- 212
- Oslo, Norway
- alhajoth
For a while now, me and Smallhorses has had something of a competition going. Who can win the El Capitan endurance race in a stock car with the highest weight-to-power ratio? The current record is the BMW 330i, which has a WPR of exactly 6.0.
I decided to have a go at this record today, and thought I'd mark the occasion with my first ever race-report! 💡
Thanks goes to Smallhorses, his own reports have been a great inspiration for this.
My car of choice is the Chrysler Crossfire, which has the following stats:
Chrysler Crossfire '04 / FR / 215HP / 1361kg / 6.3kg/HP /
With a measly 215 horses, this car will certainly have a tough time keeping up with the sportscars I'll face in this race, but having a-specced this race almost 30 times, I'm confident it has what it takes. I will run on S2 tires, the same as the car comes equipped with when you buy it. The only alteration I've made is turning off all driving aids.
The lineup of choice is as follows, this was incidentally the first lineup I was offered:
BMW M5 '05
Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport '96
Mercedes SL 65 AMG '04
Ford Mustang SVT Cobra R '00
TVR 350C '03
Chrysler Crossfire '04
And here is the track, borrowed from AMG's thread:
Right then, that should be all the details, it's time to get going:
LAPS 1-11
With only 215 horses under the hood, I can safely put my foot down right away with no wheelspin. Still, the other five cars easily pulls away as we head into the first corner. As they jostle for position, I catch up, passing both the TVR and the Mustang under braking for the chicane preceding the tunnel. I pass the Mercedes in the short uphill after the tunnel, and take both the Corvette and the BMW as they slow for the downhill right, as I take this section flat out. With just one minute gone, I'm already in the lead with no AI contact so far. A promising start!👍
The first lap is completed in 2.10.821, I'm already 2.675 ahead of the BMW. I expect the TVR will be the main competition, I can only hope he will be held up behind the slower cars for as long as possible.
Lap 2 is done in 2.00.172, which puts me a massive 8.612 ahead of the second placed BMW. However, my tires are already bright green, it looks like making them last 11 laps, as I had hoped, may become a problem.
The AI-cars are still closely bunched together, as I continue to stretch my lead, the BMW playing the role of road-block. Lap three sees me drop the laptime a further tenth of a second, before I crack the 2-minute mark on lap 4 with a time of 1.59.896, which leaves me 13 seconds ahead of the M5, who's still holding on to second place.
Lap five is faster still, dropping the lap record to 1.59.895 (That's a difference of 0.001s!)
.
The chasing pack is beginning to break up, but still the BMW holds on to second, fighting off a strong challenge from the Corvette in third. My lap-time drops to 1.59.508 on lap 6 as my tires are reaching their peak condition, though my lead is now increasing by less than a second per lap. On the positive side, my concerns regarding the tire-life appears to have been unfounded. As I start lap 8, they are glowing a healthy green.
By lap 10, the lead has grown to 18 seconds, as I put in consistent 1.58.8-1.58.9-laps. Much to my surprise, the BMW is still in second ahead of the Corvette, with the Mustang, TVR and the Mercedes now having fallen off the pace.
Lap 11 sees the first contact, as I brush the wall coming out of turn 7, heading downhill towards the hairpin.
My right front tire is now orange, so I head for the pits from a 19 second lead. Having spent only 19 units of fuel so far, I settle for changing the tires. The BMW and the Corvette screams past, while the Mercedes pits, leaving me in third place 10 seconds behind the leading BMW.
LAPS 12-22
As I brake for the first corner, the TVR (who must be quite frustrated by now) rear-ends me
, but I get through the corner without further incident, and I pull away from him in the twisty sections. He then pits to end lap 12, as does the Mustang. The M5 pits on the following lap, leaving the Corvette to take over the lead, and moving my Crossfire into second place, 6.3 seconds behind.
The Corvette then pits to end lap 14, and I'm once again in the lead.
The early stop seems to have cost the BMW dearly, as he fails to overtake the Corvette who holds on to second place, 25.4 seconds behind me.
Predictably, the Corvette struggles on his cold tires, by lap 18 the lead has grown to 37 seconds, helped by a new lap record of 1.59.401 on lap 17.
What I had expected to be a close, nailbiting race is turning into a walkover. Seemingly, the only remaining hope for an exciting race is the TVR. Finally clear of the two backmarkers, it has now caught the BMW and Corvette, and is clearly the fastest car on the track at the moment.He gets past the BMW easily enough, but the Corvette proves a tougher challenge. It is not until lap 22 that he finally takes second place, 35 seconds behind me as I get ready for my second pitstop.
Once again, I take on no extra fuel, settling for another set of S2 tires and rejoin, still in first place, 7.2 seconds ahead of the TVR. The Mercedes also pits to end lap 22.
