Nurburgring 4hrs! (Stock Honda S2000 Type-V '01)

[Smallhorses]

My 1st GT4 Enduro write-up, finally!
Since there's apparently over 170 turns on the Nurburgring, saying "I passed xxxx at Turn 125" would be folly, so here's a link to a map for those of you (like me when I started!) that don't know all the names of the turns and checkpoints!
Nurburgring Map (Thanks Flerbizky!)

Honda S2000 Type V '01 6.2Mile Used. According to selling screen data, it has 243HP and 1260kg. WPR of 5.185kg/HP. Using Sports Hard (S1) tyres.

vs.

Mitsubishi Evolution VIII MR GSR '04
Clio Renault Sport V6 Phase 2 '03
Mazda RX-8 Type S (J) '03
Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport (C4) '96
BMW M Coupe '98

for 175 A-spec points. 👍

Lap 1 Passed M Coupe before Hocheichen. Ran wide at Adenaur Forst and ruined my line through the tight chicane. Recovered to catch and pass the Corvette by Schwalbenschwanz, although straightline speed takes him back past on the long straight, I caught his draft and take him again into Hohenrain Schikane. Finish the lap in 4th place right behind RX-8 and 3.7s behind the leading Evo VIII.

Lap 2 Passed RX-8 before Hocheichen & pulled away. Catching Evo VIII & Clio, gap 2.6s at CP1. Then all goes pear shaped. Forgot about previous mistake at Adenaur Forst & repeated it . Passed by RX-8 & Corvette. The Clio gets past the Evo VIII and pulls away. Also had an awful moment through Wippermann and lost more time. Bit of paint exchange with Corvette into Schwalbenschwanz, but he comes out ahead. Able to draft him down straight though. Finish lap in 5th place 12.5s behind Clio. 💡 Must be cleaner! 8'21.448 Lap

Lap 3 Passed Corvette into Arembergkurve. Got Adenaur Forst right this time! Clio is still pulling away. Uneventful lap until I made a mess into Schwalbenschwanz and lost some time. Finish lap in 4th place, 22s behind Clio. 8'15.610 Lap

Lap 4 Pass RX-8 out of Exmuhle, but he gets his nose to my tail and causes me to wobble badly down Lauda Links,and moves back past before Bergwerk. Git . RX-8 & I are closing on the Evo VIII through the series of curves after the Karussell. We've been gaining on the Clio this lap, the gap is 18s at CP after Wehrseifen , suspect he's having tyre trouble.
Then, wait a minute.... there's a huge dust cloud on the outside of Brunnchen, and 3 of us in close succession pass by the Clio who is facing the wrong way in the sand! The Evo VIII must had collided with him as he spun, or something as he's exiting the bend slowly and the RX-8 passes him, & I'm on his tail out of Eiskurve. I see why it initially took the Clio a while to pass the Evo VIII now. He's a mobile roadblock! Uses all the track completely making very difficult pass cleanly. Back off to avoid contact several times and eventually go by out of Galgenkopf, whereupon he promptly motors by on the straight and I'm back down to 3rd. Pit in close behind Evo VIII at the end of lap 4. Take on tyres but no fuel. Corvette moves into 2nd. Clio also pits.

Lap 5 Start out in 4th place. Pass Evo VIII just before Adenaur Forst, and see a split of +32s to RX-8. Gap climbs to +34s, but drops to 31s at Dottinger Hohe checkpoint, and the message flashes that the RX-8 is pitting. Finish lap in 3rd place, 8'23.522 outlap. M coupe also pits at end of his 5th lap.

Lap 6 Started lap ~26s back on 1st placed Corvette. Am within sight of RX-8 by Arembergkurve and a hair over 24s back from Corvette. His tyres must be starting to glow! Pass RX-8 out of Galgenkopf, but predictably end up drafting him down the straight as his superior HP takes him past . Gap to Corvette is 21s at Dottinger Hohe. Corvette pits from the lead. Finish lap in 2nd place, 8'18.553 Lap.

