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What it is: Wrapping up endurances
With it is: The Suzuki GSX-R/4 (the silver one)
Mods it is: Everything but the kitchen sink, which I've used on my Supra
Tires it is: S2/S2
Grid it is:
Opel Speedster Turbo
Honda NSX Type-R (2002)
Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII MR
Ford Mustang SVT Cobra R
Chevrolet Camaro SS
Story it is:
Having previously thrown a stock Ford GT at this race and failed, I decided to retreat, regroup, and use my favorite little pocket missile.
Unbelievably, the field was the same as the GT failure, but the colors were different. Well, except for the Mustang. Of course.
I remember saying in a previous report that the GSX-R/4 feels like an LMP car at little tracks, like Tsukuba and any street race in the Special Condition Hall.
Well, much to my surprise, it also feels quite nimble on the biggest track of them all.
The Opel, my nearest competitor for smallness, immediately pulls away from the pack, leaving me stuck behind the bigger cars. That doesn't last for long, though. I'm smaller, I can brake later, and I can carry more speed through the same turns than they can.
I emerge from the pack, roughly seven seconds behind the Opel as I come into the part of the track I hate most...the concrete-laden big turns.
For all the things it does well, the GSX-R/4 dislikes flying, as I learned in the earlier part of the course where you catch some air coming over that hill. However, it not only handled the rough and tumble concrete, it wasn't even fazed. I tucked in and launched myself after the Opel.
Easy prey.
So, at my first pit stop, I handed things over to Bob and decided to see if anything interesting was happening to the other cars...
Boy, was it ever. The Opel pits a lap later than it really should, and thus is doomed to a round of the Ring on tires with little more grip than motor oil. The AI flings this thing around like a frisbee anyway, but with useless rears, the result is spins.
Lots of spins.
And if the little guy was unlucky enough to be followed, the other car would slam into it and turn it into a little green European pinball-car.
Actually, when I was driving, the NSX did the same to me, shoving me into the wall when I tried to take the outside on it. Jerk.
Anyway, the rest of the race ran smooth as...something. And even with the Opel's tendency to under-pit, it still held on to second. Somehow. That thing rocks on good tires, and I shall be purchasing one for testing.
To summarize: The GSX-R/4 rocks, the AI flings Opels, and the NSX hates me.
With it is: The Suzuki GSX-R/4 (the silver one)
Mods it is: Everything but the kitchen sink, which I've used on my Supra
Tires it is: S2/S2
Grid it is:
Opel Speedster Turbo
Honda NSX Type-R (2002)
Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII MR
Ford Mustang SVT Cobra R
Chevrolet Camaro SS
Story it is:
Having previously thrown a stock Ford GT at this race and failed, I decided to retreat, regroup, and use my favorite little pocket missile.
Unbelievably, the field was the same as the GT failure, but the colors were different. Well, except for the Mustang. Of course.
I remember saying in a previous report that the GSX-R/4 feels like an LMP car at little tracks, like Tsukuba and any street race in the Special Condition Hall.
Well, much to my surprise, it also feels quite nimble on the biggest track of them all.
The Opel, my nearest competitor for smallness, immediately pulls away from the pack, leaving me stuck behind the bigger cars. That doesn't last for long, though. I'm smaller, I can brake later, and I can carry more speed through the same turns than they can.
I emerge from the pack, roughly seven seconds behind the Opel as I come into the part of the track I hate most...the concrete-laden big turns.
For all the things it does well, the GSX-R/4 dislikes flying, as I learned in the earlier part of the course where you catch some air coming over that hill. However, it not only handled the rough and tumble concrete, it wasn't even fazed. I tucked in and launched myself after the Opel.
Easy prey.
So, at my first pit stop, I handed things over to Bob and decided to see if anything interesting was happening to the other cars...
Boy, was it ever. The Opel pits a lap later than it really should, and thus is doomed to a round of the Ring on tires with little more grip than motor oil. The AI flings this thing around like a frisbee anyway, but with useless rears, the result is spins.
Lots of spins.
And if the little guy was unlucky enough to be followed, the other car would slam into it and turn it into a little green European pinball-car.
Actually, when I was driving, the NSX did the same to me, shoving me into the wall when I tried to take the outside on it. Jerk.
Anyway, the rest of the race ran smooth as...something. And even with the Opel's tendency to under-pit, it still held on to second. Somehow. That thing rocks on good tires, and I shall be purchasing one for testing.
To summarize: The GSX-R/4 rocks, the AI flings Opels, and the NSX hates me.
)
