184 clean A-spec points, without NOS at Roadster 4hrs Endurance.

[Smallhorses]

Roadster 4hrs Endurance

​

Being as no-one appears to have made a pictorical report of this race to date, I feel that this effort, probably my final one, is worthy of it's own thread.
Previous runnings of this race have seen me earn 76, 104 and 147 points respectively in 3 different cars. This time I'm gunning for more points, but still without using NOS.
Finding that the Mazda MX-5 Miata (NA) '89 in my garage had been modified for running in the Roadster Cup under Mazda manufacturers events, and was purchased as a 6.2 mile used special, it's not able to be downgraded sufficiently in power or made heavy enough to see a significant points increase here.
I therefore go off in search of a well used '89, and as I'm on day 3478, there happens to be a red one with 52,829.4 miles on the clock in the Historic Used Car Lot. Purchased it for 5,949Cr and set about upgrading it for it's arduous 4hr task ahead.
It's showing 107HP in the garage screen, and appears to have tar for oil. I'm leaving it that way though, and I add 110kg of ballast for good measure, taking the weight up to 1050kg, identical to that of the Mazda MX-5 Miata 1600 NR-A (NB,J) '04 that I ran last time, but lagging by some 17HP in power. I fit N tyres of all grades, racing brakes, brake controller, full-custom transmission, triple plate clutch, racing flywheel, 1.5-way LSD, carbon driveshaft and full-custom suspension.
Practicing with 75kg ballast at Tsukuba I'm able to come up with a setup that runs in the low to mid-1'12s on N3s all round, and since this had given me 2 laps victory before, I upped the ballast a little until low to mid-1'13s were obtained.

Setup:

Mazda MX-5 Miata (NA) '89 (N1/N3 Tyres) / FR / 107HP / 1050kg / 9.8kg/HP

Brake Controller: Front 10, Rear 11
Driving Aids: 0 / 0 / 0
Transmission: Autoset 3, Final Drive 4.690 (optimised for use of just 4 gears to minimise shifting and time lost due to shifting.)
Spring Rate: Front 11.0, Rear 8.8
Ride Height: Front 104, Rear 103
Shock Bound: Front 4, Rear 6
Shock Rebound: Front 4, Rear 6
Camber Angle: Front 2.3, Rear 1.7
Toe Angle: Front 0, Rear -1
Stabilisers: Front 3, Rear 5
Weight Balance: 110kg, -15

I now set off in search of the same lineup as before...

Somewhere between 10 & 20 enter/exits later, it appears.

1st Mazda MX-5 Miata SR-Limited (J) '97 (Pits every 41 - 42 laps)
2nd Mazda MX-5 Miata S-Special Type I (J) '95 (Pits every 41 - 42 laps)
3rd Mazda MX-5 Miata 1.8 RS (J) '98 (Pits every 41 - 42 laps)
4th Mazda MX-5 Miata J-Limited II (J) '93 (Pits every 42 - 43 laps)
5th Mazda MX-5 Miata V-Special Type II (J) '93 (Pits every 42 - 43 laps)
6th Mazda MX-5 Miata (NA) '89 (Pits on lap 1, then every 34 laps thereafter)

Race Highlights:​

Hour 1:​

Pitted ending lap 1 to change front tyres to N3s, still keeping the A-spec points high, but allowing much better laptimes. Ended outlap 34s behind the leader and set about catching the pack as the SR-Limited begins to edge away from them. Harder to close up on the pack than in my previous attempt, but lap 6 comes in at 1'13.251, before I get 3 wheels off-track outside the large kerb at the exit of the final turn of lap 7, a move which is repeated ending lap 18. By the end of lap 20, the gap to the leader is 24.922s and the fastest laptime down to 1'13.148 (Lap 16) but leaving me over 10s down on the pace of my previous outing here. Lap 22 is the first in the sub-1'13 range, coming in a shade below at 1'12.945. Gap drops to just over 22s, but goes up again following a 4-wheels-off-track moment at the exit of turn 1 on lap 31, although no barrier contact is made. As my left front tyre begins to go off, my laptimes drop into the 1'14s and I'm 28s behind the leader when I pit ending lap 35, taking on new tyres but no fuel.

