Badger's GT5 endurance races

[b_adger]

Introduction:

After about a decade of not playing any car racing games, I had a visit from some nieces and nephews who were keen racing gamers, so I got the PS3, GT5 and my steering wheels out of the shed and dusted them off. After a worrying moment where the PS3 didn't recognise it had a HDD (resolved by taking it out and reseating it) we had a nice afternoon driving some cars around tracks, and I was hooked again.

I bought the PS3 and GT5 specifically to practice the Nürburgring for a trip to Germany.
I previously played GT1, GT2, GT3 and GT4 (although never finished any of them), but with kids and other responsibilities I soon ran out of time to play, so it all got packed away and forgotten. But now I have less responsibilities and more free time to play

I don't really like the short races in GT, especially starting from 6th or 7th on the grid and having to drive like a maniac or overpower/over tyre your car and/or barge the AI cars out of the way so you can get past them all to win. I enjoyed tuning the suspension to give the best lap times and the endurance races much more. Of course in GT5 you can't just enter the endurance races right away, you have to level up to gain access, but after a month or so of playing through I've unlocked them.

This thread is mostly just for me to record my thoughts and , I love to test and optimise everything. I also want to try to make the racing fun and close, which is hard work with the variation in grids, AI driving and so on. The information already here on these forums has been very helpful, but some things are missing and some info is pre-patches (especially tyre wear) which means it is uncertain.

I've already posted about my first 2 races in the GV300 thread: https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/threads/grand-valley-300km-companion-competition.243506

This thread is mostly just for me to record stuff, I love to test and optimise everything. But if anyone is still around reading this, hopefully it is interesting and maybe useful. Comments welcome.

The next few posts will be about preparation and racing the 4 hour roadster enduro.

 

[b_adger]

After my GV300 races that were too easy, the 4h roadster race needs to be a bit of a challenge. Being a one-make, MX-5 only race there isn't much choice of cars to use. Well, actually it turns out there are 35 different cars in GT5 that can enter this race! Which one to use from this list?

• Eunos Roadster (NA Special Package) '89
• Eunos Roadster J-Limited (NA) '91
• Eunos Roadster J-Limited II (NA) '93
• Eunos Roadster SR-Limited (NA) '97
• Eunos Roadster S-Special Type I (NA) '95
• Eunos Roadster VR-Limited (NA) '95
• Eunos Roadster V-Special Type II (NA) '93
• MX-5 (NA) '89
• MX-5 1.8 RS (NB, J) '98
• MX-5 1600 NR-A (NB, J) '04
• MX-5 1800 RS (NB, J) '00
• MX-5 1800 RS (NB, J) '04
• MX-5 J-Limited (NA, J) '91
• MX-5 J-Limited II (NA, J) '93
• MX-5 Miata (NA) '89
• MX-5 Miata 1.8 RS (NB, J) '98
• MX-5 Miata 1600 NR-A (NB, J) '04
• MX-5 Miata 1800 RS (NB, J) '00
• MX-5 Miata 1800 RS (NB, J) '04
• MX-5 Miata J-Limited (NA, J) '91
• MX-5 Miata J-Limited II (NA, J) '93
• MX-5 Miata SR-Limited (NA, J) '97
• MX-5 Miata S-Special Type I (NA, J) '95
• MX-5 Miata VR-Limited (NA, J) '95
• MX-5 Miata V-Special Type II (NA, J) '93
• MX-5 SR-Limited (NA, J) '97
• MX-5 S-Special Type I (NA, J) '95
• MX-5 VR-Limited (NA, J) '95
• MX-5 V-Special Type II (NA, J) '93
• Roadster 1.8 RS (NB) '98
• Roadster 1600 NR-A (NB) '04
• Roadster 1800 RS (NB) '00
• Roadster 1800 RS (NB) '04
• Roadster RS (NC) '07
• Roadster Touring Car

I immediately ruled out the Roadster touring car as much too fast. From reading about other experiences the Mazda Roadster RS (NC) '07 is a rabbit and much faster than the others, so not that one either.

I already had the premium Eunos Roadster J-Limited (NA) '91 won in the IB licence test (Bronze) which I had used to win the roadster cup:

from https://www.roadster.blog/2016/01/eunos-roadster-j-limited.html
'The J Limited used the 1.6 engine with a 9.4 compression ratio producing 120PS.
This limited model was only available in the unique Sunburst Yellow colour and featured 14" 5.5J alloy wheels, stainless sill plates, black cloth interior, Nardi wooden steering wheel, Nardi wooden gear knob, and a wooden handbrake handle.'

