Smallhorses
Staff Emeritus
- 7,260
New York Streets 200 miles
Back in December of 2006, I cracked this race in a stock car for 200 points.
That race and many more can be found in here: Smallhorses' Race Report Link Dump.
However, I remained convinced that a sub-300HP stock road car could just about manage to win here given the right lineup! More than a year later I came back to it, and this is what happened.....
This time round, it's another Honda NSX, but a used production model of an older vintage than my previous ride.
Car: Honda NSX Type S Zero '99 (Used, oil changed, S1 tyres) / MR / 284HP / 1270kg / 4.5kg/HP (At end of race: 271HP / 1270kg / 4.7kg/HP) and gives
200 A-spec points!
when stacked up against the following lineup:Starting Grid:-
1st Dodge Viper GTS '99
2nd Lotus Motor Sport Elise '99
3rd Callaway C12 '03
4th Ford Mustang SVT Cobra R '00
5th Chevrolet Corvette ZR-1 (C4) '90
6th Honda NSX Type S Zero '99
Once again in New York, I needed a map to figure out exactly which streets we're racing on. So here's my crudely edited map for an encore, which I'll refer to throughout this report!
The Action:-
Laps 1 - 10: Remain in 6th place for all 10 of the first 10 laps as a clear passing opportunity doesn't present itself.
The Lotus assumes the lead on lap 2 and holds it until lap 7 when the Dodge takes back over, and the Lotus drops back into the chasing pack. Callaway is holding up Ford, and in turn the Chevy, which I'm glued to the back of through the slower part of the track, but predictably drop back on the straights. Fastest lap so far in traffic is 1'51.514, and the Dodge's lead over my 6th placed Honda at the end of lap 10 is 12.5s. 
Laps 11 - 20: Continue to run in 6th throughout the next 10 laps too, as a clean passing opportunity is difficult to find. The Dodge continues to lead, and the Lotus which dropped into the pack for a while finds some clean laps to pull away again. The Callaway is still holding up the Ford, but that pairing starts to put some clean air between the Chevy and I who I'm hanging with. Make minor contact with the Chevy on lap 14,
exiting the turn onto W. 59th St., and my first barrier contact exiting the W. 42nd St. hairpin on lap 17. Pit in from just under 13s behind 1st placed Dodge on lap 19 to divide the race into 4 equally sized segments, requiring 3 stops in all. Exit pits after taking new tyres but no fuel, in 6th place. Fastest lap has now dropped to 1'50.685. Complete my outlap 38s behind leading Dodge, as Ford exits pits after his stop.
Laps 21 - 30: Chevy pits ending lap 21, and exits the pits between the Ford & I. He's passed cleanly on 6th Ave. on lap 22 👍 leaving me to pursue the Ford, while the Dodge now leads by 45s. Pass the Ford onto W. 57th St. on lap 23, and pull away through the rest of the bendy section. Dodge pits from the lead ending lap 23, and is followed in by the Lotus leaving Callaway to take over the lead by 29s over my 4th placed Honda. New fast lap of 1'49.743 on lap 26, includes cleanly passing the Lotus on W. 55th St. as he suffers from "Great Barrier Grief"
on his cold tyres! Callaway which has dropped 8s off his lead over the past 3 laps pits ending lap 26, and surrenders 1st place to the Dodge and 2nd place to my Honda. In clean air, I set about keeping a gap between myself and 3rd placed Ford and reducing the gap to the Dodge which drops to 4.7s by the end of lap 30.
Laps 31 - 40: Ford catches and passes me during lap 33, braking for the turn onto W. 55th St., but I'm able to hang with him which allows the Dodge to pull away a little as we jockey for position. Lap 34 is a new fast lap at 1'49.712. Stick in 3rd spot until my next stop ending lap 38, and the gap to the Dodge has been decreased to about 4s. Have now used 64 units of fuel in 38 laps, so require a top up to at least 32 to see me through the next 19 lap stint. New tyres on and fuel at 36 units to be on the safe side, I'm away again, dropping back to 6th place in the process, behind the 5th placed Callaway. 👎 Ford pits a lap earlier than before ending lap 39, and my outlap ends around 28s behind the Dodge, and I pass the Ford for 5th place as he exits the pits.