Completed outlap at 56.010 behind the leader, leaving a tremendous uphill battle.

The leader stops ending his 42nd lap, followed in by the 1.8 RS in 2nd place and 3rd place S-Special. The J-Limited and V-Special take over 1st and 2nd spots for a lap, but relinquish those as they pit together ending lap 43. Begin to gain on the others again, dropping the gap from 26s at the end of the leader's outlap, to 20s beginning lap 46, having put in a new lap record of 1'12.851 on lap 45. I'm also inching up to the rear of the V-Special in 5th place. He holds me up a little through lap 46, but is cleanly outbraked and passed with no contact into turn 1 on lap 47, and I finally escape from last place for a while! Pushing really hard now, almost too hard as I get 4 wheels fractionally beyond the kerb exiting the 2nd hairpin on lap 47, but still finish the lap in the low-1'13s and with 19s gap to the leader.

Hour mark passes 1'11.061 into lap 48, in 5th place, 18.492s behind the leader.

Hour 2:​

Held up by the J-Limited through lap 49, but get a good run on him down to the 2nd hairpin on lap 50, executing a pass around the outside, avoiding contact at the exit of the bend by making full use of the rumble strip and set off in pursuit of the 3rd placed S-Special. I catch up to him on lap 51, and make my move at the beginning of lap 52 having got a good run out of the last turn. I outbrake him into turn 1 and all appears to be clean until he tags the back bumper of my red '89 as we leave the apex of the turn. Knock another 1/10th off my personal lap record ending lap 55 in 1'12.746 and leaving 13.998s gap to the leading SR-Limited. Laptime drops again on lap 58, this time to 1'12.700, and leaving 12.693s to the leader as I'm beginning to make tangible inroads into the gap to the 1.8 RS in 2nd place. Pit in ending lap 69, from 3rd place and a little over 10s behind the leader, coming to a stop in my pitstall with almost an hour and 26 minutes of the race elapsed. I've used only 36 units of fuel at this point, so I refuse the fuelling hose again,

and proceed after having the tyres replaced with new N3s all round.

Complete my outlap 37.361s behind the leader and begin the onerous task of catching the 5 cars ahead of me having dropped back to 6th place again. Pushing hard to maintain the gap since their tyres are in the optimal range, I forget that mine are cold and run wide over the kerb exiting the final turn of lap 72. Able to wrestle the car back onto the tarmac without any issues though. Begin to lap consistently in the high 1'12 range and catch up to the 5th placed V-Special on lap 80 having dropped the gap to the leader by 5s. I'm held up for a few laps trying to find a clean way past, and eventually I get a great run out of the last turn of lap 82 which sets me up for a repeat of my first clean outbraking move on him into turn 1 of lap 83. The 1.8 RS stops a lap earlier than expected from 2nd place ending his 83rd lap and emerges only yards in front of me as I begin my 84th lap. The leader stops from around 32s ahead of me ending his 84th lap as expected, and is followed in by the S-Special who loses his position to the 2nd placed J-Limited who has yet to make his 2nd stop and both the 1.8 RS who moves into 3rd place, and me, only fractions of a second behind the 1.8 RS in 4th place. The J-Limited stops ending his 85th lap, a lap earlier than anticipated, and in doing so hands over 2nd place to the 1.8 RS and 3rd place to me. Outbraked the 1.8 RS up the inside into the 2nd hairpin on lap 86, passing cleanly into 2nd place, my highest ranking so far, and set off after the leader, some 7s up the road. The gap drops precipitously for the next few laps until by lap 90 I'm glued to the rear of the leading SR-Limited and trying to find a way by. He's holding me up as we're lapping in the mid-1'14s, but I'm unable to find an opening for a clean pass.

Follow him round until I get a good run out of the last turn of lap 94, and outbrake him into turn 1. Unlike the S-Special whose accidental nudge of my bumper after the pass saw him back down in acknowledgement of there being another car in his way, the SR-Limited is much more aggressive, ramming me hard from behind, so much so that my car is pushed to the point where 4 wheels go up over the rumble strip exiting the bend. I keep the throttle mashed though and he's vanquished to 2nd place, at least temporarily.

