s_sid::7252/GSX-R-4-Dotini2001/

Edit 1/25/09: Now 6:00 hours into the race and up by 1.5 laps. Tires are lasting almost but not quite 7 laps.
Edit 1/26/09: Now in the 11th hour and up by 3.5 laps. Settled on 6 laps stints on R1/R1. My co-driver shows up tonight, so we'll see how it goes. He knows the 'Ring but is not used to a "nervous" car. I'll put him on R2/R3's and let him go for as long as it takes to lose my lead!
Edit 1/27/09: Actually, he did well, driving for 3 hours and losing only 1.25 laps. Weaned him onto R1/R2.
Edit 1/27/09: It's the 19th hour and the lead is back up to 4+ laps by virtue of R2/R2's and numerous sub 7 minute laps. I'm pitting every 4 laps. Blair steps in now for his second 3 hour stint.
Edit 1/28/09: Blair lost a lap or so after 3 hours, so we still had a solid two lap lead. His fastest lap on R1/R2 was 7:24.xxx, although he went much quicker when on R2/R3. After 24 hours, the lead was back to 3+ laps over the BMW M3 GTR Race Car, with 196 laps completed. Fastest lap on R1/R1 was 6.54.170

 

[RoadHazzard]

I'm currently testing the Abt Audi TT-R at CdlSII, and things are looking good so far. For my test run on R1s & no Oil Change, I aborted the race on Lap 19, and the first hour elapsed while I was making my 2nd pitstop on Lap 18 (9 laps = 76-77 Fuel Units). I had a 12 second lead on the C9 and MINOLTA (they're running as a pack), and the others don't present a threat. For my test run on R2s & no Oil Change, I had a slightly larger lead when I exited the pits after Lap 9, but that includes 2 very detrimental off road incidents.

The problem is that I'm unsure as to how much the car will wear down during the race. I started with 220 miles on the clock, and from what I remember during my run at CdlSI with the MPZ, the P2 competitor started to make up a lot of ground after lap 100 or so.

On R1s & no Oil Change, I'm running in the 3'13s to 3'15s without using any Nitrous, but dune-buggying the Ford and Dunlop chicanes. On R2s & no Oil Change, I can run anywhere from 3'11 to 3'14 (also using the chicane cuts). However, by the start of Lap 9, I have one orange tire and one light-orange (both on the front), and the last few sections can get dicey. However, I can't be sure of how well that'll hold once the HP drops off. I definitely don't want to waste 24 hours on a failed run (for my "real" gamesave).

Whenever the gap closes to less than 10 seconds at T1, either the C9 and/or the MINOLTA will catch up to me between Arnage and Porsche, but I can usually fend them off well enough to take the lead back at the line. What worries me most is that it doesn't look like there's much leeway if I hit the beach, spin, or worst of all, do both while cutting through the sand when I pit. I might have to run mistake-free for 72 laps, when our pit schedules coalesce...

The good thing is that even with an Oil Change, bringing the SettingsHP to 768, the A-spec point offering doesn't change. While it certainly won't hold through the duration of the race, it'll help build a lead that will (hopefully) hold.

Anyway, here are the details so far. I'm sure there's someone out there who can do this, but for now I'm still trying/testing... My tests so far have been without a pre-race Oil Change (732 SettingsHP)...

Endurance Events / Circuit de la Sarthe II 24 h Endurance
vs Lineup #1 (NTSC/USA)
Nissan R89C Race Car '89
Mazda 787B Race Car '91
Sauber Mercedes C 9 Race Car '89
MINOLTA Toyota 88C-V Race Car '89
Jaguar XJR-9 Race Car '88

Driving: Abt Audi TT-R Touring Car '02 (220 miles, NO Oil Change yet)
Mods: R1, R2 Tires, Oil Change, Turbo 4, Nitrous
Settings: R1/R1 **or** R2/R2 (if you don't mind running the last lap with the front tires orange); Oil Change, Turbo 4 (768 SettingsHP); Nitrous @ 30; Auto Gearing 19 (Final @ 3.363); Aids 002; Downforce 38/53; 0 Ballast


200 points on the table, I'll update if/when I grab 'em...

.....................

EDIT: More successful 200 point test-runs (I'll update with details when complete)

BMW M3 '04
Nurburgring 24h vs Lineup #13
FALKEN GT-R
Abt TT-R
AMG 190E
WEDSSPORT CELICA
ALFA

BMW 120i '04
Nurburgring 4h vs Lineup #15
Pontiac
SKYLINE
Clio Phase 2
Fiat
Focus

BMW M3
Suzuka 1000km vs Lineup ?? 10ish ??
Alfa
TAKATA
Audi A4
Merc CLK
Abt TT-R
*** I abandoned my attempt to win this one. Used the TT-R instead ***

BMW 120i
Motegi 8h vs Lineup #5
Opera S2000
NISMO GT-R LM RGV
Spoon Integra
Opera 350Z
Spoon Civic

Abt Audi TT-R
Fuji 1000km vs Lineup #1

MOTUL PITWORK Z
Infineon 2.75h vs Lineup #1

BMW M3 '04
New York 200 vs Lineup #5

..............................


Have A Great Drive!
RoadHazard

 

[tizocspeed8]

Another 200 pointer at Sarthe II in a French Car!

Circuit de la Sarthe II 24h

vs Lineup 1

Nissan R89C '89
Sauber Mercedes C9 Race Car '89
Mazda 787b Race Car '91
Jaguar XJR-9 Race Car '89
Minolta Toyota 88C-V Race Car '88

(not in the correct order)

The car I used was the Peugeot 905 Race Car

I added 200 ballast with a weight balance of 0, and decreased the downforce to 38/53.