Lap 7 Pass RX-8 between SchwedenKreuz and Arembergkurve, have a 0.5s lead at T2. Tidy enough rest of lap sees gap widen to 3s before falling to just 1.2s at finish line, again due to my straightline disadvantage. 8'15.355 Lap.

Lap 8 Pull away from RX-8 for a while before he catches and passes me on the long straight. Tyres are looking better than 1st set after 4 laps, probably due to lighter fuel load so, so I opt to stay out another lap. Finish lap in 2nd place, 0.4s behind RX-8. Evo VIII pits in. Clio also pits at the end of his 8th lap while I'm about 1'20 into my 9th lap.

Lap 9 Back past RX-8 before Hocheichen as fuel drops into the red. RX-8 stays behind, until AntoniusBrucke, when he hits my backend . He passes as I head for the pits. Tyres were all orange-red except right front which was lighter. Left rear tyre is the most worn. Take on new tyres and 50 units of fuel. Exit pits to begin lap 10 and I'm in 3rd place with Corvette visible away down the 1st hill.

Lap 10 24s behind RX-8 at T2. Maintain a fairly constant gap throughout the lap, at the end of which the RX-8 pits. Finish lap in 2nd place 4.2s behind Corvette. 8'17.998 Lap. M Coupe pits at the end of his 10th lap while I'm 2'05 into lap 11.

Lap 11 Great lap, shadowed Corvette round most of the lap getting closer & closer. Backed off to avoid collision at Sprunghugel and took 1st place cleanly with a lovely outbreaking manouever in the tighter 2nd part of Schwalbenschwanz, lead out on to the straight, and I don't need to tell you what happens next! Ok, I will anyway! 1s lead at Dottinger Hohe checkpoint turns to 1s deficit at AntoniusBrucke. Lap of 8'10.968! Finish in 2nd place, 0.6s behind Corvette.

Lap 12 Pass Corvette out of Hocheichen, side by side through Quiddelbacher Hohe but he backs off more than me for the Flugplatz and I pull away to post 1.7s lead after Arembergkurve. Stretched lead to 10.0s by AntoniusBrucke, and finish lap in 1st place, 8'11.361 Lap. Corvette pits from 2nd place. Mitsubishi also pits at the end of his 12th lap as I'm 45s into lap 13. Clio also pits at the end of his 12th lap as I'm 2'34 into lap 13. (so much for this little early leader!)

Lap 13 Momentarily distracted by the time-flash on the screen to say the 2nd placed Corvette was 43s back,(and trying to memorise the number for the write-up so I could pause at a convenient point! ) I took a grassbound excursion at Adenaur Forst, for no apparent reason. D'oh. Recovered to take the actual chicane on the track. Rest of lap is OK, except for largely sideways moment after Sprunghugel . Finish lap in 8'19.308 and take a 36.4s lead over the 2nd placed RX-8 (which has passed the Corvette) into Lap 14.

Lap 14 Got too much curb on fast left before Arembergkurve 👎 , spinning me out. RX-8 started lap around 36s back. By the time I pit at the end of an otherwise uneventful rest of the lap he's about 22s behind. Take on new tyres and 33 units of fuel. Exit pits in 2nd as RX-8 disappears down the hill in 1st place.

Lap 15 RX-8 pulls away as my tyres warm up. A 4.7s gap at Quiddelbacher Hohe has become 8.6s by AntoniusBrucke. I know he'll be pitting in. What's surprising is finding him reversing back onto the track in the sharp right just before the pit entrance (T13 Alte Einfart)! I pass into 1st place before he enters the pits. Finish lap of 8'25.427 in 1st place, gap of 3.9s to Corvette. M Coupe pits in at the end of his 15th lap while I'm 3'28 into lap 16.

Lap 16 Awful lap. Got in from work to continue race. Lose it at Arembergkurve again in much the same way as lap 14. Corvette closes and passes when I also get Metzgesfelt wrong too! Pass him back at Breidscheid. Predictably he's swarming all over me after Bergwerk and amazingly he avoids nudging me as the AI are prone to doing. He doesn't seem to want to pass either as I left the door open for him several times. We pass the Mutkurve checkpoint separated by only 0.14s! Pulled away as expected through the twisty section after Karussell to post a 3.6s lead at Dottinger Hohe, which drops to 1.6s at AntoniusBrucke. Awful lap ends in 8'22.878, nearly as bad as an outlap!!! Evo VIII pits at the end of his 16th lap while I'm 30s into lap 17. Clio also pits at the end of his 16th lap while I'm 2'00 into lap 17.

