"You ran an endurance race…
…in a DeLorean?!"
"Yes Marty, we can do it! We don't have the power or the PP level, but we can take on the rabbits using time travel. It's simple, we set the flux capacitor to 2 hours 35 minutes into the future, you hit exactly 88mph on the main straight and you can easily complete one lap for the win."
"Ah, I don't know Doc, this all sounds a little crazy. Shouldn't we set up the car just in case anything goes wrong?"
"It's OK Marty, I've already thought of that. This is what I've done to her. I've put on some sports suspension and lowered her and added a full transmission upgrade, setting the top speed to 129mph. I then dropped in a sports ECU and fitted a racing exhaust plus removed the catalytic converter just so that she didn't sound like a vacuum cleaner. I then put some ballast in for a 48/52 split, but bear-in-mind she does now weigh 1368Kg. Oh, and I upgraded the tyres to sports mediums as I'm not sure how the sports softs might wear during the time travel. I also took out that lame 1980s tape deck and dropped in an iPod doc!"
"What's an iPod doc, Doc?"
"Don't ask Marty, there's no time. To the DeLorean!"
"And why's our car an '04 when they stopped making them in 1982?"
"TO THE DELOREAN MARTY!!!"
Car: DMC DeLorean S2 '04
HP: 223
PP: 417
Weight: 1368Kg
Mods: Check with the Doc
Power Level: 100%
Tyres: SM
All aids off. ABS 1. DFGT wheel.
Grid #1:
1. GTO 5.7 Coupe '04
2. Mustang GT '05
3. Prowler '02
4. GNX '87
5. Challenger R/T '70
6. Mustang SVT Cobra R '00
7. Marty McFly
8. Camaro SS '10
9. Corvette Z06 (C5) '04
10. Corvette Z06 (C5) '00
11. Cuda 440 Six Pack '71
12. Camaro SS '69
Lap 1: Marty launches down the main straight and the SS '10 steams past him on the outside. He hits 88mph and… nothing! "Doc! Doc! Something's gone wrong!" "Great Scott! I'm sorry Marty, you're on your own now. Just you against the rabbits." He carries on accelerating and manages to out-brake the two Corvettes and run round the outside of the SS '10 to reclaim 7th (standard manoeuvre he learnt from axletramp). Very wobbly under braking, especially on cold tyres, so he quickly adds a bit of front bias on the McFly. He continues to tackle the field and end lap 1 in 2nd place -1.2 secs behind the leading GTO.
Laps 2 to 10: On lap 2 the Prowler takes up 2nd spot and as Marty drops into the mid 1:43s and starts to slowly open a gap of almost a second a lap. By staying consistently within half a second of his lap times he opens a gap of 10 seconds by lap 10 with the dangerous SS '10 and Z06 '04 still down in 4th and 5th respectively. Tyres are feeling good and being out front helps him protect them for later. For the record Doc notes that he's hitting about 110mph at the end of the main straight.
Laps 11 to 20: Still keeping smack in the middle of the 1:43s and by lap 15 Marty has a lead of about 11 seconds back to the Prowler. As expected the following pack has now bunched up behind the Prowler in the following order: Marty, Prowler, Challenger R/T, SS '10, Z06 '04, Z06 '00, and the rest. This gap remains constant now as he's running 1:44s dead (lap 16: 1:44.038, lap 17: 1:44.58, lap 18: 1:44.002, lap 19: 1:44.024, lap 20: 1:44.014
) and the pack are matching him. He laps the Cuda 440 on lap 19 and at the end of lap 20 is 15 seconds ahead with the chasing pack still in the same order.
Laps 21 to 30: More of the same for Marty but he'd like a bit more as he knows the SS '10 and Z06 '04 will beak through soon and start hitting the 1:41s. On lap 26 he's 25 seconds ahead but notices that the Challenger R/T has been taken by the SS '10 and the Z06 '04 meaning that he only has the Prowler as his last line of defence. He's now in the mid 1:44s and the pack are running a second a lap slower. And there it is, at the Corkscrew on lap 27 the SS '10 finally passes the Prowler… and Marty's last lap was a 1:45!