Laps Completed: 429 Laps (could've completed 430, but slowed down before the line; really didn't feel like doing another lap after a 4 hour shift)

MoV: 5 Laps (Would've been 6 if I'd gone for the 430th lap, 787b was in the pits at that time)

Best Lap: 3'11.572

FINAL CLASSIFICATION

1) Peugeot 905 Race Car '92
2) Mazda 787 Race Car'91
3) Sauber Mercedes C9 Race Car '89
4) Minolta Toyota 88C-V
5) Jaguar XJR-9
6) Nissan R89C

And now for the best part:

I drove a completely clean race! No corner cutting, dirty driving or NOS was used in this race. I just wanted to do it fairly,cleanly in a French Car. I'm glad I got the win


All three 24 Hours now completed for 200 points each. Only Motegi, Nurburgring 4h, Super Speedway 150 Miles and Roadster 4h left in the Endurance Hall

 

[Austin343]

Great going there. 👍 By the way, when you say "cleanly," do you also mean you're keeping at most two tires on those tarmac bits behind the curbs that the AI doesn't use? Anyway, I'm glad to see you have the longest races out of the way already. Don't expect the boredom to be over yet, however, as Motegi is even duller than Tsukuba, in my opinion! And the Super Speedway and Roadster races are very doable with the help of write-ups in this thread. 👍

Unfortunately, you did steal my idea. Just kidding, of course you didn't actually steal it, but I was hoping to be the first to use this car. It does, at least, appear I will be the first to do it with no ballast, and with no TCS. And I will definitely be the first person to use an BMW M5 on Sports Hard tires to 200-point Nurburgring 24 hours, and probably the first to use a 787B on Sports Hard tires to 200-point Sarthe I, so at least I retain some measure of originality.

 

[C-ZETA]

Has there been a post for a 200pt. race for the Suzuka 1000km? I'm eager to try it out myself. Also I recently tried the Grand Valley 300km in an Elise 111R and failed miserably. Finished something like 7 laps behind

 

[Smallhorses]

Has there been a post for a 200pt. race for the Suzuka 1000km? I'm eager to try it out myself. Also I recently tried the Grand Valley 300km in an Elise 111R and failed miserably. Finished something like 7 laps behind

I'm not sure what's been posted in this thread, but are these the sort of things you're looking for?

Suzuka 1000km in a stock Toyota Altezza Touring Car '01

Grand Valley 300km. 200 A-spec points in stock Toyota SuperAutobacs Apex MR-S (JGTC)

These are good blow-by-blow accounts of the races in question and should give you an idea of what sort of laptimes to expect and how the AI cars will behave. (Leave comments if you like them! )

Complete AI Pit strategy guide for the 16 Endurance Races.
This is also useful for helping you to pick an AI lineup without the 1 or 2 cars that seemingly run on indestructible tyres.

 

[C-ZETA]

I'm not sure what's been posted in this thread, but are these the sort of things you're looking for?

Suzuka 1000km in a stock Toyota Altezza Touring Car '01

Grand Valley 300km. 200 A-spec points in stock Toyota SuperAutobacs Apex MR-S (JGTC)

These are good blow-by-blow accounts of the races in question and should give you an idea of what sort of laptimes to expect and how the AI cars will behave. (Leave comments if you like them! )

Complete AI Pit strategy guide for the 16 Endurance Races.
This is also useful for helping you to pick an AI lineup without the 1 or 2 cars that seemingly run on indestructible tyres.

Thanks for the links Smallhorses. By the way did you change the settings on the cars at all for the races?

 

[SportWagon]

I have developed a 200 point candidate car for the 24 Hours of Nurburgring, one that is tuned on a worn out chassis without refresh, and that has enough "overkill" in terms of tap times and tire life to allow your friends and family to lap for you at times during the race without jeopardizing your victory chances. Fractional advantages like wallriding and grasscuts are not needed, so the purity of the driving is unspoiled.

The car is the ubiquitous GSX-R/4, versus Grid #9, consisting of BMW M3 GTR, Audi A4, Opel Calibra, Nissan Falken GT-R, and C-West Razo Silvia.

I found a trick which allowed me to get rid of the GT300 car (in this case the C-West Razo Silvia) in a lineup, and thereby greatly increase the A-spec points offered for any particular car. I've never done much 24 hour racing, nor much 200point hunting, and, well, I'm a mediocre driver, so I didn't try to take full advantage of it,

I describe precisely what I did here
https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/showthread.php?t=101639
although I don't really explain how you would go about working out a similar trick for your game which may not get the same lineups as I do, and am not sure whether such is obvious to readers or not.

Basically, you can determine your lineups for a game in a given state. But if you enter/exit a special condition event, it will "shift" the lineups by two cars. Now, you need to make careful notes to see what is going on, because, as far as I can tell, the cars in lineups are chosen from a basic list, except that duplicates are avoided. So when the list is shifted, some cars end up being different because they would or wouldn't be duplicates when the shift is applied. But you can take your list of lineups, and look for likely "non-GT300" lineups formed by shifting them. This allows a 26-deep map to have more than 3 times as many potential lineups.

I should try and hunt down my notes for this and post in a different thread?

Actually, I did post details here...
https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/showpost.php?p=2839063
https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/showthread.php?t=77601

 

[Tikko]

I gave this a try and it failed for me. The car was too wild for me to try and tame.
The lineup I kept getting was one of these two:

Motul Pitwork Z / Cerumo Supra / Opel Astra / Opel Calibra / Penzoil GTR / Amuse S2000 R1(me)

RX8 LM Concept Race Car / Takata Dome NSX / Cerumo Toyota Supra / Ford Falcon XR8 / Penzoil Nismo GT-R / Amuse S2000 R1(me) - The only way I could get this lineup is if I watched the Preview movie first then entered the race.