Hour mark passes 41.796s into lap 97, in 1st place, 2.529s ahead of 2nd placed SR-Limited.

Hour 3:​

Pit in from just under 4s lead on lap 103, and drop back down to 3rd place. Have used 53 units of fuel in 103 laps so far, an average of just over 1/2 a unit per lap. Thus a 34 lap stint should require ~ 17 1/2 units.

Take tyres and no fuel this time and resolve to top up to around 19 units (to be on the safe side) at the next stop. Exit the pits with the S-Special on warm tyres breathing right down my exhaust pipe, and finished the outlap at 22.837s behind the SR-Limited. Keep the gap constant at around 23s while my tyres warm, and ease away from the S-Special. New fastest lap of 1'12.555 arrives ending my 113th lap, with the gap to the leader now down below 20s. Shave a miserly 5ms of the lap record on lap 116, down to 1'12.550 while the leader is now only 17.671s ahead. Drop into the redzone on the fuel gauge during lap 117, and the weightloss it seems is making a slight difference, another 4ms goes begging as the lap ends in a frighteningly consistent 1'12.546!

The 1.8 RS pits ending his 124th lap, leaving me to take over 2nd place and then, having been reeled in to under 10s lead, the SR-Limited pits unexpectedly after 41 laps instead of 42, ending his 125th lap, and leaving me to breeze into the lead again. The S-Special in 3rd place maintains his 42 lap window, going in ending his 126th lap and dropping into last place temporarily. The J-Limited and V-Special pit almost together ending their 127th laps, and handing back 4th place to the S-Special and 3rd place to the 1.8 RS. I'm lapping consistently in the 1'12.7xx - 1'13.2xx range, and extend the gap to 2nd place to almost 30s, as I also catch the backmarking V-Special. Have my first minor off-track excursion of the hour in lap 133 as I run over the rumble strip and onto the grass with 4 tyres exiting the bend under the Dunlop Bridge. I'm held up by the V-Special in the last 4 laps before my 137th lap pitstop, lapping in the 1'14 - 1'15 range, but unable to pass due to worn tyres. This allows the SR-Limited to sneak back up to 26s behind as I hit the pitlane. 10 fuel units remain, and are replenished to a 19 unit level before taking off again, escaping with the lead, but just barely as I complete the outlap with just 0.651s in hand over the SR-Limited. He doesn't challenge hard even with his warmer tyres, and as mine warm to their task I'm able to edge away a fraction of a second at a time.

Hour mark passes 1'07.180 into lap 145, in 1st place, 4.030s ahead of 2nd placed SR-Limited.

Hour 4:​

Not much happens in the first 10 minutes of this hour, my tyres are now up to temperature and I'm pulling away from the 2nd placed SR-Limited such that as I complete a new fast laptime of 1'12.524 on lap 153, I've opened the lead up to over 10s. It does appear that the SR-Limited has also been caught by the 1.8 RS, and their scrapping seems to be holding them up. Down to just a single fuel bar again, I finally push below the 1'12 and a half second barrier on lap 163, dropping in at 1'12.477 and now leading by over 16s as the rest of the cars in the field have their tyres wearing while they near their final pitstops, which I anticipate will begin around lap 165. Indeed, it is the 1.8 RS who has been running a very close 3rd behind the SR-Limited that kicks off this round of stops, diving pitwards at the end of his 166th lap and able to emerge still holding 3rd place. The SR-Limited goes in ending his 167th lap from 2nd place, emerging again just marginally ahead of the 1.8 RS with whom he'll rekindle the scrap that's left them trailing a little behind me. 4th placed S-Special is next to go in, also ending his 167th lap, dropping back into 6th place, and temporarily losing a lap to my 1st placed car. The J-Limited pits from the 4th place he's inherited ending his 169th lap as too does the 5th placed V-Special, both of them losing a temporary lap to me, and a place each to the S-Special who moves back into 4th position.

