Famine's Endurance Companion

[Rat Bastid]

Famine! Great job, old bean.👍 👍 Good to see you still around. Let's see, my 1st enduro was my old fave, Grand Valley. With my old standby, the ORECA Viper, with oil & R1s. I don't run these to lose, but after the preview, I thought we'd be pretty even. I had just bought the Viper, tuned, oiled, tweaked & hit the track. Remember when I said I'd be about even with the field? I wasn't. I think it took me 30 sec to lose 'em all. Well, OK, maybe a lap or two- at most! This was one of my favorite cars at a track I've "driven" on for 7-8 years. Both were a little different & I hadn't used either for maybe a year. But it was all coming back, the new track seemed smoother. The cement "runoffs" seemed unecessary. Well, the one after the last tight chicane before the S/F line came in handy . The car felt better, I had tweaked it at the first track that I could run slicks on. It took that weird turn between the two tunnels better than ever! And, there's not much else to say. I've always loved that track, by the time I was done, the NSX-R was 5 laps down, or something. Cake.
I think my next one was 246 (Sorry, I'm going back a few months here.) I used my BMW M3 GTR.... I tuned the Auto for the track (I knew about "Original Circuits", etc. By that time.) Great car, equal power. Fast track that I knew & liked. I passed the field fairly easily except the Motul Pitwork Z. I never lapped him. If my tires lasted 15 laps, his lasted 20. I never had to top off on fuel, though. The hard part was towards the end; I had made my last pit, traffic was all over me so I can't get any closer to the Z which SHOULD have been due..... Finally, 2 to go. I'm clear & the Z pits. Guess what? I put him in the corner of turn 1! Don't say a word, he'd clip me without blinking! My tires were perfect & I hauled ass around that track, but somehow that Z came in 5 sec. after me.
Then I did N.Y. & El Cap. (Saki, anyone? ) with the Shelby Series 1.I LOVE this car! Handles, brakes like glue! Tires wear pretty evenly. You can leave it at 400HP 'cause the car is so light. Good on gas. I use a wing & a great setup. Aced 'em both.
More to come....

 

[Cap'n Jack]

I'd like to give you a big thanks for these write-ups! They've been very helpful for me. Infact, I even decided to "follow in your footsteps" and do the New York enduro in the Opera Performance S2000. Beat your finishing time by a minute and your best lap by one second. Hehe.

 

[thegt4masta]

what car would be best for the 24 hour at nurburgring, what tires should i use and what pace should i set it at.

Thanks if you can answer.

 

[CRXnut]

I don't think you are in the right thread. This discussion is all about A-Spec.
But to answer your question - any 600hp+ race car speed set to 3

 

[JosX]

Famine this thread is so fun to read ! You've definatly inspired me to A-Spec more enduros. I'm touched. You do all of this just for us.

 

[SndyDrver]

I planning to do my first 24 hrs edurance de La Sarthe I and I am gonna do it in true fashion just like the profs in 8 hour stints, but I am shying away from the B-spec trade offs in the pit cuz the AI looses all that time gap I create esepecially if 2nd place is less than 30 seconds away and you gotta pit now or else, the AI also does some random crashes I noticed in sand traps and skidding on the tires in turns. I like to tend to pit if my tires turn orange and or when my lap time is more than 2nd places' time

 

[mgfryder]

Thanks for the Updates Famine
I had an unfortunate accident at work and broke my ankle so i will be home for a couple of days, oh my what a perfect time to try Nurbg 24H, after reading Famine's post and stocking up on Folger's i am in position, wish me luck.

PS Gotta use my DS2 as my nephew sorta had an accident with the DFP.

 

[Famine]

Well, I've not played any GT4 since the UKGTP6 LAN in October. I felt like a warmup so ran GV300 again.

Experience has shown me that, where tyre wear isn't an issue, the S2000LM I used before is marginally ahead of the GT300 cars for pace, so I pick one of those at random.

*sticks pin in...*

Toyota WedsSport Celica JGTC. Hmm, that'll do.

The AI field is standard fare - a mix of GT500s, DTMs and LMs...

27/1/07 Grand Valley 300
1. au Cerumo Supra
2. Mazda RX-7 LM
3. Opel Calibra Touring Car
4. Mobil1 NSX JGTC
5. Pennzoil Nismo Skyline JGTC

A bone stock Celica on R1s is another 200 A-spec pointer.