The first lineup only gave me about 187pts. The second gave me 200pts but once the RX8's tires warmed up it was over for me. Now I gotta try and find something else to try.

I started playing gt4 again after 1.5 Years and i tried this today. Hope to do more before my ps3 comes

When you go with the first line up, you need 45kg ballast. The Motul will give you a hardtime because it only pits 1 time on lap 30.

If you preview first and enter, youll get the lineup with the Ford Falcon. I think the one with the ford is the easy one. You dont even need ballast and if im not mistaken you can even put on R2's and still get 200 A-spec

With a good setup you can do 1.38s making it a real easy win.

 

[GTsail]

Endurance Events - Nurburgring 4 hours - for 200 points

Looking for more than the 104 points I previously received at Nurburgring with my 1969 Chevy Camaro, I saw that Smallhorses (thanks for the tip) was able to win with a 1999 Nissan Silvia. And since I need more practice at the 'Ring if I am ever going to win Mission 34, I got out my own Silvia that was in the back of my garage.

I had a fairly challenging four hours against the following lineup:
Subaru Impreza Sedan WRX STI Spec C
Jaguar XKR-R Performance
Jaguar S-Type R
Ford Focus RS
Fiat Coupe Turbo
Nissan Silvia Spec R Aero S15 '99 (me)

After 29 laps, my MOV was 8.2 seconds. My best lap was 8:11.52. I pitted every five laps, which was the same as the Subaru and the faster Jaguar. During each of the five lap sequences, I would pull away on lap one by about five seconds. The Subaru and the faster Jaguar would eliminate my lead on lap two. Both the Subaru and the Jag would nip at my heels during laps three and four. And then on lap five, as our tires turned from yellow to slightly orange, I would pull away by 6 to 12 seconds. Sometimes the Subaru would pull along side me down the long final straight on laps three or four of each sequence. And twice the Jag snuck past both me and the Subaru on the final straight, only to have me pass him in the final esses before the start/finish line. The faster Jaguar fell back during the last four laps, and ended up about 25 seconds down at the finish.

Specs for my Silvia were: 235HP at the Garage screen, weight was 1270, tires were S1/S2, ballast at 30, custom transmission and suspension, and racing brakes. I added a racing chip to give me some extra speed down the long straight (offset by the ballast). I changed to S2/S2 tires at the first pit stop.

A 1995 Mazda RX-7 Type RZ can also win here. During testing, I ran a RX-7 for five laps to check tire wear. I didn't complete an entire race because the same Jaguar mentioned above spun me out on the final straight and put me seven seconds behind (of course we might have been trading paint at the time).

GTsail290

 

[slowman]

New York 200 Miles

Bought a new NSX-R, took it straight to the track with it's S2 tires, and turned off all aids.

Starting lineup for 200pts:

1. Dodge Viper SRT-10
2. Chevrolet Corvette C4 Gran Sport
3. Ford Mustang Cobra R
4. Lotus Motorsport Elise
5. BMW M5
6. Honda NSX-R '02 (me)

This was a surprisingly heated race! I was running within +/- .200 of the Corvette and about -.100 of the Viper. The M5, MS Elise, and Mustang Cobra were no real competition as I was faster in the corners and dead even with them on the straights.

The entire race was spent swapping first place with the Corvette and Viper essentially. The Viper seems to pit every 25 laps but I had to call it quits at 24 and pit. My front right tire was red and I was losing time trying to still keep with the Viper. The Vette went in for a pit at the end of 23 so he was a good 30 seconds behind at this point. So I went in at 24 and the Viper sped off. I got fresh tires but skipped the gas as I still had 45/80 units left and saw no reason to waste time filling up. The Corvette ran right up on my bumper as I was pulling out of the pits but at least I was in second place at this point, and with fresh tires. I spent the next lap gaining as much time as I could on the Viper before he went in to pit. As I suspected he would, he did pit at the end of this lap and he was pulling out as I flew by. First place, excellent. We were all on fresh tires though, but most importantly I was in first AND the faster Viper was stuck behind the slightly slower Corvette.

This whole next sprint before pitting was spent driving somewhat conservatively just to keep my tires as long as possible but still keep the opposition behind which I did successfully. I was about 6 seconds ahead of the Viper at this point but I only had 1 dot left on my fuel meter. I pitted somewhat early at 45 laps because of this. My tires were getting pretty orange, but none were red yet. I found out when I got into the pits that had 5/80 units of fuel left so I let that fill up to 45/80 and got right back out there. 2 laps later the Corvette went in for a pit and I passed him. 2 laps later the Viper pitted and he was passed. AND I was on tires that were only 3 laps old at this point.

I hit lap traffic shortly thereafter and passed the M5. A few laps after that the MS Elise was lapped. I decided to do 15 laps on these tires just so I could keep them fresh and I knew I would have to pit again before the end anyway. I went at at the end of lap 60 and this caused the Corvette and Viper to catch up to me again and they were both about 6-7 seconds behind. I knew that they would have to pit as well, so I drove somewhat conservatively to avoid any mistakes and to avoid wearing the tires too much.

The rest of the race was relatively easy and I finished +24 seconds ahead.

