I used a second-hand Jaguar XKR '99 for this and had a good fight - here's what I wrote about the action:
ENDURANCE HALL
Laguna Seca 200 Miles
All Tyre Types Permitted
National A Licence Required
Prize Money: 200,000cr
Prize Car: Ford GT40 Race Car ’69 (743,749cr)
Having been searching for a race in which to use a second-hand Jaguar XKR ’99, I have a feeling that this race might be possible to win in one.
My first port of call is, of course, hardware updates. I get all the suspension and transmission ‘bells and whistles’, including the Chassis Stiffening and take a Weight Reduction 1 to get the weight down to 1443KG (from 1640KG). I add a Sports Exhaust and Racing Chip along with 21KG of Ballast for a Power/Weight Ratio of 3.662.
I then take her to Free Run at Laguna Seca to try and dial her in. I was looking for laps in the 1’31 to 1’32 range but couldn’t get that speed reliably – however, I suspect that this is a driver problem rather than the cars fault.
The initial set-up was:
Brakes: 5/4
Springs: 7.6/6.4
Ride Height: 112/112
Damper Bound: 5/6
Damper Rebound: 8/9
Camber: 2.0/1.0
Toe: +1/+0
Stabilisers: 3/6
Gears: As Default except that Final adjusted to 3.670
LSD: 10/30/20
Weight: 21 @ 10
I try her against Grid 1: Pontiac GTO 5.7 Coupe ’04, Chevrolet Camaro SS ’00, Saleen S7 ’02, Ford GT ’05, Shelby Series 1 Super Charged ‘03
This is a 200 A-Spec race, which is kind of the point after all . Even with the Ballast off (still 200 A-Spec) I finished in third (a minute behind the Shelby and fifteen seconds behind the Saleen). The race time was 2’22’32.603. I ran a three pit strategy that obviously did not work (pitted laps 22,45.67). The cars handling was not good in race, with lots of understeer both under braking and under power.
Had a look at Grid 2: Corvette Grand Sport, Corvette ZR-1, Shelby Series 1 Super Charged, Calloway C12, Dodge Viper GTS.
The A-Spec value was only 176 even with the Ballast on and now I know what a monster the Shelby is I decide not to bother and to go back to testing.
After some track time I altered the set-up to:
Brakes: 5/4
Springs: 8.6/8.0
Ride Height: 112/112
Damper Bound: 5/5
Damper Rebound: 8/9
Camber: 2.0/1.0
Toe: +0/+2
Stabilisers: 4/5
Gears: Manually set 3.240/1.962/1.390/1.087/0.908 with Final of 3.760
LSD: 10/28/12
Weight: 21 @ 10
Go back to the circuit and have a look at Grid 3:
Fort GT, Corvette Grand Sport, Saleen S7, Mustang SVT Cobra R, Shelby Series 1 Super Charged
200 A-Spec race. Experimented with different power levels and got:
190 A-Spec with NA1 Tune and Racing Chip (431HP)
197 A-Spec with NA1 Tune and Sports Exhaust (423HP)
200 A-Spec with NA1 Tune only (419HP)
Running with the latter, I started on R1/R2 tyres, planning a four pit strategy (i.e. every eighteen laps). At the first pit I tried R2/R2 boots but found that the fronts wore too quickly. It would’ve required stopping every fifteen laps, needing an extra pit.
A very exciting race in that I was seldom at the front and when I was I usually had to pit shortly afterwards. Most of the time I was trying to chase down one or two cars ahead of me whilst fending off (cleanly) all comers from behind.
Nearing the end of the race, I’d resigned myself to the fact that I wasn’t going to win as I was not reeling in the Saleen quickly enough … then he pitted on lap 86! I think I took an extra half a lap of tyre wear off from the Corkscrew to the Start/Finish straight as I piled on as much as I could, throwing rubber-conservation to the four winds.
The feeling as the Place Number ticked to “1” was marvellous … and then the Lead Margin came up and I realised that the Shelby was right on me ! I was driving nervously now too, fluffing corners and braking points as I was petrified of overcooking it and ending up in the kitty litter. I stretched out the gap to twelve seconds in short order but then the Shelby started to chew into that. I was really sweating it, thinking I might hold him off but I wasn’t sure right up to the point that, without warning, the Shelby pitted in on lap 89 :faints:.
One lap to go and now I’ve got the Saleen breathing down my neck. Ten seconds lead, Eight seconds lead … my knuckles were white on the wheel as I aced the last half of the lap for the first time in an hour, screaming around the last turn with the wheels on the edge of letting go and piling over the finish line for a Race Time of 2’21’06.900. MoV 11.709. BL 1’30.105.
Finishing Order:
Pole - British Racing Green Jaguar XKR ‘99
2nd – Saleen S7
3rd – Shelby Series 1
4th – Ford GT
5th – Corvette Grand Sport
6th – Mustang SVT Cobra
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Asphalt Kannibals
Did somebody mention TVR's?
