- 762
I searched the forums for info on this series and found quite a few threads but none dedicated to an absolutely stock ride (including tires). There is a lot of information in Old_Geezer's threads... the guy is a nut! (in a good way).
Anywho, Still persevering with my 'stock ride' gamesave so...
THE PLAN
Pretty much the same as with the GTWC, only difference being I may not have to pit at all.
1. Qualify on pole
2. Do enough practice laps to get familiar with my ride's tire wear. There is no pitting in this series (for the most part) but the races are long enough for you to need good knowledge of your car's tire wear patterns.
3. Do enough practice laps to get a feel for the competition's tire wear behaviour.
4. Win all the races!
THE RIDE
Fresh out of winning the GTWC with the Bentley I was feeling cocky so I decided to forgo any testing and basically 'pick a car name out of a hat'. The only consideration: I wanted to use a car I hadn't raced before and I didn't want to use the R92C because I would probably have to pit in every race and that was just 'not on'.
So it was a choice of :R89C, Jaguar or Minolta. I was arrogant enough to think that since I had 'skpanked them' at the GTWC I could just drive a car with a missing wheel and still win. So I did what an arrogant idiot would do: I picked the slowest of the three: The Jaguar!
I hadn't driven the Jaguar since the Sarthe II tests a couple of weeks ago so I didn't remember what it was like to drive. I would come to regret this later as I forgot that it has heavy understeer, long brakes, massive wheelspin in 1st and second, and only 5 gears (this became important later). But since I was so full of myself and I was only looking at the test results I figured that it being only 1.2 seconds slower than the R8 at Sarthe II was good enough.
THE COMPETITION
Nissan R92C
Toyota 7
AMG CLK-GTR
Toyota One
Mazda 787
It seemed like a harder lineup than at GTWC but it only gave 10 points per race. This of course only increased my cockynesss
THE RACES
Race 1 - High Speed Mountain: Starting from pole with the R92C in 2nd I got jumped by it. No surprise there. But by turn 3 I was back on the lead and never looked back. Won by 29 seconds. Cockyness factor went up 10 points!
Race 2 - Fuji 80's: I got my first glimpse of the Jag's handfulness here. It felt like it was skating on ice during qualifying. Fortunately, I had done another race here with the Toyota 7 on N3 tires so I started using the same line and braking points I used that time. I was able to build a 25 second lead by the last lap of the race. Then the Jag got nasty and I ended up doing S's all the way from the last (long) right hander to the finish line
Won by 21 seconds. Cockyness factor still managed to go up a few points.
Race 3 - Laguna Seca: Some more handfullness from the Jag made me take it easier than I would have liked. On lap 4 the tires were almost fluorescent green and the car started to slide a lot. Caught me off guard and I drove off the track twice blowing a 5 second lead. After that I stopped pushing and cruised to the finished line. Won by 3.778 seconds. Cockyness factor went down a bit.
Race 4 - Autumn Ring Reverse: Cockyness factor took a deep dive during qualifying. I could get pole easily but the tires just didn't last the race distance. I lapped as much as I could to check out the competition but none of them pitted within race distance... I was going to have to pull some seriously fast laps to overcome the tire wear handicap. I pitted at the end of lap 7 with an 8 second lead on the R92C and once again had a 'brain fart' pressing b-spec instead of 'no refill'
Came out in 5th place and bob made sure we stayed there for the duration with plenty of off track excursions. Finished 5th, 26 seconds behind first place.
Race 5 - Test Course: I didn't have high hopes for this one since the R92C was in the competition. So I changed the tranny setting to Auto 18 to give the Jag a few more MPH (couldn't go any higher as it wasn't redlining 5th on 18.) Strangely enough I drafted off him (and also bump drafted him) and qualified on pole. The weird part is that I was behind him on most of the lap and still managed a better time by 1.2 seconds... weird. For the race itself I figured I'd relive the drafting mission and force the R92C (which once again jumped me off the starting line) to pit by making him go faster using up more tires. But alas, the bastard didn't pit and had the uncanning ability to stay behind me on most of the lap except on the last turn where he would overtake. He did it every lap including the last one so he beat me by 0.027 seconds.