Finishing lineup:

1. Honda NSX-R
2. Dodge Viper SRT-10 -24.xxx
3. Chevrolet Corvette -26.xx seconds (estimation, the results board didn't stay up long enough for me to find out)
4. Ford Mustang Cobra R
5. Lotus MS Elise
6. BMW M5

I got the full 200 points for it, and my best lap was 1'47.612. This lap was somewhat of an anomaly because it was set near the very end of the race, on lap 72 I believe. My previous best lap was set at lap 4 and stayed there until lap 72; it was 1'48.252.

0.640 seconds is a big chunk of change for me and I don't know where it came from. I'm not the fastest racer out there, but I'm very consistent. Most of my laps are within .100 of each other.

Fun race though, I'd recommend it if you can get this lineup.

 

[GTsail]

Tsukuba 9 hours - for 200 points

I read that Vash666 was able to win with an Opel Speedster, so I decided to take my silver one out for a spin.

Against the following lineup:
1) Nissan Skyline GTR V Spec II '02
2) BMW 330i '05
3) Mazda RX-8 Type S '03
4) Subaru Legacy B4 2.0GT
5) Mazda RX-7 Spirit R Type A '02
6) Opel Speedster (me)

My Speedster had all non-point upgrades, plus a race chip and racing exhaust. I had previously taken my Speedster to my nearby Opel dealership, so it also had the stage 1 weight reduction and its engine had a nice "port polish". I put the Speedster on S1/S2 tires to start the race. At the garage screen, my Speedster had 165HP and weighted 824kg.

When the race started I was able to get the front fairly quickly since all the competition gets off to a slow start on cold tires. My main competition, the RX-7 was held up behind all the cars since it started in fifth position, so I was able to build up a lead by the first pitstop. I pitted on lap 36 when the RX-7 also pitted, and I switched to S2/S2 tires. I pitted every 33 laps from then on. I completed 492 laps and had a winning margin over the RX-7 of four laps. The Speedster is one sweet ride!! The BMW ended up in last place, over fifteen laps down. My best lap was a 1.03.796 (draft aided). Without drafting I was able to turn a 1.04.204 lap.

Thanks to Vash666, I had quite an easy but enjoyable race. I knocked over a few cones along the way, but mostly I just drove cleanly enjoying the car.

GTsail290

 

[GTsail]

Motegi 8 hours - for 200 points

Looking for more than the 79 points I previously received using my Nismo Fairlady Z S-Tune concept by GT Z33 '01, or the 179 points I received using my Honda S2000 Type V '01, I decided to try out my Lotus Elise '00 at the Twin Ring.

Against the following competition:
1) Spoon S2000 '00
2) Mugen S2000 '00
3) Tom's X540 Chaser '00
4) Trial Celica SS-II ZZT231 '03
5) Nismo GTR LM Road Going Version '95
6) Lotus Elise '00 (me)

My Elise had all non-point upgrades, plus a semi-racing exhaust, a racing chip and the stage 1 NA tune. I put my Lotus on N1/N2 tires at the start. At the garage screen, my Lotus had 159HP and weighted 714kg.

At the end of lap one, I pitted and switched to N3/N3 tires and came out of the pits 34 seconds down from the 1st place Spoon S2000. I then started to push to catch the pack. I pass the 5th place Nismo GTR on lap 6, I pass the 4th place Trial Celica on lap 7, I pass the 3rd place Tom's Chaser on lap 8, I pass the Mugen S2000 on lap 12. On lap 14, after a trip to the beach to make sand castles, I am 20 seconds out of first place to the Spoon S2000. On lap 21 the 1st place Spoon S2000 pits with me 2 seconds behind, so I easily pass him while he is in the pits. After one hour (27 laps) I have a 51 second lead over the Spoon S2000. After two hours (53 laps), I have a 1 minute and 44 second lead over the Spoon S2000. At the end of lap 60 I cut the chicane just before the start/finish line and put the Spoon S2000 1 lap down. After three hours (79 laps), I have a 1 lap and 50 second lead over the Spoon S2000. After four hours (106 laps), I have a 2 lap lead. After 6 hours (159 laps), I have a 3 lap lead. After 7 hours (185 laps), I have a 4 lap lead. On lap 201, the Spoon S2000 pits so I pass him for the 5th time with about a half hour to go. Since I am now bored, I now decide to see how slow I can go and still stay ahead of the Spoon S2000. So for the next few laps I block the Spoon S2000 and I am able to run a 2min and 57sec lap but still stay ahead of the Spoon. Doing this blocking for a number of laps has allowed the Mugen S2000 to catch up with the Spoon S2000, so at the end of the race the Mugen claims second place and the Spoon ends up in third (just behind the Mugen at the line). I complete 211 laps, the Mugen and the Spoon both complete 206 laps and the 4th place Tom's Chaser completes 202 laps. The Nismo GTR is 5th, and the Trial Celica ends up in 6th, many laps down. My best lap was a 2'10.460. My Lotus now has 614 miles on the odometer. Quite a satisfying race once I got used to the handling of the Elise on N3 tires.

GTsail290

 

[kalmjaws]

Motegi 8 hours - for 200 points

Looking for more than the 79 points I previously received using my Nismo Fairlady Z S-Tune concept by GT Z33 '01, or the 179 points I received using my Honda S2000 Type V '01, I decided to try out my Lotus Elise '00 at the Twin Ring.

Against the following competition:
1) Spoon S2000 '00
2) Mugen S2000 '00
3) Tom's X540 Chaser '00
4) Trial Celica SS-II ZZT231 '03
5) Nismo GTR LM Road Going Version '95
6) Lotus Elise '00 (me)"

Hi GTsail!