LAPS 23-33
The TVR pits to end lap 24, surrendering second place to the Corvette who's now 7 seconds behind me. The Mustang also pits, but keeps his fifth place. The M5 pits at the end of lap 26, and loses third place to the TVR. The Corvette pits the following lap, but manages to retain second place, 38 seconds behind me.
I am still lapping consistently in the high 1.59, with the occasional visit above 2 minutes.
On lap 29, the TVR retakes second place from the Corvette, but is now more than 42 seconds behind me. He slowly whittles away at it, bringing it down to 37 seconds by the time I make my third pitstop to end lap 33. This is also when the replay ends, 1 hour and 6 minutes into the race. There is still no need for any additional fuel, so I get a new set of tires and set off again, my lead now reduced to 10 seconds. The Mercedes, in sixth place, also stops on this lap.
LAPS 34-44
Though the Crossfire is clearly lacking in power compared to the opposition, its handling and braking is quite good. There's plenty of grip, and making S2-tires last 11 laps is no problem whatsoever. The engine sounds like a dentists drill though...
The 10 second lead becomes 9, then 8, then 7 and then 6, as the TVR puts all those extra horses to good use, before he pits to end lap 35. The Corvette overtakes him to reclaim second place, 22 seconds behind me.
The Cobra pits at the end of lap 36, but retains fifth place.
Being light on fuel, I'm able to put in some faster laps. Lap 38 sees a new fastest lap, an improvement of almost 0.8 seconds as I lower the record to 1.58.606.
The M5 pits at the end of lap 39, finding itself in something of a vacuum on the track. Far ahead of the Mustang and Mercedes, far behind the three lead cars.
Lap 40 sees mishap number three, as I get sideways braking for the hairpin at the bottom of the hill, corner 8. A light tap of the inside wall is the end result, but it costs me no more than half a second. The Corvette pits at the end of this lap, the TVR takes over second place, 44 seconds behind me.
By the time I'm ready to make my fourth, and penultimate pitstop at the end of lap 44, the lead has been reduced to 41 seconds. I take on 22 units of fuel, and a new set of tires, rejoining 12.5 seconds ahead of the TVR. The Mercedes also pits to end lap 44, putting him perilously close to a lapping.
LAPS 45-55
The Mercedes rejoins just as I complete my outlap. He holds me up through the section after the tunnel, but I'm able to get past him into turn 9, the double left after the hairpin, putting him one lap down.
The TVR pits at the end of lap 46, from a position of about 9 seconds back. He comes back out just ahead of the Corvette, but is now 37 seconds behind me.
The Mustang pits at the end of lap 48, making him another target for a lapping. He rejoins about 5 seconds ahead of me on the track.
At the start of lap 50, my lead over the TVR has grown to 47 seconds.
I catch the Mustang halfway through lap 50, but can't get past him until the chicane before the tunnel when he also suffers the humiliation of being lapped by a 215 horsepowered car.
Meanwhile, the Corvette manages to overtake the TVR on lap 51, the Brit must still be struggling with cold tires 5 laps after his stop, my lead is now 48 seconds.
The M5 pits at the end of lap 52, his third place being in no danger. He is, however, in danger of being lapped by a car with less than half his 499 horses! (Assuming he is running a stock car.)
On lap 54, the TVR takes back second place, but is now 50 seconds behind me. The Corvette pits to end lap 54, before I make my final stop at the end of lap 55. Once again, I get a new set of tires and 22 units of fuel, before I rejoin to start my final stint. The Mustang and the Mercedes both unlap themselves while I'm stopped.
LAPS 56-66
21 seconds ahead of the TVR, I set off chasing the two backmarkers in order to lap them for good. The Merc is taken care of as he pits at the end of his lap 55.
The TVR makes his final stop to end lap 58, but he remains in second place, some 50 seconds behind me.
The Mustang is lapped for good as he stops for the last time to end lap 60.
By lap 63, my lead is over a minute, the only remaining excitement seems to be over whether I can lap the BMW or not. And, amazingly, the M5 decides to pit with one lap remaining, when I'm on my final lap. I cross the finish line just as he is dropped off the jacks, and he leaves the pits looking straight at my rear-lights!
I finish the race in 2.14.19.246, 57 seconds ahead of the second-placed TVR, and having lapped the Mercedes, the Mustang and the BMW!👍
The whole race was completed with only 3 wall/AI-contacts. As I mentioned, the car was very easy to handle, but it's still more than two hours of racing, stayong focused throughout is not easy!
So there you have it, 200 A-spec points, 250,000 credits, a Toyota Minolta and a new WPR-record is in the bag.
I'll try to put up some pictures tomorrow after work.
I decided to have a go at this record today, and thought I'd mark the occasion with my first ever race-report! 💡
Thanks goes to Smallhorses, his own reports have been a great inspiration for this.
