which car would you choose for this race league.

[Dustinlib]

ok guys, here's the setup. a local car forum I'm on is having a GT4 league with the following rules:

1. You can use any car you want, as long as it can be purchased either new or used, and is not a race car.

2. You can use any mods you want, so long as your power to weight ratio is no better than 3:1.

with those two criteria, what car would you choose for this challenge?

it is a time trial competition on these tracks:

WEEK ONE: Tsukuba (dry, forward)
Week 2: High Speed Ring
Week 3: Special State Route 5
Week 4: Drag Strip - Las Vegas
Week 5: Deep Forest
Week 6: El Capitan
Week 7: Tokyo R246
Week 8: Autumn Ring Full

 

[Kent]

People on this forum are far too knowledgable to give you an answer without very detailed descriptions of the circumstances. That said...

Are modifications going to be allowed? (changes of weight, power, suspension, etc.)
What tires will be used?
Are you asking for your sake or are you asking for the sake of others?
Regarding the last question, do you drive with a driving style or do you adapt your style to fit the car?
Will you be able to change cars or will you have to use one car for all of the tracks?

With those questions out of the way, some simple starting points...

Rear wheel drive is a must.

Also, with the tracks shown, there is no bias for heavy or light cars... On tracks like Tokyo a heavy car with 3.1 pwr would perform better (because of the higher HP level). However, on tracks like Autumn Ring, lighter weight would be your advantage due to the handling. So based on that opinion, it would be best to get a weight that is inbetween heavy and light...

In my opinion, it would best serve you to go with a weight of approximately 1200 to 1300 kilos.

Assuming you will be doing a weight reduction stage 3, the best cars to use (IMO) are the BMW M3 (normal model), Corvette Z06 C5, and the Skyline GTR R34.

Those cars will be reduced in weight to between 1200 and 1300kg... That leaves you with as much as 400hp. 👍

Other good cars for this range would be the Subaru Impreza (*1200kg), and the Lancer Evo 8 (*1200kg), and the Supra RZ '97 (1257kg).

Hope that helps.

 

[Dustinlib]

To answer your questions, yes modifications are allowed. We can do whatever we want to the car as long as the final power to weight ratio is above 3. The tires will be super soft racing tires since this is a single lap time trial. I'm really asking for one of my buddies, since I think I have found the best car possible, and he was looking for suggestions. Finally, the car choice is frozen after week one, however tuning settings are not. Thanks for the suggestions!

 

[3-Wheel Drive]

With those broad criteria, just about any car that can bee bought for under $100K could work. I'd go for the more beefy, higher HP cars rather than small, light ones, given the tracks. Autumn Ring and Tsukuba are the only ones where a small car would be really favored over a large one. El Capitan, SSR5 and Deep Forest can really go either way. The big thing is to avoid FF or RR layouts. The 3 Kent listed would work well, but which drivetrain are you best at? The Shelby Series 1 is a fantastic FR car with lots if torque. If you prefer MR layout, an NSX or Esprit may be up your alley. If 4WD is your thing, you cannot go wrong with a Skyline or Impreza. And avoid the supercars, as they will not do well on the small courses.

 

[Kent]

I would avoid anything other than FR layouts.
The reason I say that is because of the Tires used.

With Super Soft Racing tires there will be little to no wheel spin.

That said...
Stick to the weight idea... 1200-1300kg.
Corvette Z06 C5 or Supra RZ '97 or BMW M3
All three are going to put out nearly 400hp while still staying over 3.0pwr.

The NSX and other MR cars are great but the light weight will equal lower power and in the case of the NSX it's going to be as much as 100hp.

I'd go with the M3 because it's weight will allow you to run more power and it naturally has great handling. 👍
The others are both awesome but the Vette is going to lower in weight than I though (I'm thinking it goes down to around 1150kg) and the Supra is always a gamble for wheel spin.

So, The BMW M3 Is My Suggestion. (specifically the normal model, which is heavier than the CSL and GTR).

 

[Ignignoc N Err]

Food for thought:

the '02 (or was it '04?) model of the NSX Type R is ~1210kg, if my memory serves (and it might not...). That gives you generally the same power-cap as the 'Vette, M3 and RZ, with less money spent on weight reductions. Even with every possible power mod, the NSX only gets up to just shy of 500 bhp, so you should have plenty of options for power, and it's usually very gentle on the tires, if you do your part.

Also, it won't suffer on short tracks like Autumn Ring and it'll have plenty of gut for the bigger tracks like Tokyo and El Capitan. With the NA torque/power curve, it'll be a bit easier to control without wheelspin because of its consistency, and the MR drivetrain is very well balanced during braking and turning. I used one bone-stock in the El Capitan enduro for 196 pts and beat the pants off the competition. If you do your part, the NSX Type "ARGH!!" should serve you well.

HTH

 

[lmracer]

wow kent.. i repped your first response 👍

 

[Kent]

Thanks LM.
Also, Ignignoc...
I hear what you're saying but I'm not sure it would work too easily in the OLR community. Usually people have a hard time allowing a car without a stage 3 weight reduction to participate in races simply because the weight of cars is not displayed in replays and whatnot.

Now, if he's doing this in person at some sort of live tournament where he will be able to confirm there have been no weight reductions, then I agree with everything you said. The NSX is a great car with "long legs," it opens up on long straights like few other 280 JDMs will do.

Like I said before though, if weight mods must be done to comply with race rules, I would go with something a bit heavier.

Of course, "if" is a very important word here.
Also, that's not to mention that 1000KG is still a great weight for handling and about 330hp. In the right car (like an NSX), 330 could be enough to win the day. 👍

I think testing this stuff out would be a good place to go from here.

 

[Dustinlib]

Thanks for the responses guys! Funny you mentioned the NSX-R as that's the exact car my buddy decided to use, I guess great minds think alike.

 

[Ignignoc N Err]

Usually people have a hard time allowing a car without a stage 3 weight reduction to participate in races simply because the weight of cars is not displayed in replays and whatnot.

That's news to me. I'm a total n00b when it comes to the online racing stuff. Thanks for the heads-up.

Also, I looked up the NSX Type "ARGH" '02 in the game guides section and it lists the car as having a p/w ratio to the tune of 2.8xx. ?!? That's not even close to right. Even with an oil change (310 bhp), and the curb weight of 1270 kg (it's CORRECT weight) the car has a p/w ratio of 4.097, and a ratio of 4.364 straight out of the dealership.

Unfortunately, I can't edit the guides...

edit: Also, If you do the ST3 weight reduction, then add "X" kg of ballast, would it show the modified weight, or just the weight of the ST3 car? </n00bcake>

 

[Snyp]

2. You can use any mods you want, so long as your power to weight ratio is no better than 3:1.

I think you mean WEIGHT to POWER ratio...

In the case of power to weight... 3:1 for a car of 1000Kg would have 3000 HP !

So, you probably mean weight to power... A car of 1000Kg would be allowed a max power of 333hp.

Is that it ? If I'm wrong, please explain me.

 

[Dustinlib]

no you're right I should have written it as a power to weight ratio of 1:3

 

[Snyp]

You still can edit it

 

[EJ6_Hatch]

Dustin, you are going down =P

Spec C is actually doing quite well, and obviously untouchable on the drag strip =)

 

[Moloch_horridus]

I find it interesting that everyone has assumed that the pwr is measured in hp:kg. Is this standard for olr? I would have thought hp:lb would be the US standard?

I imagine in Australia kW:kg would be normal. I also have never really come to terms with the difference between hp and bhp - yes I should go to how stuff works or similar but not today.