As seems to be becoming my habit of late, here are my notes from my run at this many moons ago:
BEGINNERS HALL
Lightweight K-Car Cup
Single Race
Cars Less than 3400mm Long Only
Normal or Sports Tyres
3000cr/Race Prize Money
No Licence Required
Driving Park Motorland (4 laps) Best A-Spec 152
Tsukuba (3 laps) Best A-Spec 126
Driving Park Beginner Course (7 laps) Best A-Spec 192
Finding eligible cars for this series is a pain. Here’s a shortlist of possibles (in dimensions at least):
Autobianchi A112 Abarth (Prize Car 71HP)
Daihatsu Copen Active Top (63HP)
Daihatsu Midget and Midget II D-Type ’98 (second hand 30HP)
Daihatsu Move CX ’95 (second hand 49HP)
Daihatsu Sirion CX 2WD (53HP)
Daihatsu Sirion X4 (120HP)
Fiat 500F and 500R (second hand 16 and 17HP)
Ginetta G4 (Prize Car 91HP)
Honda Beat ’91 and Version F (second hand 58HP) and Version Z (second hand with oil change 63HP)
Honda Life Step Van (Prize Car 31HP)
Honda S500 (second hand 40HP Prize Car 44HP)
Honda S600 (56HP)
Honda S800 (69HP)
Honda S800 Race Car (Prize Car 100HP)
Honda Today G ’85 (second hand 28HP)
Mazda Autozam AZ-1 (second hand 58HP)
Mitsubishi Minica Dangan ZZ ’89 (second hand 63HP)
Nissan Be-1 (second hand 47HP)
Nissan Pao (second hand 46HP)
Subaru 360 (New or Prize Car 16HP)
Suzuki Cappuccino EA11R and EA21R (second hand 58HP)
Suzuki Wagon R RR ’98 (second hand 63HP)
I have no notes from my first run at this but the A-Spec of 2 for the first race suggests I was a touch over-gunned
!
The grid for my second attendance of Motorland, in a stock second-hand Cappuccino EA21R, is as follows:
Suzuki Kei Works ’02, Suzuki Cappuccino EA21R ’95, Daihatsu Copen Active Top ‘02, Honda Beat Version Z ’93, Nissan Pao ’89
Took a narrow 48 A-Spec victory. The car would obviously benefit from having it’s chassis refreshed and some upgrades in the handling and transmission departments but it seems quite nippy in this crowd. Spend a fortune on her and go to Tsukuba.
Grid: Suzuki Alto Works Suzuki Sport Ltd, Honda Beat Version F ’92, Suzuki Wagon R RR ’98, Suzuki Kei Works ’02, Mazda Autozam AZ-1 ’92.
A-Spec 50. MOV 9 seconds over the Beat Version F. That gives me some lee-way for points acquisition. Add 200KG Ballast. A-Spec 82. MOV 2.4 seconds. Drop tyres to S1’s. A-Spec 89. MOV 0.5 seconds. Drop tyres to N3’s. A-Spec 103. MOV 4 seconds … I think the Beat and the Suzuki Sport got in each others way a bit but also the little Cappuccino handles very well on N3 tyres. Drop grade to N2. A-Spec = 118. Can’t quite do it; MOL 0.4 seconds, primarily because of loss of traction in the final turn. Try stiffening the Bound on the Dampers to 4/4. That made things worse. Try 2/3 and reduce Rear Rebound to 6. Better but the Sport is failing to hold up the Beat now so I can’t win. Try three times with the same result. Leave it for now.
Beginner Course. Same set-up as before. Grid: Mazda Autozam AZ-1 ’92, Mitsubishi Minica Dangan ZZ ’89, Suzuki Kei Works ’02, Suzuki Wagon R RR ’98, Honda Beat ’91.
A-Spec = 102. MOV 0.8 Seconds as it’s hard to get past all the AI here.
Back to Motorland for another go now that I’m more used to the car and it has been fettled a touch. Grid:
Honda Beat Version F ’92, Honda Beat ’91, Daihatsu Copen Active Top ’02, Suzuki Wagon R RR ’98, Suzuki Kei Works ’02
A-Spec = 99 but the Copen messed up my run, plus the handling was not sharp here with the reduced dampers. Put back to 4/4 7/7. Nope can’t catch the Beats when they start from the front. Change the grid:
Suzuki Cappuccino EA21R ’95, Nissan Pao ’89, Suzuki Wagon R RR ’98, Mitsubishi Minica Dangan ZZ ’89, Honda Beat Version Z ’93
A-Spec = 97 but can’t beat the Cappuccino. Need a grid that has the rabbits near the back. Got a 97 A-Spec win vs a grid that had the Beat Z on pole so it would seem that the ‘F’ is faster or drives worse (or I got a better race).
