Most entertaining was Dino so far .
The Dino is wonderful! Playful in the stock configuration. Then full attack into every corner when fully tuned.
THOUGHTS ON THIS WEEK'S CHALLENGES
The Historic Sports Car Masters Marathon
How I feel about this race:
THE GOAL
- Tune every car* that is eligible for this event to the 580pp limit on Racing Hard Tires or better
- Try to win without engine swaps
- Get sweet, sweet engine-swapped revenge for the cars that struggled
- (Edit because I forgot) on to mention Hard Difficulty
How serious have I been about this?
Also, why, PD? Why??
I
love old cars.
PROGRESS AS OF WRITING
I've finished everything in garage / manufacturer order up to
Jaguar (Jaaaag)
This first group of cars I did before I committed to the marathon; their tunes are different, and they are in no particular order.
ROUND 1 - The Suffering of Stock
Lamborghini Countach 25th Anniversary
Stock. I made several attempts on Comfort Soft tires. I came close to a win, but I got the fastest field with two AI Countachs. It appeared the Countachs were slightly lighter than stock and/or had upgraded brakes. I switched to Sports Hard Tires (
) and got 1st place. 553pp.
Suffering over. For now...
ROUND 2 - Meet My Heroes
Ferrari Dino 246 GT
One of the cars that helped me learn GT7 tuning. I started this week's challenge on Sports Softs with some extra power, but I wanted more grip. I adjusted the tune for Racing Hards and attacked every corner.
Point the nose, stomp the throttle, ramp up the g-force. Brilliant!
Citroen DS 21
Asserting front wheel drive dominance again.
Racing Medium Tires on this one. I had no downforce, but I didn't care. The DS had so much mechanical grip that it ate the slow corners and was untroubled by the high speed ones.
Pontiac Firebird Trans Am
My Firebird has battled Gr.4 cars, Hypercars, 600pp monsters, and recently, DTM cars. This race was the most under-stressed I've ever seen this car. With some oversteer, the Firebird thundered to victory.
I need to make a historic Trans Am custom race.
Alpine A110
Racing Medium Tires on this one. Getting this car to work has always been a labor of love. Though physics updates made it more twitchy, it still has the agility and monstrous grip under acceleration that I adore.
ROUND 3 - THE ODDBALLS
Autobianchi A112 Abarth
Asserting front wheel drive dominance again, again.
Racing Mediums for this build. A corner destroyer that fits in your pocket. Using momentum and gearing to pull past the bigger cars will never get old. But if only the A112 had a little more power...
Plymouth XNR Ghia Roadster '60
It is a good day to die [in a high speed corner]
Surprisingly good cornering, but there was no downforce or suspension geometry to save me at high speeds. The Ghia behaved exactly the same at all cornering speeds: Turning too hard at 100+mph / 160kph led to oversteer and then many, MANY deaths.
Bonus: My driver avatar was dressed for this Jet Age occasion.
Mazda RX500
A speedy wedge powered by angry bees...
Sports Soft tires on this on. Much like the Ghia, the Mazda made no effort to save me from my overly aggressive steering inputs in high speed corners. Though there was less dying here. Otherwise, super sharp cornering.
Adding ballast was a challenge, because there wasn't much weight in the back already - adding ballast to the nose, though PP efficient, made the RX500 feel like a front engine rear wheel drive car (ewww...
), but with more traction issues. I would have loved to turn the Mazda into an old 911, but the PP price was too high.
Bonus: The RX500 had freakish top-end acceleration despite its small amount of horsepower
Lamborghini Miura
Sports Softs for this build as well because I struggled to lower the PP rating. The Miura was too light after my tuning. Stable and planted with great top speed, but understeery in high speed corners.
PD, you cowards, let me build this into an SVJ Jota with front downforce!!
Renault R5 Turbo
A Mighty, Mini, Mid-engine cornering Master (sorry)
Racing Mediums for this build. Great composure, but slightly lacking in mechanical grip, hence the tire choice.
*Corvette C3 generations
I hate this car on a deep spiritual level. Therefore, I reserve the right to refuse to drive it
COMING SOON
- Everything else up to Jaaaag, in alphabetical order (hopefully)
- the Agony of the Fully Tuned Fiat 500