El Capitan 200 miles: Suzuki GSX R/4 (a spec)

Phil McCavity

Phil McCavity

184
this is my very 1st "a" spec enduro.... i've used this car "b" spec for this race (and the 'ring 4hr)... won both

i love el capitan, and i love the suzuki gsx r/4... this car is very suited to this type of track, i just LOVE throwing it round every bend, its awesome!!

i havent set this car up much, the details being:
racing exhaust, chip, SM tyres, stage 2 turbo, racing brakes (set at 3/3), racing suspension, full transmission, triple clutch, racing flywheel, wing (set at 3/3), stage 3 weight reduction, port polish, engine balancing, stiffness.... basically left everything at default settings

261 bhp (mmmm its gone down 1 since i first used it hehe)

oh, got some wicked rims in the used rim shop... makes it look like i have half an inch of tyre hehe (i wish i could post a pic, but my ps2 wont read my old pen drive)

the field comprised:
lotus motor sport elise
corvette z06
tvr cerbera speed 6
corvette grand sport
corvette zr1

(the elise was, obviously, the only competition)

brief resume of this 66 lap race:
- generally lapping at 1'50-1'52 (had a couple mishaps early on, while i learnt how far i could push this car) my fastest lap in the race was 1'48.3
- lapped the elise on laps 12, 23, 43 and 59
- elise pitted every 12 laps
- i pitted at 13, 24, 37 and 51 (its gonna be 4 pits whichever way i try and figure it)

total race time: 2:04'11.5
"a" spec points: 139

got another minolta now, and i really enjoyed this (1st) enduro

Gord
 
Enjoy this enduro to. Not as long and demanding as the Nurb and LeMans a "fun" enduro(behind the SuperSpeedway 150mile only). The Elise is the easy class of the AI field. Did this race a couple of time earn big money. :)
 
I just bought an Elise from the Used car lots. Do you think this car can handle some of the endurance races?
 
mmmm never tried with the elise on an enduro......... but i will!

BUT

go win the suzuki gsx r/4... u will be astounded!! open top (polygons??? obviously not a prob in GT4 really)

Gord
 
Yeah i gotta dump a little more money into my S2 concept, the GSX R/4 just blows it away.
 
I really should do this race in a GSX R/4, it's such a nice handling car. Do you think it's possible to beat this race in a stock GSX R/4?

BTW, when I did this race in my mildly tuned BMW M3 CSL (stage 3 lightweight, race clutch, race flywheel, race gearbox, carbon driveshaft, race suspension, race brakes, 404hp, hard race tires on the rears and meium race on the front) and I got 171 A-Spec points with a quickest lap of 1:49.231. I would have thought that I should have got less A-Spec points since my car was heavily tuned and lapped the Elise about 3-4 times.

All these good write-ups have convince me to do one of my own so expect a El Capitan 200 write up soon.
 
I tried b-specing the El Capitan 200 miles last night with the GSX R/4, doesnt look like thats going to work, definately possible in A-spec mode, maybe Ill do that this weekend.

Last night I ran the NY 200 miles on A-spec, everything that was said about this car is true, it drives great and sounds great too. Also overnight I sucessfully b-speced Tsukuba 9 hours, and Nurburgring 4 hours.
 
with regard to the amount of "a" spec points, spose it all depends what your racing against.... the elise is, apparently, the easier of the "better" cars that u might meet in the race (zonda maybe the hardest??)

racing a standard gsx r/4? well its 175 bhp basic.... might be worth a try i spose hehe

"b" spec? well i did that b4 i "a" spec'd this race! and i'm pretty sure the zonda was in the race too

Gord
 
regarding a prev post, the elise is certainly a very useful enduro car... for this and other races (i have just been reading about a guy who "a" spec'd the 'ring 24hr!!! i dont think i could do that, well unless i spread it over a few days hehe)
 
i just redid el capitan 200, i had fully modded car except this time stage 1 turbo (overall gave 226 bhp)

