AMG.
Staff Emeritus
- 3,116
- NL, Leiden
- GTP_AMG
A little while ago I was fortunate to have raced the Audi R8 on la Sarthe during an Incentive day organised by my employer. https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/showthread.php?t=87596
I won that race and the got the accompanying prizes too .. or so I thought.
The best prize just dropped through the letterbox.
It’s an invitation to the real deal. The 24 four hour race at la Sarthe. Turns out Jean Claude Plassart, president of the Automobile Club de l’Ouest, was attending our incentive day and he was so impressed by my performance that he pulled some strings.
So I find myself once again on Sarthe. This time in a pitch black Mazda 787B.
Pre-race
What can I say, some lovely ladies out there
Race
It’s a rolling start and I’m in 6th place.
For the first 2-3 hours I’m trading places with the other Mazda in the field and despite the fact that I pit more often than he does, my 8 against his 9 laps, I firmly take the lead.
That’s to say if I don’t make too many costly mistakes.
I don’t encounter too many opportunities to draft others as we are spread out over the track and the pitstops of the others are 7 laps.
By the 6th hour I have firmly lapped the #2 car (the Mazda) and I’m still going strong. Oh there have been a series of mistakes costing me on average 10 secs or so.
From the 7th hour onwards the car is bouncing around on the straight and on the 8th hour the oil light comes on.
It’s not until Hour 12:36 on lap 224 that something interesting happens. Unfortunately it happens to me
I need a new set of tyres and desperately need fuel. I’m down to 3 units.
I come in too fast
and I overshoot the tyre / petrol choice screen. I thought my pitcrew would know by now what they’re supposed to do. They’ve done it 30 times or so. The marshalls wave me through pitlane and to the horror of the spectators I do a U-turn as I exit the pit.
I head back to the entrance of the pit and this time slow down so I can finally make my needs known. It cost me approximately 50 secs.
Hour 14. I exit the pit just behind the Nissan R92CP and for the next 3 laps or so I can catch his draft on the straights on this circuit. Finally someone to do a little battle with. I’m faster on the straights but his cornering skills are better than mine.
Between Hour 15 and 16 I lap the Mazda for the second time and he unlaps himself again but also parks his car against the wall on the straight. This goes on for a while until finally on lap 282 I can firmly stay ahead of him and he is now officially 2 laps down.
So far I’ve seen a number of cars parked against the wall and I must have an angel sitting on my shoulders as I don’t hit any of them whilst my eyes are bouncing in their sockets as I’m doing 214 mph down the straight.
It is not until hour 20 that I encounter the Mazda again (3rd time) and for just over an hour, whilst I’m driving at my worst we battle again. By lap 376 (21:09) I know that I’ve now lapped him 3 times.
21:36 lap 384 I’m supposed to pit but I am so tired that I just follow the track as an automaton. It’s not until I reach the start finish line that I realise my mistake.
Yet another U turn made in front of the main stand and I make it back in to pitlane for some car refreshments.
I clean up my act and the next 2 and a half hours go by uneventfully. The Mazda pits on my last lap and as his name flashes up on the screen I’m 1 minute 10secs ahead of him. The Minolta is fairly close by so I slow down to let him catch up (so as to catch his stats). We cross the line and the 24 hour Sarthe II is now firmly in the bag.
All that remains is to copy the game on my second memory card.
Statistics
Laps 1-9 and 10-18 on R1/R1 tyres.
Remainder of the race pitted every 8 laps, used R2/R1s and filled up to 72 units of fuel.
On lap 424 just 8 minutes before 24 hour mark I make my last stop and fill up to 40 units.
I’m at T4 (end of straight) when the 24 hours pass by.
PAL lineup 5 (the first all LMP lineup)
Peugeot 905
Mazda 787B (pits every 9 laps)
Jaguar XJR-9
Minolta Toyota
Nissan R92 CP
235000 spectators
TV broadcast in 114 countries
78 million surfers on-line
Final score
Black Mazda 787B 427 laps 24.01:56.404 (ended on 715bhp, valuation screen)
Green orange Mazda 787B 424 laps and ± 1.5 min behind.
Nissan R92CP -.-.-
Jag -.-.-
Minolta 421 laps
Peugeot 905 -.-.-
Black Mazda 787B, 190 ballast, autotranny set to 13 (but it was still redlining a bit), body refresh.
R1 starting tyres but switch to R2/R1 for better wear.