I too just finished this race for 200 pts with the Elise. I Equipped the Stage 1 engine upgrade and S1 tires on all four corners, but left every thing else stock. 200 ballast and 8 hours later the points were mine. Best lap, automatic, dualshock....draft aided 2:13:866. I do admit to a little lawn mowing to help me compete though

 

[GTsail]

Motegi 8 hours - for 200 points

I too just finished this race for 200 pts with the Elise. I Equipped the Stage 1 engine upgrade and S1 tires on all four corners, but left every thing else stock. 200 ballast and 8 hours later the points were mine. Best lap, automatic, dualshock....draft aided 2:13:866. I do admit to a little lawn mowing to help me compete though

Good work Kalmjaws -

So you ran with S1 tires and more ballast. I did not fully test my Elise on sport tires. Do you think its easier or harder on sport tires with the extra ballast? I normally think its better to race with the best tires possible, even if this means having extra ballast and less horsepower.

It took me about an hour to get used to the Elise on N3 tires, but after that the race is quite pleasant. Even though Motegi is a track that I don't particularly like.

GTsail290

 

[Austin343]

Yesterday, I started my first 24 hour race, La Sarthe II. I'm using a stock Peugeot 905 on R1s with minimum downforce and no ballast against the strongest lineup (Sauber, 88C-V, R92CP, R89C, XJR-9 - NTSC #9). The only changes I made were raising the car by 5 units [edit: and lengthening the gears to an autoset I don't remember; in the draft, the gearing tops out at 254 mph] and turning the driving aids completely off; the latter helps to keep me on my toes and means I rarely go below fourth gear because this car inherently has so much wheelspin.

I'm also aiming for an unusually clean race because the car turns lap times so much faster than the opposition: I'm doing my best to keep completely off both the grass and the dusty runoff areas; in other words, to touch only the real track and the curbs, and nothing more. Obviously, I can't avoid occasional four-wheel trips to the sand or grass (or the rare wall tap), and I frequently cut a corner slightly too far and momentarily put a wheel on the runoff, or run a bit wide and get two wheels on the grass, but that's far more realistic than the usual GT4 practice of having two tires on the curb and two on the inner runoff, or worse, having all four on the runoff. Combined with the lack of driving aids and the fact that both this car and all the AI cars are Group Cs, it really makes me feel like I'm keeping the race as realistic as reasonably possible. 👍

I think this combo would also rival using the 787B in terms of how easy the race becomes, especially since the tires last so long - I'm staying on R1s because I want to enter it in the stock car thread, but R2s on the front (and maybe the rear, too) wouldn't even be orange by the time you need to stop for fuel. Combining that with added traction control and less concern for ultra-cleanliness, you get a 24 hour race that anyone with halfway decent skills could win, IMO.

 

[kalmjaws]

Good work Kalmjaws -

So you ran with S1 tires and more ballast. I did not fully test my Elise on sport tires. Do you think its easier or harder on sport tires with the extra ballast? I normally think its better to race with the best tires possible, even if this means having extra ballast and less horsepower.

It took me about an hour to get used to the Elise on N3 tires, but after that the race is quite pleasant. Even though Motegi is a track that I don't particularly like.

GTsail290

I have been collecting points in manufacture races lately in my quest for A-spec points, and have improved my skills on N tires. The Elise cornered so well on the Sports tires though, it kept me competitive with the faster cars in this race, even with the extra ballast. So I chose to go the easy route on the sports tires. The higher cornering speeds (and lawn mowing) more than made up for my loss of power and top speed in the straights.

 

[Open Addict]

Yesterday, I started my first 24 hour race, La Sarthe II. .

Good luck and welcome to the 24hr A-spec club. Just tell your family to keep away. Just think only 72 hours of real racing, standing between you and 111, 813 👍

 

[Austin343]

I don't think I should get a welcome into the club until I actually finish the race. The power supply here is pretty dependable, so I'm not too worried about that, and I have a sticky note on the PS2 saying "Race in progress - please do not turn off," so I should be okay...

I just paused at four hours in, having done three and a half of those in two sessions tonight, and I must say that I'm surprised at how it really isn't very tiring and doesn't seem to drag on forever. La Sarthe II is indeed easy for controller users (especially analog stick users like me) because the straight gives an opportunity to rest your hands; on tighter tracks with understeering cars, I have real problems with my right wrist getting tight as I mash it against the side of the controller. That doesn't happen here.

As for my progress in the race itself, I'm about a lap and a third ahead of the 88C-V and have a fastest lap (and a sparkling clean one even for my standards in this race, I might add) of 3'08.495. I've only had about five four-wheel offs (all brief), two light wall contacts, no spins, and no AI contacts (I'm being extremely careful around these idiots!). In short, it's going well so far. I just hope the car doesn't become uncontrollable when the chassis fades, which is a real concern for me. I should have a big cushion by then, though.

I have cars and lineups all ready for the other two races, although I'm not exactly sure when I'll do them. One is rather unimaginative: the 787B stock on R1s with no ballast and reduced downforce against lineup 2 at Sarthe I, but it will somehow be the first time the car has been submitted for that race in the stock car thread. The other is a really crazy one, but which I'm looking forward to: A totally stock BMW M5 on S1 tires against lineup 9 at Nurburgring, which includes the M3 GTR and A4. It suits the track so well that it can beat even race cars like that, although I won't have a huge MOV. That one should be fun, and I'm saving it for last.

