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The Grid: 150 a-spec points
TVR T350C 372hp, 1187kg
Chevrolet Corvette ZR-1 400hp, 1600kg
Callaway C12 461hp, 1480kg
Mercedes SL65 AMG 644hp, 2028kg
Lotus Espirit Sports 350 376hp, 1300kg
Ford Mustang GT 336hp, 1332kg
Tyre Rule
Each set of tyres (hard, medium, and soft) must be used for at least 25% of the race distance.
Laps 1-10
Start with hard sports tyres once again. There is a lot of place-swapping on the first lap. I work my way up to 3rd behind the Lotus and the TVR. The TVR has the honor of leading the first lap but the Lotus overtakes him at turn 1 at the beginning of lap 1 and then the TVR buries himself in the outside wall of turn 2 and drops down to 5th.
I battle with the Lotus before taking the lead on lap 4. I am comfortable for a couple of laps before he bumps me going into turn 2.
He gets through to the lead and gradually pulls away as his tyres have now warmed up. After 10 laps, he leads me by just over 3 seconds whilst the Callaway is some 25 seconds behind me.
Laps 11-20
The Lotus continues to edge away from me at about 0.5s a lap on average. I am faster than him around the 90 degree corners, but he blows me away on the straights. He takes 2 seconds away from me in the first sector alone. After 15 laps, he is some 7 seconds ahead. I am the first to blink on lap 19 as my front tyres are turning red and I have fulfilled my obligation on hard tyres. I change to mediums (no fuel needed) and rejoin in 2nd, wondering how long it will be before the Lotus pits.
My fastest lap on hard tyres was 1:49.515.
Laps 21-30
The Lotus laps the Chevrolet and Mercedes (who is the first AI to pit on lap 21) and continues on his merry way. Even though I am now on medium tyres, I can only gain about a second a lap on him. The TVR is next to pit on lap 22.
The Lotus finally pits on lap 25, crucially just one lap short of making it through the race with just 2 stops. Once again, like the Elise at El Capitan, he will have to stop on the penulimate lap. He resumes 7s up the road from me, but after lapping the Mercedes and Chevrolet I quickly catch up to him and sail by in the twisty section on lap 27. The Chev pits from a lap down on his 27th lap. The Callaway is the final A1 to pit on lap 29. I lap him and push hard to extend my lead.
Laps 30-39
I finally run out of fuel and pit on lap 34 with a 17s lead, resuming with fresh mediums about 10s behind the Lotus. A bad mistake at turn 2, when I slam into the wall after missing my brakeing marker, loses me more time. But I gradually make up ground and at the halfway point of the race, I am 6.8s behind the Lotus. This is shaping up to be a thriller!👍
Laps 40-49
I catch up to the Lotus on lap 41 but passing him proves to be an entirely different matter, since he is so fast down the straights.
He finally makes a mistake at turn 2 on the 45th lap, which allows me through into a clear lead. I extend my lead to about 8s but by this time my medium tyres are past their best, and my lead is reduced to 5s before I eventually pit on lap 50 for more fuel and a change to soft tyres. But, what's this?! The Lotus zooms into the lead again. He does not stop on lap 50 as scheduled but instead continues on for another lap before pitting. Thus, he can make it through the race on only 2 pitstops. I still have at least one more pitstop to do if I can manage an unlikely 13 laps from each stint on my soft tyres. If not, I have two more stops to make compared to the Lotus's zero.
Laps 51-60
The Mercedes, Chevoret, and Callaway are all lapped for the second time as I build up a substantial lead on soft tyres. After 60 laps, my lead is 40s, which means that I can almost keep the lead after a further two pitstops. But first I want to try to make it to lap 63 in order to make it through with just one more stop.
Laps 61-76
My front tyres go off horribly in the final two laps of my stint but I solider on and pit for the final time from a 32s lead on lap 63. I rejoin just in front of the Lotus! This is going down to the wire!!!
He is right on my tail but then I put the lapped Chevrolet in between us, which buys me about 5 seconds. Rather than write the final laps in prose, I will just show you my lap times and the gap back to the Lotus:
Lap 67: 1:48.635 (6.2s lead)
Lap 68: 1:48.078 (7.6s)
Lap 69: 1:48.318 (9.2s)
Lap 70: 1:48.036 (11.6s)
Lap 71: 1:48.360 (13.1s)
Lap 72: 1:49.014 (13.9s)
Lap 73: 1:50.017 (14.1s) (lapped the Mercedes for the third time)
Lap 74: 1:50.784 (13.2s) (the Mercedes pulls up alongside me going into turn 2 and almost spins me around. Black flag him!)
Lap 75: 1:52.940 (11.3s)
Lap 76: 1:56.059 (5.4s)
So, there you have it! A win by just over 5 seconds. My soft tyres just about held on, which in the end allowed my to make one less stop than originally planned. The Lotus, who had a race fastest lap of 1:48, just did not have the his earlier pace to challenge me in the final laps. A great race!
