- 498
- Jujubean14
My Car: Subaru Impreza Coupe 22B-STi Ver. '98
Sport Exhaust, PP, ECU, S2 tires
Max HP: 330
TCS and ACS off
Lineup:
Nissan Skyline GT-R V-spec II '00
Subaru Impreza Sedan WRX STi Ver.VT'99
Toyota Supra RZ '97
Infiniti G35 Coupe '03
Subaru Legacy B4 Blitzen '00
Subaru Impreza Coupe 22b-STi Ver. '98 (Me)
I realized that I hadn't completed this championship yet, and decided to go for it in my new Impreza coupe. This will be the first race I have done with it since I spotted it in the used car lot. It had about 35,000 miles on it, but still good enough for me.
This is also my first race where I plan to use neither ACS nor TCS. I stopped using ACS a while ago, but decided it was time to leave out both. I plan to make full use of the pre-race practice to get a good feel for the car and track.
Fuji Speedway '90s
Qualifying: WOW, what a blast this car is to drive. Maybe its the new connection between me and the road without ACS and TCS holding me back. Anyways, this championship should be fun. It was obvious from the second lap of qualifying that the straight will be my weakness. Luckily though, after turn seven I can pretty much go flat out until turn one. I do 9 laps to get myself used to the setup (and I was having so much fun). My best lap was 1:44.xxx (forgot to write down the exact time). I am not sure how much better that is than the competition, but I am hoping for a 'comfortably close race'- close enough to be exciting, but within my skill level to win.
Grid:
Impreza Coupe (Me)
Supra
Impreza sedan
Legacy
Skyline
G35
A-Spec points offered: 134
"And They're Off!" I head towards turn 1, but the impreza sedan beats me there. I outbrake him though and am back at the pole position.
I take things easy for the most part, in order to let my tires warm up. Things go well and I round turn 9 onto the straight, and then as I expected the Impreza Sedan blasts bast me with his higher gearing as I redline in 5th. All is well however as I again outbrake him at the first turn. Things are going well until turn 4 and I get a little cocky-and sideways. I maintain my lead however and continue on.
At the end of lap 2, I am .5 secs ahead. The sedan catches me again, and this time I slip up. I was too far to the inside and had to brake and move outside simultaneously, and the result was a case of the wobbles. I am hot on the Sedan's tail up to turn 3, when I give him a little bit of a love-tap. Only it was a bit more violent than I had thought.
We are neck and neck though turn 4 but I pass him on the inside on the exit.
Due to my sloppiness at turn 7, he passes me and leads into the next lap.
That means I have to catch him in two laps, and he is 1.378 seconds ahead.
I have already caught him by turn 3, which makes me wonder how far ahead I would be if I didn't keep making silly mistakes.
As we pass the line into the last lap, I am .736 seconds ahead. If I outmaneuver him through turns 1, 2, and 3, I should leave him in the dust.
That jerk rams me entering turn 1 though, and I have to regain control. No problem, the weight of those two additional doors he has on me are holding him back, and I take the corner at a higher speed and am winning slightly into turn 3.
All is good and then...
NOOOOO!
That rotten jerk spun me out. I go way wide and do some landscaping while I am at it. We come around to the final straight and I manage to hold on to 2nd, with the Skyline in 3rd.
Tsukuba Circuit 10 laps
Qualifying: Well, the end of that last race was a sobering experience. The fun and games of my youth racing, Imprezas around tracks is over, and now I have to settle on the harsh reality: Mistakes are costly. The way I see it though, that doesn't mean I can't still race imprezas around tracks. I am out ahead on the qualifying from the get go, even though my laps are a little sloppy. By two or three laps in, I have cleaned up a good bit and am posting times I can be proud of. I qualify in first with a lap time of 1:05. 483.
Grid:
Impreza Coupe (me)
Legacy
G35
Supra
Skyline
Impreza Sedan
(surprisingly different from last time)
A-spec points offered: 134
Rolling start this time, so I try to get as much space between me and the Legacy as possible. The first lap goes smoothly, and I am ahead by 0.822 seconds with a lap time of 108.078.
Things stay relatively close until turn 4 of lap 3. At this point I decided my tires were sufficiently warmed up to take the turn full throttle. Luckily for me, I was right, and stretched me lead up to about a second. By the end of the lap, I am leading by 1.419.
By Lap 5, I have opened my lead up to just over 2 seconds, with the Legacy still in 2nd. Hopefully he will stay there, and I will take the lead in points.