 

[tizocspeed8]

Yesterday, I started my first 24 hour race, La Sarthe II

Excellent! Good to hear you're on the way to maximum! Good Luck

As for my progress in the race itself, I'm about a lap and a third ahead of the 88C-V and have a fastest lap (and a sparkling clean one even for my standards in this race, I might add) of 3'08.495. I've only had about five four-wheel offs (all brief), two light wall contacts, no spins, and no AI contacts (I'm being extremely careful around these idiots!). In short, it's going well so far. I just hope the car doesn't become uncontrollable when the chassis fades, which is a real concern for me. I should have a big cushion by then, though.

Wow, your best lap is a whole three seconds better than mine, when I did it six months ago in the same car and 'clean' mode. Your setup's clearly working well. I didn't feel any difference in the handling after doing the race for so many hours with that car, so I don't think you will either, unless your setup somehow makes the car less controllable after many miles. But otherwise, I don't think there's any danger of that. The only car i did have problems with after a couple of hours was the Nissan R92CP. Back then, I didn't know much about 'fading chassis', and blamed B-spec for ruining the car! I don't think you'll have any handling problems, the only probable problems would be staying awake! The first few hours are fun, but after the 14th-15th hours you start feeling tired. By the 20th hour, the enthusiasm returns and the fatigue is forgotten when the end is in sight. How many hours are you doing per day?

Good luck and welcome to the 24hr A-spec club. Just tell your family to keep away. Just think only 72 hours of real racing, standing between you and 111, 813

I wish I could say I was about 4 hours away from 111 813, but with only the Roadster 4hr left to do, I expect to struggle for a lot more than 4 hours! I've been practicing today, and have got the lap times down to about 1'13.5. I don't think this is good enough but I don't know where I am going wrong?

Can anyone tell me what my sector times and lap times should be for me to be competitive?

 

[Austin343]

I think my best lap is three seconds better than yours only because you were carrying 200 kg more than I am. Thanks for the reassurance that the car won't become too wild, and for the forewarning about fatigue. I'm aiming for a minimum of 2.5 hours per day, ideally more like 3.5, so I shouldn't take too long to finish.

Sorry for the self-advertisement, but I wrote an overly long report on the Roadster race in post 267 of this thread. Buried somewhere in there are my normal lap times and my fastest ones. Also, I suspect that it's your setup and not your driving that's making you too slow to keep up, or possibly that you aren't taking advantage of the corner cut in the last hairpin. There's lots of advice on the infamous race in this thread, but it ultimately comes down to getting practiced at both setting good lap times and blocking the 1800 RS.

 

[tizocspeed8]

I've read your post, and I think your lap times and MOV are remarkable! Since practicing, I've changed my car to the Mazda MX-5 J-Limited '91. It just gives much better handling than the MX-5 NR-A '04, and I think is a bit faster around the corner. I haven't played much with the settings yet, only changed gear ratio to 1 and ride height to lowest. I was too tired last night to test setups. However, i don't think the handling is the problem. I'm getting low 1'13s with the J-Limited, and the car handles brilliantly. The problem is speed. I need to shave about 0.2-0.3 seconds off my current times, and get times in the high 1'12s. That's not good enough to beat 1800RS, but its at least better than the other MX-5s. I'm using the strategy used by a lot of people who previously did this race, by ramming the 1800RS and then pitting on the first lap.

I caught the lead for the first time yesterday, but then I lost it around the final turn on lap 28 and overshot ramming the 1800RS. I also think I'm not getting the lead well enough. I make up about 3-3.5 seconds per lap, using one unit of NOS per lap on the straight after T2. I'm out of NOS by the time I get the lead and therefore have no insurance policy if I am overtaken. Ramming the 1800RS is one option, but then the other MX-5s will overtake me, and I'm currently barely keeping up with them. I am cutting the corner for the last hairpin, but I'm not sure if I'm doing it the right way. I brake in the road, then let the car slide over the grass and turn the car as closely around the inside barrier as possible. it worked for Hyundai Sports festival and Suzuki Concepts, but feels too slow the way I'm taking it with the MX-5. My speed when coming off the grass is 43km/h (27mph). Is this good enough?

 

[Austin343]

Obviously, I can't check right now, but it sounds like you're doing everything right with regard to the shortcut. On the other hand, although I know it's out of necessity because of your lap times, you're using way too much NOS to catch up; you need to save a minimum of two units for the inevitable occasions on which you make a mistake and let the 1800 RS by. But I have to say that even if it does feel like it doesn't handle as well as the '91, the '04 model is really the one you'll ultimately want to use. Everyone so far that has done this race and tried both cars has reported having a far easier time in the new car; it's common, at least in GT4, for significantly newer models of the same base car to be faster despite similar or identical statistics. Once you are no longer too tired to test setups, I strongly encourage you to do so with the NR-A, and you should find that, with a setup that suits you, you'll run laps that are fast enough.

I did 4.5 hours today in multiple sessions to reach the halfway point. I wish I could confirm your assertion that the Peugeot's chassis holds up, but unfortunately, starting at about nine hours in, I started to notice the telltale signs of a car that's wearing out. It's since gotten quite a bit worse; although nothing has come of it yet, turning while braking from high speed is a bit dicey, and the car begins to wander around the moment you make a steering input at above 200 mph. The latter makes passing on the Hunaudieres a surprisingly adventurous task. My lap times haven't taken a big hit yet, but I expect the car to get worse in the next twelve hours.