My car of choice is the Chrysler Crossfire, which has the following stats:
Chrysler Crossfire '04 / FR / 215HP / 1361kg / 6.3kg/HP /
With a measly 215 horses, this car will certainly have a tough time keeping up with the sportscars I'll face in this race, but having a-specced this race almost 30 times, I'm confident it has what it takes. I will run on S2 tires, the same as the car comes equipped with when you buy it. The only alteration I've made is turning off all driving aids.
The lineup of choice is as follows, this was incidentally the first lineup I was offered:
BMW M5 '05
Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport '96
Mercedes SL 65 AMG '04
Ford Mustang SVT Cobra R '00
TVR 350C '03
Chrysler Crossfire '04
And here is the track, borrowed from AMG's thread:
Right then, that should be all the details, it's time to get going:
LAPS 1-11
With only 215 horses under the hood, I can safely put my foot down right away with no wheelspin. Still, the other five cars easily pulls away as we head into the first corner. As they jostle for position, I catch up, passing both the TVR and the Mustang under braking for the chicane preceding the tunnel. I pass the Mercedes in the short uphill after the tunnel, and take both the Corvette and the BMW as they slow for the downhill right, as I take this section flat out. With just one minute gone, I'm already in the lead with no AI contact so far. A promising start!👍
The first lap is completed in 2.10.821, I'm already 2.675 ahead of the BMW. I expect the TVR will be the main competition, I can only hope he will be held up behind the slower cars for as long as possible.
Lap 2 is done in 2.00.172, which puts me a massive 8.612 ahead of the second placed BMW. However, my tires are already bright green, it looks like making them last 11 laps, as I had hoped, may become a problem.
The AI-cars are still closely bunched together, as I continue to stretch my lead, the BMW playing the role of road-block. Lap three sees me drop the laptime a further tenth of a second, before I crack the 2-minute mark on lap 4 with a time of 1.59.896, which leaves me 13 seconds ahead of the M5, who's still holding on to second place.
Lap five is faster still, dropping the lap record to 1.59.895 (That's a difference of 0.001s!)
.The chasing pack is beginning to break up, but still the BMW holds on to second, fighting off a strong challenge from the Corvette in third. My lap-time drops to 1.59.508 on lap 6 as my tires are reaching their peak condition, though my lead is now increasing by less than a second per lap. On the positive side, my concerns regarding the tire-life appears to have been unfounded. As I start lap 8, they are glowing a healthy green.
By lap 10, the lead has grown to 18 seconds, as I put in consistent 1.58.8-1.58.9-laps. Much to my surprise, the BMW is still in second ahead of the Corvette, with the Mustang, TVR and the Mercedes now having fallen off the pace.
Lap 11 sees the first contact, as I brush the wall coming out of turn 7, heading downhill towards the hairpin.
My right front tire is now orange, so I head for the pits from a 19 second lead. Having spent only 19 units of fuel so far, I settle for changing the tires. The BMW and the Corvette screams past, while the Mercedes pits, leaving me in third place 10 seconds behind the leading BMW.LAPS 12-22
As I brake for the first corner, the TVR (who must be quite frustrated by now) rear-ends me
, but I get through the corner without further incident, and I pull away from him in the twisty sections. He then pits to end lap 12, as does the Mustang. The M5 pits on the following lap, leaving the Corvette to take over the lead, and moving my Crossfire into second place, 6.3 seconds behind. The Corvette then pits to end lap 14, and I'm once again in the lead.
The early stop seems to have cost the BMW dearly, as he fails to overtake the Corvette who holds on to second place, 25.4 seconds behind me.
Predictably, the Corvette struggles on his cold tires, by lap 18 the lead has grown to 37 seconds, helped by a new lap record of 1.59.401 on lap 17.
What I had expected to be a close, nailbiting race is turning into a walkover. Seemingly, the only remaining hope for an exciting race is the TVR. Finally clear of the two backmarkers, it has now caught the BMW and Corvette, and is clearly the fastest car on the track at the moment.
He gets past the BMW easily enough, but the Corvette proves a tougher challenge. It is not until lap 22 that he finally takes second place, 35 seconds behind me as I get ready for my second pitstop.Once again, I take on no extra fuel, settling for another set of S2 tires and rejoin, still in first place, 7.2 seconds ahead of the TVR. The Mercedes also pits to end lap 22.
LAPS 23-33
The TVR pits to end lap 24, surrendering second place to the Corvette who's now 7 seconds behind me. The Mustang also pits, but keeps his fifth place. The M5 pits at the end of lap 26, and loses third place to the TVR. The Corvette pits the following lap, but manages to retain second place, 38 seconds behind me.
I am still lapping consistently in the high 1.59, with the occasional visit above 2 minutes.