Lap 17 Start with 1.3s lead. Pull away to about 4.3s ahead by Sprunghugel, but too much kerb in one of the fast corners up towards Schwalbenschwanz leads to a wildly fishtailing ride down that part of the track and scrubs off a lot of speed. Corvette passed cleanly just before AntoniusBrucke, and I finish the lap in 2nd place in 8'19.653 with a 0.429s gap to 1st placed Corvette.

Lap 18 WOW! Gaps were +0.2s at Quiddelbacher Hohe (T1), +0.4s at Arembergkurve (T2), 0.2s at Adenaur Forst (T3), -0.1 at Breidscheid (T4), -0.9 at Kesselchen (T5), +0.1 at Mutkurve (T6), +0.4 at Hedwigshohe (T7), +0.2 after Eiskurve (T8), +0.09s approaching Schwalbenschwanz (T9), -1.6s at Dottinger Hohe (T10) and +0.09 at AntoniusBrucke (T11)! So there were 4 lead changes and amazingly only 1 bit of contact throughout the whole lap! (Just before Metzgesfeld, I gently ran in the back of the Corvette under braking, costing me more time than him.) A lot of backing off to avoid contact was done in the run up to Arembergkurve, and again in the twisty section after Karusell. Lap time of 8'22.714 reflects this. Corvette pits in from 1st place (but only just) to leave me the lead into the next lap.

Lap 19 Pit in at the end of a relatively uneventful lap. Was able to maintain a constant 20s gap to 2nd placed RX-8 for the 1st 1/2 of the lap, after which the back tyres are going red and things become more ragged. Backed off to avoid going off course and the RX-8 begins to gain, to within 12s by AntoniusBrucke. Pit in and take on tyres and 44 units of fuel.

Lap 20 Exit pits in 2nd place. Maintain pretty much constant 12s gap to leading RX-8 throughout the lap. RX-8 pits at the end of the lap and I go by into 1st again. 8'20.947 outlap. Much happier with this lap, must be settling back into the car and course again. Evo VIII pits at the end of his 20th lap while I'm 26s into lap 21. Clio also pits at the end of his 20th lap while I'm 2'19 into lap 21. M Coupe pits in too, at the end of his 20th lap while I'm 4'32 into lap 21.

Lap 21 Start lap 7.3s ahead of Corvette. Lap of 8'16.035 leaves 7.2s lead at the end.

Lap 22 Lap of 8'13.081 leaves a 9.6s gap to the Corvette in 2nd place.

Lap 23 Lap of 8'15.425 leaves a 10.9s gap to the Corvette in 2nd place.

Lap 24 Pit in from 1st place and a 19.6s lead. Take on tyres and 47 units of fuel. Corvette also pits. EVo VIII pits while I'm 50s into lap 25. Clio pits as I'm 2'54 into lap 25.

Lap 25 Exit pits as RX-8 rounds Hatzenbach to take 1st place, but only just behind him. Gap at Quiddelbacher Hohe is +0.167s in the RX-8's favour. He's getting very wiggly on worn tyres out of most bends around Wippermann and Eschbach. Take advantage of it an pass cleanly out of Eiskurve. He passes before AntoniusBrucke, but then gets really wiggly through Tiergarten and spins before Hohenrain Schikane. He's backwards on the grass as I slip by into 1st again. Backed off a lot to avoid collisions during this lap and its reflected in a lap of 8'23.380, although its not too shabby for an outlap. RX-8 pits in. M Coupe pits in at the end of his 25th lap while I'm 6'05 into lap 26.

Lap 26 8'13.347 lap leaves a 31.1s lead over Corvette.

Lap 27 New fastest lap of 8'09.642 which was shaping up to be 100% clean until I overcooked the entry to the Hohenrain Schikane and touched the grass with all 4 tyres. D'oh. Leaves a 36.6s gap over Corvette.