At only 120 hp(ps?) and 940 kg, the stock pp is about 350. The race information gives the following typical opponents (apparently identical to the Roadster cup):

pp hp kg
391 165 1100 Mazda Roadster RS (NC) '07
383 160 1070 Mazda MX-5 Miata 1800 RS (NB,J) '00
383 143 940 Mazda Eunos Roadster (NA Special Package) '89
383 160 1070 Mazda MX-5 1800 RS (NB,J) '00
382 160 1080 Mazda MX-5 1800 RS (NB,J) '04
382 160 1080 Mazda MX-5 Miata 1800 RS (NB,J) '04
380 148 1050 Mazda Roadster 1600 NR-A (NB) '04
380 148 1050 Mazda MX-5 Miata 1600 NR-A (NB,J) '04
380 148 1050 Mazda MX-5 1600 NR-A (NB,J) '04
378 147 980 Mazda Eunos Roadster VR-Limited (NA) '95
378 147 980 Mazda Eunos Roadster V-Special Type II (NA) '93
378 143 940 Mazda MX-5 (NA) '89

There are a number of very similar possible not listed that probably have the same PP/stats, for example you'd expect the
Mazda Roadster 1800 RS (NB) '00 and the Mazda Roadster 1800 RS (NB) '04 to be the same as the Mazda MX-5 1800 RS (NB,J) '00 and Mazda MX-5 1800 RS (NB,J) '04 listed above.


I also checked out the first 10 grids (after a PS3 reset - unplug it and leave for 30 s, then start it up):

Grid 1
Mazda MX-5 1.8 RS (NB,J) '98
Mazda MX-5 (NA) '89
Mazda Roadster 1800 RS (NB) '00
Mazda Eunos Roadster V-Special Type II (NA) '93
Mazda MX-5 1800 RS (NB,J) '00
Mazda MX-5 V-Special Type II (NA,J 93
player1
Mazda Roadster 1800 RS (NB) '04
Mazda Roadster 1.8 RS (NB) '98
Mazda Roadster 1600 NR-A (NB) '04
Mazda Eunos Roadster S-Special Type I (NA) '95
Mazda MX-5 J-Limited (NA,J) '91

grid 2
Mazda MX-5 J-Limited (NA,J) '91
Mazda MX-5 (NA) '89
Mazda MX-5 1.8 RS (NB,J) '98
Mazda MX-5 J-Limited II (NA,J) '93
Mazda MX-5 S-Special Type I (NA,J) '95
Mazda MX-5 Miata 1.8 RS (NB,J) '98
player1
Mazda MX-5 1800 RS (NB,J) '04
Mazda Eunos Roadster VR-Limited (NA) '95
Mazda MX-5 Miata VR-Limited (NA,J) '95
Mazda Roadster 1600 NR-A (NB) '04
Mazda Eunos Roadster (NA Special Package) '89

grid 4
Mazda MX-5 J-Limited II (NA,J) '93
Mazda MX-5 Miata 1800 RS (NB,J) '00
Mazda MX-5 1600 NR-A (NB,J) '04
Mazda MX-5 J-Limited (NA,J) '91
Mazda Roadster 1800 RS (NB) '00
Mazda MX-5 1800 RS (NB,J) '00
player1
Mazda Eunos Roadster (NA Special Package) '89
Mazda Eunos Roadster VR-Limited (NA) '95
Mazda Eunos Roadster SR-Limited (NA) '97
Mazda Roadster 1800 RS (NB) '04
Mazda MX-5 VR-Limited (NA,J) '95

grid 5
Mazda MX-5 Miata 1800 RS (NB,J) '04
Mazda MX-5 Miata VR-Limited (NA,J) '95
Mazda MX-5 Miata 1.8 RS (NB,J) '98
Mazda Eunos Roadster J-Limited (NA) '91
Mazda Eunos Roadster SR-Limited (NA) '97
Mazda Eunos Roadster J-Limited II (NA) '93
player1
Mazda Eunos Roadster V-Special Type II (NA) '93
Mazda MX-5 Miata 1800 RS (NB,J) '00
Mazda MX-5 Miata 1600 NR-A (NB,J) '04
Mazda MX-5 Miata S-Special Type I (NA,J) '95
Mazda MX-5 (NA) '89

grid 6
Mazda MX-5 Miata SR-Limited (NA,J) '97
Mazda MX-5 S-Special Type I (NA,J) '95
Mazda MX-5 Miata J-Limited II (NA,J) '93
Mazda Eunos Roadster VR-Limited (NA) '95
Mazda MX-5 Miata 1600 NR-A (NB,J) '04
Mazda Roadster 1.8 RS (NB) '98
player1
Mazda Eunos Roadster J-Limited II (NA) '93
Mazda MX-5 J-Limited II (NA,J) '93
Mazda Eunos Roadster SR-Limited (NA) '97
Mazda Roadster 1800 RS (NB) '00
Mazda MX-5 Miata 1.8 RS (NB,J) '98