On lap 29, the TVR retakes second place from the Corvette, but is now more than 42 seconds behind me. He slowly whittles away at it, bringing it down to 37 seconds by the time I make my third pitstop to end lap 33. This is also when the replay ends, 1 hour and 6 minutes into the race. There is still no need for any additional fuel, so I get a new set of tires and set off again, my lead now reduced to 10 seconds. The Mercedes, in sixth place, also stops on this lap.
LAPS 34-44
Though the Crossfire is clearly lacking in power compared to the opposition, its handling and braking is quite good. There's plenty of grip, and making S2-tires last 11 laps is no problem whatsoever. The engine sounds like a dentists drill though...
The 10 second lead becomes 9, then 8, then 7 and then 6, as the TVR puts all those extra horses to good use, before he pits to end lap 35. The Corvette overtakes him to reclaim second place, 22 seconds behind me.
The Cobra pits at the end of lap 36, but retains fifth place.
Being light on fuel, I'm able to put in some faster laps. Lap 38 sees a new fastest lap, an improvement of almost 0.8 seconds as I lower the record to 1.58.606.
The M5 pits at the end of lap 39, finding itself in something of a vacuum on the track. Far ahead of the Mustang and Mercedes, far behind the three lead cars.
Lap 40 sees mishap number three, as I get sideways braking for the hairpin at the bottom of the hill, corner 8.
A light tap of the inside wall is the end result, but it costs me no more than half a second. The Corvette pits at the end of this lap, the TVR takes over second place, 44 seconds behind me.By the time I'm ready to make my fourth, and penultimate pitstop at the end of lap 44, the lead has been reduced to 41 seconds. I take on 22 units of fuel, and a new set of tires, rejoining 12.5 seconds ahead of the TVR. The Mercedes also pits to end lap 44, putting him perilously close to a lapping.
LAPS 45-55
The Mercedes rejoins just as I complete my outlap. He holds me up through the section after the tunnel, but I'm able to get past him into turn 9, the double left after the hairpin, putting him one lap down.
The TVR pits at the end of lap 46, from a position of about 9 seconds back. He comes back out just ahead of the Corvette, but is now 37 seconds behind me.
The Mustang pits at the end of lap 48, making him another target for a lapping. He rejoins about 5 seconds ahead of me on the track.
At the start of lap 50, my lead over the TVR has grown to 47 seconds.
I catch the Mustang halfway through lap 50, but can't get past him until the chicane before the tunnel when he also suffers the humiliation of being lapped by a 215 horsepowered car.
Meanwhile, the Corvette manages to overtake the TVR on lap 51, the Brit must still be struggling with cold tires 5 laps after his stop, my lead is now 48 seconds.
The M5 pits at the end of lap 52, his third place being in no danger. He is, however, in danger of being lapped by a car with less than half his 499 horses! (Assuming he is running a stock car.)
On lap 54, the TVR takes back second place, but is now 50 seconds behind me. The Corvette pits to end lap 54, before I make my final stop at the end of lap 55. Once again, I get a new set of tires and 22 units of fuel, before I rejoin to start my final stint. The Mustang and the Mercedes both unlap themselves while I'm stopped.
LAPS 56-66
21 seconds ahead of the TVR, I set off chasing the two backmarkers in order to lap them for good. The Merc is taken care of as he pits at the end of his lap 55.
The TVR makes his final stop to end lap 58, but he remains in second place, some 50 seconds behind me.
The Mustang is lapped for good as he stops for the last time to end lap 60.
By lap 63, my lead is over a minute, the only remaining excitement seems to be over whether I can lap the BMW or not. And, amazingly, the M5 decides to pit with one lap remaining, when I'm on my final lap. I cross the finish line just as he is dropped off the jacks, and he leaves the pits looking straight at my rear-lights!
I finish the race in 2.14.19.246, 57 seconds ahead of the second-placed TVR, and having lapped the Mercedes, the Mustang and the BMW!👍
The whole race was completed with only 3 wall/AI-contacts. As I mentioned, the car was very easy to handle, but it's still more than two hours of racing, stayong focused throughout is not easy!
So there you have it, 200 A-spec points, 250,000 credits, a Toyota Minolta and a new WPR-record is in the bag.
I'll try to put up some pictures tomorrow after work.
. Nonetheless, that's an amazing WPR ratio.
I promise i will have a lead of 5 seconds or less by the end, or i will not post a report. 
Man I feel like a real 
this week........I'm on medication ATM for illness so been overlooking and overreading things, I apologise for this. 
👍
After a reset and on the same day, I was presented with facing the Motorsport Elise & Speed 6!! 
5 resets later, no change....same old lineup. 
So close yet so far. I'm going to attempt the New York record now, seems a bit more attainable. 👍
