- 6,977
- old-guy64
It has finally happened. I tackled the 100 lap endurance race at Tokyo R246.
I was up against the Raybrig NSX, Castrol Mugen NSX, Denso Sard Supra, Pennzoil Nismo GT-R, and the Loctite Zexel GT-R.
My ride was the Astra. Stage 1 NA upgrade, running on T2 tires.
Ran the qualifier to get a feel for the car, and to figure out what to do as far as playing with the tranny settings.
I qualified in third running in the 1'38's. The Raybrig NSX was on the pole with the Castrol Mugen NSX in the second position.
After qualifying I went to the garage and lowered the rear of the car, stiffened the rear springs a tad, lowered the rear stabilizers, and knocked the auto-wide slider down from 31 to 29 with the stock final drive ratio.
I was able to hit 170 on the front straight, which gave me a bit of an advantage there. The NSX's were tenacious in the corners evening things out a bit.
I was able to jump ahead in the first lap. (thought I was hot stuff, untill the Raybrig NSX passed me before we went in to the downhill section coming into the long straightaway.)
I had to be content with either following him for a while, or passing on the front straight. You know what I did. And I promptly paid for it by getting a swift bump in the tail at the first turn.
By lap 7 I was content to run on his quarter. My tires were only just turning green. Much to my suprise Raybrig pitted at the end of Lap 7, leaving the C.M. NSX breathing down my neck. Thankfully, it went in on lap 9. The Supra was more than ten seconds down, so I just settled into a groove and turned some good laps. My best being 1'36.348.
Supra went in at 15. I went in at 16 and to my suprize the C.M. NSX came in right behind me.
Thus it went for the rest of the race. I only lost the lead for a couple of minutes right around lap 90.
I had stopped on lap 88 to get my last set of tires, rather than risk stopping on lap 96, and not having enough time to catch up if I got passed.
When the Raybrig NSX passed me mid lap on 90, I got a little nervous. I ran side-by-side, and at his bumper, we even traded a little paint on the straight.
Finally on lap 92, mercifully, Raybrig has to pit. From there it was just a run to stay ahead till I got to the finish line.
Final Standings:
Astra: 168'10.912 (not real fast, but good enough to win
)
Denso Sard Supra: 168'32.762
C.M. NSX: 168'32.955
Raybrig NSX: 168'37.277
I only saw the GT-R's when I lapped them, and as I was trying to find a pen to write everything down I didn't see how far ahead of them I was.
What a race.
I was up against the Raybrig NSX, Castrol Mugen NSX, Denso Sard Supra, Pennzoil Nismo GT-R, and the Loctite Zexel GT-R.
My ride was the Astra. Stage 1 NA upgrade, running on T2 tires.
Ran the qualifier to get a feel for the car, and to figure out what to do as far as playing with the tranny settings.
I qualified in third running in the 1'38's. The Raybrig NSX was on the pole with the Castrol Mugen NSX in the second position.
After qualifying I went to the garage and lowered the rear of the car, stiffened the rear springs a tad, lowered the rear stabilizers, and knocked the auto-wide slider down from 31 to 29 with the stock final drive ratio.
I was able to hit 170 on the front straight, which gave me a bit of an advantage there. The NSX's were tenacious in the corners evening things out a bit.
I was able to jump ahead in the first lap. (thought I was hot stuff, untill the Raybrig NSX passed me before we went in to the downhill section coming into the long straightaway.)
I had to be content with either following him for a while, or passing on the front straight. You know what I did. And I promptly paid for it by getting a swift bump in the tail at the first turn.
By lap 7 I was content to run on his quarter. My tires were only just turning green. Much to my suprise Raybrig pitted at the end of Lap 7, leaving the C.M. NSX breathing down my neck. Thankfully, it went in on lap 9. The Supra was more than ten seconds down, so I just settled into a groove and turned some good laps. My best being 1'36.348.
Supra went in at 15. I went in at 16 and to my suprize the C.M. NSX came in right behind me.
Thus it went for the rest of the race. I only lost the lead for a couple of minutes right around lap 90.
I had stopped on lap 88 to get my last set of tires, rather than risk stopping on lap 96, and not having enough time to catch up if I got passed.When the Raybrig NSX passed me mid lap on 90, I got a little nervous. I ran side-by-side, and at his bumper, we even traded a little paint on the straight.
Finally on lap 92, mercifully, Raybrig has to pit. From there it was just a run to stay ahead till I got to the finish line.
Final Standings:
Astra: 168'10.912 (not real fast, but good enough to win
)Denso Sard Supra: 168'32.762
C.M. NSX: 168'32.955
Raybrig NSX: 168'37.277
I only saw the GT-R's when I lapped them, and as I was trying to find a pen to write everything down I didn't see how far ahead of them I was.
What a race.