"a" specd for the 1st 15 laps (my fastest lap was 1'48.62... very close to my fastest lap with stage 2 turbo)

then "b" specd the rest (he wasnt as fast as me, esp when he came up against traffic)

main opposition was the pagani zonda c12 (would have got 185 pts if i'd have "a" specd the whole race)

won by 2 laps over the zonda

gonna retry now with a stock gsx, no mods at all
 
ok for anyone vaguely interested, completed this with an unmodded blue gsx r/4(175 bhp, as shown in the garage), didnt even change the rims hehe!! SM tyres

beat the elise motor sport '99 by one lap and a bit

i pitted at 18/34/52 (i knew the elise would pit every 11 or 12 laps)

i passed the elise on the final bend of lap 38, but he steamed past me on the straight....got him a bend or so later

my fastest lap: 1'52.945 (tried to repeat this feat, got within a gnat's **** of it on lap 65 LOL)

total race time: 2:07'59.132

i wish GT4 would remember my fastest lap, total time, what car i used, what bhp it was etc (that would be useful, esp when i'm rerunning a race)

anyway, gonna "b" spec now.... just to see if Suzi Wong (my new "b" spec driver hehe) can win it!

Gord
 
I love the GSX-R4. It's really my favorite car in the game. It has a lot of style, an interesting sound, and it handles like nobody's business.

Plus, it was so much work to earn one the first time... it was the first set of races I had to really try hard on to win.

I'll have to think about using it in the ElCap enduro myself. I have 4 of them in the garage, and I'll probably go out and win another one to do the enduros with. :D
 
Im going to try this race with a used Elise. Ill post here how it goes for me (probably will be a few days before i get the time to do it)
 
I love the SUZUKI GSX just finished taking it for a spin on the ring (stay off the rumble strips :scared: ) Done up it's around 250bhp and with weight reduction it only weighs a tiny 582kg which gives it a power to weight ratio of 2.3 ; which is better than my 655bhp AM-Vanquish.

Wings look cool on it, and with new wheels, DAMN it looks fine. I stuck some Suzuki wheels on it too (from the concept-S2).

EDIT - 6'27.512 at the ring with a few minor "offs", I've only been able to do the ring faster in race cars and my 700+bhp Corvette Z06 and my ZZII
 
Phil McCavity
this is my very 1st "a" spec enduro.... i've used this car "b" spec for this race (and the 'ring 4hr)... won both

i love el capitan, and i love the suzuki gsx r/4... this car is very suited to this type of track, i just LOVE throwing it round every bend, its awesome!!

i havent set this car up much, the details being:
racing exhaust, chip, SM tyres, stage 2 turbo, racing brakes (set at 3/3), racing suspension, full transmission, triple clutch, racing flywheel, wing (set at 3/3), stage 3 weight reduction, port polish, engine balancing, stiffness.... basically left everything at default settings
Click to expand...

I've just done this same race with similar settings to you. Fastest lap was 1:50.226, total race time was 2:09:48.377 (and a sore right thumb!). Passed the Lotus Espirit Sport 350 on lap 44, everything else was two or more laps beind.

But I had to pit every 8 laps. How on earth do you manage to get 13 laps out of a set of tyres? I'm used sports/hard tyres, which I can only imagine wear quicker than the sports/medium you used.
 
the weird thing is, i would have thought SH tyres would wear SLOWER than SM!!

as i posted earlier on this thread, i did this enduro with a stock gsx and only pitted 3 times on SM's, so i think 4 should easily be achievable with a modded gsx

really have no clue why u could only get 8 laps per set of tyres bro!!
 
Good thread guys, I'm on this race tonight, with all this GSX talk I think I'll use that, have to win it first though...

Will report how I get on :)
 
Well I ran the race in the end with a Motorsport elise, 1+2 weight reductions, full race suspension, triple clutch and race flywheel. It was quite enjoyable, but I think for enduros I'm going to stick with GTR on the PC, GT4 feels like a mere toy by comparison... Might try and get the GSX though...
 
