- 1,209
This is my attempt at the 4h Nordschleife Enduro. My weapon of choise is a Lotus Esprit Turbo HC from 1987. The car has 226hp after an oil-change and it weights 1146kg. This sets the power-to-weight ratio to 5.01. The car is driven in stock-form, except for the tires which are sports-hard.
The Field
1.Nissan Skyline GT-R V-spec II '00
2.BMW M3 '04
3.Clio V6 Phase 2 '03
4.BMW M Coupe '98
5.Alfa Romeo 147 GTA '02
6.Lotus Esprit Turbo HC '87
136 pts. A-Spec Offered
First half of the race
The Start
I'm flying on the first half of the lap. I've passed the whole field by Adenauer Forst and got a 4 second lead on the Skyline. However, the Skyline lost it 2nd place to the Renault and it started chasing me down. My first lap is a 8'22 and I have the lead by 3 seconds.
Lap 2
At the end of the second lap the gap is only half a second
.I made a lap of 8'12
Lap 3
I like this car, I really do. The handling is great, though it is very unstable at high speeds. My back tyres are turning yellow, front ones are still green. I had bit off an off at Pflanzgarten but didn't spin. The Clio is slowing down, at the end of the lap the gap was 2.9 secs. Laptime 8'06
The Alfa Romeo pits on this lap. It's in the last position with a big margin.
Lap 4
I spin at Adenauer Forst. The Renault passes me but doesn't get too far away. My mistake leaves me trailing him 2.6 seconds behind. I catch up with him at Ex-Mühle. The Clio is very unstable, he's all over the place. I also noticed he drifts aroun every corner
. Had a good laugh following him. He can't keep his act together and is taking the corners sideways. That's not fast enough to keep me behind so I pass him at Carussel.
The Clio spins right after the Carussel and the Skyline overtakes it. That gives me a lead of 38 seconds and that's enough for a pitstop. I don't refuel because I have over half a tank left. The Renault also pits.
Laptime again 8'06
Lap 5
Didn't lose too much time in the pits and my lead is 18 seconds over the Skyline at the start of the lap. This car is very fun to drive. It drifts through most fast curves like Shcwedenkreuz. Hi-speed drifting by mistake, oh yeah!
By Ex-Mühle the M3 has overtook the Skyline and is 21 seconds behind me. I end up with a laptime of 8'19 and with a 27 second lead. Both the Skyline and the M3 pit at the end of the lap
Lap 6
I spin at Arebergkurve and lose some time. Otherwise, pretty boring lap. 51 second lead over the Renault. The Alfa pits for the second time. Laptime 8'12
Lap 7
I run wide at Adenauer Forst again. Renault is slowly cathing, but it has to pit soon. I have been easier on the tires now and all my tires are still green. I'll to drive two laps more and pit on the tenth lap. The gap is 48 seconds. Laptime around 8'12.
Lap 8
Slow lap, tires are now yellow. I decided to pit on lap 9. The Renault spun again and now I'm followed by the M3 which is 1'20 seconds behind. The Renault pits. Laptime is slow, 8'20.
Lap 9
Horrible lap. I was all over the track going sideways. I pit and hand the wheel over to B-Spec Bob. The lead is 37 secods. The Alfa pits.
Lap 10
Bob's too slow! The M3 is 20 second away before he pits. Skyline and the M Coupe also make a stop. Bob's lap was 8'48.
Lap 11
Bob makes a lap of 8'35. He's 37 second ahead the M3
Lap 12
Laptime 8'40. Gap is 20 seconds. The BMW is really strong. He's my only real challenger, because Skyline who's in third place is over a minute behind the M3. The Clio pits. He's in fourth place.
Lap 13
The gap is only 8 seconds now, I call Bob to the pits. Now continuing in A-Spec.
Lap 14
The Beemer is 17 seconds ahead at the start of the lap. Hurray, now I must catch someone up again! I got bored running alone in the first place. I finish the lap with a time of 8'19 and a gap of 10 seconds. Also, the race has been on for almost two hours now.
Lap 15
I drove a clean and tight lap and got past the M3 by the Klein Carussel. Laptime 8'12
All the action there really was happened during the first two hours. I'll write a report every half an hour now.
