Chasing the rabbit

I decided to take a break from planning out my strategy and tuning a BMW M3 GTR Racecar and CLK Touring Car for the Fuji 1000km endurance and embark on something that required less masochistic determination and brain cells. Lo and behold here awaits the Roadster (Miata) 4 hour endurance on Tsucuba, still not attempted.

I’ll be frank and say that from my experience in GT3 I was convinced the most challenging part of this race would be remembering how to get into the pit (yes I’ve stopped on dead end patches of tarmac, crossed over the grass and plowed through all the cones on the last corner trying to find it…). Anyway I digress.

Race day.

My weapon of choice today will be a Miata J-Limited (NA, J) ‘93. All that mumbo jumbo simply means I was very cheap in picking my chariot. It was a leftover from the roadster cup in the manufacturer races and as a consequence had a stage 1 weight reduction and a tiny turbo (stage one, 186hp). She had about 49,000 miles on the clock and from the way she pulled under stock power; and I use the term pull very loosely, I was inclined to believe the dealer felt the need to roll the odometer back a little… Everything else was stock and just to be sporting I removed the tiny turbo. I never bothered with a chassis refresh because in the end I could buy two brand new roadsters or about seven of these things for the same money. I was left to face the competition with 130hp trying to move 930kg on Sports Hard tires… interesting.

The Rouges Gallery:

Miata VR-Limited (J) ’95 (red with a tan hat)
Miata 1800 RS (J) ’00 (blue bunny)
Miata S- special Type 1 (J) ’95 (dashing green Brit)
Miata 1.8 RS (J) ‘98 (raging red)
Miata SR- limited (J) ’97 (gasp, the white rabbit??)
Miata J-Limited (NA… blah blah ‘93) (Me… in yellow!)

And we’re off, with me taking up the rear as usual. With a whole lot of late braking just about everywhere I claw my way up to 2nd place behind the white rabbit SR-Limited who seems to be just cruising up front. I reel him in and by lap 7 I assume the race is well over as I continue to put seconds on him. Then I notice another blip on the radar screen.

Apparently there’s a nasty battle raging over 2nd place. The blue bunny (1800 RS ’00) emerges 11 seconds down on me, perhaps I shouldn’t have written him off as a wuss after all. The laps pile on and with all my effort I can only amass a 13 second lead on this fellow and then the strangeness begins.

Well into the 20 lap range I can’t put any more time on the blue bunny whatsoever and my tires have already warmed up. I drive my little heart out, but slowly and steadily the blue bunny (yes the irony is not wasted on me…) chips away at my lead. I prayed my stage 1 weight reduction would come to save the day for my pit strategy. All he had to do is pit now…

My lead is down to 5 seconds and so far nothing’s happened. The blue bunny keeps charging. Things look quite grim now. I was running mid to high 1:11:xxx’s with the occasional (and painful) 1:12:xxx. I checked my tire status and I felt the handling starting to fade already and all because of what? One blasted left front tire. By lap 30 I could see him in my mirror just 2 seconds down. He has to be running 1:10:xxx’s now. I can only keep him away with late braking. My left front is shot now. I block him, I cling to the inside line all through T2 even into the last hairpin, but his power and grip finally get the better of me. As we “pull” out onto the straight I watched my easy victory drive off into the distance... very slowly.

I pit dismayed to see the heavier car take the prize for best tear wear. I decided Sports Hards were an extremely bad deal (more ranting on that later). I instead fitted Sports Mediums and planned to attack him in his warm up cycle. Extra pit stops be damned!

The blue bunny makes his first stop on lap 35 while the rest of the group crawls in on laps 43 and 45. His lead drops down to 6 seconds by lap 40. Once again I race my little heart out and tear the track up hunting him down. By lap 45 I build up a 14 second lead with a yellow left front tire. I hope to pit at the beginning of his “unstoppable” phase. If I can bring a 20 second lead into the pits and run with him during his unstoppable phase, I might actually have a chance .

My current fastest lap is 1:10:780

By lap 48 I have a 24 second lead, an orange left front and yellowish green everything else. I’m in the pits giving the lollypop man the evil eye as I refuse fuel. It looks like I can go three more stints before facing an empty tank.

I come out of the pits into turn one and of course the blue bunny is right there emerging from lapped traffic to greet me. We cut through turn 1 fender to fender…

Laps 48-71

Wow. For the first three laps all I can do is outbreak him into turn 1 and close the door on him in the second hairpin. After the pit-out lap I started off with a 1:11:7xxx and never looked back. I kept putting second after second on him and all the way up to lap 68 I never crept above the 1:10:xxx mark. I hit my lap record twice in a row netting a 1:10:560 *edit the blue bunny's fastest lap was a 1:10:723 while everyone else couldn't do better than 1:13:09x* and eventually a 12 second lead. As I fly through lapped traffic once again and imagine the blue bunny being hampered by the same traffic I am again faced with the curse of the orange left front tire (why can I hear sinister music playing now ?). Still, I get cocky enough to play a little game of pit-chicken with the blue bunny to see who goes into the pits first. At the end of lap 69 he gives in while I pit in at lap 71 with a cautiously inflated ego and an inflated lead of 33 seconds.

Laps 71-93

I build my inflated lead back up to an amazing… 33 seconds as I prepare for another pit stop. On lap 92 the orange left front tire beckons me and I ignore her. I’m instantly chastised with a net loss of 2 seconds of my lead in a single lap. I quickly scamper back into the pits. This stint wasn’t as fast as the last one. There were a whole lot more 1:11:1xx’s this time around. I came out of the pits again with a paltry 5 second lead on the blue bunny. I should be right in the middle of his unstoppable phase (cue sinister music) again .