grid 7
Mazda MX-5 Miata J-Limited II (NA,J) '93
Mazda MX-5 SR-Limited (NA,J) '97
Mazda Roadster 1800 RS (NB) '04
Mazda MX-5 Miata S-Special Type I (NA,J) '95
Mazda Eunos Roadster S-Special Type I (NA) '95
Mazda Eunos Roadster VR-Limited (NA) '95
player1
Mazda MX-5 Miata V-Special Type II (NA,J) '93
Mazda MX-5 Miata SR-Limited (NA,J) '97
Mazda MX-5 1800 RS (NB,J) '00
Mazda Eunos Roadster SR-Limited (NA) '97
Mazda MX-5 VR-Limited (NA,J) '95

grid 8
Mazda Roadster 1.8 RS (NB) '98
Mazda MX-5 1.8 RS (NB,J) '98
Mazda MX-5 SR-Limited (NA,J) '97
Mazda Eunos Roadster (NA Special Package) '89
Mazda Eunos Roadster VR-Limited (NA) '95
Mazda MX-5 Miata 1800 RS (NB,J) '00
player1
Mazda MX-5 Miata 1.8 RS (NB,J) '98
Mazda MX-5 Miata J-Limited II (NA,J) '93
Mazda Eunos Roadster S-Special Type I (NA) '95
Mazda MX-5 Miata (NA) '89
Mazda Eunos Roadster V-Special Type II (NA) '93

grid 9
Mazda MX-5 1800 RS (NB,J) '04
Mazda MX-5 SR-Limited (NA,J) '97
Mazda MX-5 Miata 1800 RS (NB,J) '00
Mazda MX-5 1600 NR-A (NB,J) '04
Mazda MX-5 VR-Limited (NA,J) '95
Mazda Eunos Roadster V-Special Type II (NA) '93
player1
Mazda Roadster 1.8 RS (NB) '98
Mazda MX-5 Miata 1600 NR-A (NB,J) '04
Mazda MX-5 Miata V-Special Type II (NA,J) '93
Mazda MX-5 Miata 1800 RS (NB,J) '04
Mazda Eunos Roadster VR-Limited (NA) '95

grid 10
Mazda Eunos Roadster (NA Special Package) '89
Mazda MX-5 Miata J-Limited (NA,J) '91
Mazda Roadster RS (NC) '07
Mazda Roadster 1800 RS (NB) '04
Mazda MX-5 J-Limited II (NA,J) '93
Mazda Eunos Roadster VR-Limited (NA) '95
player1
Mazda MX-5 V-Special Type II (NA,J 93
Mazda MX-5 S-Special Type I (NA,J) '95
Mazda Roadster 1800 RS (NB) '00
Mazda MX-5 Miata (NA) '89
Mazda Eunos Roadster J-Limited II (NA) '93

The RS 07 doesn't appear until grid 10, but I want a grid with cars that will be competitive with each other and me, so I'll pick one of the earlier grids.
Grid 1 has seven of the listed opponents (or clones), but grid 4 has eight and five of them are 382 or 383 pp.

Next question, what pace do I need for a close race?

 

[Famine]

Well, actually it turns out there are 35 different cars in GT5 that can enter this race!

Different is a stretch.

In essence, what GT5 did with "Standard" cars was smoosh together three previously separate, localised car lists from GT4. If you played GT4 in the NTSC-Americas region, your game featured MX-5 Miatas. Players in the PAL region got MX-5s. Finally, those in the NTSC-Asia region got Eunos/Mazda Roadsters (Eunos for Mk1/NA, Mazda for Mk2/NB).

For GT5, these were all just bashed into one single game and the 11 cars you'd get in each region became 33. And, while it wasn't previously an issue, the non-Asian cars were made-up; only the Asian Eunos/Mazda Roadsters were real specifications of the car - there's no such thing as an MX-5/MX-5 Miata J-Limited - although other regions did get very close equivalents (the VR Limited is close enough to the European MX-5 Merlot; the SR-Limited is not far off the MX-5 Berkeley) and nobody really minded the fudging before that.