Lap 28 Penultimate lap by the looks of things as timer is 3:54'32.130 as I cross the line. Lap of 8'18.777 as tyres are yellow, and the last lap will be finished on worn out tyres that are going to be more or less red as I was due to pit in at the end of lap 29. I know also that the Corvette has 2 more laps out of his tyres, so they're bound to be in better shape than mine. I expect him to gain on me quite a lot! Evo VIII pits at the end of his 28th lap, I'm 1'32 into lap 29 at this point. Clio pits at the end of his 28th lap, I'm 4'01 into lap 29 at this point.

Lap 29 Last Lap. Start with 33.9s lead over Corvette, but since there's everything to lose and nothing to gain by pushing too hard I should take this lap easy-ish . End lap in about 8'23 something. As I pressed "start" to pause the game and record the time it cuts straight to the replay. D'oh! Disappointed I didn't find out the exact gap to the Corvette at the finish, but he was about 27s back at Dottinger Hohe.

Finished:-

1st Honda S2000 Type V '01 4:02'56.042 29 Laps
2nd Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport (C4) '96 29 Laps Approx 24s behind.
3rd Mazda RX-8 Type S (J) '03 29 Laps
4th Mitsubishi Evolution VIII MR GSR '04 29 Laps
5th Clio Renault Sport V6 Phase 2 '03 29 Laps
6th BMW M Coupe '98 29 Laps

200,000CR and a nice Chapparal 2D Race Car '67 for my efforts.
Overall I'm a little disappointed at my driving, and feel I should have been far more consistent & clean, but this has really helped me get on with the 'Ring.
Bring on the 24 hr Race!!!!

 

[RSCosworth]

Great write-up! Very in-depht. 👍
It seems like you had a great challlenge there. I almost used the S2000 too but then I went old-school with the Esprit. I shouldn't have done that, 'cause the race was pretty boring.
Enjoyed reading that, hope you write more!

 

[Smallhorses]

Thanks for the compliments. I'll be writing more when I find another suitably exciting race.
In the meantime I made an A-spec endurance companion to list lineups, points and pit strategies that I've used and the AI used in my A-spec races.
Hope it helps.

*Edit* I'm also creating an at-a-glance pit strategy guide for all 16 enduros.

 

[Grandmaster D]

Nice write up dude 👍

I used my Honda NSX Type S '01. I had great race until my B-Spec missed the pitlane and had to run an extra lap on bad tyres

So I had to take the lead again in the final lap

 

[Ram-Rod]

I really like how you put so much detail into it. When i was reading it i felt like i was at the race. Hope you have more write-ups like this one.

 

[puricele7e]

Hi there ,

Indeed the write-up was great !! I also used the S2000 (bought used with an oil change) and it was so much fun I think I'm gonna do it again

 

[daan]

Great write up.

I tried this race in a stock S2000 too, but I got blown away by an NSX. He was just to quick for me.

 

[Appie]

awsome man

 

[Smallhorses]

Great write up.

I tried this race in a stock S2000 too, but I got blown away by an NSX. He was just to quick for me.

Thanks daan 👍

Yeah, there's some cars to look out for when picking a lineup for this race, if you're entering in a car like the S2000 that has a power deficiency.
The Nurburgring 4hr has the largest variation of AI opponents, (27!) which you'll find listed here, some you should avoid, e.g. Honda NSXs, Lotus Elise, while some are red-herrings, they take off like a greyhound on steroids, but have a silly pit strategy that leads them to lose tonnes of time on their in-lap. e.g. Ford Focus (quick, but pits every 3 laps!), Renault Clio (quick, but always spins out every 4th lap at Brunnchen, costing himself the race!) and the Opel Speedster (seemingly quick, but goes for a 5 lap strategy that results in him completing lap 5 on red tyres and leaving the course at almost every bend! Didn't experience this one myself, but read in Fonce Diablo's report here. )

 

[PUER518]

i love gt4

 

[Snyp]

GJ man 👍

Nice write up, as usual.
But why do 175 pts while you could do 200 ?