Pit in myself ending my 171st lap, and relinquish the 4th, 5th and 6th placed cars from being a lap behind me. According to the timers, I was 50.s ahead of the scrap for 2nd place between the SR-Limited & 1.8 RS at the 2nd checkpoint on my inlap. I have just 1 unit of fuel remaining in the tank, so I was cutting it close,

however, there's only 28 minutes of the race left, which works out at around 22 - 23 full laps remaining, so I only fill up to 15 units which should see me safe for 28 full laps if needs be. Complete my outlap with 24.774s lead over 2nd placed SR-Limited who appears to be pulling away from 3rd placed 1.8 RS slightly, but it seems that with 26 minutes remaining, the race is won, barring any really, really silly mistakes! Catch up to the last placed V-Special on lap 175, and spend a long time trying to find a way to cleanly pass him. He's holding me up significantly, as I'm now lapping in mid-1'14 to 1'15 range, although the 2nd placed car is still not catching us too rapidly. Accidentally touch the back of my tormentor into the 3rd hairpin on lap 179 when he brakes waaaay to early for the turn, losing myself some time. It's so hard to pass even the slowest car in this race when he's a) lighter, b) more powerful & c) on better tyres than the car I'm dealing with!!! 10 laps later and I'm still behind him, although now that his tyres are warmer we're lapping in the mid to high-1'13s, and the gap to the 2nd placed SR-Limited has stabilised at 21s. Into lap 194, the timer is already beyond 3:59'30.000 mark meaning it'll be the final lap.

Hour mark passes 37.067s into lap 194, in 1st place, 20.722s ahead of 2nd placed SR-Limited.

Result:​

1st Mazda MX-5 Miata (NA) '89 4:00'36.964 (194 laps completed, 252.7 miles)
2nd Mazda MX-5 Miata SR-Limited (J) '97 (+~20s)
3rd Mazda MX-5 Miata 1.8 RS (J) '98 (+~27s)
4th Mazda MX-5 Miata S-Special Type I (J) '95 (+~50s)
5th Mazda MX-5 Miata J-Limited II (J) '93 (+~1'00)
6th Mazda MX-5 Miata V-Special Type II (J) '93 (+~1'13)

In hindsight, practicing in a race with tyrewear on, 💡 would've showed me that my choice of setting the ballast forward was a mistake as it caused the front tyres to wear quicker, and setting it towards the rear may have improved tyre life, which in turn may have meant being able to carry a little more extra weight and gaining another few A-spec points.
However, I'm really, really happy with what I've done here, so I'm going to leave it at that!

 

[Smallhorses]

Ok, as I mentioned over in Smallhorses' A-Spec Endurance Companion., I'm going to give away a month of free Premiumness to the first non-Premium member who PMs me the correct answers to these questions.
(Do not post them as a visitor message, or here in the thread or you'll be automatically disqualified.)

Each question has 2 parts, and I need the answers to both parts for each question (10 answers in total) to win the prize.

Question 1:
I own a Miata in real life. What model year is it? What colour combination (paint / interior) is it?

Question 2:
I ran some frighteningly consistent consecutive laps in the middle part of this race, what was the time difference between them? Which was the first car to temporarily be lapped?

Question 3:
The MX-5 Miata was designed at Mazda's facility in Irvine, CA and I've met they guy who lead the design team. Who was he? Where does the designation "MX-5" derive from?

Question 4:
This is my 4th running of the Roadster Enduro in GT4, an event which also featured in GT3. Which models of MX-5 Miata have I run here in GT4 previously? Where was the Roadster Enduro held in GT3?

Question 5:
On which lap did I make my only "at fault" contact with the AI, and with which car?

 

[mcsqueegy]

Excellent report, Smallhorses! Although I don't have the patience to go around Tsukuba for 4 hours, especially in an underpowered car on N3's, it sounded like a lot of fun for you . I really like the 3rd last photo, where your car is in the background. Just out of curiosity, were all the adjustments to the car (i.e suspension) your own?