At the end of 8 laps the rears were light orange and the car was breaking out a bit.
Winnings
200 A-spec points, 1 million credits and a nice Bentley.
AMG.
I won that race and the got the accompanying prizes too .. or so I thought.
The best prize just dropped through the letterbox.
It’s an invitation to the real deal. The 24 four hour race at la Sarthe. Turns out Jean Claude Plassart, president of the Automobile Club de l’Ouest, was attending our incentive day and he was so impressed by my performance that he pulled some strings.
So I find myself once again on Sarthe. This time in a pitch black Mazda 787B.
Pre-race
What can I say, some lovely ladies out there
Race
It’s a rolling start and I’m in 6th place.
For the first 2-3 hours I’m trading places with the other Mazda in the field and despite the fact that I pit more often than he does, my 8 against his 9 laps, I firmly take the lead.
That’s to say if I don’t make too many costly mistakes.
I don’t encounter too many opportunities to draft others as we are spread out over the track and the pitstops of the others are 7 laps.
By the 6th hour I have firmly lapped the #2 car (the Mazda) and I’m still going strong. Oh there have been a series of mistakes costing me on average 10 secs or so.
From the 7th hour onwards the car is bouncing around on the straight and on the 8th hour the oil light comes on.
It’s not until Hour 12:36 on lap 224 that something interesting happens. Unfortunately it happens to me
I need a new set of tyres and desperately need fuel. I’m down to 3 units.I come in too fast
and I overshoot the tyre / petrol choice screen. I thought my pitcrew would know by now what they’re supposed to do. They’ve done it 30 times or so. The marshalls wave me through pitlane and to the horror of the spectators I do a U-turn as I exit the pit. I head back to the entrance of the pit and this time slow down so I can finally make my needs known. It cost me approximately 50 secs.
Hour 14. I exit the pit just behind the Nissan R92CP and for the next 3 laps or so I can catch his draft on the straights on this circuit. Finally someone to do a little battle with. I’m faster on the straights but his cornering skills are better than mine.
Between Hour 15 and 16 I lap the Mazda for the second time and he unlaps himself again but also parks his car against the wall on the straight. This goes on for a while until finally on lap 282 I can firmly stay ahead of him and he is now officially 2 laps down.
So far I’ve seen a number of cars parked against the wall and I must have an angel sitting on my shoulders as I don’t hit any of them whilst my eyes are bouncing in their sockets as I’m doing 214 mph down the straight.
It is not until hour 20 that I encounter the Mazda again (3rd time) and for just over an hour, whilst I’m driving at my worst we battle again. By lap 376 (21:09) I know that I’ve now lapped him 3 times.
21:36 lap 384 I’m supposed to pit but I am so tired that I just follow the track as an automaton. It’s not until I reach the start finish line that I realise my mistake.
Yet another U turn made in front of the main stand and I make it back in to pitlane for some car refreshments.
I clean up my act and the next 2 and a half hours go by uneventfully. The Mazda pits on my last lap and as his name flashes up on the screen I’m 1 minute 10secs ahead of him. The Minolta is fairly close by so I slow down to let him catch up (so as to catch his stats). We cross the line and the 24 hour Sarthe II is now firmly in the bag.
All that remains is to copy the game on my second memory card.
Statistics
Laps 1-9 and 10-18 on R1/R1 tyres.
Remainder of the race pitted every 8 laps, used R2/R1s and filled up to 72 units of fuel.
On lap 424 just 8 minutes before 24 hour mark I make my last stop and fill up to 40 units.
I’m at T4 (end of straight) when the 24 hours pass by.
PAL lineup 5 (the first all LMP lineup)
Peugeot 905
Mazda 787B (pits every 9 laps)
Jaguar XJR-9
Minolta Toyota
Nissan R92 CP
235000 spectators
TV broadcast in 114 countries
78 million surfers on-line
Final score
Black Mazda 787B 427 laps 24.01:56.404 (ended on 715bhp, valuation screen)
Green orange Mazda 787B 424 laps and ± 1.5 min behind.
Nissan R92CP -.-.-
Jag -.-.-
Minolta 421 laps
Peugeot 905 -.-.-
Black Mazda 787B, 190 ballast, autotranny set to 13 (but it was still redlining a bit), body refresh.
R1 starting tyres but switch to R2/R1 for better wear.
At the end of 8 laps the rears were light orange and the car was breaking out a bit.
Winnings
200 A-spec points, 1 million credits and a nice Bentley.
AMG.