+rep

 

[Smallhorses]

i love gt4

So do I, but that's not really relevant to the thread!

Nice write up, as usual.
But why do 175 pts while you could do 200 ?

This is an old report, my first in GT4. At the time I was restricted for cars to use in my garage, and I wasn't tremendously familiar with Nurburgring, so I opted for a challenging race with high points for fun.
I'm an oddball, I had a very unique strategy on racing, cars used and repeating races, which I won't go into here.

I did go back once I'd hit 100% complete, and took my 200 points.
You can read about that race here!

 

[Snyp]

I did go back once I'd hit 100% complete, and took my 200 points.
You can read about that race here!

Yeah, I read it... good report also 👍

 

[EJRocky]

Excellent report mate 👍

 

[AlfaAlfa]

I'm an oddball, I had a very unique strategy on racing, cars used and repeating races, which I won't go into here.

Do you mean had a strategy or have a strategy? Did you abandon your strategy or did it evolve? I'm curious as you seem to be an excellent driver and I often wonder why I only see you use stock cars.

Great write up (as always) 👍 :-)

 

[AMG.]

Do you mean had a strategy or have a strategy? Did you abandon your strategy or did it evolve? I'm curious as you seem to be an excellent driver and I often wonder why I only see you use stock cars.

Great write up (as always) 👍 :-)

Check out this thread https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/showthread.php?t=62070 and you'll know why he uses stock only.
And he only ever uses a car once. Ive got a huge respect for his ability. Too bad it doesnt rub off

AMG.

 

[Smallhorses]

Do you mean had a strategy or have a strategy? Did you abandon your strategy or did it evolve? I'm curious as you seem to be an excellent driver and I often wonder why I only see you use stock cars.

My strategy sort of evolved as I was going along.
Originally it started out being "no racing until every licence test is gold and all 34 missions are complete." Once I'd done that and started racing, I reasoned that since there are more than 700 cars to collect in GT4 and only 522 races, that I'd try and race as many cars as possible in hitting 100% complete.
I discovered the stock car thread soon after I began racing, and began to complete races in mostly stock cars with a view to submitting them to the list there. Since I'd decided to collect all the cars, it made sense to buy up all the used ones first, although there were a few new ones that were required to complete a few races. This is a pricey quest, and not helped by the fact that I hate wasting game days, and wanted to keep a fairly high win ratio.
I also set myself a task of not repeating any races or series until I'd hit 100%, which meant there was no gratuitous repetition of DTM to make cash. Since all my spare cash was going on buying used cars, there wasn't any left over for buying modifications in most cases (there were some exceptions, e.g. Speedster Cup where mods are necessary) and hence most cars had to be kept stock. I set myself the task of not using the same car more than once, unless it was entered in a series of races, or in a one-make race, e.g. Triumph Spitfire Trophy. This proved expensive when it came to Special Conditions hall too, since I had to buy a lot of dirt and snow tyres for various cars, rather than spending cash on tyres for one car and doing all the events!
Only if I didn't win all the races in a series, e.g. my first run through the Polyphony Digital Cup, did I go back and complete all the races again in a different vehicle.
This post shows my 100% complete screen with stats and a description of how many cars were used and what my next plans are.
Hope this makes some sort of sense.

I did it like this because so many others just seem to buy 1 car, win a race over & over to make money to modify it, tune it to the max and annihilate as many races as possible. Sometimes this is a good strategy, to join Famine's "1st of June Society" for example. But it just didn't suit me. Like I said, I'm an oddball!

 

[AlfaAlfa]

I admire your patience to set out on and complete such a long term undertaking in GT4. It's a good testament to the versatility of the game itself that it can accommodate such a wide variety of approaches (and abilities). The skill required to implement your strategy is amazing to me. Even with the experience I have now in GT4 I don't think I could do anything close to what you've done. I'm trying to imagine completing mission 34 before allowing myself to do any racing. Yet I'm pretty sure I get as much enjoyment out of the game as anyone, so I'm glad GT4 is versatile enough to keep us both happy. I appreciate all the info you've shared, especially here in the race reports forum where a good detailed read is always welcome!