Race time: 2h 30min
I pitted on lap 17, when I had about 30 second lead over the BMW. Now the gap is 19 seconds. The others are far, very far behind, no-one can challenge me but the M3 who's catching me right now. I'm a bit disappointed because I thought this race was gonna be much harder with the car.
Race time: 3h
I pitted again on lap 21 and the BMW pitted on lap 20. I have a solid lead of 56 seconds and I just lapped the Alfa. I think I've lost quite a bit of power, because I can't lap under 8'10 and I can't increase my lead at the rate I could earlier in the race. Now I'm on lap 22 and I've covered about 440 kilometers.
Race time: 3h 30min
I'm on lap 25 and just about to pit. The Beemer is 58 seconds behind. I'm really getting tired, and it affects my driving. I go wide in the corners and spun couple of times too.
This car has really grown on me. I love the handling, it's so sharp and responsive, yet somehow rewarding when you get the thing 'round corners. The performance is also very good for a car from 18 years ago, and I just love the way the car sounds! And the looks; it's so vulgar and aggressive!Better get back racing, Half an hour left of the race!
Race time: 4h
The time is up! I'm 53 seconds ahead the BMW, and I'm near Ex-Mühle on lap 29. Now I just have to finish..
FINISH!
I cross the line at 4:05'23.716, 53 seconds ahead the BMW. I completed 29 laps, and my best laptime was 8'06.116. I covered 604,07 kilometers. Car's power output after the race: 215hp.
Here are the results:
Lotus Esprit 29 laps
BMW M3 29 laps +53 seconds
Nissan Skyline 29 laps + several minutes
Renault Clio 28 laps
BMW M Coupe 28 laps
Alfa 147 GTA 28 laps
I drive off 200,000cr. richer in my new Chaparral 2D.
My thoughts on the race
I picked the car because I thought it would be a good challenge to drive an old, not too powerful mid-engined sportscar against the modern breed of sportscars. The Esprit surprised me. It was much more capable I thought it was. The race wasn't so hard I thought it would be, but oh by did I have good time! I really regret I used B-Spec for those 4 laps. I can't brag I drove the race in A-Spec, nor did I get the points. But at least Bob-Spec trashed my big lead so I had to start chasing the M3. I plan on doing this race again some day with the '54 Merc 300 SL. I think that would offer a good challenge, driven in stock-form. But we'll see about that later.
Thanks,
RSCosworth
The Field
1.Nissan Skyline GT-R V-spec II '00
2.BMW M3 '04
3.Clio V6 Phase 2 '03
4.BMW M Coupe '98
5.Alfa Romeo 147 GTA '02
6.Lotus Esprit Turbo HC '87
136 pts. A-Spec Offered
First half of the race
The Start
I'm flying on the first half of the lap. I've passed the whole field by Adenauer Forst and got a 4 second lead on the Skyline. However, the Skyline lost it 2nd place to the Renault and it started chasing me down. My first lap is a 8'22 and I have the lead by 3 seconds.
Lap 2
At the end of the second lap the gap is only half a second
.I made a lap of 8'12Lap 3
I like this car, I really do. The handling is great, though it is very unstable at high speeds. My back tyres are turning yellow, front ones are still green. I had bit off an off at Pflanzgarten but didn't spin. The Clio is slowing down, at the end of the lap the gap was 2.9 secs. Laptime 8'06
The Alfa Romeo pits on this lap. It's in the last position with a big margin.
Lap 4
I spin at Adenauer Forst. The Renault passes me but doesn't get too far away. My mistake leaves me trailing him 2.6 seconds behind. I catch up with him at Ex-Mühle. The Clio is very unstable, he's all over the place. I also noticed he drifts aroun every corner
. Had a good laugh following him. He can't keep his act together and is taking the corners sideways. That's not fast enough to keep me behind so I pass him at Carussel.The Clio spins right after the Carussel and the Skyline overtakes it. That gives me a lead of 38 seconds and that's enough for a pitstop. I don't refuel because I have over half a tank left. The Renault also pits.
Laptime again 8'06
Lap 5
Didn't lose too much time in the pits and my lead is 18 seconds over the Skyline at the start of the lap. This car is very fun to drive. It drifts through most fast curves like Shcwedenkreuz. Hi-speed drifting by mistake, oh yeah!
