SUZUKA 1000 KM ENDURO EVENT (172 LAPS)
200 A-SPEC PTS
200 A-SPEC PTS
Here's my 2nd Enduro Race Report. I'm not very good in write ups so I'll keep it clean and simple. Hope you'll enjoy my report as much as I enjoy racing it
Since the S2000 has only 320 hp and I'll be up against 470+ hp Cars, I put on the NA Tuning Stage 3 to get it up to 400 HP.
The race still gives me 200 A-Spec
Plz comment.
You can even comment (read correct) my english here, I'd be glad to learn more on english writing and might be able to do a real write-up later on
MAP OF SUZUKA
LINE UP
2000 Ford Falcon XR8
OPEL ASTRA Touring Car '00
Mazda RX-7 LM Race Car '01
Toyota WOODONE Tom's Supra (JGTC) '03
Nissan CALSONIC SKYLINE GTR '93
Honda S2000 LM Race Car '01
HOUR 1 (Lap 1-30)
LINE UP
2000 Ford Falcon XR8
OPEL ASTRA Touring Car '00
Mazda RX-7 LM Race Car '01
Toyota WOODONE Tom's Supra (JGTC) '03
Nissan CALSONIC SKYLINE GTR '93
Honda S2000 LM Race Car '01
HOUR 1 (Lap 1-30)
6 cars on the grid, the engine reving to the max and then... Red are off and we all head through 1st Curve. I managed to take the inside and overtake both the Skyline and the Supra and arrived right on the tail of the Astra at 2nd Curve as the RX-7 took 2nd place behind the Ford Falcon.
Then, the RX-7 went a little wide enterring the last "S" curve opening the door for me... I didn't wait for him to slam it
and I overtook him by the inside giving me second place. The Ford Falcon seemed to be faster than the others in the beginning of the race while he had 2 seconds over me at the exit of Degner Curve.Later on, at the exit of the Casio Triangle, the Falcon went wide on the exit because he entered too fast into the named corner and I overtook him and took the lead by the end of lap 1.
Lap 2 to 8 were pulling away lap as I took over 12seconds over the Falcon. Lap 6 had been my first true reference time as I pulled out a lap of 2'04.021. I even recall to have thought it was going to be an easy race... Not really !
The RX-7 got finally rid of the Falcon and started to push harder and harder in order to catch me up as he came only 1.900 sec behind me on lap 10
I increased my pace and managed to pull a first lap record of 2'03.621 on lap 14. I then pitted in on lap 15 along with the RX-7 with a small gap of 3.477 second. I didn't fuelled up completly giving me an advantage of 3 seconds during the pit stop to pit out 6'844 in front of him.
During lap 16-18, I took approximatly 4 seconds over the RX-7 by being more agressive than he was on my cold tires and increased the gap to 10.635 seconds.
On lap 20, the SKYLINE pits out right in front of me but I managed to lap him at the Dunlop Curve while the gap between me and the RX-7 was of 13.652 seconds. On lap 26, I set up a new lap record of 2'03.220.
I then made a mistake entering too fast in Spoon Curve costing me approximatly 4 seconds to decrease the gap with the RX-7 down to 6.685 sec.
Now, at the end of lap 30, I pitted in ahead of the RX-7 by 7.143seconds.
(to be continued... After I come back from work
)HOUR 2 (Lap 31-60)
Hour 2 went pretty good in overall exept maybe for lap 41 to 45 where I had some difficulties dealing with my used tires and made few mistakes that costed me around 4 seconds in all.
At the beginning of this hour, on lap 31, I pitted out 9.818 ahead of the RX-7 and right after the Falcon who is 5th at the moment. I then pitted out 8.724 in front of the RX-7. Then I lapped the Falcon, on the same lap, outbraking him at the Hairpin Curve.
