SPECIAL EVENT – The Cup of Less Suffering – F3500-A One-Make at Monza
Not as bad as I had anticipated. If the AI were cheating, it was not giving them a big enough advantage to make me want to eat my controller. I found fuel management more difficult and finicky than tires, oddly.
Note: I came into this race with worn oil because I forgot to change it after the time trial. I was down about 20hp. Oops...
Multiple 1st place finishes on hard difficulty.
PIT STRATEGY
- No-Stop
- Fuel Map 2 with short shifting (upshift at 50% of revs) until lap 3
- Fuel Map 1 with short shifting (upshift at 50% of revs) until lap 7
- Maximum attack from lap 7 to the end
My fastest run - my best lap was around 1:27.4
OBSERVATIONS
- The AI brake VERY early before all the chicanes
- Don’t worry about the leaders who run Racing Softs and pit on lap 8…
- Worry about everyone else from 5th place down who are on a no-stop strategy with you
- You can definitely carry more speed than the AI through most of the corners
- The penalties are super strict only at the first chicane--
- Because of relaxed penalties, you can be aggressive with your entry into Ascari and be rewarded, if you survive the sausage curbs
IS A 1-STOP VIABLE?
Not sure. Perhaps if you run Racing Softs, save fuel and only change tires. But then you would have to be very good at dodging the backmarkers (for the whole race...), who are all bunched up and have very slow entries into the best places for passing. My default position on this is "I don't wanna"
RACE 4 – SCHWARZWALD LEAGUE at Sainte Croix – B
As
@smoothbore12 would point out, this version of Saint Croissant is truly a treat!
I brought out from the back corners of my garage another one of my heroes: the AMG 300 SEL “Red (yellow) Pig.” Not much for power upgrades (please give me a supercharger...) and the car weighs as much as a small house, and it makes no downforce, but I did not care.
The race was just me, the Red (yellow) Pig, Racing Softs, the hunt for faster lap times, and driving bliss!
Oh, watch out for the AMG GT Black Series. I didn't face him, but that car will ruin your day and steal your croissant.
STRATEGY
- Note the AI front runners start with a 30 second lead

- Don't worry, they are on Sports Hard tires and are very slow in the corners
- Use grippy 700pp Le Mans Grind builds that are geared for ~180mph - 280kph
- Grab a hot chocolate, coffee or mocha and enjoy

RACE 3 – WORLD RALLY CHALLENGE GROUP B at Lake Louise Long
I was hoping to rally my swapped Renault Gordini, but alas… Mitsubishi Final Group B with a Death Star Turbo.
I did not need that gigantic turbo, and the turbo lag may have slowed me down. I was all over the place, crashing, getting my lines wrong,
but still I got 1st place by 30 seconds 
RACE 2 – AMERICAN FR CHALLENGE 550PP at Watkins Glen
I ask this every update and have been routinely disappointed:
Has the Plymouth Superbird’s sudden high speed rear grip loss been fixed?
Answer:
Maybe!!!
My widebody 550pp Superbird can now go around high speed corners at 100% throttle without its usual mildly annoying
DEATH.
Despite having zero downforce at either end, the car still handles as if it has 10% extra downforce at the front. It’s floaty and kinda sketchy, but I can absolutely work with this now. Yay!
Oh, yes, there was race too
RACE 1 – JAPANESE FR CHALLENGE 450 at High Speed Ring Reverse
I picked a Nissan Z Z33 because why not. I had no idea when I had put Sports Medium tires on it. Predictable victory. Though, I had fun trying to figure out the Z33’s limits on its mushy suspension and came away slightly confused.
It was either this or the Pagani swapped V12 Supra.
I should picked the V12 Supra.
- edited for typos