By Ex-Mühle the M3 has overtook the Skyline and is 21 seconds behind me. I end up with a laptime of 8'19 and with a 27 second lead. Both the Skyline and the M3 pit at the end of the lap
Lap 6
I spin at Arebergkurve and lose some time. Otherwise, pretty boring lap. 51 second lead over the Renault. The Alfa pits for the second time. Laptime 8'12
Lap 7
I run wide at Adenauer Forst again. Renault is slowly cathing, but it has to pit soon. I have been easier on the tires now and all my tires are still green. I'll to drive two laps more and pit on the tenth lap. The gap is 48 seconds. Laptime around 8'12.
Lap 8
Slow lap, tires are now yellow. I decided to pit on lap 9. The Renault spun again and now I'm followed by the M3 which is 1'20 seconds behind. The Renault pits. Laptime is slow, 8'20.
Lap 9
Horrible lap. I was all over the track going sideways. I pit and hand the wheel over to B-Spec Bob. The lead is 37 secods. The Alfa pits.
Lap 10
Bob's too slow! The M3 is 20 second away before he pits. Skyline and the M Coupe also make a stop. Bob's lap was 8'48.
Lap 11
Bob makes a lap of 8'35. He's 37 second ahead the M3
Lap 12
Laptime 8'40. Gap is 20 seconds. The BMW is really strong. He's my only real challenger, because Skyline who's in third place is over a minute behind the M3. The Clio pits. He's in fourth place.
Lap 13
The gap is only 8 seconds now, I call Bob to the pits. Now continuing in A-Spec.
Lap 14
The Beemer is 17 seconds ahead at the start of the lap. Hurray, now I must catch someone up again! I got bored running alone in the first place. I finish the lap with a time of 8'19 and a gap of 10 seconds. Also, the race has been on for almost two hours now.
Lap 15
I drove a clean and tight lap and got past the M3 by the Klein Carussel. Laptime 8'12
All the action there really was happened during the first two hours. I'll write a report every half an hour now.
Race time: 2h 30min
I pitted on lap 17, when I had about 30 second lead over the BMW. Now the gap is 19 seconds. The others are far, very far behind, no-one can challenge me but the M3 who's catching me right now. I'm a bit disappointed because I thought this race was gonna be much harder with the car.
Race time: 3h
I pitted again on lap 21 and the BMW pitted on lap 20. I have a solid lead of 56 seconds and I just lapped the Alfa. I think I've lost quite a bit of power, because I can't lap under 8'10 and I can't increase my lead at the rate I could earlier in the race. Now I'm on lap 22 and I've covered about 440 kilometers.
Race time: 3h 30min
I'm on lap 25 and just about to pit. The Beemer is 58 seconds behind. I'm really getting tired, and it affects my driving. I go wide in the corners and spun couple of times too.
This car has really grown on me. I love the handling, it's so sharp and responsive, yet somehow rewarding when you get the thing 'round corners. The performance is also very good for a car from 18 years ago, and I just love the way the car sounds! And the looks; it's so vulgar and aggressive!Better get back racing, Half an hour left of the race!
Race time: 4h
The time is up! I'm 53 seconds ahead the BMW, and I'm near Ex-Mühle on lap 29. Now I just have to finish..
FINISH!
I cross the line at 4:05'23.716, 53 seconds ahead the BMW. I completed 29 laps, and my best laptime was 8'06.116. I covered 604,07 kilometers. Car's power output after the race: 215hp.
Here are the results:
Lotus Esprit 29 laps
BMW M3 29 laps +53 seconds
Nissan Skyline 29 laps + several minutes
Renault Clio 28 laps
BMW M Coupe 28 laps
Alfa 147 GTA 28 laps
I drive off 200,000cr. richer in my new Chaparral 2D.
My thoughts on the race
I picked the car because I thought it would be a good challenge to drive an old, not too powerful mid-engined sportscar against the modern breed of sportscars. The Esprit surprised me. It was much more capable I thought it was. The race wasn't so hard I thought it would be, but oh by did I have good time! I really regret I used B-Spec for those 4 laps. I can't brag I drove the race in A-Spec, nor did I get the points. But at least Bob-Spec trashed my big lead so I had to start chasing the M3. I plan on doing this race again some day with the '54 Merc 300 SL. I think that would offer a good challenge, driven in stock-form. But we'll see about that later.
Thanks,
RSCosworth