End lap 40 a little over 30s behind leader, down in 5th place.
Laps 41 - 50: The Dodge is gradually edging away, a fraction of a second per lap, up to 31s lead beginning lap 43, as I pass the pitted Chevy for 4th place. New fast lap on lap 44 of 1'49.515
puts me right on the tail of the Callaway, and 29s behind Dodge, while pulling me away from the 5th placed Ford. Take 3rd place from Callaway onto W. 57th St. on lap 45 and close in on Lotus, while the gap to Dodge is down to 25s. Dodge and Lotus pit ending lap 46, not until after the Lotus has labouriously blocked me by wiggling through Columbus Circle at about 40mph, 
which allows the Callaway to catch back up and blast by on the straight. Pass Dodge for 2nd place as he exits the pits. End lap 50 in 2nd place, and under a second behind the leading Callaway. 
Laps 51 - 60: The Callaway seems to get slower & slower through the bendy section as his tyres go, but he's got enough power to pull out enough of a lead down the long straights that I can't get by, and this is allowing the Ford and Dodge to catch up to us.
Eventually pass Callaway cleanly onto W. 57th St. on lap 52, and go into the lead in this race for the first time! 
Set about keeping ahead of the Ford and Dodge who're now on warmed tyres and lapping quickly. 
Callaway stops from 2nd place at the end of lap 52, leaving me with a 4.5s lead over the Dodge. Ford takes over 2nd place during lap 53, but I'm able to maintain around 5s lead until my 57th lap final stop. Tyres on, fuel up to 36 units again and away in 3rd place. Ford stops ending lap 58, leaving me to pass him in the pits for 2nd place, 18s behind Dodge. End lap 50 22s behind leader, in 2nd.
Laps 61 - 70: Continue to lap in 2nd place, easing away a little from the Ford in 3rd place, and stabilising the gap to the Dodge at around 24s. Chevy makes his final stop ending his 63rd lap from some distance behind. The gap to the Dodge drops dramatically in the 2 laps before his 69th lap stop, and he goes in from around 18s ahead. The Ford takes over 2nd place and is only around 3s behind me as his tyres are warm and he's lapping fast. The Lotus also completes a 69th lap stop before I complete my 70th lap, in 1st place just 2.9s ahead of the Ford, with 6 laps to go!
Laps 71 - 76: A tense,
but clean remaining 6 laps see the Ford get as close as 1.4s behind 
at the T1 checkpoint before W. 55th St. turn, before dropping back to around 3s at T2. In the final lap as his tyres begin to suffer from pushing hard to catch me, he drops back to a still very nailbiting 4.794s at the finish line! 
Result:-
1st Honda NSX Type S Zero '99 2:22'24.893
2nd Ford Mustang SVT Cobra R '00 +4.794s
3rd Dodge Viper GTS '99 On lap 76
4th Callaway C12 '03 On lap 76
5th Chevrolet Corvette ZR-1 (C4) '90 On lap 76
6th Lotus Motor Sport Elise '99 On lap 76
Last edited:
Couldn't get my stock NSX to crackle & pop for the cameras!
(But notice, his second stop was from 3rd, not 6th). As far as I can tell, the Chevy and Dodge pitted early enough they wouldn't save a pitstop. The main worry would be the Callaway which pitted on lap 26, suggesting it might save a pitstop. But apparently its pace later in its shifts was bad enough it wasn't a threat. (Basically, if his distance to first decreased sufficiently during each shift, he could ultimately win no matter what position he was in when he pitted. And cars ahead because of a pitstop they must take have, in a sense, a different "virtual" position in the race).