Cockyness factor is way down... wondering if I should just quit and ditch the bloody car
Race 6 - Grand Valley Speedway Reverse: Got jumped by the R92C at the start and in an attempt to block the Toyota 7 I changed lanes, only to let the 787 by. Took about a half a lap to regain the lead as the R92C and I traded places at every turn. The last lap was done on red tires losing a couple of seconds or so. Still won by 6.25 seconds. Cockyness factor at an all time low.
Race 7 - Suzuka. Knowledge of the track and plenty of practice laps allow me to get pole and run an uneventful race. Having come to terms with the Jag's handfulness, I took it relatively easy and made only two mistakes. Won by 3.192. Cockyness factor still in the dumps.
Race 8 - Infineon: I love this track. However the Jag introduced yet another nasty element of its character: It hates raised rumble strips and chicanes. Qualifying was spent reworking my lines due to the track being in a different configuration that I am used to. So far the 787 had a mediocre showing qualifying behind the Toyota 7 in most races but this time it stole 2nd place from the R92C. This was good as it held the R92C back for a while during the race letting me drive into the distance. The cockyness was creeping back in and I forgot the line on one of the new turns, drove off track and lost 3.5 seconds. Still managed to win by 9.1 seconds. Cockyness almost back in full swing!
Race 9 - Sarthe I: Qualifying was a horrible experience as the track has everything the Jag doesn't like: Chicanes, raised rumble strips, long high speed sweepers and sharp turns after long straights. I had to forget about the line (and braking points - the Jag only has 5 gears compared to 6 from the R8) I had learned with the R8 and practically start from scratch. Once again the 787 qualified 2nd and held the R92C back during the race. I managed to only go off track once but the Jag kept me on my toes the whole time. Won by 10.235. Cockyness back to almost 0!
Race 10 - Nurburing Nordschleife: Trying to qualify with stock tyres on the Jag here proved to be the silliest thing I have done so far. By the end of the warm up lap the tires were already flourescent green. They gave up 2/3 in to the lap (had a 10sec lead at that time) and ended up qualifying 6th TWO MINUTES AND 10 SECONDS BEHIND POLE!
Other than tire wear the Jag actually behaved itself on this track so I decided to pit at the end of lap one hopefully with a 15 second lead. I would then make up the other 15 seconds from the pit stop in the second lap and win the race 'by a hair'. It seemed like a good idea at the time. In reality I got frustrated by not being able to overtake slower cars, took too many risks and spun 3 times (two of them trying to overtake the Toyota 7). Pitted at the end of lap 1 from 4th place right after overtaking the Bentley and the Toyota 7. I was 14 seconds behind 1st place at that time.
I composed myself on the second lap but the 50 second gap was too much. Finished 3rd, 19.222 behind the 787 and 4 seconds behind the Toyota 7. Overtook the R92C whilst it was in a sandtrap somewhere.
CONCLUSION
I won the series with 7/10 wins but I felt it should have been 9/10 if not for silly bugger mistakes. The series seems easier than GTWC but with a temperamental ride like the Jag XJR-9 it is plenty challenging. Specially the races where you have to pit whilst the others don't.
After the series was completed I went back and re-run (in the same car) the two races I had lost due to stupid mistakes. Race 4 (Autumn Ring) took me two tries to win running against the CLK, Gillet, BMW F1, R92CP & R390 (only 7 a-spec points). The first try I finished 2nd, 3.963 seconds behind the R390 and the second try I won it by 9 seconds after going into the pits on lap 5 with a 16 second lead and coming out in 2nd place 11 seconds behind the R92C and 1 second ahead of the BMW. The R92C's tires gave up on the last lap when I was 4 seconds behind.
For the re-run of race 10 I drew the AMG CLK, C9, GT LM Spec II, Toyota One and GT LM'02 ( 5 a-spec points). With a cooler head, I bid my time for each pass and managed to pit with a 10 second lead on the C9 (which was surprisingly easy to pass once I caught up to it). Came out of the pits in 5th place but it was just a matter of time before the tires on the C9 gave up. It happened 3/4 into the lap when I was in 3rd, 12 seconds behind. Passing the Toyota One was no problem. Won by 13.963 seconds.