Since my last update, I've had some successes, including a new fastest lap of 3'08.350, still squeaky-clean and draft-free, a continuing run of not spinning out in the entire race, and a just-finished WRS-clean 12th hour. 👍 Unfortunately, I also had three or four more wall brushes (they're mostly exiting Tertre Rouge Esses, and I had two in one incident in the Porsche Curves) and ruined my AI-contact-free race when, trying to pass the Toyota on the right, either the chassis or a bump veered me back slightly to the left and I clipped its rear. Then the loss of momentum opened the door for it to be close enough to tap me in Mulsanne, and the first incident repeated itself a bit later with the R89C. I've had my share of close calls, too, a couple involving the Jaguar, which frequently catches too much sand and spins in Dunlop, and a couple involving being spat out of the pits in the path of oncoming AI cars.

 

[ABud]

I'm going to run the Infineon enduro when i get back from work tonight in the Peugot 905.

Running it on RH tyres with 135kg ballast has worked for 200pts in the GT world champs, but only against this lineup:

Minolta 88C-V
Nissan R92CP (or maybe R89C, cant remember!)
Mazda 787B
Sauber C9
Jaguar XJR-9

I'm building up to running Sarthe I next weekend also in the Peugot. The plan is to do 4hrs race, 4 hrs rest continuously for 2 days to get the race in, should be tough!

I'll let you know how it all goes



Just finished the Infineon Enduro race but i ended up running it in the AMG Mercedes CLK-GTR Race Car instead as i couldn't get the line up i was after with the Peugot. The only changes to the Merc were R1 tyres and 110kg ballast for the 200 ASpec points.

Line up:

Bentley Speed 8
Toyota GT-ONE
Nissan R390 GT 1
Jaguar XJR-9
Audi R8
Me

I managed to make this a pretty interesting race by driving badly for the first half of the race! At 1/3 race duration (55mins) i was leading the Audi by 1.8xx secs, the rest of the field having fallen back. I was able to get 12 lap stints out of my R1's but the Audi was doing 15 laps so i needed to build a lead to win. At 1/2 duration (1hr 22mins) i lead the Audi by only 2.3 secs having had a few really stupid offs .

At this point i had calculated that i needed to do 1 extra pit over the Audi meaning about 25secs of advantage to win. Thankfully i got on with it, banging in my fastest lap of the race at this point, a 1'23.4xx followed immediately by what ended as my quickest lap, a 1'22.883. My form continued and i opened out the gap i needed and then some eventually winning by ~33 secs:tup:.

114 laps - 2:46'07.058

Gotta say, i'm really looking forward to the challenge of Sarthe I 24hrs in 2 days. The only real problems i can see (apart from maybe not winning) are going to be making it through the two 4hr night shifts, and how much my thumb is going to hurt!

 

[Austin343]

That sounds like it was a fun race, in a fun car IMO, and I'm glad to see you're gaining interest in 200 A-Spec point races. 👍 I really don't advise sticking religiously to the four hours on, four hours off schedule in the 24 hour race, because you'll be too tired to concentrate in the night shifts with so few consecutive hours to sleep. The Peugeot will be a challenging car to use for the 200 point (I assume) attempt at La Sarthe I, against (I also assume) lineup #2 with the Sauber. But listening to what Famine is saying in this thread, you PAL players have a much easier time at both Sarthe races than us NTSC players, so not winning actually probably shouldn't be your biggest worry.

I should have expected that I'd make a major mistake at some point, and I did indeed, although it took nearly 14.5 hours to happen. I was trying to lap the Jaguar between Arnage and the Porsche Curves, having recently passed the 88C-V, which was still withing striking distance, and I overestimated the amount of room both the AI and the track gave me. Four tires on the grass, a bent chassis, and an attempted quick maneuver to yank the car back onto the tarmac resulted in an extended spinout that also included a whack from the 88C-V as I slid wildly across the track. It was sort of representative of a generally crappy session as I'm now paused at the 300 lap mark, 16:15 in (on pace for 443), with numerous stupid passing moves ending in AI contact and several excursions to grass and sand traps. My pace also seems to have slowed significantly as the car fades and I seem to have more trouble concentrating, as shown by only putting about a lap on the 88C-V in three hours of racing. At least I know I can only improve the cleanliness and neatness of my driving in the last eight hours of the race... I hope.

 

[ABud]

Yeah, i'n beggining to think that 2 days of broken sleep is going to be too hard. I'm thinking about 5hr rest sessions which would get me about 4 hrs asleep at a go which should be enough to get through. I know the Peugot's fast enough on pace if i get line up #2 as i comfortably won the GT WC race at Sarthe I (albeit without any pits required).

I need a way of protecting my thumb tho, it'll probably be unbareable racing for that many hours in a row.

Nice one on your Sarthe race, sounds like you're having a bit of fun with it too!

 

[AMG.]

Yeah, i'n beggining to think that 2 days of broken sleep is going to be too hard. I'm thinking about 5hr rest sessions which would get me about 4 hrs asleep at a go which should be enough to get through. I know the Peugot's fast enough on pace if i get line up #2 as i comfortably won the GT WC race at Sarthe I (albeit without any pits required).

Is there a particular reason you want to finish this quickly? It took me 4-5 days to finish a 24h race. I just left the PS2 running for that time. With enough airflow around it it will cope without problems. But if you expect others to use the PS2 or shut it down by mistake, yeah then I understand your "hurry".

AMG.

 

[ABud]

Just fancied the challenge, no other reason. I'm now thinking along the lines of 8hrs a day for 3 days, negating the sleep loss problem. I was looking forward (in a twisted kind of way) to driving through dawn though!

 

[Austin343]

Yeah, the eight hours per day strategy has been proven to work well by none other than Smallhorses. I understand the appeal of not stretching it out, but prefer to take a longer period of time with fewer hours per day to finish them. I did the eight hour Motegi race all at once and found it pretty boring despite using the Amuse S2000 Street Version, which is an entertaining car to say the least, but that's largely due to my dislike for the full Motegi course.