 

[Smallhorses]

I've received 3 entries for this so far, and as yet, no-one has all the correct answers.
There was, as noted, a typo in Question 4, where I'd typed 5th (instead of 4th) running, but I've now corrected that.
I'd also encourage everyone to read and interpret the wording of the last question carefully.

So far:

mcsqueegy 8/10
C-ZETA 6 / 10
Nenad 4 / 10

More entries please, and feel free to re-enter more than once if you feel you need to update your original answers. 👍

First person with all 10 correct answers wins. Some questions are not as clear-cut as they seem, you'll need to read carefully.

 

[shepzki]

An excellent read, this race is only 1 of 3 endurance races I have left to do on my game so may give this a try. Hope I can have the consistency for this though, will require a lot of concentration throughout I imagine. Might do some practice laps later on if I have the right car, or can buy it.

Congratulations of the points aswell.

 

[mcsqueegy]

I've received 3 entries for this so far, and as yet, no-one has all the correct answers.
There was, as noted, a typo in Question 4, where I'd typed 5th (instead of 4th) running, but I've now corrected that.
I'd also encourage everyone to read and interpret the wording of the last question carefully.

So far:

mcsqueegy 8/10
C-ZETA 6 / 10
Nenad 4 / 10

More entries please, and feel free to re-enter more than once if you feel you need to update your original answers. 👍

First person with all 10 correct answers wins. Some questions are not as clear-cut as they seem, you'll need to read carefully.

Better than expected, it counts to read every line, for any others having a shot. I think I know where I went wrong, thanks to this...

I'd also encourage everyone to read and interpret the wording of the last question carefully.

So I'm editing my entry

Edit: sent second attempt. Fingers crossed

 

[Smallhorses]

Ok, then I had 3 more entries for this:

Seismica 8 / 10
mynameissport 8 / 10

but our winner, with these answers, is mcsqueegy, with his 2nd entry:

1. The Miata is a 1995 model, with white exterior paint, and light brown leather interior. It's not specified the exact name of the colours

2. Time difference was 0.004s between laps 116 and 117, with times of 1'12.550 and 1'12.546. Also noted was lap 113, with a lap of 1'12.555. The first car to be temporarily lapped was the MX-5 Miata S-Special Type I (J) '95

3. The leader of the design team was Tom Matano. MX stands for Mazda Experimental. The '5' was the next number in the sequence of 'M' concept cars.

4. The other cars you raced with were: Mazda MX-5 Miata V-Special Type II '93, Mazda MX-5 Miata VR-Limited (NA,J) '95, and the Mazda MX-5 Miata 1600 NR-A (NB,J) '04. The roadster enduro in GT3 was held at Apricot Hill Raceway.

5. You accidentally bumped the back of the Mazda MX-5 Miata V-Special Type II (J) '93 on the third hairpin, lap 179.

Thanks for playing, many of you spotted contacts during lap 52, and 95, however, being bumped from behind by someone is rarely classified as "your fault". It's the resposibility of the person behind to avoid the people in front of them, and as such, the only contact that was "my fault" was me hitting the V-Special on lap 179. Regardless of whether he braked too early, I'm supposed to have been in control enough to anticipate and avoid contact, and in this case I didn't.
Some of you also mentioned Bob Hall with respect to the Miata design. While he was integral in the concept of Mazda giving birth to a roadster project, he didn't lead the design team. That was of course Tom Matano, who left Mazda in 2002 to take a position in the Industrial Design program at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco.
Some of you fell foul of not reading properly, and while the V-Special finished last, he wasn't the first to be temporarily lapped due to pit strategy. That dubious honour belonged to the S-Special, who was lapped in the pits as I began my 168th lap.
I did highlight "consecutive" in question 2, and 0.004s or 4ms (milliseconds) as I wrote it in the report between laps 116 and 117 was the difference. I guess we could debate what "frighteningly consistent" actually means, but 4 thousandths of a second was pretty close in my book!!!
And, just out of interest, 'cos not a lot of people know that [/Michael Caine voice] the interior colour of our Miata is called "Buckskin", but I accepted "light brown", "tan" or "beige" as correct answers. I only know what the interior colour is called as we've had the convertible top replaced on this car, and the original factory fitted top comes in the lighter "tan" colour which doesn't actually match the seat and trim colours! Why this happens direct from the factory no-one seems to know! They guy at California Covers who replaced our top asked us if we'd like a direct "tan" replacement, or the "buckskin" colour which matches the "buckskin" interior. No brainer really, it looks much better matched up, although the top doesn't spend too much time in the "up" position anyway!!!