👍 Thanks Phil 👍

Just won with the GSXR at El Capitan by 3 laps :)

I've had this car for ages and used it only for short tracks like Tuksuba, but wow does it wind up and go at El Cap..Brilliant..off to the Suzuki races to grab another bunch of these great little beasts.

Makes up for not being able to race the Caterham IMHO :) :) :)
 
Rob,

Go to Japan

Enter Suzuki Concepts race et viola a GSXR will be yours

You'll need to win the Concept S2 in K Car cup?

and then you have to tune the buggery out of it to beat the GSXR, it's worth it though :-)

PS hint use soft race rubber 55sec at Tuksuba 👍
 
The "can only get 8 laps out of a set of hard tyres" has been bothering me, so I went back to El Capitan with an pretty much unmodded GSX-R/4 (it may have some lightening, can't remember), ASM/TCS set to 5/5/2 (my general favourite values), strapped on some SM tyres and just kept driving. Here's my rough lap times:

lap 5 - 1:55
lap 6 - 1:55
lap 7 - 1:59 - Rears going yellow
lap 8 - 1:58
lap 9 - 1:57
lap 10 - 1:57
lap 11 - 1:55 - Rears yellow, front right starting to go yellow
lap 12 - 1:55
lap 13 - 1:57 - Starting to get slidey
lap 14 - 1:57 - Rears starting to go orange
lap 15 - 1:53 - !
lap 16 - 1:55
lap 17 - 2:01 - Fronts going orange, a few offs, quite slidey
lap 18 - 2:19 - Almost uncontrollable
lap 19 - 2:49 - Can't go in a straight line any more!

So, it looks like I was just pitting too early before. In the past I would have pitted around lap 7 - as soon as my lap times starting increasing. I suspect now I would be able to keep doing 1:55 or less from lap 7 to lap14 now that I know how to drive with the tires changing state.

I gave up this race since I was just testing tyre life, but would have easily won by pitting in at say 16/33/49. A Comaro and a Lotus Espirit were my main competition, and they pitted while they were 15ish seconds behind me on lap 15. I'd already lapped the Aston Martin, but it unlapped itself on lap 19. The race was for 200 A-Spec points.

So big thanks to Phil for prompting me to rethink my tyre life times 👍
 
I went back and finished El Capitan, on a three stop with SM tires and ended up doing it easy. I was just over a lap ahead of the Lotus Elise at the end, but he was catching up fast as my tyres had gone off quicker with the last set. That last lap was a stuggle. But overall, a pretty easy win and another bag of 200 A-Spec points.

Thinking I'm on a roll, I started to have a look at some of the other endurance races. The Tokyo R246 looked like a good candidate, so I entered that with pretty much the same setup as El Capitan. 200 points flashes up at the start.

Blown away! Did nearly two laps and was totally obliterated. Quit the race, enter setup and tune up the Suzuki with all the add ons, and try again. Still 200 points and quite a bit better, but still not on the pace. Then I noticed that there were no restrictions on tyres. I selected RM first off, and 189 points flashed up at the start. Quit again, select RH, and there's the magic 200 points again. The field this time included a 2000 Ford Falcon XR8. Nice to see some of the home grown in a Japanese race :)

Third in to the first corner, and hit the front before the end of the lap. I was pulling out about 2 or 3 seconds a lap over the XR8, and starting to think that this might be quite an easy race. The rears were starting to turn orange just before lap 12 and I crossed my fingers and hoped that they'd make it to lap 15 so I could three-stop instead of four-stop. Around
this time the RX-7 LM passed the XR8.

I pitted on lap 15 with around a 30 second lead, and came out about 6 seconds behind the RX-7, and comfortably in front on the XR8. But now, I'm only catching up to the RX-7 at half a second a lap. It seems to run much better at the end of a stint for some reason. Lap 20 comes around, and the XR8 pulls in. I finally manage to pass the RX-7 around lap 25, but am starting to worry that it might only be single stopping. In it goes at lap 28, and like before it seems slow early on in its next stint.