You may thus consider the following to be the case, in order to simplify your options:

MX-5 Miata (NA) '89 = Eunos Roadster (NA Special Package) '89 = MX-5 (NA) '89
MX-5 Miata J-Limited (NA, J) '91 = Eunos Roadster J-Limited (NA) '91 = MX-5 J-Limited (NA, J) '91
MX-5 Miata J-Limited II (NA, J) '93 = Eunos Roadster J-Limited II (NA) '93 = MX-5 J-Limited II (NA, J) '93
MX-5 Miata V-Special Type II (NA, J) '93 = Eunos Roadster V-Special Type II (NA) '93 = MX-5 V-Special Type II (NA, J) '93
MX-5 Miata S-Special Type I (NA, J) '95 = Eunos Roadster S-Special Type I (NA) '95 = MX-5 S-Special Type I (NA, J) '95
MX-5 Miata VR-Limited (NA, J) '95 = Eunos Roadster VR-Limited (NA) '95 = MX-5 VR-Limited (NA, J) '95
MX-5 Miata SR-Limited (NA, J) '97 = Eunos Roadster SR-Limited (NA) '97 = MX-5 SR-Limited (NA, J) '97
MX-5 Miata 1.8 RS (NB, J) '98 = Roadster 1.8 RS (NB) '98 = MX-5 1.8 RS (NB, J) '98
MX-5 Miata 1800 RS (NB, J) '00 = Roadster 1800 RS (NB) '00 = MX-5 1800 RS (NB, J) '00
MX-5 Miata 1800 RS (NB, J) '04 = Roadster 1800 RS (NB) '04 = MX-5 1800 RS (NB, J) '04
MX-5 Miata 1600 NR-A (NB, J) '04 = Roadster 1600 NR-A (NB) '04 = MX-5 1600 NR-A (NB, J) '04

If I recall correctly (and I can't be bothered to pick up and thumb through my GTPEDIA copy, as - thanks to being a Mazda fangirl - the MX-5 part of car list always made me angry and gave me a headache) there are a couple of minor spec differences with a couple of the Eunos/Mazda cars, but otherwise that's the rule of thumb.

There are two, standalone, unique cars in GT5, which are the two new ones created for the game and not drawn from the GT4 car list:

Roadster RS (NC) '07
Roadster Touring Car

And finally there's also Premium versions - much more detailed models, with an interior - of the Eunos Roadster (NA Special Package) '89 and Eunos Roadster J-Limited (NA) '91. That makes for 37 in total (11 base GT4 cars, triplicated, plus two Premium models and two new cars), but basically 14.

 

[b_adger]

there's no such thing as an MX-5/MX-5 Miata J-Limited

I suspected that to be the case. The car listing I'm using is from the GT5 matrix https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/thre...-guide-with-credits-xp-spec-2-ver-3-5.168769/

It seems the premium models have replaced their standard versions leaving us with "35" models, but this is really just 13 different cars.

I decided to stick with the premium Eunos Roadster J-Limited (NA) '91 at 120hp and 940kg, but how fast do I need it to be?

Reading through the reports here, there aren't many for this race as it is seen as a bit boring. There is one thread where it is suggested that you must be able to do a lap of 1:10 to win, but 1:09 is too fast.

Others say that their race was 200 laps finishing just ahead of the AI cars. Not clear which AI car, and again it is hard to know how many pit stops I might need with the current tyre wear, but assuming I lose 21 seconds for each pit stop, then if I stop 3 or 4 times, then my average lap time will need to be better 1:11.6 to 1:11.7. Fastest possible lap would need to be faster for the average to be I have to allow for a few slow laps after I make mistakes and also for the tyres to go off.

I think I'll try for a car that will do about 1:11 on Sports hard, and if I find I'm not able to keep up, I'll switch to sports medium or sports soft to gain the extra time. SM seems to improve times by about 1.3s per lap, although I'll need to stop more times maybe.

I wanted the car to be nice to drive, so I upgraded the transmission, suspension and LSD. I also did a weight reduction and added some ballast to move the balance closer to 50:50. I added a few mods to increase the power.

Being an incorrigible tinkerer, I started tuning the suspension. At first I used practice mode, but then I realised that the roadster cup is 5 laps of the same circuit with the same opponents on the same tyres, but gives me exp (I'm currently at level 29, every bit helps) and is a bit more fun. The AI are terrible on cold tyres, so I'm usually able to get to first place during the first lap which gives me 4 clear laps for testing.

I started with a setup based on the advice from Motor city tunes, and adjusted it bit by bit, mostly to dial out the understeer, but also trying to gain corner speed. I changed all sorts of things, spring rates, ARB, dampers, camber, toe.


After 6 races and some practice, with 144hp and 915 kg (380 pp) I managed a 1:10.012 lap and a 5 lap race time of 5:56. I felt like there was still too much understeer, so I made a few changes and realised after a few more races that I'd made the car 1 to 3/4 of a second a lap slower! But I hadn't kept records of my setup and couldn't undo my changes - Rookie error!