Took a 103 A-Spec with a grid that had the AZ-1 at the front and the Copen at the back. It was hard fought and I only won because the AZ-1 screwed up and went off in the last third of the last lap. Finishing order:
Me, AZ-1, Copen, Suzuki Alto Lapin Turbo ’02, , Suzuki Kei Works ’02, Daihatsu Cuore TR-XX Avanzato R ’97
The Cappuccino is really fun to drive, despite the low power and I may be tempted to do this series again just for the driving experience.
Try now with a Honda S500, tricked out with suspension and transmission upgrades and with some HP mods bought but not fitted. Oh dear, nowhere near good enough versus grid of:
Nissan Pao, Honda Beat Version Z, Mitsubishi Minica Dangan ZZ, Suzuki Alto Lapin Turbo, Suzuki Alto Works Suzuki Sport Ltd
The problem is very slow acceleration – try custom gearbox and some more power. That worked but only got me 103 A-Spec. Drop power to 43HP. That got me 136 A-Spec. Add 101 Ballast. A-Spec 152 but the Beat is hard to hold off. Just managed it on my third attempt. That’ll do for that one I reckon.
Tsukuba.
Grid: Suzuki Kei Works ‘02, Suzuki Cappuccino Ea21R ’95, Daihatsu Copen Active Top ’02, Honda Beat Version Z ’93, Nissan Pao ’89
Running as above, A-Spec = 164. Massively too slow, 5th by 19 seconds! Add back the Racing Chip and Stage 1 NA tune (52HP). A-Spec 125. Still can’t catch the Cappuccino which wins by 6 seconds. Drop Ballast to 1. It still wins by 3 seconds. Abandon the grid. A shame as without the Cappuccino starting where it does that could’ve been high scoring.
Grid: Suzuki Alto Works Suzuki Sport Ltd, Honda Beat Version F ’92, Suzuki Wagon R RR ’98, Suzuki Kei Works ’02, Mazda Autozam AZ-1 ‘92
110 A-Spec by 3 seconds thanks to the Sport holding up the Beat
. Add 101KG Ballast. The Beat got away and so no 126 A-Spec. Drop Ballast to 51. 118 A-Spec victory by 2.3 seconds. If the Beat can be held up I think I can do this with more ballast. Got him on the second time of asking with 101 Ballast and 126 A-Spec (thank you Suzuki Sport 
.
On to Beginner Course.
Grid: Mitsubishi Minica Dangan ZZ, Suzuki Kei Works ’02, Suzuki Wagon R RR ’98, Mazda Autozam AZ-1 ’92, Daihatsu Copen Active Top ’02
A-Spec with set-up as above = 129; massive victory by 10 seconds. Drop NA Tune, Exhaust and Chip (40HP). A-Spec 185. Got blocked and beaten up by the Kei so I finished second. Try again. Did it with MOV nearly 1 second. If I increase Ballast I fear that I won’t be able to sneak past and take the win in the chicane like I did before. Try 151KG Ballast. A-Spec = 192. Won by 2/10 second! For a laugh, try with maxed ballast. A-Spec = 198. Couldn’t do it MOL nearly 4 seconds – astounding for the addition of only 50KG Ballast . Still, pretty pleased with 192 and am happy to leave it at that.
A surprisingly fun series once I found the right car.
Set-up for the S500:
Racing Exhaust & Chip & Stage 1 NA Tune (52HP) or No HP Mods (40HP) depending on the race
S2 Tyres
Racing Brakes and Balancer
Racing Suspension
Racing Gearbox, 3-Plate Clutch, Racing Flywheel, Carbon Prop Shaft
Custom LSD
Brakes: 3/3
Springs: 4.0/3.6
Ride: 121/121
Damper Bound: 4/5
Damper Rebound: 7/8
Camber: 2.0/1.0
Toe: 0/0
Stabaliser: 6/6
AutoSet 4 @3.150
LSD: 10/45/17
Ballast: variable but always with a 0 Balance
Very nice notes, might actually use them myself to maximise my A-Spec points. 👍 Anyway, inuakki, well done, its actually a surprsingly fun little series! 
. Thanks for the kind words everyone 👍. After many years of playing GT in all it's incarnations, it has become my habit to keep detailed notes of races and tuning experiments. They're very useful both for helping others out and also for if you ever return to a series after a long time (letting you avoid making the same mistakes or "reinventing the wheel" 