Later, on lap 55, I lapped the Astra Touring Car at the 2nd "S" of the "S Curve" while he went a little wide misjudging his speed. This mistake may be due to the fact that I've been on his tail for two laps putting pressure on him at every single corners
Then, on lap 57, I lapped the Skyline for the 2nd time while he was pitting. Him, being last.
In overall, I've had a good and steady hour running most of my laps under 2'03.600. I've even set a new lap record on lap 38 with a time of 2'03.134
Now, at the end of hour 2 on lap 60, I'm in pit while being 20.142 seconds ahead of the Mazda RX-7 LM Race Car. He, too, will be pitting on this lap. How much time will I be able to gain during this pitstop... God knows and Devil wonders
(To be continued...)
HOUR 3 (Lap 61-90)
Hour 3 went, again, pretty well in overall. I've increased the gap between me and the RX-7 and the Mazda is now the only car remaining on leader's lap (mine).
At beginning (can someone tell me how to spell that word) of lap 61, the Astra took back his lap while I was pitting and I then pitted out 22.450 seconds ahead of the RX-7.
On lap 62, I confirmed my lap over the Astra while he pitted in.
On lap 69, I lapped the WOODONE SUPRA at the entrance of S CURVES by being tighter than he was in my line.
Then, on lap 74, I've set a New Lap Record of 2'02.995 being under 2'03 for the first time
Lap 75 was my pitting as for the RX-7, I managed to pit in 26.815 seconds before the Mazda as the WOODONE took back his lap over me. I then pitted out 25.160 seconds ahead of the RX-7 for a net win of 1.1 second.
I then confirmed my lap over the WOODONE on lap 76 while he pitted in.
On lap 80, I lapped the Skyline (3rd time) while he pitted in. I then made a mistake at Spoon Curve while I entered to fast in the corner which send me into the sandtrap. This led to a New Worst Lap Record of 2'08.383 losing about 5 seconds to the RX-7 thus bringing the gap down to 27.397.
Then, on lap 84, I lapped the Falcon (2nd time) outbraking him at the Hairpin Curve.
On lap 85, I made a mistake again at Spoon Curve while I braked to late entering the corner causing another excursion into the sandtrap losing another 5 seconds and bringing the gap down to 27.693.
After that, on lap 86, I've set a New Lap Record of 2'02.851.
Now, on lap 90, I'm in pit with a lead of 32.155 seconds over the Mazda RX-7.
(To be continued...)
HOUR 4 (Lap 91-120)
Hour 4 went awesomely well !
I use in my advantage the fact that the RX-7 got stucked for a few laps behind 4 cars allowing to increase the gap ALOT.
At lap 91, I pitted out 33.806 sec ahead the RX-7. Later, on lap 95, I lapped the Skyline while he pitted in. As I continued my good driving even on cold tires (pull ing low 2'04's laps) I lapped the Astra just be before the Spoon Curve having used slipstream though 200R. It's only on lap 97 I realized that the gap between me and my only rival was now of 49.502 sec ! I then realized he was stucked in alot of traffic thus having 4 cars in front of him while I was all alone. I wanted to push a little harder in order to increase the gap and that has been my mistake. By doing this I made two mistakes through lap 98 and 101 costing me around 8 seconds in overall. The first one occured when I went wide exiting the second corner of Spoon Curve sending me again in the sandtrap
. The second one happened when I took 1st Curve way too fast which cause me to be unable to break in time for 2nd Curve thus sending me in the sandtrap.Then, on lap 103, I've set a New Lap Record of 2'02.810. Seem like this objective will be VERY HARD... What was I thinking ?!?
Lap 105 was our pitting lap for me and the RX-7, I pitted in 53.428 ahead while the Astra was taking back its lap from me. I pitted out 57.893 in front of the RX-7. I then confirmed my lap over the Astra while he pitted in on lap 107.
Lap 114 has been a "lapping lap". I lapped, at first, the Falcon at Dunlop Curve by the inside and then I lapped the Skyline outbraking him at Hairpin Curve.