I started keeping track of each setup on my spreadsheet and making small changes. After I started lapping in the 1:09s, I started reducing the power as well. Obviously I'm also learning the track and the best line, so that would be making me faster over time too.

After running the roadster cup 30 times, while tinkering with the setup as well as power levels, I now have a setup that gives me an average lap time of about 1:11.0 - 136 hp, 915 kg (373 pp).
The final setup is:
Ride Height 15|15
Spring Rate 8.0|5.8
Damper Ext 8|6
Damper comp 5|4
ARB 3|3
camber 2.5|2.2
toe -0.22|0.07
LSD IT 9
LSD AS 14
LSD BS 8
BB 5|5
top speed 191


During the testing, I noted a few times the AI cars started lapping very quickly after the tyres warmed up and they had clean air, a Mazda MX-5 1800 RS (NB,J) '00 did a 1:10.5 and a 1:11.01. This could be tight!

 

[SmokingCones]

I've done the 4H enduro not too long ago and in my race, the fastest opponent was the 1800RS (can't remember the year) and it achieved 199 laps. If you can consistently lap around 1:11.00 it will be close but you'll eventually win as the faster opponent often get stuck behind slower cars thus losing some time.
If you opt for SH tires then 1 stop will be more than enough, the tire wear is quite low but you'll lose a bit of time in the pits for refuelling (40 L needed IIRC).
2 pit stops if you go for comfort softs, with the advantage of refuelling each time 20 L. SM or SS tires are clearly overkill in my opinion.
Good luck !

 

[b_adger]

Race report:

I reset the PS3 and loaded up the 4 hour roadster race. On a whim I decided to use Grid 1 instead of reloading to Grid 4.

I was up against:
L. Savalas Mazda MX-5 1.8 RS (NB,J) '98 ?? pp
R. Robertson Mazda MX-5 (NA) '89 378 pp
A. Keufer Mazda Roadster 1800 RS (NB) '00 383 pp (turquoise)
U. Van De Ven Mazda Eunos Roadster V-Special Type II (NA) '93 378 pp
L. Rodrigez Mazda MX-5 1800 RS (NB,J) '00 383 pp (also (turquoise)
F. Pacheco Mazda MX-5 V-Special Type II (NA,J 93 378 pp
Badger Eunos Roadster J-Limited (NA) '91 373 pp
F. Korpela Mazda Roadster 1800 RS (NB) '04 382 pp (silve)
N. Clay Mazda Roadster 1.8 RS (NB) '98 ?? pp
T Aaltonen Mazda Roadster 1600 NR-A (NB) '04 380 pp
I. Osborne Mazda Eunos Roadster S-Special Type I (NA) '95 0 pp
C. Wimmer Mazda MX-5 J-Limited (NA,J) '91 ?? pp

I expect that Keufer, Rodrigez and Korpela will be the ones to beat in the similar 1800 RS models ('00, '00 and '04)

The start was on the grid, not a rolling start which I'm used to from the Roadster cup, but I made up 3 places off the line and took 4th place going into turn one behind Robertson, Savalas and Keufer, with Van De Ven, Rodrigez and Korpela behind me. The AI are very slow in the corners on cold tyres, and seem to take a while to warm up the tyres, but this also aids their tyre life.

Carrying too much speed through turn one meant I was pushed wide alongside Keufer onto the grass, but held it to keep 4th, then into the inside of the turn 4 hairpin outbraked Keufer and Savalas who were fighting each other. I was now in 2nd behind Robertson.

Rodrigez took 5th from V de V, Korpela also went into 6th, and Keufer took 3rd out of turn 5 while I settled down to chase Robertson.

First lap was a 1:19.795 on cold tyres, standing start, 1.19 s behind Robertson.

At the end of lap one:
1. Roberston in the '89
2. Badger in the 91 J
3 Kuefer in the first '00 RS
4. Savalas in the '98 RS,
5. Rodrigez in the other '00 RS
6 Korpela in the '04 RS



I did a 1:11.28 on lap 2 (drafting Robertson) and this stayed my fastest laps for many laps.

A dive down the inside into turn 4 and I took 1st place. Behind me, Keufer was 3rd ahead of Rodrigez in the twin turquoise '00 1800 RSs. Korpela was still back in 6th.

Now I was in free air, and Robertson, who did a 1:11.8 ahead of me slowed down to 1:13 for lap 3 and had fallen back into the clutches of Keufer. Korpela had passed Savalas for 5th and was rapidly catching the twins who were caught behind Robertson who was doing low to mid 1:12s. Korpela did a 1:10.947 catching up, maybe with some draft, but was soon right behind the twins.

