- 29,955
- Thailand
How to enjoy the roadster 4 hour event.
The plan
My plan was not so simple; enjoy the 4 hour endurance race at Tsukuba. For this to be possible I set myself the challenge of winning the event without any contact with either opponents or walls, using a Mazda Roadster RS (NC) 07 as it came from the dealership. No oil change, added parts or tuning, all aides off. The only changes I made were to add my own body weight in ballast (65kg) and change to comfort soft tyres. The whole thing without pausing once. I used the DS3 opting for AT because of an injury to my right hand fingers.
The track
Well, it’s Tsukuba, short, uninteresting and technical with its 14 turns.
The car
The Mazda Roadster with its FR layout is great for a small sports car. I found it a fun car to drive, if a little unchallenging even without ABS assistance. I chose to drive from interior view (zoom) without any HUD/instruments visible so as not to watch the laps or a clock counting away the minutes. I noticed that the fuel gauge doesn’t work but the tyres give out long before the fuel does.
The race
The race began from a grid start. My most difficult job was negotiation the first 20 minutes without any contact with the other cars. After catching the leader 25 minutes in I pushed past to take the lead which remained mine for the remainder of the drive. My race director (the wife) was on hand with a countdown timer set at 4 hours to give me a shout once in a while of how long I had left in the race, she also provided cigarette lighting services.
I kept a good lead for around an hour before I started to catch the back of the pack and began lapping them. I had to make sure I drove carefully to conserve tyres and avoid locking the brakes into a corner and hitting a wall. After the first 2 hours I had the car nailed and knew every rev from gear to gear and every point on the brake just before the wheels would lock. It became fun to make challenges on lapped cars which by this time had spread all around the track, it ate up the time and the minutes flew by.
The last 20 minutes of the race I reflected on what I’d done.
A full 4 hours non-stop. 2 pit stops. No contact. Only 2 trips into the dirt caused by stubbing out a smoke and lapsing in concentration, and eventually 206 laps to take the win.
The conclusion
In summary I’d say I achieved what I’d set out to do; enjoy the 4 hour Roadster endurance.
I could have chosen a more comfortable chair because half way through I lost feeling in my buttocks. I’m glad I used the bathroom before starting and even more glad I didn’t drink anything all the way through.
I think the immersion factor could be improved by adding the dynamic weather system to this race and having the possibility of damage like in arcade mode. It would have improved the experience which overall is quite 2 dimensional.
I believe I chose the right car set up for this race (stock, no aides) although even with the odds stacked against me it was still rather easy, I could have added a power limit or more weight to the car.
If you’re thinking of taken this on (assuming you haven’t already) I’d advise having a goal to make it a little less mundane that I can be. Set a target, for example, drive 250 laps in total, and it changes the race from a boring, repetitive drive into a little less of a task and a bit more of an enjoyable experience.