I increase my lead up to nearly 3 seconds by lap 8, before making a few minor mistakes that shorten my lead to under a second. These mistakes were caused by several things:
A) My status as a music major in college inspired me to make my race playlist only the classical songs. This was a bad idea, because I actually only like 2 or 3 of the pieces, and now I am stuck listening to Mozart and wanting to drive my car off a cliff. Luckily, however, there are no cliffs on the Tsukuba circuit, so I have to settle for ramping off of a few rumble strips.
B) My mom called and wanted to check up on everything at the house. Sheesh, can't a guy do some Grand Touring in peace?
Regardless, I realize I need to focus and put some more time between me and the G35 that has now assumed 2nd place.
By the beginning of Lap 10, I have opened the gap to nearly a second again. I just need to hold onto it! Everything goes smoothly and I take the checkered flag with a .5 second lead.
The tournament standings are as follows:
1 Impreza Coupe (Me) 16pts
2 Impreza Sedan 12pts
3 G35 8pts
4 Supra 7pts
5 Skyline 5pts
6 Legacy 4pts
(the Legacy must have made a costly mistake around lap 6)
Tokyo R246 Reverse 5 laps
Qualifying: To be honest, I was a little apprehensive about this race since the qualifying for Fuji. It is going to be tough to be competitive with so many long straights. The Impreza Coupe's strength definitely lies in cornering and handling. After a few laps though, I was lucky to find that I only barely maxed out on the main straight. I posted a few laps under 2 minutes, and qualified in first.
Grid:
Impreza Coupe (me)
Supra
Impreza Sedan
G35
Skyline
Legacy
A-spec points offered: 134
I took off and led for most of the first lap, but by the L-turn, the Impreza sedan had passed both me and the supra. The supra was hot on my tail through the straight. By turn 7 of lap 2 though, I had regained the lead.
I managed to hold off the supra and Ipmreza Sedan until the very end of the straight on lap 3, but they passed me, and roughed me up some. Again I gained the lead at the Subway.
Lap 4 saw me maintain the lead all the way through the straight and into lap 5. The entire pack was on my tail though. Lap 5 was going to be exciting...
Only the Impreza Sedan managed to pass me on the straight, but the G35 thought it might be fun to punt me into the corner at the end of it. This was bad news, and I plan to knife the tires of the next G35 I come across. I was now over 6 seconds behind, and battling for 4th place. The Impreza Sedan opened his lead to 9.565 seconds ahead of me by the end of the race.
A disappointing finish that was only sort of my fault.
Tournament standings were as follows:
1 Impreza Sedan 22pts
2 Impreza Coupe 19pts
3 G35 14pts
4 Supra 11pts
5 Legacy/Skyline 6pts
Twin Ring Motegi-Road Course 4 laps
Qualifying: As things stand, I probably need to beat the Impreza Sedan in both of the remaining races. What I thought was going to be an easy championship to nail is turning out to be a bit more of a challenge. The annoying thing is, Almost all of the mistakes that have put me in this position could have been easily avoided, and were just dumb mistakes on my part. That said, with determination, hopefully I can still pull off a first place finish in the tournament. I qualify in first with a time of 2:14.555. I have noticed that I seem to get ahead quick, and then the competition catches up in the last few laps. I think this is because it is taking longer for their tires to warm up, but once they do, they start catching me. I just need to make sure I hold them off for two more races, and I will be golden.
Grid:
Impreza Coupe (me)
Supra
G35
Skyline
Legacy
Impreza Sedan
If everyone finished in that order, things would be great...
Aspec points offered: 135
Rolling start, so my lead is somewhat more secure than it might have been from a stand still. Everything goes smoothly in the first lap, and I am ahead by 1.476 with a lap time of 2:16.924. Things got a little sloppy around the pits in Lap 2, and by the end of the lap I am only leading by 0.551. The Supra is in 2nd, which is good, because he doesn't pose much of a threat to winning the tournament. That said, it sure would be nice to stay in first!
By Lap 3, I have some nice green tires, all around. I post a new fastest lap at 2:14.236, putting me 1.947 ahead of the Supra.
By the time I hit the straight before the 90 degree corner though, the Supra has closed the gap to a mere half second. Obviously his tires have warmed up, but I only have a short distance to hold him off. I really outbraked him at victory corner and finished 0.222 ahead.
With one race remaining in the series, the current standings are as follows:
1 Impreza Coupe (me) 29 pts
2 Impreza Sedan 24 pts
3 G35 18 pts
4 Supra 17 pts
5 Skyline 9 pts
6 Legacy 7 pts
I stand in a good position to take first. I need to take at least second to ensure a win, although as long as Impreza Sedan doesn't win the race, I should take Gold overall.