I was getting a bit worried, the tyres had warmed up but at the start of lap 7 I was only 0.85 s ahead of Robertson, with lap times in the mid 11s to mid 12s. With this setup in practice I had done 5 laps in a row under 11s, averaging 1:10.8, and the only change I had made was to reduce power from 137 to 136 hp. Why was I so much slower? Would I be fast enough to win?

Things were just as bad at lap 11, average lap time (excluding lap 1) was just under 1:12s, and Keufer had finally passed Robertson for 2nd in turn 1 on lap 12 and was right on my tail. The twins were lapping in the mid 1:11s, but passing me was much more difficult than catching up. Kuefer was clearly faster in the back straight, hitting 153 km/h where I was just touching 150, but slower in the middle of the course, especially through turn 5 and 6. Rodrigez and Korpela were still trying to get past Robertson.

For lap after lap I stayed just ahead of Kuefer, who tried passing a few times with no luck. The gap fluctuated between 0.5 to 1.5 s as he lost time trying to pass me and I also managed some slightly faster laps, getting a 10.8 on lap 22.

At lap 25 (30 min and 6s), Kuefer was still on my tail, and Rodrigez and Korpela were 4-5 seconds back, still trying to get past Robertson.

On turn 1 of lap 31, Rodrigez finally passed Robertson for 2nd. On the same lap I braked a bit late into the last hairpin and Keufler caught me then did a pit manoeuvre on the straight. I recovered from the slide but lost pace on the straight and under brakes into turn 1 he came up to me again and gave me another big tap.

Rodrigez was soon right behind Kuefer, and I was a bit grumpy, so I slowed a touch in the middle of turn 4, slowing Keufler and letting Rodrigez get past into turn 5. Take that!

However, it didn't change much for me. The twins were still on my tail and the gap stayed between 0.5 and 1.5 seconds for ages.

On lap 40, Korpela had caught Kuefer and they started changing places occasionally dropping back to about 2 s behind me, but Kuefer kept 3rd place.

Then, on lap 45 I got a bit untidy in turn 5, onto the grass on the exit and Rodrigez caught up through turn 6 and pushed past on the outside at the turn 7 hairpin. I drafted him up the back straight and passed him again in turn 1.

After this I noticed that I was a lot faster braking late and inside on that pass in turn 1, even though I didn't touch Rodrigez. The AI cars were alwasyscatching me in turn 1 and realised that I was taking a poor line, braking too early and turning in, then braking again for the apex. I changed to braking later, right into the apex in one motion, saving about 0.2-0.3 s per lap.

So at 50 laps, total time 1h0m6s, average lap time 1:12.125. Still in the lead though. Some reports suggest pitting 4 times instead of 3, but after 50 laps, there was no significant reduction in tyre grip. I decided to push on and see how the tyres were at 67 laps for a 2 stop.

With my better turn 1 line and a bit of pushing I got a new best lap of 1:10.421 at lap 52! Tyres ok, fuel down to 3/4 tank.

After 75 laps, the tyres were still ok, lap times still averaging under 12s , so I decided to push on to see if I could one stop.

On lap 81 I braked a bit late into turn 1 and Kuefer who had passed Rodrigez on lap 75 came up and bashed me again. I slowed again "by accident) in the middle of turn 4, and Kuefer and Rodrigez were held up, and Korpela passed them both.

Now I could see the backmarkers at the end of the straight, and I was still doing sub 1:12 laps, but they were in the high 12s and low 13s. I still had Korpela 1 to 1.5 s behind, but I knew I'd gain some time in the traffic. On lap 90 I managed a 1:10.670 and on lap 91 got into the tow of the J-limited of Wimmer, hitting 157 on the back straight. Into turn 1 of lap 92 I passed Wimmer.

I was soon up on Osborne in the '95 S-Special and passed him in the last hairpin. Korpela wasn't having too much trouble, but the lead had increased to 3 s. Clay, Pacheco and Savalas were quite close. I passed Clay on the back straight on lap 94, then Pacheco on turn 4 of lap 95, and Savalas on the back straight of the same lap.

There was about 1/3 of a lap to the next car, Van de Ven, but my lead had increased to 7 s, thanks to several low and sub 11s laps in a row.

Fuel was getting lower now, less than 1/2 a tank at the 1 hour mark. I had completed 100 laps and I knew I could 1 stop. I was still lapping at an average of 1:11.3. The lead AI cars were still lapping in the low 11s.

I started to wonder about when to stop and would the AI have to stop at all? Could they do the whole race without stopping? What would their fuel use be? Having read the post from SmokingCones above would have helped me be less stressed.


