Smallhorses
Staff Emeritus
- 7,260
New York Streets 200 miles
Having done this race once before and left a paltry 19 A-spec points out of the 200 total behind, it was time to go back and find a suitable stock ride to make amends. Last time, the report generated a little negative feedback, in that I left many folks with a tune that they didn't want going round in their heads! You can find it here:- An Englishman in New York.
While I'm still very definitely an Englishman, this time my stock rocket is a Smokin' Japanese Babe (to steal a title from a Future Sound Of London track!)
Honda NSX-R Concept '01 (Oil changed, S1 tyres) / MR / 300HP / 1270kg / 4.2kg/HP gives
200 A-spec points!
when stacked against the following lineup. Starting Grid:-
1st Ford MUSTANG SVT Cobra R '00
2nd Lotus Motor Sport Elise '99
3rd Dodge Viper GTS '99
4th Callaway C12 '03
5th Mercedes SL 65 AMG (R230) '04
6th Honda NSX-R Concept '01
Since I'm not overly familiar with New York, I needed a map to figure out exactly which streets we're racing on. So here's what I used, and will refer to throughout this report! (Courtesy of Mapquest, and some really not-very professional editing in Paint by me!)
The Lotus clobbers the wall hard at the turn from 7th Ave. onto W 55th St., and the Dodge goes by, followed once again in a hugely similar manner to most previous passes, by me on 6th Ave. Lost 3rd place for a split second under braking for W 55th St., as the Lotus goes by, but then ploughs into the barrier again, as I smoothly negotiate the turn!
Dodge is passed as he runs wide at Columbus Circle, and opens the door for me, although the flirt with 2nd place is a short one, as he reels me in and goes by as we cross the line ending lap 6. I have to contend with following him through laps 7 & 8, as he's able to build an unassailable gap in the straights that I can't get close enough to attempt a pass through the 90degree turn section towards Central Park. Same story for lap 10, but on lap 11 I'm closer out of the W 42nd St. hairpin and sneak by on, you've guessed it, 6th Ave. Miss a gear in the excitement, and take the turns onto 5th Ave., W 58th St., the brief squirt on Grand Army Pl. and onto W 59th St in 3rd gear instead of 2nd! 
Hold 2nd place until the W. 55th St. turn on lap 12, where the Dodge glides by after braking late, and contacts the barrier. This allows me to go by on 6th Ave. again, and this time I make no gearing mistakes and pull away towards Columbus Circle. So far, lap 11, at 1'48.968 is the fastest of the race, and the flying Ford at the front has forged a 10s lead for us fearless followers to find before the finish! Pulled away through the remainder of lap 12 and drop the fastest lap by just under 2/100ths on lap 13. Continue to edge away from the Dodge, but make little impression on the more or less static 10 s lead of the Ford through lap 16. It stays this way until the end of lap 18, when the Ford pits, meaning he'll be making 4 stops before the completion of 76 laps.
The Dodge who has acquired 2nd place now is 6s behind me, and ending lap 19 the Merc makes his first stop. The Dodge is the next pitter, going in ending his 23rd lap and followed moments later by the Lotus, leaving the Callaway to take over the running in 2nd place, albeit 22s behind.
Pit in myself ending lap 25, with front right tyre starting to turn from dark-orange to red, after several laps that have been in the 1'52 range. A new set of Sports Hard tyres later and just a dash of fuel going in, having consumed 44 units in the first stint, I opt for safety and allow the gauge to register 48 units before signalling to the fuel man to stop. Away from the pits in first place, but keep well over to the right as I can see 2 dots fast approaching in my rearview mirror.
Seconds later the Callaway screams by as I'm still accelerating, and although I'm as far over to the right as I can get without leaving streaks of white paint down the barrier the Ford ignores the Callaway's lead and runs right into the back of my Honda before we all jump on the brakes for the W 42nd St. hairpin. 
I'm down to 3rd by the time we get onto W 55th St., but the Ford is floundering behind the Callaway and I can bide my time behind him. The Callaway pits ending his 26th lap, and his blocking of the Ford, so it's into lap 27 in 2nd place again that I go.
The Ford, on already warm tyres is able to put his V8 powerplant to good use, opening the gap up to 5s ending lap 30.
