Grand Valley Enduro - Post-race Report

[Duke]

This was a very low-key race. I ran the Enduro in a stock Raybrig NSX against a field of the usual JGTC suspects, and won easily. However, it gave me 60 laps to work on my line at a track I do not know intimately.

Settings
I entered this race as practice for an OLR competition in Arcade mode, so before starting I reset all suspension adjustments etc. to the defaults since these are not modifiable on the Arcade cars.

Tires and Strategy
The only exception was using T4s instead of the stock T5s, which were too soft for Enduro use. I ran a mostly 8-lap pit strategy, pitting at the end of laps 8, 16, 24, 32, 40, and 48 on moderate-orange tires all round. Rather than run my next-to-last tires out and finish the race on a green set, I changed to 6 laps for the last two sets and so pitted on lap 54 for the final time.

The Race
Making the rolling start from 6th place, I passed for 4th position in the second turn, the large hairpin. In an attempt to run a very clean race, I stayed in the pack past the small hairpin, only picking up positions when I could do so with little or no contact. I passed for the lead at the entrance to the first tunnel on the first lap. Over the next several laps I was able to steadily widen my lead, but I didn't know about my tire wear yet , or about the AI pit strategy.

I held off pitting to till the 8th lap, hoping I wouldn't be the first to go in, but I knew I couldn't make the tires last another trip around. Looking in my mirror on Pit Road I was happy to see that most of the front runners also pitted on the same lap, so I was able to leave the pits only a second or two down on the Arta NSX (whose pit bay was at the beginning of the garage, allowing him to get done and out a little ahead of me). I passed again for the lead within the lap and held it for the remaining 51 laps.

I encountered lap traffic on lap 21 (Calsonic Skyline) and every few laps thereafter. I lapped the second place car on lap 40 or so (Mugen NSX).

The Results Are In
Total ET: 1h:53':43.007"
Fast Lap: 1':48.240"
Average Lap: 1':53.717" including pit stops
Margin:
Mugen NSX: +1 lap
Denso Supra: +1 lap
Tom's Supra: +2 laps
Pennzoil GT-R: +2 laps
Calsonic Skline: +3 laps
Skylines suck!
I have to say again, Grand Valley and the NSX in any form are just made for each other. All in all a very pleasant drive that was rewarded with the Nissan R390 road car.

 

[VdrSain]

Nice N_D,
I did this last week and kept good notes and just havn't had a chance to post them. I'm at work and notes are at home but I will get the details posted tonite or tomorow. I think I ran the Sard Supra with about the same results, but we'll see.

 

[Duke]

Well, the race writeup was fairly uneventful, so I'll try my hand at a flying lap description of GV in one of the race-built NSXs. Edit: I've made a few small adjustments to this description, which appear in [brackets].

Cross the Start/Finish line wide open in top gear, in the middle of the course while easing diagonally from left to right over almost the whole length of the front straight. Hold wide open while steering mild left after passing the pit road exit on the far right to take Turn One in a shallow line. Do not track out, but hold to the left side of the course leading down the gentle slope toward Turn Two. Brake hard just before going under the last overhead sign, downshifting from 6th to 3rd. Turn into the Large Hairpin under light trail braking and get on the gas as soon as the car is rotated and settled. Hold moderate lock and accelerate to apex just after the midpoint of the Large Hairpin, running approximately the third 25% of the turn with the right wheels on the inside rumble strip. Unwind steering and move to full throttle in third gear to let the car track out to the left. You should upshift to 4th just above redline as the car brushes the very end of the left side rumble strip.

Hold full throttle in 4th and ease diagonally from left to right until the last set of trees on the right side of the track, then apply firm left lock without lifting. Apex Turn Three with the left wheels on the inside rumble strip and [quickly] go to almost-full right lock while upshifting to 5th at the base of the short rise between the left hand Turn Three and the right hand Turn Four. Hold full throttle through Turn Four, with the right hand wheels on the inside rumble strip. Do not track out after the apex but [give a quick stab of full left lock] to start the car rotating left for the blind turn-in to Turn Five, just over the crest of the rise. With crisp timing the car will apex the left hand Turn Five with the left wheels on the rumble strip and the suspension unloaded from cresting the hill. If the car is too wide on this turn lift throttle as soon as you can judge your position relative to the apex, but avoid heavy braking which will further unsettle the car for the rest of the following chute. Hold some left lock to prevent understeer on the downslope, catch the car before it drifts off the right-hand verge, and move back to the left side of the course. The car should be over redline but ignore the shift light and keep it in 5th gear rather than shifting up and almost immediately back down. Reduce throttle to stay out of the rev limiter and to begin deacceleration for Turn Six.

With the car settled, straight, and coasting slightly, you should be near the left edge of the track as you come into the Turn Six braking markers. Brake heavily at the next-to-last brake marker, downshift from 5th to 2nd gear, and turn in firmly with light trail braking. Try to brake early enough that you ride the inside rumble strip much of the way around the Little Hairpin, accelerating in 2nd gear but lifting slightly as necessary to avoid spinning the rear tires, which will kick the rear out too far when the car is on the strips. Hold a tight line for longer than seems necessary, or the car will track out to the left at too steep an angle and head for the outside wall near the edge of the kitty litter. When you can see daylight at the head of the uphill chute, go to full acceleration and upshift to 3rd and 4th while moving back to the right side of the course.