Suzuka Circuit 4 laps
Qualifying: I must say, I am a bit apprehensive about this race too. I had the most trouble qualifying for first in this race. Lots of different kinds of corners. I did manage to place into first after several sets of tires.
Grid:
Impreza Coupe (me)
G35
Legacy
Supra
Skyline
Impreza Sedan (in last, hopefully he will stay there)
Aspec points offered: 134
The G35 made an early challenge on the lead, but I held him into the S curve and Gyaku Bank. He nearly caught me on the straight, but I held more speed through the triangle. By the end of the first lap, he had in fact been overtaken by none other than the skyline. I made it safely through lap two, and luckily for me the G35 and the skyline were waging quite the war for 2nd place, which let me get a bit ahead. By the end of the lap, however, I was leading the skyline by only .614. The skyline gave me a run for my money in the S, and I caught a glimpse of the Legacy in my mirror. By the time I started the fourth lap, the Supra had passed the other two and was only 0.256 off my bumper. He had passed me by the time we got to the triangle, and he and the G35 were kind enough to introduce me to the turf, and I had a rather unpleasant little spin. Baaaaaad news. The Supra, G35, Skyline, and yes, the Impreza Sedan passed me in the last corner. I finished over 5 seconds behind the Supra. This seems to be a trend in my GT4 racing career: lead until the last corner of the last lap, and then mess up and lose.
Buuuuuuuuuuuuuut,
I won the tournament on points. So, as they say, all is well that ends well. the $$$ and the 350Z LM race car are mine.
Conclusions:
This was a good experience for me, as it was both my first race without TCS and ASC, as well as my first race to write up. I think it will take some practice to get completely used to the 'natural' handling of the car, but it certainly is more exciting. I think the biggest difference I noticed was that little bumps from opponents can be much more deadly without the computer to keep you straight. All in all I had a good time, learned some, built some technique, got some more cash moneys, and won a shmexxxy new LM car.
Now all I need is for the Driving Force wheel I ordered a week ago to show up!
EDIT: Thanks to AMG, I was inspired to try Photobucket, and it worked out! I will load the rest of the pics later, but now I have to go off to my job as a Valet driver...
Sport Exhaust, PP, ECU, S2 tires
Max HP: 330
TCS and ACS off
Lineup:
Nissan Skyline GT-R V-spec II '00
Subaru Impreza Sedan WRX STi Ver.VT'99
Toyota Supra RZ '97
Infiniti G35 Coupe '03
Subaru Legacy B4 Blitzen '00
Subaru Impreza Coupe 22b-STi Ver. '98 (Me)
I realized that I hadn't completed this championship yet, and decided to go for it in my new Impreza coupe. This will be the first race I have done with it since I spotted it in the used car lot. It had about 35,000 miles on it, but still good enough for me.
This is also my first race where I plan to use neither ACS nor TCS. I stopped using ACS a while ago, but decided it was time to leave out both. I plan to make full use of the pre-race practice to get a good feel for the car and track.
Fuji Speedway '90s
Qualifying: WOW, what a blast this car is to drive. Maybe its the new connection between me and the road without ACS and TCS holding me back. Anyways, this championship should be fun. It was obvious from the second lap of qualifying that the straight will be my weakness. Luckily though, after turn seven I can pretty much go flat out until turn one. I do 9 laps to get myself used to the setup (and I was having so much fun). My best lap was 1:44.xxx (forgot to write down the exact time). I am not sure how much better that is than the competition, but I am hoping for a 'comfortably close race'- close enough to be exciting, but within my skill level to win.
Grid:
Impreza Coupe (Me)
Supra
Impreza sedan
Legacy
Skyline
G35
A-Spec points offered: 134
"And They're Off!" I head towards turn 1, but the impreza sedan beats me there. I outbrake him though and am back at the pole position.
I take things easy for the most part, in order to let my tires warm up. Things go well and I round turn 9 onto the straight, and then as I expected the Impreza Sedan blasts bast me with his higher gearing as I redline in 5th. All is well however as I again outbrake him at the first turn. Things are going well until turn 4 and I get a little cocky-and sideways. I maintain my lead however and continue on.
At the end of lap 2, I am .5 secs ahead. The sedan catches me again, and this time I slip up. I was too far to the inside and had to brake and move outside simultaneously, and the result was a case of the wobbles. I am hot on the Sedan's tail up to turn 3, when I give him a little bit of a love-tap. Only it was a bit more violent than I had thought.