Final Result
Ford Mustang GT 2:21:10
Lotus Espirit Sports 350 +5.2s
TVR T350C +2 laps
Callaway C12 +2 laps
Mercedes SL65 AMG +3 laps
Chevrolet Corvette ZR-1 +3 laps
TVR T350C 372hp, 1187kg
Chevrolet Corvette ZR-1 400hp, 1600kg
Callaway C12 461hp, 1480kg
Mercedes SL65 AMG 644hp, 2028kg
Lotus Espirit Sports 350 376hp, 1300kg
Ford Mustang GT 336hp, 1332kg
Tyre Rule
Each set of tyres (hard, medium, and soft) must be used for at least 25% of the race distance.
Laps 1-10
Start with hard sports tyres once again. There is a lot of place-swapping on the first lap. I work my way up to 3rd behind the Lotus and the TVR. The TVR has the honor of leading the first lap but the Lotus overtakes him at turn 1 at the beginning of lap 1 and then the TVR buries himself in the outside wall of turn 2 and drops down to 5th.
I battle with the Lotus before taking the lead on lap 4. I am comfortable for a couple of laps before he bumps me going into turn 2.
He gets through to the lead and gradually pulls away as his tyres have now warmed up. After 10 laps, he leads me by just over 3 seconds whilst the Callaway is some 25 seconds behind me. Laps 11-20
The Lotus continues to edge away from me at about 0.5s a lap on average. I am faster than him around the 90 degree corners, but he blows me away on the straights. He takes 2 seconds away from me in the first sector alone. After 15 laps, he is some 7 seconds ahead. I am the first to blink on lap 19 as my front tyres are turning red and I have fulfilled my obligation on hard tyres. I change to mediums (no fuel needed) and rejoin in 2nd, wondering how long it will be before the Lotus pits.
My fastest lap on hard tyres was 1:49.515.Laps 21-30
The Lotus laps the Chevrolet and Mercedes (who is the first AI to pit on lap 21) and continues on his merry way. Even though I am now on medium tyres, I can only gain about a second a lap on him. The TVR is next to pit on lap 22.
The Lotus finally pits on lap 25, crucially just one lap short of making it through the race with just 2 stops. Once again, like the Elise at El Capitan, he will have to stop on the penulimate lap. He resumes 7s up the road from me, but after lapping the Mercedes and Chevrolet I quickly catch up to him and sail by in the twisty section on lap 27. The Chev pits from a lap down on his 27th lap. The Callaway is the final A1 to pit on lap 29. I lap him and push hard to extend my lead.
Laps 30-39
I finally run out of fuel and pit on lap 34 with a 17s lead, resuming with fresh mediums about 10s behind the Lotus. A bad mistake at turn 2, when I slam into the wall after missing my brakeing marker, loses me more time. But I gradually make up ground and at the halfway point of the race, I am 6.8s behind the Lotus. This is shaping up to be a thriller!👍
Laps 40-49
I catch up to the Lotus on lap 41 but passing him proves to be an entirely different matter, since he is so fast down the straights.
He finally makes a mistake at turn 2 on the 45th lap, which allows me through into a clear lead. I extend my lead to about 8s but by this time my medium tyres are past their best, and my lead is reduced to 5s before I eventually pit on lap 50 for more fuel and a change to soft tyres. But, what's this?! The Lotus zooms into the lead again. He does not stop on lap 50 as scheduled but instead continues on for another lap before pitting. Thus, he can make it through the race on only 2 pitstops. I still have at least one more pitstop to do if I can manage an unlikely 13 laps from each stint on my soft tyres. If not, I have two more stops to make compared to the Lotus's zero.Laps 51-60
The Mercedes, Chevoret, and Callaway are all lapped for the second time as I build up a substantial lead on soft tyres. After 60 laps, my lead is 40s, which means that I can almost keep the lead after a further two pitstops. But first I want to try to make it to lap 63 in order to make it through with just one more stop.
Laps 61-76
My front tyres go off horribly in the final two laps of my stint but I solider on and pit for the final time from a 32s lead on lap 63. I rejoin just in front of the Lotus! This is going down to the wire!!!
He is right on my tail but then I put the lapped Chevrolet in between us, which buys me about 5 seconds. Rather than write the final laps in prose, I will just show you my lap times and the gap back to the Lotus:
Lap 67: 1:48.635 (6.2s lead)
Lap 68: 1:48.078 (7.6s)
Lap 69: 1:48.318 (9.2s)
Lap 70: 1:48.036 (11.6s)
Lap 71: 1:48.360 (13.1s)
Lap 72: 1:49.014 (13.9s)
Lap 73: 1:50.017 (14.1s) (lapped the Mercedes for the third time)
Lap 74: 1:50.784 (13.2s) (the Mercedes pulls up alongside me going into turn 2 and almost spins me around. Black flag him!)
Lap 75: 1:52.940 (11.3s)
Lap 76: 1:56.059 (5.4s)
So, there you have it! A win by just over 5 seconds. My soft tyres just about held on, which in the end allowed my to make one less stop than originally planned. The Lotus, who had a race fastest lap of 1:48, just did not have the his earlier pace to challenge me in the final laps. A great race!
Final Result
Ford Mustang GT 2:21:10
Lotus Espirit Sports 350 +5.2s
TVR T350C +2 laps
Callaway C12 +2 laps
Mercedes SL65 AMG +3 laps
Chevrolet Corvette ZR-1 +3 laps
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