Laps 93-115

Complete and utter stalemate. I’m thinking that wear and tear on the chassis, motor and driver have kept me from running consistent 1:10:xxx’s. The best of this stint was a 1:11:0xx. For the longest I've run around with a 5 second lead. The GT4 Gods were merciful and gave myself, and the blue bunny of course, some lapped traffic to contend with. Quite miraculously I have an 11 second lead now. My lead grows until the blue bunny’s had his fill of it and pits on lap 103. I keep running knowing my confrontation with orange left front tire is soon coming. By lap 115 I have a 48 second lead.

Laps 115-139
This stint turned out somewhat uneventful and a tad unsettling. Everyone else gets put a lap down but I can barely break into the 1:10:xxx range. I build my lead back up to a fluctuating 31 seconds as I find myself playing another game of pit-chicken with the blue bunny until the orange left front tire spoils my fun. You win this round bunny.

Laps 139-162
At the exit of the pits I notice a group of three rouges behind me, all probably wanting revenge for being passed by 130 hp. Judging by the movements on the track screen, one of them is the blue bunny. I get the split at T2 and find myself with a 3 second lead… . Dramatic final battle music plays (well actually it was either Debussy or Bach to be exact…) and for about five laps there’s a real fight for first. I couldn’t put anything on him, all I could do was out-brake him, hold my line and carry as much momentum as I could into the next corner. By the fifth lap of our battle the blue bunny ducks into the pits to lick his wounds (hmm do bunnies really do that? )

Laps 162-185
Almost forgot to take notes heh heh. I came out of the pits with a 12 second lead, but for all the laps the blue bunny stays out I can’t squeeze any extra time out of him. For a game where the battles usually end in 40 second to 5 lap beat downs this race has actually been rather interesting. Though I have to admit I feel pretty helpless right now. The blue bunny drops off on lap 171 falling back down to 33 seconds. At this point I think I can finish with 200 laps if I push hard enough. I keep pushing until my lead expands to 57 seconds. By the time I get into the pits have an inflated lead of 1:01. I’m happy this will be my last stint.

Laps 185-???!!!
With two fuel blocks and a 49 second led on the blue bunny there’s no turning back now. I don’t even want to look at the clock now. The only thing on my mind is 200 laps.

193… 194… 45 seconds and holding.

A lap of 1:11:001, cute . 44:449 seconds on the blue bunny.

Lap 199…










Finish. Buggers.


For all my effort I get 100,000 credits (feels like I’ve already spent it) the RX-7 LM and a stupendous, astounding 71 A-spec points. Guess the game still thinks I suck.

Final results
Miata J-Limited (NA… blah blah ‘93) (Me… in yellow!)
Miata 1800 RS (J) ’00 (blue bunny)
Miata SR- limited (J) ’97 (not the white rabbit...)
Miata 1.8 RS (J) ‘98 (raging red)
Miata S- special Type 1 (J) ’95 (dashing green Brit)
Miata VR-Limited (J) ’95 (red with a tan hat)


Yes about that rant on tires. I’m surprised how different things feel in GT4. I remember loathing to drive any other tire in GT3 except super slicks. I don’t know if I’ve changed as a driver but it seems the class of hard tires have really been toned down. In GT3 if you pushed hard enough you could just stay out on the field forever and win on super slicks. You could even lead the entire way with a little skill, but now after initially watching the AI run away in the beginning only later warm their tires up and hand my butt to me on silver platter, I find myself running mediums to build a crushing lead, give it away in the pits, retain an extra second or two and repeat the whole process until victory. Again it may just be my driving style, but in this car, the race didn’t feel winnable with the longer lasting tires.

Anyway, rant aside it was a very enjoyable if not tiring race.

For all those that survived this long into the write-up thanks for reading.

Awesome write-up! 👍 👍

Sounded like a great battle.

I'll Try Same Race With MX-5 '89
with no tuning, it's going to be though

(and this because I have 10 km special MX-5)

Awesome write up, cheers 👍

Great writeup. I have the 89MX-5 and have done the race already (but with turbo1), the 116HP werent enough for me to fancy trying without the turbo...

Nice. Personally did that one with an 89, too... the car is so light, that you don't to do much with it beyond the Stage I turbo.

Guess it was your bad luck to get a freak opponent. The 1800s are much much faster than the 1.6s, and I doubt that the weight reduction did you much good. Plus, the newer cars are kinda stiffer. Good race. Shoulda been 200 A-Spec, but then, you would have to fight an entire field of 1.8s...

well done... like your style

Hmmm, for all the guys preparing to run 89 MX-5's, I thought I was behind the wheel of an '89 until I checked the race grid. It's been a long while since that manufacturer race

Thanks for the replies everyone. As for opponents yeah, I found it really freaky. The same thing happened in the Motegi 8 hour (...die Opera S2000 DIE )

To think I actually complained about the absence of '04's. After running this it makes me wonder if I'd have a chance in my current ride against an '04 if it showed up. Also, this one made me check out Famine's write-up. Similar things happened on his run.

What bugs me is the tire life. I wish it was possible to check their tire wear in the replay like GT3 *if somebody knows how to get the AI car's status shown in the replay (IE fuel gauge and tire life) your help would be appreciated.

That was a fun read. Thanks. It makes me want to go do that race again with an almost stock car like yourself and see how I do.