We are neck and neck though turn 4 but I pass him on the inside on the exit.
Due to my sloppiness at turn 7, he passes me and leads into the next lap.
That means I have to catch him in two laps, and he is 1.378 seconds ahead.
I have already caught him by turn 3, which makes me wonder how far ahead I would be if I didn't keep making silly mistakes.
As we pass the line into the last lap, I am .736 seconds ahead. If I outmaneuver him through turns 1, 2, and 3, I should leave him in the dust.
That jerk rams me entering turn 1 though, and I have to regain control. No problem, the weight of those two additional doors he has on me are holding him back, and I take the corner at a higher speed and am winning slightly into turn 3.
All is good and then...
NOOOOO!
That rotten jerk spun me out. I go way wide and do some landscaping while I am at it. We come around to the final straight and I manage to hold on to 2nd, with the Skyline in 3rd.
Tsukuba Circuit 10 laps
Qualifying: Well, the end of that last race was a sobering experience. The fun and games of my youth racing, Imprezas around tracks is over, and now I have to settle on the harsh reality: Mistakes are costly. The way I see it though, that doesn't mean I can't still race imprezas around tracks. I am out ahead on the qualifying from the get go, even though my laps are a little sloppy. By two or three laps in, I have cleaned up a good bit and am posting times I can be proud of. I qualify in first with a lap time of 1:05. 483.
Grid:
Impreza Coupe (me)
Legacy
G35
Supra
Skyline
Impreza Sedan
(surprisingly different from last time)
A-spec points offered: 134
Rolling start this time, so I try to get as much space between me and the Legacy as possible. The first lap goes smoothly, and I am ahead by 0.822 seconds with a lap time of 108.078.
Things stay relatively close until turn 4 of lap 3. At this point I decided my tires were sufficiently warmed up to take the turn full throttle. Luckily for me, I was right, and stretched me lead up to about a second. By the end of the lap, I am leading by 1.419.
By Lap 5, I have opened my lead up to just over 2 seconds, with the Legacy still in 2nd. Hopefully he will stay there, and I will take the lead in points.
I increase my lead up to nearly 3 seconds by lap 8, before making a few minor mistakes that shorten my lead to under a second. These mistakes were caused by several things:
A) My status as a music major in college inspired me to make my race playlist only the classical songs. This was a bad idea, because I actually only like 2 or 3 of the pieces, and now I am stuck listening to Mozart and wanting to drive my car off a cliff. Luckily, however, there are no cliffs on the Tsukuba circuit, so I have to settle for ramping off of a few rumble strips.
B) My mom called and wanted to check up on everything at the house. Sheesh, can't a guy do some Grand Touring in peace?
Regardless, I realize I need to focus and put some more time between me and the G35 that has now assumed 2nd place.
By the beginning of Lap 10, I have opened the gap to nearly a second again. I just need to hold onto it! Everything goes smoothly and I take the checkered flag with a .5 second lead.
The tournament standings are as follows:
1 Impreza Coupe (Me) 16pts
2 Impreza Sedan 12pts
3 G35 8pts
4 Supra 7pts
5 Skyline 5pts
6 Legacy 4pts
(the Legacy must have made a costly mistake around lap 6)
Tokyo R246 Reverse 5 laps
Qualifying: To be honest, I was a little apprehensive about this race since the qualifying for Fuji. It is going to be tough to be competitive with so many long straights. The Impreza Coupe's strength definitely lies in cornering and handling. After a few laps though, I was lucky to find that I only barely maxed out on the main straight. I posted a few laps under 2 minutes, and qualified in first.
Grid:
Impreza Coupe (me)
Supra
Impreza Sedan
G35
Skyline
Legacy
A-spec points offered: 134
I took off and led for most of the first lap, but by the L-turn, the Impreza sedan had passed both me and the supra. The supra was hot on my tail through the straight. By turn 7 of lap 2 though, I had regained the lead.
I managed to hold off the supra and Ipmreza Sedan until the very end of the straight on lap 3, but they passed me, and roughed me up some. Again I gained the lead at the Subway.
Lap 4 saw me maintain the lead all the way through the straight and into lap 5. The entire pack was on my tail though. Lap 5 was going to be exciting...
Only the Impreza Sedan managed to pass me on the straight, but the G35 thought it might be fun to punt me into the corner at the end of it. This was bad news, and I plan to knife the tires of the next G35 I come across. I was now over 6 seconds behind, and battling for 4th place. The Impreza Sedan opened his lead to 9.565 seconds ahead of me by the end of the race.