I was still only a few seconds in the lead, and I was starting to think about whether I needed to stop at all for fresh tyres if the Ai didn't. I'd calculated based on the fuel use in practice (4L in 7 laps) that I'd need somewhere between 100 and 128 L of fuel, but I expect to burn less fuel as the weight reduced. I was pretty sure I couldn't make it the full distance on fuel. I tried short shifting and fuel saving for a few laps, but it was costing me at least 1 s per lap, with 90+ laps left better to stop for fuel!

Laps passed, and my average lap times were still ok at around 1:11. By lap 121 Korpela had passed the traffic and had caught up to being only 4.5s behind.

On lap 127 I caught Osborne and Wimmer again. Lap 133 I caught Clay, Pacheco and Savalas too.

After a bit of thought, I realised that although the car was now 60-65 kg lighter due to fuel burn, I wasn't lapping any faster than in the first 20 laps.

The gap back to Korpela was 8.899 s at the end of lap 135, but I was finding that I was having small issues with grip, braking wasn't as good as I expected, I spun the rears out of the last hairpin, couldn't quite hold the lines in the corners.

Obviously the tyres were going off, albeit slowly. With 60+ laps to go, I only needed to gain 0.35 s per lap to make up the estimated 21 s for a pit stop. I decided to pit on lap 137, get fresh tyres and make sure I had enough fuel to make the distance.
When I pitted they offered me 74 L for a full fill. I quickly selected 20L to add and another set of sports hard tyres.

74L use in 137 laps is 0.54L per lap, ie 108 L for 200 laps. 20L was a bit more than the 8 L I actually needed but better to have a few litres too much than to run out again! 14 s stationary time and while I was in the pits, Korpela, Kuefer, Rodrigez passed me, as well as Aaltonen who was about 10 seconds behind the triplets in the '04 1600 NR-A.

After exiting the pits, I was back in 5th place, with most of the lap empty behind me, just Van de Ven who wouldn't be troubling me.

At the end of lap 138 ( was 22.9 s down on the leader. Not sure how I lost a full 33 s in the pit... After 1.5 laps the tyres were warmed up and I started making up time on Kopela who was in lapped traffic and doing 1:14s.

On lap 144 I caught and passed Aaltonen. Koepela was about 12 s ahead, with plenty of lapped cars between us.

Best laps for the AI so far were all better than my best lap of 1:10.421 on lap 52:
Korpela 1:10.384
Kuefer: 1:09.945
Rodrigez: 1.10.221
Aaltonen: 1:10.297

Every lap was sub 11s, and on lap 145 I caught and passed Rodrigez under braking into the turn 8 hairpin. I was just 5.5s behind Korpela.

Then my wife reminded me that our dinner visitors would arrive at 6pm, and it was 5:55. Time to pause the race. I kept going around to the back straight and paused the race. It was looking good, but I'll have to come back tomorrow for the last hour and 4 minutes.

 

[b_adger]

I was on Sunday school duty this morning, and a kids birthday party in the afternoon, when I woke up I realised I could fit in an hour to finish the race before I'd have to leave if I prepared quickly.

To recap, I was lap 148, 2h57 in, and 5.5 s behind Korpela in the lead with Kuefer and a backmarker between us. I wasn't sure when or even if the AI would pit, but surely they would have to for fuel? In the replay later I realised that the AI cars were all on Sports Soft tyres, which explained why they were able to hold a higher speed in the corners, but they are terrrible at accelerating out of the corners.

Since the pit stop I'd been lapping at an average of 1:10.78 before pausing the game. But I've had a long break overnight. Taking it easy my first two laps were about 1:11.5 - still catching the leaders, the gap to Korpela was down to 3.9 s and Keufer was just in front of me.

On lap 150 I passed Kuefer into turn 8 and was soon on Korpela. I was lapping under 1:11 and he was in the 1:12s. I caught him and passed on turn 6. Into turn 7 he shunted me, and again into turn 1. I was not pleased, my slowest lap of 1:14.85 was as I recovered. After a couple of laps it seemed I pulled away a bit. The crew chief told me I now had a 3 second lead.

After a few more laps, I looked in the rear view mirror to see a silver car catching me, but it couldn't be Korpela because I still had a lead of 5 s over 2nd place and this car was much closer behind. There were 3 silver MX-5s in the race but this one was fast and catching me, maybe one of the backmarkers had just pitted and had fresh tyres and was on a blinder?

Suddenly I realised it was Korpela, but he was a lap down! He'd pitted on lap 152, but a complete fill with fuel meant he'd exited the pit just after I lapped him. Now I was 13s ahead of Aaltonen (yet to pit) with 47 minutes left.

Kuefer and Rodrigez were about 5 s behind me, and I set to work to stay ahead of Korpela. He stayed right behind me, then the twins pitted on lap 160 and came out behind Korpela.