He also has three backmarkers on his nose which is going to slow him down. He ends lap 30 now 22 seconds ahead of the chasing SS '10 and Z06 '04 who are running over a second a lap faster than him even though he's upped his pace back into the high 1:43s. Tyres look and feel OK so Doc aims for a one-stopper on lap 45.
Laps 31 to 45: The relentless chase continues and Marty continues to give up around a second a lap. All is under (reasonable) control until on lap 33 he encounters a group of four backmarkers and chases them up the hill to the Corkscrew. He makes a clean pass on the first one (double-lapping the Cuda 440) but the Cuda does the usual thing and decides that 2 goes into 1 and side swipes Marty onto the gravel. He pulls a full 360 and manages to bounce across the grass and rejoin the track after turn 9. "Doc! Doc! Did you see that!". The whole incident costs him around 10 seconds - seconds he badly needs. By lap 35 he's only 6.5 seconds ahead and lapping 3 seconds slower than the SS '10. Not good. On lap 36 the gap is 4 seconds and on lap 37 it's 2.5 seconds. If he can only hold them up until he pits on lap 45! Come on crazy 80s time machine car, hold it together!
On lap 38 Marty crosses the line just 1.4 seconds ahead and lapping the GTO. And here's where he gets completely mugged again. As usual he takes the outside line into turn 2, but that's not enough for the GTO who, although Marty's made the pass and is cautiously staying wide, still decides that's not good enough and taps Marty's rear quarter and sends him sliding down the pit lane backwards at over 100mph! The evidence which Doc passed to the stewards after the race:
Exhibit A: The Attack!
The end result - That's one hell of a lot of tyre smoke!
Marty's tyre smoke!
As a consequence the SS '10 and Z06 '04 cruise past and he loses the chance to fight them and hold them up. Charming.
They soon set about pulling away and by the time he pits on lap 45 for new SM tyres and 20 litres of fuel (the Doc said 22 litres but Marty knew better and wanted to minimise his pit time) he's 13 seconds down in 3rd. For the record his tyres were down to 67% front and rear but this car doesn't drive well on worn tyres.
Laps 46 to 50: Marty rejoins the race 44 seconds down but still in 3rd ahead of the Prowler and Challenger R/T. He gradually closes that down to 41 seconds by lap 50. He's just willing them to pit as late as possible so that he can close the gap and they have less time to chase him down later. He hits my fastest lap of 1:42.989 on lap 49 trying to push on.
Laps 51 to 60: Dammit! The SS '10 pits on lap 52 leaving Marty just 36 seconds behind the now leading Z06 '04. If only he hadn't been tagged by those two backmarkers he'd now be within striking distance of 1st place. The SS '69 pits on lap 54 as does the Prowler who rejoins just ahead of him, albeit a lap down. He must get ahead of him because that means the Prowler will be be on good tyres but between Marty and the chasing SS '10 and hopefully he can hold him up a bit. So he gets his head down and chases the Prowler hard, harassing him at every opportunity. He gets by him on the very next lap - phew!
The Z06 '04 pits on lap 56 just 30 seconds ahead of Marty and rejoins back in 3rd handing him the lead. By lap 60 he's only 8 seconds in the lead with the SS '10 and Z06 '04 nicely bunched up behind the Prowler, but all of them are matching Marty around the 1:44 mark. He's fully aware that he's in jeopardy should they get past any time soon.
Laps 61 to 70: And on lap 62 that's exactly what happens. By Lap 65 they're on him and all of us cross the line with only 2 seconds covering the top three. Marty's only mission here now is to keep these two behind him for as long as possible. At first this is quite comfortable. The only real sniff the SS '10 can get is the run to turn 5 and up the hill to the Corkscrew. By making sure he positions his car on the inside the Camaro doesn't go for it and Marty can open up lead at the end of the lap to keep him at bay. This works well and by lap 70 it's a bit of a stalemate even though their lap times are down in the mid 1:44s.