A disappointing finish that was only sort of my fault.
Tournament standings were as follows:
1 Impreza Sedan 22pts
2 Impreza Coupe 19pts
3 G35 14pts
4 Supra 11pts
5 Legacy/Skyline 6pts
Twin Ring Motegi-Road Course 4 laps
Qualifying: As things stand, I probably need to beat the Impreza Sedan in both of the remaining races. What I thought was going to be an easy championship to nail is turning out to be a bit more of a challenge. The annoying thing is, Almost all of the mistakes that have put me in this position could have been easily avoided, and were just dumb mistakes on my part. That said, with determination, hopefully I can still pull off a first place finish in the tournament. I qualify in first with a time of 2:14.555. I have noticed that I seem to get ahead quick, and then the competition catches up in the last few laps. I think this is because it is taking longer for their tires to warm up, but once they do, they start catching me. I just need to make sure I hold them off for two more races, and I will be golden.
Grid:
Impreza Coupe (me)
Supra
G35
Skyline
Legacy
Impreza Sedan
If everyone finished in that order, things would be great...
Aspec points offered: 135
Rolling start, so my lead is somewhat more secure than it might have been from a stand still. Everything goes smoothly in the first lap, and I am ahead by 1.476 with a lap time of 2:16.924. Things got a little sloppy around the pits in Lap 2, and by the end of the lap I am only leading by 0.551. The Supra is in 2nd, which is good, because he doesn't pose much of a threat to winning the tournament. That said, it sure would be nice to stay in first!
By Lap 3, I have some nice green tires, all around. I post a new fastest lap at 2:14.236, putting me 1.947 ahead of the Supra.
By the time I hit the straight before the 90 degree corner though, the Supra has closed the gap to a mere half second. Obviously his tires have warmed up, but I only have a short distance to hold him off. I really outbraked him at victory corner and finished 0.222 ahead.
With one race remaining in the series, the current standings are as follows:
1 Impreza Coupe (me) 29 pts
2 Impreza Sedan 24 pts
3 G35 18 pts
4 Supra 17 pts
5 Skyline 9 pts
6 Legacy 7 pts
I stand in a good position to take first. I need to take at least second to ensure a win, although as long as Impreza Sedan doesn't win the race, I should take Gold overall.
Suzuka Circuit 4 laps
Qualifying: I must say, I am a bit apprehensive about this race too. I had the most trouble qualifying for first in this race. Lots of different kinds of corners. I did manage to place into first after several sets of tires.
Grid:
Impreza Coupe (me)
G35
Legacy
Supra
Skyline
Impreza Sedan (in last, hopefully he will stay there)
Aspec points offered: 134
The G35 made an early challenge on the lead, but I held him into the S curve and Gyaku Bank. He nearly caught me on the straight, but I held more speed through the triangle. By the end of the first lap, he had in fact been overtaken by none other than the skyline. I made it safely through lap two, and luckily for me the G35 and the skyline were waging quite the war for 2nd place, which let me get a bit ahead. By the end of the lap, however, I was leading the skyline by only .614. The skyline gave me a run for my money in the S, and I caught a glimpse of the Legacy in my mirror. By the time I started the fourth lap, the Supra had passed the other two and was only 0.256 off my bumper. He had passed me by the time we got to the triangle, and he and the G35 were kind enough to introduce me to the turf, and I had a rather unpleasant little spin. Baaaaaad news. The Supra, G35, Skyline, and yes, the Impreza Sedan passed me in the last corner. I finished over 5 seconds behind the Supra. This seems to be a trend in my GT4 racing career: lead until the last corner of the last lap, and then mess up and lose.
Buuuuuuuuuuuuuut,
I won the tournament on points. So, as they say, all is well that ends well. the $$$ and the 350Z LM race car are mine.
Conclusions:
This was a good experience for me, as it was both my first race without TCS and ASC, as well as my first race to write up. I think it will take some practice to get completely used to the 'natural' handling of the car, but it certainly is more exciting. I think the biggest difference I noticed was that little bumps from opponents can be much more deadly without the computer to keep you straight. All in all I had a good time, learned some, built some technique, got some more cash moneys, and won a shmexxxy new LM car.
Now all I need is for the Driving Force wheel I ordered a week ago to show up!
EDIT: Thanks to AMG, I was inspired to try Photobucket, and it worked out! I will load the rest of the pics later, but now I have to go off to my job as a Valet driver...
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