I knew now the race was won, I had 40 laps left and they needed to get past me, then make up 72 seconds and pass me again. I decided to treat this as if we were on the same lap, and race to the line.

I was clearly holding Korpela up a bit, and so Kuefer and Rodrigez had caught up to him around lap 170.

On lap 172 he shunted me into turn 7, then I braked a bit late into corner 8 and lost some time on the dirt on the outside. Korpela and Kuefer went past. I recovered "2nd" from Kuefer in turn 3, and set my fastest lap on lap 174, a 1:10.044 chasing Korpela, and not close enough to benefit from drafting on the straight either...

With 30 minutes left, it was still pretty exciting, could I get it back?

On lap 175 I got close enough to draft on the back straight and passed Korpela through turn 8 to take back the "lead".

We all passed another set of backmarkers, although some were still going into the pit at lap 176!

On lap 182 Korpela gave me another couple of big shunts while trying to pass. I was getting more and more annoyed with him, and into turn 7 he hit me again from behind, and we got tangled up out of the corner, both ending up in the dirt, letting Kuefer and Rodrigez through. I quickly passed Rodrigez, and set off again to take back the "lead". I took it back on lap 186, and kept it to the end.

Korpela took back 3rd place, but never got past Kuefer. Serves him right for poor driving.

At 3:59:58 I crossed the line to start the 201st lap, so carried on for that final lap.

Average lap time of 1:11.87.

 

[b_adger]

Some thoughts on the 4h roadster race:

1. I didn't realise the opponents were on sport soft tyres until I looked at the replay. Strange that the roadster cup sprint race has the same opponents on sport hards for only 5 laps. Even stranger there isn't much difference in lap times, I saw an 1800 RS do a 1:10.5 in the cup race on SH with no drafting, best lap time in this race was 1:09.8, with drafting
2. I don't know how they managed to make the soft tyres last 175 laps. My sport hard tyres were about 1/3 worn when I pitted after 137 laps, so I could probably have done the whole race on them, but I easily made up the pit stop time with faster laps on fresh tyres, and I needed to pit for fuel anyway.
3. I could possibly have done a faster race by pitting earlier and doing more laps on fresh rubber, but since I spent a lot of time with second place right behind me, perhaps they would have gained time on me if I'd pitted earlier?
4. Even though Kuefer and Rodrigez were in identical cars, Rodrigez was very slightly slower - Kuefer got past again every time circumstances gave Rodrigez the lead. At the end, Rodrigez finished lap 199 about 2 seconds behind Kuefer.
5. Aaltonen in the '04 1600 NR-A did well, finishing lap 199 just 2s behind Rodrigez.
6. I way over prepared for this race, but that process was fun too. I could have just gone with version 5 of the suspension tune and adjusted the power to hit the required lap time. It probably helped to do 150 laps of testing before the race.
7. Korpela and Kuefer just made it to the 200th lap, crossing the line during the last 2 seconds of the 4 hours.
8. The faster opponents didn't seem to have much trouble passing the slow backmarkers, held each other up a bit, but seemed to be held up by being stuck behind me. They were able to draft me (or each other) almost every lap whereas I was out in the air nearly all the time, so perhaps their laps wouldn't have been as good without the drafting? My top speed into corner 8 was about 150 km/h alone and 157 with a draft. Looking at the replay, they were only getting to 154 with a draft even with 17% more power. However, Korpela caught me pretty quickly after pitting and coming out 1 lap behind.
9. My lighter car, better suspension tune and better(!?) driving meant I was always able to pass them fairly easily under braking into the slow corners, even though my best lap times weren't as good as theirs. Maybe next time I'll add ballast and up the power and see how that goes.

 

[b_adger]

Next stop, the Laguna Seca 200:

I've been reading up about this race, and as usual I want to go a car that fits with the theme of the race = American muscle cars from the 60s and 70s. I'm keen to pick a grid with older cars as the main rivals, no modern rabbits, perhaps grid 13?

I had a few ideas:

• Corvette Convertible (C1) '54 - with a stock pp of 352 will need some hotting up to be competitive.
• Shelby GT350R '65 - nice car, should go ok, but a bit "sporty"
• Corvette Coupe (C2) '63 - also nice but sporty
• Tempest Le Mans GTO '64 - the original muscle car!

But since I owned a 1971 Chrysler Valiant with a 265 Hemi, I'm keen to go for a Mopar for this first race. And in the lineup for LS200 is the Dodge Charger 440 R/T - has the least power of all the Mopars, isn't too heavy, and apparently has a 50:50 weight distribution.

I picked one up from the UCD with 348,900km on the clock, in the best colour - Hemi Orange! So I'll try it out and see how it goes around the track, then fettle it from there...