Laps 71 to 80: Then the inevitable happens on lap 71. Marty's slow out of turn 4 and the SS '10 gets a run on him. As they approach turn 5 Marty takes the defensive inside line and - yes you guessed it - the SS '10 decides he can drive through him and taps his rear quarter! The next evidence the Doc takes to the stewards after the race:
Exhibit B: Note Marty's track position and angle of the SS '10's front wheel. Hmm?
And the end result. We rest our case.
Unbelievable! That knocks Marty off the track and the SS '10 and Z06 '04 sail through leaving him 3rd. That's the second time he's been taken out (third time overall) and had the opportunity for a good scrap taken away. Really mad now!
But all he can do is dust himself down and aim for a podium. On lap 73 he sees that the Z06 '04 has taken the lead from the SS '10, probably as a result of Marty holding them up and giving him the opportunity.
On lap 75 the Challenger R/T, who's been matching Marty for a while, grabs the opportunity to un-lap himself… and he drops to 4th…. wait! WHAT?! In all that fighting the Challenger R/T and Z06 '00 have crept up on him! OK, the race for the podium is really on here! By lap 80 he's only 4 seconds ahead of the 4th placed Challenger R/T with a yellow flash of a Corvette not far behind. Luckily he's been holding this gap for a while now and is quite comfortable on these tyres. Lap times are low 1:44s. Marty is now 47.5 seconds behind the leader and dropping 2 seconds a lap.
Laps 81 to 90: The Challenger R/T and Z06 '00 keep him very honest and the gap yo-yos from 4 to 6 seconds, but Marty's in control now and that podium is in sight. He crosses the line to finish 1:10.475 behind the leader in 3rd place but only 11 seconds ahead of the 4th placed Challenger R/T who's had a good run.
Finishing order:
1. Corvette Z06 (C5) '04 ………. 2:36:45.840 (F/L 1:40.423)
2. Camaro SS '10 04 …….....…. 2:36:57.918 (F/L 1:40.680)
3. Marty McFly ………............. 2:37:58.098 (F/L 1:42.989)
4. Challenger R/T '70 04 ………. 2:38:09.231 (F/L 1:43.040)
5. Corvette Z06 (C5) '00 ....…. 2:38:14.899 (F/L 1:42.383)
6. Prowler '02 ……….............. +1 lap (F/L 1:44.015)
7. Camaro SS '69 ……........…. +1 lap (F/L 1:43.541)
8. Mustang SVT Cobra R '00 …. +2 laps (F/L 1:44.952)
9. GTO 5.7 Coupe '04 ……...…. +2 laps (F/L 1:445.961)
10. GNX '87 ………................. +3 laps (F/L 1:46.499)
11. Mustang GT '05 ……......…. +3 laps (F/L 1:46.433)
12. Cuda 440 Six Pack '71 ……. +5 laps (F/L 1:49.129)
Conclusion
Well, the rabbits certainly turned up for this one. Once they were past Marty knew that the win had gone (he knew before that tbh), but at least the fight for third place proved fun. It actually turned out to be a very entertaining, much more satisfying than a walk-over victory. If Marty hadn't been maliciously taken out a few times then he could have made it more difficult for the rabbits, but even then he still wouldn't have won. It's a shame the SS '10 took him out and passed him the way he did as he could have held him and the Z06 '04 off for a few more laps at least and that tense battle was confined to the files of 'what could have been'.
The DeLorean is actually OK. Adjusting the ballast makes a huge difference to the understeering problems this car suffers from but she was always a bit squirmy and unsettled in the braking zones. Marty (and I) prefer cars to be completely planted as we hit the anchors and there was always a slight element of the unknown with this one, especially when wheel-to-wheel. But he managed to keep her consistent and the difference between a fast lap and an in-lap on worn SM tyres was only about 3 seconds - not bad really. Against another gird without any rabbits she would have won comfortably, but ultimately she just didn't have the grunt to take on the big boys and win.
Next up: A hoverboard at Grand Valley.