Congratulations mcsqueegy, your keys to the executive Premium washroom will arrive shortly...

 

[mcsqueegy]

Thanks, Smallhorses! It was lucky I didn't put Bob Hall in there, because I found him before realising Tom Matano was the actual leader . Those questions weren't easy, but I thought that I'd do it because others would be repelled by the design team question .

Now, straight to The Infield

 

[Smallhorses]

Now the contest is over, I'll take a little time to respond to your questions and comments!

Excellent report, Smallhorses! Although I don't have the patience to go around Tsukuba for 4 hours, especially in an underpowered car on N3's, it sounded like a lot of fun for you . I really like the 3rd last photo, where your car is in the background. Just out of curiosity, were all the adjustments to the car (i.e suspension) your own?

The setup is sort of pilfered and tweaked from that which Austin343 posted in the Endurance Races thread within the 200 A-spec Point subforum. His car was set up for a full 200 point assault with NOS though. It's not exactly the same, he ran much, much softer rear suspension, but I'm not, and have never claimed to be a tuning guru, so I just went with what felt good and gave me laptimes in the range that I'd guessed I'd need to be running to pull off a victory here.

An excellent read, this race is only 1 of 3 endurance races I have left to do on my game so may give this a try. Hope I can have the consistency for this though, will require a lot of concentration throughout I imagine. Might do some practice laps later on if I have the right car, or can buy it.

Congratulations of the points aswell.

With regards to patience and consistency, even in an underpowered form on N3 tyres, the MX-5 Miata in the game, just like in real life, is an absolute joy to drive and it's actually quite a rewarding experience. 👍 It's really worth giving it a try, and it made life a lot more exciting than taking the most powerful stock Miata or a power-modded, NOS equipped car on S tyres and blitzing the field.
I kept consistent and controlled throughout, completing about 1 hour of the race per night for 4 nights, and barring a few minor 4-wheel beyond the kerb moments, I didn't touch a barrier, nor critically did I spin out at all, and given the well-balanced competition, I believe a spin or 2 would've been the difference between a win and a loss here.

 

[Austin343]

As always, this is a fantastic report, and I'm glad you finished with a victory; when you were lagging mid-pack with a heavy fuel load near the beginning of the race, your prospects of winning didn't look very good! But as you said, the consistency of your driving allowed you to chew into the deficit and turn it into a lead as your car gradually lightened. Your persistence deserves a big 👍.

At the beginning of your report, you mention that it's probably your final one. Do you mean that it's your final report on this race, or that it's your final report on any GT4 endurance race? I hope it's the former, because having no more of your race reports would be a major loss.

The setup is sort of pilfered and tweaked from that which Austin343 posted in the Endurance Races thread within the 200 A-spec Point subforum. His car was set up for a full 200 point assault with NOS though. It's not exactly the same, he ran much, much softer rear suspension, but I'm not, and have never claimed to be a tuning guru, so I just went with what felt good and gave me laptimes in the range that I'd guessed I'd need to be running to pull off a victory here.

Your setup actually looks, to me, quite a bit different from mine. You don't have to give any credit to me, because I'm really certain that yours is better, since I'm absolutely clueless at tuning and simply relied on the GT4 Game Guide to just sort of move the sliders somewhere in the direction I wanted. I didn't fiddle at all with the result of that guesswork, and did only a couple of test laps to get a feel for the setup: floaty and tending toward oversteer, which was good enough for me. I doubt you really wanted that, though, as my setup was fairly extreme, and a steering wheel (as opposed to a controller) seems to exacerbate characteristics of oversteer on top of that. I definitely am surprised, though, that you found a four-gear transmission setup to be faster, because you would be out of the power band more, which I assume outweighs the time saved by making fewer and longer gear changes.