The final conclusion is that the Jag IS A PITA! 👎 But it can still win 9/10 races in this series.
Anywho, Still persevering with my 'stock ride' gamesave so...
THE PLAN
Pretty much the same as with the GTWC, only difference being I may not have to pit at all.
1. Qualify on pole
2. Do enough practice laps to get familiar with my ride's tire wear. There is no pitting in this series (for the most part) but the races are long enough for you to need good knowledge of your car's tire wear patterns.
3. Do enough practice laps to get a feel for the competition's tire wear behaviour.
4. Win all the races!
THE RIDE
Fresh out of winning the GTWC with the Bentley I was feeling cocky so I decided to forgo any testing and basically 'pick a car name out of a hat'. The only consideration: I wanted to use a car I hadn't raced before and I didn't want to use the R92C because I would probably have to pit in every race and that was just 'not on'.
So it was a choice of :R89C, Jaguar or Minolta. I was arrogant enough to think that since I had 'skpanked them' at the GTWC I could just drive a car with a missing wheel and still win. So I did what an arrogant idiot would do: I picked the slowest of the three: The Jaguar!
I hadn't driven the Jaguar since the Sarthe II tests a couple of weeks ago so I didn't remember what it was like to drive. I would come to regret this later as I forgot that it has heavy understeer, long brakes, massive wheelspin in 1st and second, and only 5 gears (this became important later). But since I was so full of myself and I was only looking at the test results I figured that it being only 1.2 seconds slower than the R8 at Sarthe II was good enough.
THE COMPETITION
Nissan R92C
Toyota 7
AMG CLK-GTR
Toyota One
Mazda 787
It seemed like a harder lineup than at GTWC but it only gave 10 points per race. This of course only increased my cockynesss
THE RACES
Race 1 - High Speed Mountain: Starting from pole with the R92C in 2nd I got jumped by it. No surprise there. But by turn 3 I was back on the lead and never looked back. Won by 29 seconds. Cockyness factor went up 10 points!
Race 2 - Fuji 80's: I got my first glimpse of the Jag's handfulness here. It felt like it was skating on ice during qualifying. Fortunately, I had done another race here with the Toyota 7 on N3 tires so I started using the same line and braking points I used that time. I was able to build a 25 second lead by the last lap of the race. Then the Jag got nasty and I ended up doing S's all the way from the last (long) right hander to the finish line
Won by 21 seconds. Cockyness factor still managed to go up a few points.Race 3 - Laguna Seca: Some more handfullness from the Jag made me take it easier than I would have liked. On lap 4 the tires were almost fluorescent green and the car started to slide a lot. Caught me off guard and I drove off the track twice blowing a 5 second lead. After that I stopped pushing and cruised to the finished line. Won by 3.778 seconds. Cockyness factor went down a bit.
Race 4 - Autumn Ring Reverse: Cockyness factor took a deep dive during qualifying. I could get pole easily but the tires just didn't last the race distance. I lapped as much as I could to check out the competition but none of them pitted within race distance... I was going to have to pull some seriously fast laps to overcome the tire wear handicap. I pitted at the end of lap 7 with an 8 second lead on the R92C and once again had a 'brain fart' pressing b-spec instead of 'no refill'
Came out in 5th place and bob made sure we stayed there for the duration with plenty of off track excursions. Finished 5th, 26 seconds behind first place.Race 5 - Test Course: I didn't have high hopes for this one since the R92C was in the competition. So I changed the tranny setting to Auto 18 to give the Jag a few more MPH (couldn't go any higher as it wasn't redlining 5th on 18.) Strangely enough I drafted off him (and also bump drafted him) and qualified on pole. The weird part is that I was behind him on most of the lap and still managed a better time by 1.2 seconds... weird. For the race itself I figured I'd relive the drafting mission and force the R92C (which once again jumped me off the starting line) to pit by making him go faster using up more tires. But alas, the bastard didn't pit and had the uncanning ability to stay behind me on most of the lap except on the last turn where he would overtake. He did it every lap including the last one so he beat me by 0.027 seconds.