My last update is with twenty hours in the books, just exiting the pits to start lap 370. I've certainly had some more highs and lows this time, although I was much happier with this run of four hours than the last one. I did make my second major mistake, which cost me twelve seconds: cresting the little hill after Dunlop and hugging the grass on the left, I got a bit of wheelspin and the car veered left, putting my left side tires into the grass. Of course, with a right kink as the next corner, my efforts to drag the car back onto the gray stuff proved futile, and I ended up with a spectacular, seemingly endless slide sideways (at 90 degrees to the track with my nose pointed towards it) through basically the entire enormous sand trap on the left. The car finally finished its spin as I ended up pointed backwards on the track at the start of Tertre Rouge Esses. I never hit the wall, although I did come close, because I went the whole way with full throttle and full left steering lock. I also had a couple boneheaded failed passing moves that ended with me running into the door of the AI.

But on the brighter side, I surprised myself by somehow setting a new fastest lap of 3'08.279 (which might not have been sparkling clean but was very close if it wasn't) as the chassis seems to have stabilized. If I didn't know better, I'd say the car's condition improved, but I know that it's most likely that I've simply adapted to the predictably unpredictable handling. I also managed to make an entire run, pit stop to pit stop, absolutely cleanly - no part of any tire ever touched runoff, sand, or grass, and I never made contact with anything - and it wasn't even embarrassingly slow like you might expect; I mixed a couple 3'09s in with mostly 3'10s. My goal now is to finish 443 laps with no more major incidents and lap the 88C-V eight and a half times - nine probably falls into the "almost but not quite" category.

Oh, and Smallhorses, if you're reading this, I too have had the "wrong way" icon pop up on the Hunaudieres - twice! I don't remember the hours in which these occurred, but they seemed to happen in the same place, less than a third of the way down the straight. [Edit: It happened a third time! It appears where an unused public road comes in from the right, and if you look back after passing the point, you can see a roundabout sign on the right-hand side (of the screen, not the road) that is more or less in line with the point in question.]

 

[Austin343]

I'm done! I ended up with 443 laps in 24:00'05.804 with the same best lap as before, a 3'08.279, and put about 3745 miles on the odometer. My margin of victory was 8 laps over the 88C-V, about two or three seconds from lapping it for a ninth time (albeit only because it pitted with about eight minutes left), 9 laps over the Sauber, 10 laps over the R92CP, 13 or so laps over the R89C, and 17 laps over the Jaguar. Those statistics betray how evenly matched the best three opponents were; all three were still on the same lap relative to each other about three-quarters of the way through the race.

This final four-hour session was pretty good. It was almost certainly slower than most other four-lap blocks from this race because the car started to lose quite a few horsepower: for much of the race, I could easily reach and hold 234 mph at the end of the Hunaudieres, but with a few hours to go, that slipped to 233, and by the final half hour or so, I struggled to even reach 232. The oil light came on with about two hours left, but that doesn't really mean anything. I was definitely surprised my the amount of power I had lost when I checked after the race - 31 HP! Despite the engine wearing out, however, I did manage to set two very fast laps, one with no drafting at a 3'08.5xx and another with a draft at a 3'08.323 that nearly broke my lap record, and many more high 3'08s and low 3'09s. Anyway, I did have what turned out to be my final major error of the race near the beginning of the session when I put a rear tire in the grass exiting Tertre Rouge Esses and fishtailed for a bit before finally spinning out completely at about the start of Tertre Rouge, costing me about eleven seconds in total. Other than that, I had only a couple four-wheel offs, a couple wall contacts, and I think only one AI contact (when the Jaguar hit me in the back after I passed it, ruining an otherwise clean final hour ). I didn't do a terrific job keeping tires completely off the grass and runoff, but then again, when did I do well at that?

I used a bit of strategy to finish how I did, nearly out of fuel at the end of a normal nine-lap run. I knew I was scheduled for a pit stop at lap 441, but with 443 or possibly 444 completed laps looming, I wasn't too excited about pitting and then driving only two or three laps. Instead, I filled the tank rather than stopping at 74 and then used short-shifting and a bit of drafting in the first few laps of two consecutive stints between 21:30 and 22:30 to make it ten laps per stint, each time running out of fuel after the Autodrive took over as I entered the pits. Fortunately, it's easy to keep track of fuel-mileage progress when you're aiming for ten laps because you can simply look at when each fuel bar disappears and make sure that it's happening in the same place on consecutive laps. I used that to my advantage when I realized I didn't actually need to go ten full laps because of the length of the pit lane, and drove at full speed again with three or four laps left the first time and with five and a half laps left the second time.

Overall, looking back on this race as a whole, I'm not thrilled about the speed considering all my small mistakes and relative inconsistency from lap to lap, but I am pretty satisfied with the cleanliness. Three spins in 24 hours is pretty good, and the 10-15 or so each of wall contacts, AI contacts, and four-wheel offs aren't too shabby, either, especially considering that most were minor. I admit that I put part of a tire into grass, sand, or runoff an average of probably one or one and a half times per lap, but considering how alien such a way of driving is to me and most others, and that it wasn't all that often that I put a full tire into any of those areas, that isn't awful, either. The way I chose to drive the track certainly made this 24 hour race "cleaner" than most others.

I think I may start La Sarthe I early next week after seeing how quickly I can get these done. I don't think I'll do a full race report on that one, preferring to make just these way-too-long "update" posts , but I probably will to a full race report like one of Smallhorses' for Nurburgring. I must say that it's pretty cool to see my A-Spec points jump to 111413, too. 👍