 

[shepzki]

I have tried said car with said setup, handles very nicely and in practise I was able to average mid 1:13 lap times on N3 tires. Am now going to run the race with this setup, but slightly different. Am going against the 1st PAL lineup and with a racing chip for 2 reasons:

1. Gives me more practice with the car.
2. Not done this race yet so it will be good to just get it done.

Only giving me 146pts as I started on N3 tires points but it's a start.

Edit - Scratch racing against the 1st lineup, didn't notice the 1800 in it.

 

[Lucas]

Amazing race, and congratulations on the win, Nick. 👍

Too bad I read this a bit too late. Should I have know you were giving away a Premium Membership earlier, I would have definitely gave this one a try.

Oh, and... me thinks I will run this race soon, just to see how do I stack up. Perhaps, if possible, I will go for the full monty. 👍 And of course, I will take this in mind when entering the race:

my choice of setting the ballast forward was a mistake as it caused the front tyres to wear quicker, and setting it towards the rear may have improved tyre life, which in turn may have meant being able to carry a little more extra weight and gaining another few A-spec points

And naturally, a race report will be up once I decide to run it.

 

[PF]

Congrats on a great race and report Smallhorses. I'm especially impressed that you could get 184pts without NOS or bodgy driving.

Also, to quote Austin:

At the beginning of your report, you mention that it's probably your final one. Do you mean that it's your final report on this race, or that it's your final report on any GT4 endurance race? I hope it's the former, because having no more of your race reports would be a major loss.

Finally, might I suggest that those brilliant racers that claim to be poor tuners (I'm talking to Smallhorses and Austin here) PM either Sukerkin (although he's very busy these days) or Dotini, with a humble request that they cast their eyes over the tune and spot any anomalies with the numbers. I'm fairly sure that these two could pick a problem with most cars from the write-up, which could take you or I hours to find by trial and error.

 

[Smallhorses]

Thanks for the comments guys.

To answer the question posed by Austin343, no, it's not my final endurance report, I just added another to Smallhorses' A-Spec Endurance Companion. yesterday!

It was probably my 3rd-to-last report though, to be honest, as I believe I've done all I need to here, and having upped my Super Speedway 150 miles points with yesterday's report to what I believe is my "no NOS and no AI barging or wallriding" maximum I now just have the Motegi 8hr to attack for 200 points and that'll be it.

I am currently working on a way of making the last 32 points that're earned for Motegi 8hr the ones that take me to exactly 100,000 A-spec points!

 

[PF]

I am currently working on a way of making the last 32 points that're earned for Motegi 8hr the ones that take me to exactly 100,000 A-spec points!

Awesome, can't wait for that one. Would that mean you're the first person (that you know of) to reach that milestone without NOS and all the other conditions?

 

[Smallhorses]

Awesome, can't wait for that one. Would that mean you're the first person (that you know of) to reach that milestone without NOS and all the other conditions?

With all my "self-imposed" conditions, yes.
However, Sukerkin and more recently alhajoth have definitely done all A-spec, no NOS, 100,000 A-spec games, and I'm probably neglecting a few other names too.

 

[senamic]

Wonderfully done Smallhorses, Lovely race. Now for the 200!

 

[Nero9]

Nice effort and persistense...If only i'd have the patience to race 4 hours non-stop!

You deserve a 👍 for this.

 

[PF]

Wonderfully done Smallhorses, Lovely race. Now for the 200!

Mate, I don't think he can get 200 with his preconditions. I was astounded that he could do 184 with the self-imposed restrictions. This race is a headache for many veteran GT4 players, and this bloke waltzes (sort of) through without NOS or 'cheating' driving. SH won't allow NOS and there's something about not using the same car for any one race, and a couple of other things (IIRC) that make it a tad difficult. Amazing effort.

 

[senamic]

Indeed. Yet Smallhorses has done the near impossible before, and I have absolute faith that he could again. Here is to hoping.