Lap 1: Sitting on the line, wheels-a-spinning, the AI disappear into the sunset but, like queuing traffic, they end up braking too early for the hairpin and let me clean through into 4th, with a good run on the Skyline down the back of the course. By the bottom hairpin I'm only behind the Supra and RX-7.

The RX-7 keeps nibbling at the Supra - the Supra's quicker, but the RX-7 is getting quicker, so it's only a matter of time until he gets past. Handily, on lap 2, they're so busy with each other than I can outbrake them into the bottom hairpin and slip by the pair.

It takes until the 3rd lap for the RX-7 to take the Supra, having handed me nearly 7 seconds of lead. But, over the course of the next few laps the RX-7 stabilises the deficit and then starts to reel me in. Lap 7 is my best yet at a 1'54.7, but the RX-7 still closes, to just 4 seconds by lap 9.

Lap 11 sees the Calibra dive into the pits from last, followed by the NSX on his 12th lap, from 5th - whereas my 12th lap is a new best at 1'56.632. The Supra and Skyline (4th and 3rd) jump into the pits on their 14th laps and my tyres are going off in a big way - the RX-7 goes from taking tenths to taking my entire lead inside 2 laps, and we duck into the pits with me just 0.9s ahead. I decline to fuel - the RX-7 of course fills right up, holding him in the pits for a few tenths longer - and set off to protect what little lead I have.

Fortunately, the RX-7 appears to have difficulty with cold tyres - he was held behind the Supra on the opening few laps, and is letting me get away quite easily. By the time a 1'54.444 turns up on lap 20, I've got 11 seconds on him. 2 laps later, the Calibra falls victim to a lapping through the final corner on the way to a new best of 1'54.231 - and promptly dives into the pits. Laps 26 and 27 are good ones - a 1'54.075 followed by a 1'54.073 - and then the tyres rot on the wheels again. The RX-7 closes up until, when we pit on lap 30, he's just 6s down. Still, that's 5s more than before.

I've used 65 Fuelies for my 30 laps thus far - 32.5 Fuelies per stint. So I top up to 40 (half a tank) and depart.

1/2 Race Distance
1. Toyota WedsSport Celica - 0:58'50.007 (30 laps)
2. Mazda RX-7 LM +6.25s
3. au Cerumo Supra +1'00
4. Pennzoil Nismo Skyline +1'10
5. Mobil1 NSX +1'25
6. Opel Calibra +1 lap

I'm nearly a minute better off than I was in the S2000LM - though the RX-7 is a much more dangerous opponent.

Once again, the RX-7 suffers with cold tyres, allowing me to pull out to almost 20s lead - but it's not all his own fault. I set three new personal bests in the next 10 laps - 1'53.931 (36), 1'53.729 (39) and 1'53.589 (40), lapping both the NSX (38, as he leaves the pits) and Calibra (38, in the two lefts following T1). As the RX-7 encounters the NSX 2 laps later, he gets badly held up, allowing me to drag my advantage up to over 22s. The Skyline gets lapped in a similar fashion to the NSX on lap 44, but recovers the lap when I - and the RX-7 - pit on 45 with a 17s lead (good old tyre rot).

The last 15 laps are quite dull. No lap records and only 3 other vehicle encounters - the Skyline is lapped on 57, again at the two lefts following T1, the Supra goes on 57 while he's up on the jacks and the Calibra is lapped yet again through the last turn.

Final Standings
1. Toyota WedsSport Celica - 1:56'55.540 (60 laps)
2. Mazda RX-7 LM +25s
3. au Cerumo Supra +1 lap
4. Pennzoil Nismo Skyline +1 lap
5. Mobil1 NSX +1 lap
6. Opel Calibra +3 lap

200 points again, thank you very much.


The GT300s, unsurprisingly, lose out a hell of a lot on the straights to the GT500s, LMs and DTMs but have the advantage of not being driven by idiots. I'm idly curious how the Celica would perform against similar opposition at the more power-hungry Tokyo R246 endurance...

Hmm... There's a thought.

 

[Popeye]

Thanks for these Famine. It does seem to inspire a lot of us to follow in your footsteps. Very worthwhile reading.👍

 

[ilovethescudo]

I would like to add that during the Supe Speedway 150 miles, the Minolta toyota 88c-v race car '89 pits every 40 laps.