After the crest of the hill, make the turn in to the lefthand Turn Seven without slowing. Once the car rotates, lift throttle a bit to allow the tail end to wag a little rather than let the car get too far to the right side of the course. Hold 4th gear here. Catch the oversteer, but stay to the left/middle of the course as you brake hard and downshift to 3rd for the righthand Turn Eight. Braking here should be short, hard, and straight. Back into the throttle as you give full right lock and take the second half of the Turn Seven/Eight combo. Moderate track out to the left following Turn Eight , but avoid going to wide, and move right again quickly. Braking here should be short, hard, and straight as well. Downshift to 2nd and accelerate as you turn in to the left leading into the first tunnel (Turn Nine). The key here is to brake early, brake hard, and turn in very sharply left to avoid finding yourself wide and heading into outside edge of the tunnel abutment with the red and blue armaflex. Cross the inside/left rumble strip and accelerate through 2nd, 3rd, and 4th in the first tunnel. An early enough line through Turn Nine will give you an almost straight shot through the tunnel.

Exit the first tunnel wide open in 4th, with slight right lock. Near the right side of the course is more blue armaflex; the end of that row is your braking point for the left hand sweeper Turn Ten. Downshift to 3rd and accelerate, riding the rumble strip most of the way around the inside but tracking out toward the right as you near the second tunnel. Hold a moderately tight line through the right sweeper Turn Eleven in the second tunnel, staying in 3rd gear and lifting slightly to tighten the line as necessary. As you exit the tunnel, accelerate as hard as possible and let the car loosen up toward the left side wall of the bridge, but do not go off the left side of the track before entering the bridge. Shift up to 4th at redline, and up to 5th at redline, somewhere near the peak of the shadow from the bridge's arch. Continue accelerating in 5th to the third tunnel entrance.

At tunnel entrance, lift throttle and downshift to 4th while steering right at moderate lock. Hold moderate lock through sweeping right Turn Twelve, staying tight to right hand tunnel wall without rubbing the curb. Try to stay tight, as getting too wide will cause the car to wash out towards the low left wall, meaning an awkward double-jointed apex that costs a lot of speed. Watch what the AI does here and you will see what I mean - if you are reasonably close behind, you can always pass to the inside while they drift out, brake, and come back in. As you exit the third tunnel, track out a little, but don't go past the center of the course [or if you do, make sure you have enough traction to haul the car back across to the right]. Hold 4th gear for the short chute leading down to the Tight Esses, easing right and braking under the overhead brake marker on the right side. Downshift to 3rd and blip throttle to make the sharp left Turn Thirteen, but stay to the left and brake immediately. The first pair in this combination can be taken in 2nd, but I find that the lower gear makes the car squirrely, and you need to reverse a lot of left-rotating momentum and swing it right in a very short time. I stay in 3rd through the first half, then brake [very heavily], downshift to 2nd, and accelerate hard through the even-tighter right Turn Fourteen. Turn in late (since you nearly have to stop anyway) to avoid hitting the inside retaining wall. Turning in too early will put you into the outside wall on the left at track out, or nearly - and an avoidance maneuver on the grass while accelerating hard invites a spin.

Accelerate up through 3rd into 4th while moving diagonally from left to right , then back again, to negotiate the dogleg left Turn Fifteen at full throttle, near redline in 4th. Shift up to 5th and keep to the left after this apex and go to heavy right lock quickly for the dogleg right Turn Sixteen, the last turn. This turn has a noticeable crown to it so staying tight will put the road's camber in your favor. If you are a little late, lift throttle a moment at turn in to try to stay out of the off-camber part. Try to get this last turn at full throttle if at all possible because it leads onto the l-o-o-o-n-g front straight and every bit of velocity is critical.

Track out wide to the left on exit, but avoid the rumble strip since it will slow you down and pull you into the grass, wasting speed. Upshift to 6th at redline and gently work your way back to the right as you cross the S/F line near the middle of the course.

Phew! That took a lot longer than 1':48" to type! Hope this was interesting.

 

[ving]

wd neon, nice write up (as per usual)
wish i had time for enduros

 

[VdrSain]

Well here is how it went for me in the Denso Supra.
Setup was stock, 487 Hp and the stock T5’s with only the following setting changes.

RH 45/45
Camber 3/2
Stabilizers 6/6
Brakes 11/12
LSD 15/25/20
Auto 29
DF .72/1.0
ASM=0/TCS=1

I originally qualified with the stage 1 turbo and turned a 1’48” which I knew would be to fast for the AI, so I dumped the turbo and qualified with a 1’51” on the 1st time lap. I ended up working my time down to 1’48.423” during the race, a half second faster than my qualifying lap with the turbo. I used a 7-8 lap pit strategy and the tires were pretty bad on the 8 lap stints. I didn’t hit lapped traffic until lap 29 but lapped both the Calsonic and the Penzoil, and I missed lapping the 2nd place Mugen NSX by just a car length or so. All in all a fun yet somewhat boring race, but I learned a lot and dropped my lap times considerably.

Best lap 1’48.423”
Total time 1,54’56.686”
Average lap w/pits 1’54.54”

2nd Mugen NSX + 1’54”
3rd Denso Supra + 1 Lap
4th Toms Supra + 1 Lap
5th Penzoil + 2 Laps
6th Calsonic + 2 Laps
Won the F90/S first F1, Whoo Hoo!