The Rome Enduro - The write-up.

[Der Alta]

2 Hour Passage to Colosseo – Enduro
I jumped in my RX-8 and headed to Rome. I added T2 tires and stage 1 lightweight to the others mods from a previous race. Which were Race suspension, Brakes, Race muffler and chip.

Settings:
Springs: F=8.6; R= 6.5
Ride Height: F&R=110 mm (bottomed out)
Camber at 3.3, 1.0
Toe at 0.0 and -0.5
ASM = 0; TCS= 0

Pit Schedule:
Me: Laps 24, 48 and 64
Clio V6: Laps 6, 12, 18, 24, 30 and so on.
Griffith: Laps 5, 10, 15, 20 and so on.
Puegot 206: laps 18, 36, 54
Fiat Coupe: laps 18, 36, 54
TT Quattro: Laps 20, 40 and 60

It was shaping up to be a good 3-way battle between the Griffith 500, The Clio V6 and I. However it changed to a 2-way when the Griffith pitted on the 5th lap.

I took the lead in lap 6.
I hit lap traffic on lap 14.

I was screwing around with the rugby so much that when I pitted on lap 48 the Griffith passed me. Which means I blew a 40 second lead. I regained the lead on lap 50 when it had to pit.

Two notes of inconsequence. I forgot to change my oil before the start…oil light showed up on lap 17. Also, I started my game of Road Cone Rugby on lap 14. Finished the game on the second to last lap (71). Lap 72, I cleaned the entire line of cones off the end of pit lane.

I had to take a gamble and pit on lap 64. My tires were almost orange, and I knew they wouldn’t last the 14+ minutes to the end. They looked to run about 10 more minutes, leaving me with 3 laps on red tires. The Griffith was less than 21 seconds behind me, and I needed to have enough laps to make up the difference after the pit. So instead of waiting until lap 71 to pit, I took the chance. The Griffith did pass me, but I was able to get out of the pits just 3 seconds behind him. I made it up that lap, only to have him pit on lap 65, putting me back into the lead.

Results:
Griffith 500: 73 laps (about 16 seconds)
Clio V6: 73 laps
206 S10: 70 laps
TT Quattro: 69 laps
Fiat Coupe Turbo: 69 laps

Best lap: 1’33.704
Total Time: 120’16.649
Average lap:

I didn’t realize until it was a split second too late, but I could have grabbed accurate times of the leader board.

I net 300,000cr and drive away in the Pagani Zonda Race car. With which I’ll devastate the Italian Avant-garde races.

Thoughts
This turned into a fairly good race. Close at the end, but as long as I ran good clean laps, I could take the win. Enjoyable, just sooooo lonnnggggg…

 

[Duke]

I've yet to try one of the 2-hour monsters, but I'm thinking Rome may be next, or Monaco (I know it's not timed, but it is l-o-o-o-o-n-g). Thanks for the writeup as always!

 

[quattro_bro]

Nice write-up Der Alta.

...Road Cone Rugby...

I think this will be my next race as well. I have been debating which car to use, leaning toward a faster European model. After seeing the field from your race though, I think I will perhaps go with a Clio, or maybe even a Fiat or Peugot.

 

[miata13B]

Excellent write-up. I think this is going to be the fourth endurance race that I will invovle myself in. I am thinking about going through this with my Spoon Sports S2000 after looking at the field and seeing my arch nemisis in there. The car should already be tuned for this, but I will have to run a few laps to make sure. I guess this will be my next conquest after finishing the spiders and roadsters. If you got any other suggestions on cars to use Der Alta, I would glady accept any tips.

 

[Der Alta]

Miata13B:

i attempted this in Two other cars. One, was my stock Evo VI. The one I used in the Trial mountain enduro. this one just couldn't keep pace with the Griffith and Clio. I know from entering/reentering, PD will change what cars you face. For instance I faced off against the BMW 328 in one test, and he didn't show up for the final.

A stock CLK55 will make the win. check out the link to Mustang-man's website as he has detailed info about this race as well.

I think that any car with 300+hp stock, maybe even 250hp will have a good shot at winning.

AO

 

[miata13B]

Coolness, I am going to attempt this with the spoon sports then with stock HP. It will be an interesting one to see. I figure as long as I am less then 1.5 seconds off the lead in qualifying I should be able to beat the computer with pit strategy. We will see, and hopefully I can finally get to the Last race on Spiders and roadsters tonight. I have been working on a '89 240sx, dropping a new engine into it and have had no time to play GT.

 

[kesen]

cool

 

[Dolbytone]

This might be a great race to break in the Z Concept. I'll let you know what happens.

 

[miata13B]

Well after running this race, all I can say is that this is a long race. The Spoon S2000 ran excellent this race. After installing the NA 1 tuning, I was able to get closer lap times to the other cars. I was about .45 off the leader. After about 50 laps I finally started to creep ahead of the competition. I ended this with about a 25 second lead and got the Vertigo race car. Which did not help considering I had this car for a long time.

 

[Der Alta]

Miata 13b:

Just out of curiosity, what HP was the Spoon running? Glad to know that others have made this a close race.

If you think this one is long...Wait until 100 laps at Tokyo R246. The fastest time I've ever seen is a few seconds under 2 hours 10 minutes.

AO