El Capitan Endurance

After trying a Zonda C12 7.3 and a Mitsubishi Evo VIII MR with both setup around the 500-600bhp mark and running away in the race I settled on an Aston Martin Vanquish '04. I applied all brake, drivetrain, other and suspension modifications along with a Racing exhaust, Racing chip and a set of hard sport tyres giving me 499 bhp. I fine tuned a few values in setup before starting the race partly fearful of having my work cut out as I felt the Vanquish would be difficult to control with lots of overstear.

The first lap started well and the car handled much better than I first thought and was not a problem. The Elise Motor Sport quickly became the main threat as I didn't overtake it until midway second lap on the crest after the small tunnel. Despite having 100-150 extra bhp the Elise' light chassis offset my advantage. I was also worried that it could protect it's tyres more than I could having less weight and power, looks like I was going to earn that Minolta. Pushing hard I pulled out a 12 second lead over the Elise by lap 9 as I pitted, the other cars were no where already. On a fresh set of tyres I rejoined 2nd, 18 seconds behind the Elise, I struggled to stop the gap increasing on my outlap, once the tyres were up to temperature I began to close by a second or two per lap til the Elise pitted on lap 11 allowing me to retake the lead with a ten second advantage. I steadily maintained a 1-2 second advantage per lap for the next stint. I had a stupid off on lap 15 due to being distracted by the scenery (well it is nice ) despite that by the end of lap 18 I was 30 odd seconds ahead with two backmarkers ahead of me. I decided to pit that lap as my fronts were bright orange and I didn't want to waste time in the traffic ahead. I rejoined 6 seconds ahead of the Elise and by 1/3rds distance (22 laps) I had a twelve second gap to the Elise which then pitted the following lap. I lost the car on that lap after clipping the bridge after the main straight kink which lost me several seconds. The Elise came out 30 seconds behind me and I extended the gap to 40 seconds by lap 25, I also lapped the backmarking TVR and Corvette who were having their own private duel. I got past the Corvette at the start of the main straight though it tagged along drafting me all the way to the kink. I was happy not to be lapping so early on, it's more interesting to be honest when you've got a little bit of pressure on you rather than strolling off several laps ahead by the early stages.

Now nearing half distance I pitted on lap 28 coming out 31 seconds ahead of the Elise which had been losing time to me alot in the last stint, either the backmarkers were slowing it or it had dropped off the pace for some strange reason. By the end of lap 33 the Elise had closed to 24 seconds behind me before it pitted at the end of the lap. The backmarking Cobra and Lotus Esprit hadn't help making it difficult for me to get past them as I lapped them on laps 32 and 33. By lap 36 the Elise was a comfortable minute behind me, losing 10 seconds on it's first two laps after pitting. My next stop was at the end of lap 37 coming out 52 seconds ahead of the Elise.

The Elise pitted end of lap 44 coming out 1 minute 25 seconds behind and then moving back to 1 minute 10 seconds on lap 47 after I pitted for tyres. The gap seemed to have stabilised between me the Elise for the next few laps while my tyres got up to heat. Making what must have been my final stop on lap 55 I was 1 minute 21 seconds ahead of the Elise, all to do now was to make the finish line. As I was around half way through my outlap (lap 56) the Elise pitted for it's final set of tyres. I met the Shelby and Esprit on lap 61 and took me three laps to pass them due to wearing tyres, by the end of lap 64 I had to pit as the fronts were orange/red and I didn't want to risk it having a 1 minute 42 second gap to the Elise. After the stop I had a clear run to the finish line comfortably ahead of the Elise.

Result:

1st Aston Martin Vanquish '04 (Me) Time: 2:09'40.573
2nd Lotus Motor Sport Elise '99 Time: -1'16.754
3rd Lotus Esprit Sport 350 '00 Time:
4th Shelby Series 1 Super Charged 03' Time:
5th Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport (C4)'95 Time:
6th TVR Cerbera Speed Six '97 Time:

Best Lap 1'52.097 (Lap 44)
A-Spec Points 160

As some of you asked, could this be done in a stock Vanquish, here's the answer....

Just a quick question ...... is there anyway to stop the game exiting the race result tables early after you finish so you can get full details on the final results?

FLK

Just a quick question ...... is there anyway to stop the game exiting the race result tables early after you finish so you can get full details on the final results?

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Not that I know of. Frustrating isn't it? At least GT3 let all the cars complete the lap they were on so you knew how far ahead or behind they'd finished.
Another nice race! Think the Vanquish could win this race in stock form for 200pts?

Not too sure, I think you'd have to upgrade the drive train, suspension and brakes to get the full potential out of the stock engine. You'd probably need to lose some of that weight as well but it could be possible with some precision driving, even against that evil little Elise

200 pts was done in an overweight Amuse S2000 with just under 300bhp, so you don't want to be losing weight from your Aston, far from it. I beat the same line up as listed, but only by just over a minute. But then I did not have to pit as often as the Elise; I only ever managed to eek a 10sec lead before the lap 11. Mind you, a less powerful Aston might be kinder to its tyres. But for 200 A-spec points, you might want to look elsewhere. (hint: route_66's thread - search for 200 A-spec points)

@ RenesisEvo check the link in my signature too! I've done 200pts here too in a stock Supra RZ, and a great race it was too. Was wondering if the Vanquish was a contender for Hispeed's 200pt stock list. Maybe against the right lineup. Will have to check it out when I'm done with Sarthe II!

Smallhorses

@ RenesisEvo check the link in my signature too! I've done 200pts here too in a stock Supra RZ, and a great race it was too. Was wondering if the Vanquish was a contender for Hispeed's 200pt stock list. Maybe against the right lineup. Will have to check it out when I'm done with Sarthe II!

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How could I ever forget about your thread? My apologies...

I entered this race in a stock S2000 Race Car and was shocked when I saw I could get 151 A-spec points for it. With a little ballast 200 points would be easy to get and the race would still be ridiculously easy to win. I think there is something wrong with races like this...

im sure the vanguish could have done it stock but good job

im gonna do it in a evo VIII

Greycap

I think there is something wrong with races like this...

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I've also said that before. I believe PD made El Capitan a gimme for an easy win of the Minolta, for the GTWC to unlock the Extreme Hall

My closest El Capitan enduro was with a stock RX7 Spirit R for 200 points. I took the lead within 5 laps and came within 5-10 seconds of lapping the 2nd place Zonda by the end of the race

I treated myself to a nice shiny NSX-R in black for this race: stock susp, chip, stage 1, 345bhp (retain std exhaust as Vixen pointed out, it sounds wonderful)= 200 points. Good race too, not HARD hard, but it kept you on your toes. Not until the half-way point could you relax. Don't buy that many new cars. Hmm, 's nice....

Ive been making a write up for this race too, i'll get my first chapter up now. Im including race prep stuff too.

ViXeN

It does, doesn't it... I love the sound of that beast stock...

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Yeah, thanks for that little tip, Vixen, I didn't really thank you properly in that previous post.

The girl's a genius.

Damn, I just taken the last beer from the fridge...

'S OK, I just found two more cases in the cupboard! (She's been shopping again...)