That increases to 10s by the time he's expected to pit on lap 36, but he stays out another lap, going in at the end of his 37th lap, while still holding the lead. The hard-charging Merc which had gotten within seconds of challenging me for 2nd place also breaks with convention, pitting ending his 37th lap, having only gotten 18 laps out of his second set of tyres. So the first half of the race ends, completing lap 38 in a little under 1 hour and 11 minutes, and commanding a 10s lead of the Dodge which is back through into 2nd place. This holding pattern is maintained, until the end of lap 45, when the Dodge follows the Merc's lead and pits a lap earlier than expected himself.
The last placed Lotus makes his second stop on cue, ending his 46th lap. The combination of a lighter fuel load and the fact that I've been easily cruising through the laps in the 1'50 - 1'51 range without going for fastest lap heroics, means that I've readily been able to extract an extra lap from this set of tyres, in fact, as I pit ending lap 51, the front right tyre is only just beginning to turn pale orange.
The Ford which had resumed his 2nd placed chase after the Dodge's pitstop has taken advantage of my leisurely pace and gained from 16s behind to a little over 10s when I pit in. As I've been drinking from the very last fuel bar during this stint, thanks to adding those 4 extra units at the last stop, I know this stop will be a little longer, as I'll need to take on almost a half tank of fuel to see me through to the end of the race. With just 3 units left in the tank the fuel man tops me back up to 46 units to be on the safe side, before I get underway again, exiting the pits in 2nd place behind the Ford. Not to be left out, the Callaway also pits a lap earlier than expected, ending his own 51st lap.
The gap to the leader is over 18s ending lap 53, and is a hair over 20s by the time the Ford pits again ending lap 55. The Merc also makes his third stop ending his 55th lap from back in 3rd place. As the Ford completes his outlap he's 7s back in 2nd place now, and that gap stretches slightly to 10s while he warms the new tyres, and then begins to drop again, 8.8s beginning lap 61. I have the Ford in a complete Catch-22 situation.
He can't back off to conserve his tyres for the extra few laps he'd have to do to avoid another pitstop before the end of the race, since he's behind me now, and needs to catch up. However, if he pushes hard to pass me, although I'm quite happy to let him go, he'd overcook the tyres, have to stop a few laps before the end of the race and lose anyway. I'm a sly one, mwuhahahaha! 
Anyway, I'm consistently lapping in 1'50 range and the Ford gains a little, the gap being exactly 6.000s entering lap 66. My fuel gauge drops into the red on lap 67, as I round the W 42nd St. hairpin. The Viper pits from 4th place ending his 68th lap, while I racing up 7th Ave. with a Ford in hot pursuit. I move over and let him pass in the braking zone on 7th Ave. for the turn onto W 55th St., he goes by in a hurry flashing flames from the exhaust ports on either side of the car.
He's easy to stick with, and I cross the line into lap 71 under a second behind him, as the Lotus who has pitted ending his 69th lap is lapped whilst exiting the pitlane by both of us. As I brake for the W 55th St. turn, I glance at my mirror and dart right to avoid a shunting from the Lotus who has overshot the braking zone for the turn by a country mile. He leaves another Lotus-shaped dent in the barrier, and won't be any more trouble to the leaders as the accident has cost him a tonne of time! 
Sometime during lap 72, my fuel gauge drops another bar and I'm now sipping from the last red bar with 4 laps to complete. The Ford is hanging on in 1st place, but I'm a shade over half a second off his rear end crossing the line! 👍 The pressure is too much for him to bear, he's running wider and wider at every bend, and ending lap 73 he cracks, and heads for the pits with just 3 laps to go! The Merc is unable to capitalise on the Ford's woes, pitting in himself ending his own 73rd lap, which leaves the Ford clear to rejoin the race in 2nd place but a distant 27s behind.
Clean out the last 2 laps easily, and record another 200 A-spec point win by 28s from the Ford, who leads the 3rd placed Callaway home for an American 2nd-3rd here in the US's "City That Never Sleeps"!
Result:-
1st Honda NSX-R Concept '01 2:21'52.297 Pitted every 25-26 laps. Fastest lap 1'48.949.
2nd Ford Mustang SVT Cobra R '00 ~+28s Pitted every 18-19 laps
3rd Callaway C12 '03 ~+35s Pitted every 25-26 laps
4th Mercedes SL 65 AMG (R230) '04 On lap 76 Pitted every 18-19 laps
5th Dodge Viper GTS '99 On lap 76 Pitted every 22-23laps
6th Lotus Motorsport Elise '99 +1 Lap Pitted every 23 laps