 

[Dotini]

Congrats on a great race and report Smallhorses. I'm especially impressed that you could get 184pts without NOS or bodgy driving.

Finally, might I suggest that those brilliant racers that claim to be poor tuners (I'm talking to Smallhorses and Austin here) PM either Sukerkin (although he's very busy these days) or Dotini, with a humble request that they cast their eyes over the tune and spot any anomalies with the numbers. I'm fairly sure that these two could pick a problem with most cars from the write-up, which could take you or I hours to find by trial and error.

I also offer congratulations to Smallhorses on another fine race report and, as PF said, an "astounding" 184 point take, all clean, at the Roadster 4 Hr. There is no need to PM me on the interest and importance of this race, as I take a keen interest in all developments on this particular topic - it is one of only 2 events that stand between me and that bodgy nirvana of 111,813. For the last few days I've been researching the event for lineups and improved Miata setups. My research is not at all complete, but so far I can announce the discovery of a convenient new grid giving 200 A-spec points for 6 less kg in ballast than yet reported, and a new setup for the Miata yielding a solid 39/40 laps hard driving on N3's before a pit stop is required, which implies a net gain of one pit stop over the course of the 4 hours. Meager improvements, to be sure, but PF's kind remark requires me to tip my hand as well as my hat.

Finally, I would encourage others to PM our dear Sukerkin. He is in the grip of LOTRO, whatever that is, and might appreciate some intervention.

 

[Smallhorses]

I did do the "not using the same car for more than 1 race" up to the point where I'd bought and driven 1 of every car in the game. I now have 4 duplicates, 2 x Citroen 2CVs, 2 x PD Formula GTs, 2 x Triumph Spitfires and now 2 x Mazda MX-5 Miata '89s.
Obviously in the final push for points, from somewhere around 92,000, which I hit with mostly unmodified cars, I've had to go back and repeat races in vehicles that've been heavily modified (usually drivetrain + suspension, worse tyres and added ballast weight) in order to get my A-spec points total up.
As noted though, I've not succumbed to the temptations of NOS, ever.

Sadly senamic's wish for a 200 pointer here won't happen, as even with 200kg ballast, this car will only give 196 points (apparently, I've not tried it, but I think I read about someone trying it in the Endurance Events thread in the 200 A-spec points subforum) against this lineup, and in order to garner 200 points it will require the unbeatable, without NOS & dirty driving , 1800 RS in the field and I'm not going there.

 

[Lucas]

Sadly senamic's wish for a 200 pointer here won't happen, as even with 200kg ballast, this car will only give 196 points (apparently, I've not tried it, but I think I read about someone trying it in the Endurance Events thread in the 200 A-spec points subforum) against this lineup, and in order to garner 200 points it will require the unbeatable, without NOS & dirty driving , 1800 RS in the field and I'm not going there.

There goes my attempt at running this race for 200 A-Spec points.

 

[senamic]

I did do the "not using the same car for more than 1 race" up to the point where I'd bought and driven 1 of every car in the game. I now have 4 duplicates, 2 x Citroen 2CVs, 2 x PD Formula GTs, 2 x Triumph Spitfires and now 2 x Mazda MX-5 Miata '89s.
Obviously in the final push for points, from somewhere around 92,000, which I hit with mostly unmodified cars, I've had to go back and repeat races in vehicles that've been heavily modified (usually drivetrain + suspension, worse tyres and added ballast weight) in order to get my A-spec points total up.
As noted though, I've not succumbed to the temptations of NOS, ever.

Sadly senamic's wish for a 200 pointer here won't happen, as even with 200kg ballast, this car will only give 196 points (apparently, I've not tried it, but I think I read about someone trying it in the Endurance Events thread in the 200 A-spec points subforum) against this lineup, and in order to garner 200 points it will require the unbeatable, without NOS & dirty driving , 1800 RS in the field and I'm not going there.

Pity.

Still, wonderful report, and perhaps the 1800 RS without NOS and dirty driving would be interesting, seeing you fight valiantly for places you will never achieve! Jokes, nice write up smallhorse 👍