Here's the final installment in the shootout of Canada's least popular manufacturers from last season's Manu Cup GT1 league. For this one, we are at Suzuka for the 35-lap race in Rd.4. Since the race is so long and the results from the other rounds showed that several of the cars just weren't going to be viable (more on that below), I only tested two: Dodge and Hyundai.
Manufacturer | Model | Best Time | Total Time | Avg Time | Avg Dev |
---|
Hyundai | Genesis Gr.3 | 2:03.810 | 72:49.920 | 2:04.855 | 0:00.698 |
Dodge | Viper SRT GT3-R '15 | 2:03.835 | 73:08.970 | 2:05.399 | 0:00.833 |
Tire tread levels at finish:
Manufacturer | Front Left | Front Right | Rear Left | Rear Right |
---|
Hyundai | 40% | 35% | 55% | 60% |
Dodge | 35% | 30% | 45% | 45% |
Both of the cars easily lasted the full race without a pit stop and both gradually lost time to the fatigue of the tires and/or the driver. You can see by the lap times, that I made a mess of a few laps in both cars.
I was faster and more consistent with the Hyundai. It felt pretty good on the track overall, but I found the gearing going into the Esses a bit awkward -- 3rd didn't quite make it there, and going to 4th for a split second only to drop back to 3rd wasn't gaining me any time.
The Dodge was fine at Suzuka. Although I wasn't as consistent with it as the Hyundai, there weren't any parts of the track that were particularly troublesome. It seems I just wasn't driving well.
All the raw data is in the spreadsheet
here.
As for the other manufacturers I tested...
Citroen - I struggled to drive this car consistently. I could get good Opt Times out of it, but I just wasn't able to get there reliably.
Renault - This is a really nice car to drive, but with the recent BoP update, it just isn't fast enough (at least, not in my hands).
Suzuki - I've come to the conclusion that I just can't drive this car. It was near the bottom at every track I took it to.
In the end, it came down to a choice between Dodge and Hyundai.
The Hyundai is a really nice drive. It's stable and predictable. No drama with this car ever. It was the fastest at Interlagos and Suzuka and near the top everywhere else. Good on fuel and tires. Just a great all-round car.
The Dodge, though, took the top spot at three of the tracks -- Deep Forest, Daytona, and Fuji -- and by a healthy margin at each. It really surprised me. The testing that I'd prior to the Manu Cup schedule being announced showed it to be a mediocre car, at best. But it really seems to shine for those three races.
So...
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And here they are dressed up in their native habit of Detroit, Michigan (with the driver looking longingly at the Gr.4 car that he won't ever get to drive in the series):
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