The Track: I finally concluded the
European 1000 Miles Series with win at
Sarthe II for a sweep of all races at 200 A-spec points. I found the Sarthe II race equally as tough as the Nurburgring race. I used my own strategy to win and ran most of the race not needing to constantly look at the mirror.
The Car: A brand new blue boatish-looking Nissan Skyline Sports Coupe (BLRA-3). I bought a new one and didn't bother to break it in (breaking in a car to it's lowest HP is recommended in this endurance race since the HP you start with, you finish with....no loss of power during the race...no end-race meltdowns). I equipped it with all non-power mods, no rollcage and N1/N2 tires and custom rims. I did one permanent power mod for pistons to enhance normally-aspirated engines. I also added a semi-racing exhaust. The boat put out 101 HP with 170 units of ballast
. I doubt if this stuff means much as far as winning the race because you still have a rather underpowered vehicle against far faster cars. However, it's the only car that's useful for 200 points and handles well using N1/N2 tires. I haven't tried every car eligible, but the ones I did try kinda sucked big time
.
The Lineup starting order:
Nissan Skyline 2000 GT-B (S54A)....fast, but crappy handling....finished 3rd
Honda S800....totally useless....finished 5th
Ginetta G4....very high top speed but extremely fragile....finished 4th
VW Karmann Ghia Coupe (Type-1)....useless road apple...finished dead last
Isuzu 117 Coupe....surprisingly quick, consistent vehicle....finished second
My Nissan Skyline Sports Coupe (BLRA-3)....solid runner....the winnahhh.
The Strategy: 💡 Why go up against the Ginetta that has a top speed of 140 MPH against my Skyline's crappy 115 MPH? Because it allows me to have extra HP to go against the rest of the field
. Plus, that Ginetta is the easiest car to spin out and burns out it's tires in eight laps. As long as you don't let it get past you, it's a rather feeble competitor
.
The Race: In the first 60 seconds I managed to spin the Ginetta into the sand and I was in first place by the middle of the straight (that took some serious NOS usage). For the first eight laps I had to constantly block the Isuzu, 2000 GT-B and sometimes the Ginetta. At certain spots I would let the Ginetta catch me and I'd immediately force it to spin out. I did this about five times.
My replay showed by lap 10 the Ginetta was sliding every which way and ran off-course on any sharp turn. It was already down by 90 seconds and never came back. Twice, I also carelessly slid off course in the shoving match and had to use NOS to catch the Isuzu or 2000 GT-B. When the Isuzu and 2000 GT-B battled each other they slowed themselves down. By lap 12 my NOS was down to 3 units. (
I'm a certifiable NOS junkie and I start to get panicky whenever my supply runs below 4 units before a race is half over.)
Eventually the Isuzu 117 was my closest competitor with the 2000 GT-B in a contented 3rd spot. My tires had settled in and by means of shortcuts I could maintain about a 20 second average lead. By the 16th and 17th lap both had to pit and then I had about a 45 second lead. I maintained a decent lead until the 30th lap when my fuel was down to one unit. The Isuzu had closed to within 20 seconds, so I used up the remainder of my NOS on various parts of the course to get a hopeful margin of safety in order to pit. I added a bit of fuel and replaced tires (accidentally
). I could have gone the entire race on one set of tires, but there was no way I could go the whole race without a fuel stop (I originally thought I could run the race without a pit stop, but was seriously mistaken). I was only getting a little more than 3 laps per unit of fuel.
I barely got out of the pits with a 3 second lead and had to block the Isuzu a couple of times on the back of the course for a few laps until he had to pit on lap 34. So my Skyline Coupe had needed only one rushed pit stop. That was it. My strategy worked. The deed was done. I had a comfortable 35 second lead at the finish. Race time was 3 hours, 16 minutes and 24 seconds.
Conclusion: It's obviously useless to go up against the strong cars such as the Gullwing, Corvette, Mazda 110, E-Type, Nissan Fairlady 2000, or A.C. Cobra. They're unfairly fast. The Lotus Elan isn't superfast, but it's sticks on the course so well, I couldn't even win a shoving match against it and I tried many times unsuccessfully. It starts slow, but once it's tires dial in, it's a truly sneaky, evil competitor. I'm curious if the Elan could run the whole race without a pit stop. Additional weak cars are the Skyline Coupe BLRA-3, Toyota Sports 800, Nissan Silvia, AR Sprint Speciale and Nissan S50D. The Isuzu Bellet, AR Duetto Spider, Mini Marcos and Alfa Romeo GTA could be considered moderately fast yet allow you to have more power, so they're good to have in a certain lineups.
Miscellaneous crap: I've never seen a perfect lineup with a great advantage for my car
, but I liked lineups with a Ginetta and/or Mini Marcos in it. If you can hold them both off at the same time (not easy) and then spin them out a few times for 8 or 9 laps then the rest of the race should be easy if it doesn't contain any of the really strong cars. I attempted about five partial races with various lineups to see different opponent car's weaknesses or strengths. After I ran out of NOS, I would immediately quit. I figured with careful driving for 10 laps and a little luck I could succeed and did. 👍 I am Da Man, you dastardly Euro 1000 Miles Series.
AMG: I'm glad if the info is really useful and don't concern yourself about giving me reps. I understand. I'm really having enough fun with the racing and writeups.
No, I choosed first one with 1800 in 5th place...