Back in the pits on lap 30, and from there my lead slowly streches out. Nothing really interesting happens before my next stop on lap 45. The Mazda has starting speeding up again, lapping faster than me now. I pit with about 25 seconds in the pocket, and come out maybe 14 seconds behind.

Now the RX7 is zoom zooming along (groan!), and by lap 55 I'm still 5 or 6 seconds behind and really pushing hard just in case he doesn't need to pit again. My rears are just starting to turn orange already. I've passed the XR8 by now, and so lapped everybody up to second.

Luckily the RX7 goes in at the end of lap 57, and from there it's almost an easy cruise to the end. The rears are almost red now though, so I'm taking it pretty easy. At the last corner on the last lap the display shows I'm 36 seconds ahead of the RX7. Going down the straight though I have almost no control, and plough sideways in to the wall and come to a complete stop! I'd guess I crossed the line a comfortable 30 seconds head though. Another 200 points, although a little harder earned than those at El Capitan.

My fastest lap was a 1:38.5, but I was regularly lapping in the mid 39s, so with more careful driving this race could have been somewhat easier. Getting that bend right flat out on the back straight is a good feeling!

If the other Japanese endurance races through up similar fields, then we might be in with a chance in a few other races with this mighty little car. There was also an Abt Audi TT-R Touring Car in here that came fourth, so if other races field up some touring cars then we should be able to dust them off quite easily (if the Audi is representative of that class). For this race, the two backmarkers were the Takata Dome NS-X and the Calsonic Skyline GT-R.
 
tires matter a lot , i had to pit only 3times 17 -33-50 ..............incredible car ( is it a MOTO motor from the gsx-r ) sounds good , one of my favourites with ac cobras and aston vanquish
 
I did El Capitan in the Cien. I know I switched to bspec for a couple of laps, but when he was 10 seconds slower than me, and losing time, I did the rest. I remember the race came down to the final pitstop. I was gaining on the leader, but not quick enough, but he had one more stop to go (I didn'). I think I won by 27 seconds. Was hugely good fun.
 
Just finished the race for 200 a-spec points. Pretty fun car, but now my trigger finger hurts.
-Car: totally stock metalic blue GSX-R/4. No TCS or ASM. 50.5 km on the clock when I went in for a practice lap or two.

-Setup: I bought all tyre types up to super hard slicks, but just drove with the stock sport mediums.
One and a half test laps showed the car as a lot less grippy then I remember. I'd forgotten to turn off the driving aids the last time I'd driven it. No matter, it was still pretty sticky and very controllable in a slide.
Apperently with a bike engine putting it's power down through two DOT slicks, TCS is a nonissue. No matter what kind of launch I tried, the car would not loose traction.

-The Race: Doesn't really need much discussion. I was startled by the competition and how much faster they were down the opening straight, but a few corners erased any worries that this race was unwinable (by me).
Best lap of 1:51.826. Most laps around 1:52-1:54.

-The compitition: Mere whelks in my mighty blue electric razor-looking concept car shadow :sly:
Lotus Motorsport Elise: Presented a mild threat at the beginning, but my tires lasted so much longer that it was a lap and a bit back by the end.
Shelby Series 1 Supercharged: I'm getting the impression this thing kinda sucks. It's got all that legacy to live up to, and I whooped it with a bike engine shoved into an oversized Braun electric.
Mercedies-Benz SL65 AMG: Always in the area when when I had to pit, so I ended up passing it repeatedly.
TVR Speed 6: I didn't see much of this one, which means it either did decently or was always in the pit while I was passing it.
TVR T350C: I think I lapped it twice, not sure.
I dropped the controller on it's X button before everyone finished their laps, so I don't know the exact statistics.

Snarkophilus: I may try R246 next in this car, thanks for the writeup.
 

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