- 10,557
- Columbia, MD.
- Parnelli_Bones
So I've been dreading some of the Endurance races in GT4, and haven't done any of them except the shorter ones: Grand Valley 300 km, Laguna Seca 200, and Tokyo R246. Since GT5 is out, I made a pact to finally finish the rest of the enduros.
Last nite I decided to try to see if I could tackle Suzuka 1,000 km. To be honest, I've been having some strange health issues. It might be carpal tunnel, I'm not sure. I'm 44 now. The last time I did the GT World Champion (last week) I used the AMG Benz CLK-GTR. Some time during each of the events, it was weird, my hands started going to sleep! They got this numb feeling. But I managed wins in most of the GTWC.
So that's another reason I was dreading these longer endurance races. Well last nite I decided I would try to tackle Suzuka.
I got a red '96 Nissan 240SX fastback, and tweaked it up fully with Stage 5 power, so it was making 436 hp. Turns out, I this was just slightly too little power for the race. Early on, the 240SX couldn't even keep up with the 5th place car. And it sucked because I got this car handling PERFECT (with some help from Leonidae).
Well, tonite, I decided to shop around, and came across the '02 Mazda RX-7 Spirit A Type R. I knew this car has near-perfect handling, so I began to think maybe I could somehow get B-spec to also drive during the race, and thereby save me some pain.
I realize it's 2010, GT5 is out, and I'm getting into all this very late, but I wanna finish those endurances anyways. Anyways, I came up with a game plan..
1). I would look up the average car's power/weight ratio in the race (turns out it's about 5.10) and power my car similarly. This way, B-spec would be able to keep up (theoretically) with the JGTCs and DTMs.
I gave the RX-7 Stage 3 weight. Turns out, this put it at about 2,375 pounds. I wanted the car to weigh about 2,400 pounds even, so I multiplied 25 by .453, which equals just over 9.something kg of ballast, so I added 10. With this weight, I calculated I should have roughly 465 horsepower.
I also equipped a Stage 5 turbo (472 horsepower) but no other parts. Turns out, this was a little too much over the long run, and I did overkill the race a tad, but live and learn.
...normally when I do a race A-spec, I'll underdog my car. I didn't want to do this with Bob at the wheel, for obvious reasons.
2). Since the RX-7 Spirit A handles relatively well, I figured this would also help B-spec in the long run. I also borrowed suspension, brake, and LSD tuning from Mad Finn's Mazdaspeed RX-7 Spirit A type R
which turned out perfect for this car on this track. But I kept the tranny stock.
3). I drove first. Fought traffic, and got a nice lead of about 12 seconds. The RX-7 was on R1 tires, and I did about 13 laps before the first pitstop. When Bob got behind the wheel, I gave him some R2 tires instead because I figured he would definitely fall way behind if he was on the hardest racing tires.
4). And I just kept switching. I'd drive, then he'd drive. R1 tires, R2 tires. Some times I'd get this huge lead, hand it over to Bob, and he'd be fighting traffic. After awhile I was (of course) sweating a little. Jeez, don't screw up!
5). Out of desperation, I started notching up B-spec's speed from 3 to 4, because the 2nd-place Supra was right on the RX-7's bumper at one point! Finally I figured out I could actually just leave the speed on 4. Bob's skills are good enough!
6). The only time I notched the speed down to 3 was if the car's tires were either fresh and cold, or he was a lap away from needing fresh rubber. I figured I'd play it safe just in case Bob screwed up. But he never did.
So we actually became a team! Lol. After awhile, B-spec even was driving better than I was to be honest. Yes, my lap times were faster on harder rubber, but over the 172-lap race, I did make a litany of small mistakes, and had one huge spin into sand at one point; wheras Bob kept a slower pace and NEVER got off-track.
I thought I'd never say it, but I'm finally proud of B-spec Bob! This race was 6 hours (would have been longer if I hadn't sped up some of Bob's laps). Can't wait to do the Nurburgring 4-hour.
Last nite I decided to try to see if I could tackle Suzuka 1,000 km. To be honest, I've been having some strange health issues. It might be carpal tunnel, I'm not sure. I'm 44 now. The last time I did the GT World Champion (last week) I used the AMG Benz CLK-GTR. Some time during each of the events, it was weird, my hands started going to sleep! They got this numb feeling. But I managed wins in most of the GTWC.
So that's another reason I was dreading these longer endurance races. Well last nite I decided I would try to tackle Suzuka.
I got a red '96 Nissan 240SX fastback, and tweaked it up fully with Stage 5 power, so it was making 436 hp. Turns out, I this was just slightly too little power for the race. Early on, the 240SX couldn't even keep up with the 5th place car. And it sucked because I got this car handling PERFECT (with some help from Leonidae).
Well, tonite, I decided to shop around, and came across the '02 Mazda RX-7 Spirit A Type R. I knew this car has near-perfect handling, so I began to think maybe I could somehow get B-spec to also drive during the race, and thereby save me some pain.
I realize it's 2010, GT5 is out, and I'm getting into all this very late, but I wanna finish those endurances anyways. Anyways, I came up with a game plan..
1). I would look up the average car's power/weight ratio in the race (turns out it's about 5.10) and power my car similarly. This way, B-spec would be able to keep up (theoretically) with the JGTCs and DTMs.
I gave the RX-7 Stage 3 weight. Turns out, this put it at about 2,375 pounds. I wanted the car to weigh about 2,400 pounds even, so I multiplied 25 by .453, which equals just over 9.something kg of ballast, so I added 10. With this weight, I calculated I should have roughly 465 horsepower.
I also equipped a Stage 5 turbo (472 horsepower) but no other parts. Turns out, this was a little too much over the long run, and I did overkill the race a tad, but live and learn.
...normally when I do a race A-spec, I'll underdog my car. I didn't want to do this with Bob at the wheel, for obvious reasons.
2). Since the RX-7 Spirit A handles relatively well, I figured this would also help B-spec in the long run. I also borrowed suspension, brake, and LSD tuning from Mad Finn's Mazdaspeed RX-7 Spirit A type R
which turned out perfect for this car on this track. But I kept the tranny stock. 3). I drove first. Fought traffic, and got a nice lead of about 12 seconds. The RX-7 was on R1 tires, and I did about 13 laps before the first pitstop. When Bob got behind the wheel, I gave him some R2 tires instead because I figured he would definitely fall way behind if he was on the hardest racing tires.
4). And I just kept switching. I'd drive, then he'd drive. R1 tires, R2 tires. Some times I'd get this huge lead, hand it over to Bob, and he'd be fighting traffic. After awhile I was (of course) sweating a little. Jeez, don't screw up!
5). Out of desperation, I started notching up B-spec's speed from 3 to 4, because the 2nd-place Supra was right on the RX-7's bumper at one point! Finally I figured out I could actually just leave the speed on 4. Bob's skills are good enough!
6). The only time I notched the speed down to 3 was if the car's tires were either fresh and cold, or he was a lap away from needing fresh rubber. I figured I'd play it safe just in case Bob screwed up. But he never did.
So we actually became a team! Lol. After awhile, B-spec even was driving better than I was to be honest. Yes, my lap times were faster on harder rubber, but over the 172-lap race, I did make a litany of small mistakes, and had one huge spin into sand at one point; wheras Bob kept a slower pace and NEVER got off-track.
I thought I'd never say it, but I'm finally proud of B-spec Bob! This race was 6 hours (would have been longer if I hadn't sped up some of Bob's laps). Can't wait to do the Nurburgring 4-hour.
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