2023/4 GTWS Exhibition Season 1 – Nations’ Cup R4 – Special Stage Route X
GT2 League - B / S Lobby – 125pts to winner
As I said at the end of my Nations’ R3 write-up…
[Round 4 at SSRX] is as valid a motor race as anything else we’ve had so no complaints, but now that I’ve got 3 half-decent scores, I’ll be less inclined to go into a race which could end well or end with a Talladega-with-restrictor-plates-style Big One and suffer a DR and SR hit into the bargain.
Now, I’ll admit that I only decided to enter this round when I found out that DR and SR were unaffected, meaning that the above didn’t apply and that I literally had nothing to lose – except, perhaps, my own sanity – by racing this round. However, you’ll find no anti-oval snobbery here – this race requires a skill set just like any other, it is however a different skill set so perhaps the scores for this round would be mixed up a little compared to what would normally be expected.
Preparation? I – er – didn’t do any. Actually, that’s a lie – I entered Daily Race A a few times a couple of weeks ago when it was an abridged version of this race, which did give me some practice in bump-drafting, avoiding crashes on the turns and when to hit the nitrous button for maximum effect. However, I hadn’t even been out in Free Practice mode in the week or so leading up to the race. I had decided on the AMG or Bugatti, while noting that the Pagani was quickest on its own but not very stable in high-traffic conditions. I wanted something that could – ahem – assert its position in a draft-train a little more robustly. The fact that the cars were in a special state of tune also meant that fuel/tyre runs in Custom Race with garage cars were a bit pointless.
No possibility of poor weather here, of course, so no need to get up early and look at CEEFAX page 360 – er, I mean look in this thread – for weather conditions. However, I look at early races on streams and I note that the AMG is the meta car with only a few Chirons to be seen. Perhaps something happens to the Bugatti on Lap 2 that makes the Mercedes the better choice? OK, go with that then.
Qualifying starts and, for once, I could understand those who rush for the pit exit – it’s probably not common knowledge that slipstreaming isn’t turned on in qualifying, if it had been then getting into a train would have been the only way into a decent grid position. I set off a few seconds after the rest and, pausing only to make a mental note of the change-up points for each gear in mph as I accelerate away from pit lane, set off for a 2-lap (60 km!) run which is high in speed and low in drama – and, some would argue, pretty pointless as the 11km run to turn 1 would determine position more than the grid, and even then there were still 3 more straights to get through. Anyway, Q10, last in a group of 8 AMGs – only 0.35s off the first of that group, but we were all 0.5s off two Paganis that headed the field. After me came a Bugatti, another 2 AMGs, a Mazda, a further Bugatti and a Nismo brought up the rear. In fact the most interesting thing in qualifying was the fact that I couldn’t fail to notice the number emblazoned proudly on the front of my car.
It was 16.
I don’t think I’ve ever been lowest-ranked in a GTWS race before – had I somehow lucked into the basement of a higher ranked lobby than my usual races? A quick look at the points on offer confirmed that, yes, I had – 125 is 10 or 15 points more than the winner gets in my usual races. It would be quite the haul if I could get up the sharp end somehow. This is where the different skills required from a normal road race may work in my favour – if we had been at, say, Sainte-Croix or Big Willow then I would have made sure I left some chalk lying around for someone to draw round my body after this field has absolutely murdered me, but here all bets could be off.
So to the race itself. Races here can be split into 3 phases: The acceleration phase (start to T1), the slipstreaming phase (T1 to beginning of the last turn) and the boost phase (last turn and run to the finish line).
As we drove to the start I was concerned that the AMG wouldn’t have the acceleration of the Bugatti behind me – when I had driven the Chiron it had been very easy to work up to 1st at T1 from 12th on the grid. I needn’t have worried however since as soon as we got control of the cars I was off up the field – draft, pull out and pass, draft, pull out and pass, rinse and repeat. It seems that a few folk didn’t realise that even when these cars are accelerating up to top speed they are still going very fast so you can gain by slipstreaming even in the acceleration phase. We passed one of the Paganis that had been left out to dry just past the crest of the hill and the other Huayra, predictably enough, gets sideways in T1 and falls back. By this time I am P3 and bump-drafting P2 while P4 is equally willing to play trains - together, we pull out to pass P1 and they have no choice but to let us all by and rejoin the world’s quickest queue in P4.
From there it was a case of staying in the draft at all costs and making sure that you are still high in the order at the last turn while never letting yourself be suckered into P1. The bumper of the car in front looked more battered by the minute – good job SR was turned off, did anyone get the CRB in any of these races I wonder? – but I was determined to just bump and run and bump and run all the way to the final turn. I could see on the radar repeated examples of cars coming up behind us, pulling out then immediately falling back – it really was a case of draft or die.
Eventually the last turn was upon us and I was still P2. Follow the leader into the turn, wait until we are settled then hit the button – I move to the inside, the leader tries to cover me but I squeeze through on the inside and I’m away! Out of the turn, just a quick glance at the radar as I enter the tunnel and there’s no-one in radar range! I’m going to win! I’m going to win! I’m going to… finish second to that car that came up my outside right on the line. Beaten by 0.008s (eight one-thousandths of a second!). Ah well – keeps up my record of P2s (all of my qualifying scores in Nations’ Cup are now from P2 finishes, and my sole Manufacturers’ outing resulted in P2 as well!). The driver who led going into that final corner ended up in P5. This P2 was worth 120pts which is a nice replacement for my lowest-scoring round, the 92 from my P5 at Lago Maggiore – so well worth doing in the end. And yes, I do still feel like I slipped away from that race through the fire exit with 120 points hidden up my pullover while the higher-ranked drivers were scratching their heads wondering where the points had gone to.
I really didn’t fancy a re-run as I would probably have been back in my normal ranking lobby where even winning wouldn’t have matched the points I already had.
While I am still glad that SR was unaffected, that result makes me wish that DR had been turned on – but who in their right mind would hold an oval race with SR off but DR on? It’d make for a right mess.
[Looks at Round 5 rules]
Oh. Ah well, I’ll give it a go – after all, at least the SR is off at a track where it’s going to be really hard, nay impossible, to dive-bomb anyone…
PS: For sale – Job lot of front and rear bumpers for 2020 Mercedes-AMG Black Series. Only used once. May require slight correction to paint finish. All enquiries c/o Polyphony Digital.
Brrrr! That thing goes!