Now I'm in pit, at lap 120, with a lead of 1'17.047 over the RX-7. This objective will be revised
(To be continued...)
HOUR 5 (Lap 121-150)
Hour 5 went very well, I've pulled out some very good driving and mostly consistancy. I've made only one mistake, but a big one that led to a New Worst Lap Record of 2'10.213... I hitted the inside curb of the 2nd curve of Spoon Curve on lap 147 which send me right in the sand trap just before the Back Stretch
Now, on lap 150, the RX-7 is 1'34.487 behind me and I'm now aiming on a MoV of 1 Lap without it being part of race objectives since it's near from impossible. There's 22 laps left so I need to approximately gain approximatly 30 seconds to reach my goal. It means I need to gain 1.364 seconds per lap. In order to achieve this, I have to stop making mistakes. Very hard goal here, especially on Suzuka wich is very tricky IMO.
But, with pain comes Glory
(To be continued...)
REVISED RACE OBJECTIVES
1- Bring down the average lap to 2'06.300 (-0.300sec)
2- Make one lap under 2'02.500 (-0.300sec) First was marely impossible
3- Having now a gap of 1'17 to work with I'll revise my objective. During the 3 first hours I won't close from 13 seconds per 30 laps. Based upon mathematical expectation, I should now win with a MoV of 1'39. This is without removing average loses due to mistakes. Those mistakes costed me around 8 sec per 30 laps. I'll remove 75% of them and add this time to the objective. This leads to a predicted MoV of 1'49.400.
STATS
BEST LAP : -------------------------- 2'02.810 (lap 86) 👍 -0.041s 👍
WORST LAP (w/o pitting laps) : ------- 2'10.213 (lap 147) 👎 +1.830s 👎
AVERAGE LAP (including pitting laps) : - 2'06.540 👍 -0.060s 👍 OBJECTIVE WON'T BE MET
RX-7's AND S2000 PITSTOPS : -------- 15 / 30 / 45 / 60 / 75 / 90 / 105 / 120 / 135 / 150 /
CURRENT STANDING
Honda S2000 LM Race Car '01 ------------- 5:16'34.200 ----- 150 Laps Completed
Mazda RX-7 LM Race Car '01 👍 +17.375s-+0:01'34.487 ----- 149 Laps Completed
Toyota WOODONE Tom's Supra (JGTC) '03 ----- +2 Lap ------ 147 Laps Completed
OPEL ASTRA Touring Car '00 ------------------- +3 Lap ------ 146 Laps Completed
2000 Ford FalconXR8 -------------------------- +4 Lap ------ 145 Laps Completed
Nissan CALSONIC SKYLINE GTR '93 ------------- +5 Lap ------ 144 Laps Completed
BEST LAP : -------------------------- 2'02.810 (lap 86) 👍 -0.041s 👍
WORST LAP (w/o pitting laps) : ------- 2'10.213 (lap 147) 👎 +1.830s 👎
AVERAGE LAP (including pitting laps) : - 2'06.540 👍 -0.060s 👍 OBJECTIVE WON'T BE MET
RX-7's AND S2000 PITSTOPS : -------- 15 / 30 / 45 / 60 / 75 / 90 / 105 / 120 / 135 / 150 /
CURRENT STANDING
Honda S2000 LM Race Car '01 ------------- 5:16'34.200 ----- 150 Laps Completed
Mazda RX-7 LM Race Car '01 👍 +17.375s-+0:01'34.487 ----- 149 Laps Completed
Toyota WOODONE Tom's Supra (JGTC) '03 ----- +2 Lap ------ 147 Laps Completed
OPEL ASTRA Touring Car '00 ------------------- +3 Lap ------ 146 Laps Completed
2000 Ford FalconXR8 -------------------------- +4 Lap ------ 145 Laps Completed
Nissan CALSONIC SKYLINE GTR '93 ------------- +5 Lap ------ 144 Laps Completed