Cockyness factor is way down... wondering if I should just quit and ditch the bloody car
Race 6 - Grand Valley Speedway Reverse: Got jumped by the R92C at the start and in an attempt to block the Toyota 7 I changed lanes, only to let the 787 by. Took about a half a lap to regain the lead as the R92C and I traded places at every turn. The last lap was done on red tires losing a couple of seconds or so. Still won by 6.25 seconds. Cockyness factor at an all time low.
Race 7 - Suzuka. Knowledge of the track and plenty of practice laps allow me to get pole and run an uneventful race. Having come to terms with the Jag's handfulness, I took it relatively easy and made only two mistakes. Won by 3.192. Cockyness factor still in the dumps.
Race 8 - Infineon: I love this track. However the Jag introduced yet another nasty element of its character: It hates raised rumble strips and chicanes. Qualifying was spent reworking my lines due to the track being in a different configuration that I am used to. So far the 787 had a mediocre showing qualifying behind the Toyota 7 in most races but this time it stole 2nd place from the R92C. This was good as it held the R92C back for a while during the race letting me drive into the distance. The cockyness was creeping back in and I forgot the line on one of the new turns, drove off track and lost 3.5 seconds. Still managed to win by 9.1 seconds. Cockyness almost back in full swing!
Race 9 - Sarthe I: Qualifying was a horrible experience as the track has everything the Jag doesn't like: Chicanes, raised rumble strips, long high speed sweepers and sharp turns after long straights. I had to forget about the line (and braking points - the Jag only has 5 gears compared to 6 from the R8) I had learned with the R8 and practically start from scratch. Once again the 787 qualified 2nd and held the R92C back during the race. I managed to only go off track once but the Jag kept me on my toes the whole time. Won by 10.235. Cockyness back to almost 0!
Race 10 - Nurburing Nordschleife: Trying to qualify with stock tyres on the Jag here proved to be the silliest thing I have done so far. By the end of the warm up lap the tires were already flourescent green. They gave up 2/3 in to the lap (had a 10sec lead at that time) and ended up qualifying 6th TWO MINUTES AND 10 SECONDS BEHIND POLE!
Other than tire wear the Jag actually behaved itself on this track so I decided to pit at the end of lap one hopefully with a 15 second lead. I would then make up the other 15 seconds from the pit stop in the second lap and win the race 'by a hair'. It seemed like a good idea at the time. In reality I got frustrated by not being able to overtake slower cars, took too many risks and spun 3 times (two of them trying to overtake the Toyota 7). Pitted at the end of lap 1 from 4th place right after overtaking the Bentley and the Toyota 7. I was 14 seconds behind 1st place at that time.
I composed myself on the second lap but the 50 second gap was too much. Finished 3rd, 19.222 behind the 787 and 4 seconds behind the Toyota 7. Overtook the R92C whilst it was in a sandtrap somewhere.
CONCLUSION
I won the series with 7/10 wins but I felt it should have been 9/10 if not for silly bugger mistakes. The series seems easier than GTWC but with a temperamental ride like the Jag XJR-9 it is plenty challenging. Specially the races where you have to pit whilst the others don't.
After the series was completed I went back and re-run (in the same car) the two races I had lost due to stupid mistakes. Race 4 (Autumn Ring) took me two tries to win running against the CLK, Gillet, BMW F1, R92CP & R390 (only 7 a-spec points). The first try I finished 2nd, 3.963 seconds behind the R390 and the second try I won it by 9 seconds after going into the pits on lap 5 with a 16 second lead and coming out in 2nd place 11 seconds behind the R92C and 1 second ahead of the BMW. The R92C's tires gave up on the last lap when I was 4 seconds behind.
For the re-run of race 10 I drew the AMG CLK, C9, GT LM Spec II, Toyota One and GT LM'02 ( 5 a-spec points). With a cooler head, I bid my time for each pass and managed to pit with a 10 second lead on the C9 (which was surprisingly easy to pass once I caught up to it). Came out of the pits in 5th place but it was just a matter of time before the tires on the C9 gave up. It happened 3/4 into the lap when I was in 3rd, 12 seconds behind. Passing the Toyota One was no problem. Won by 13.963 seconds.
The final conclusion is that the Jag IS A PITA! 👎 But it can still win 9/10 races in this series.
