So for the multi-classers, what's your game plan? In other words, are you gonna do ST first? or GS? I'm starting with ST, and getting it over with, simply because it'll take less concentration on my part. It'll be a loooong race, though! I think I'll use hard front tires, too, to make the race that much shorter since I won't have to sit in the pits that extra minute or 2.
Well, I figured I'd do a play-by-play of my ST race. Seems appropriate.
Lap 1: Selected +5. This yields a white car (forget what it is) on pole, a Lancia Delta HF Integrale in 2nd, a Ford Taurus SHO, black Honda Integra, and a Toyota Supra SZ-R. EArly on in the race, the Taurus wiped out into the sand during one of those early curves, which had me laughing!
I made my way thru the crowd, slipstreaming behind and planning my moves whenever one of those huge chicanes shows up. Problem is, there's usually someone
else ahead of me making their moves as well, which means there's 2 cars blocking the way instead of 1.
Can't outbrake them without getting a penalty. :facepalm:
This went on all during Lap 1. Finally at the Ford Chicanes, I managed to pass the 2nd place Integra and gained a respectable lead. the leader in the white car, unfortunately, could already barely be seen.
Lap 2: My 2nd-place seemed to stretch, to the point that I feared the race might become a borefest, even this early. But by the time the MINI was passing the slight Mulsanne kink, I could see several cars catching up. The Integra eventually caught up and passed me! Looked as if the Lancia might do so as well, but I manaed to keep her at bay.
Lap 3: Did my magic at Ford Chicanes again. Really, it's the fact that the Ai brakes so early here. I'm going thru these chicanes cleanly, yet they always fall so far behind. :shrugs: Down the Mulsanne straight, I look behind to see the crowd can barely be seen. But unfortunately that white car is NOWHERE to be seen! Lap 3 is uneventful. Nobody catches up to me, but I don't catch up to the leader either. Best Lap time=
5:18.936
Lap 4: the white car is now 16 seconds ahead!
The rest of the pack is firmly behind me though.
The Ford Taurus makes its first pitstop! Lol. My front tires (SH) are green-going-yellow. Rear tires (SM) are dark green and probably won't be changed for the majority of this 17-lap race.
At the Mulsanne kink, it looks as if the leader (whoever it is) could be in trouble. I notice the split time was now
+15.3xx, which means he lost a second somewhere. GOody!
Lap 5: The leader (it's a Honda Civic Type R) comes into the pits, and I snag the lead obviously. Looks like it'll be down to pit-strategy after all...
The other front-drives plus the Lancia also pit. And I (finally) see the Supra is starting to gain on me, somehow. It's only
-2.888 seconds behind.
Halfway down the Mulsanne straights, the Supra catches & passes me. Hmm..seems it was perhaps bottle-necked behind all those other cars. We play cat & mouse now. down one straight I'll lead, and down the next, he'll lead. It's a scary proposition because I don't want him getting ahead of me just as I'm about to brake and possibly making a penalty-zone for me.
Thru the POrsche Curves, the Supra's shark-nose is
right on my tail. But (again) I manage to stretch my lead after Ford Chicanes to about
3 seconds
Lap 6: the crowd goes wild! Down the Mulsanne, the Supra (again) goes from 2 small headlamps way back there to nosing my MINI's rear with trepidation!
We go thru the same cat & mouse routine. Meanhile, I also see that the Honda Civic is still a force to be reckoned, as I estimate it's about 15 seconds behind at this point (I counted).
Lap 6/7: I see my front tires are going deep orange, so I try to do the smart thing and take a pit. So does the leading Supra. It's been awhile since I've made a pitstop here at Sarthe, so I forget how exactly to enter and wind up SIDESWIPING the Supra and getting a FPE. Great.
Lap 7: I now see the Civic back there, and it's on
FIRE. I can see why it was so successful early on, it's simply boogying thru the Dunlop Curve & following esses.
At the Mulsanne kink the Civic is now just
-.685 seconds behind. I let him pass just to keep things simple (plus it'll give me a draft-shield). My front tires are starting to go
salmon-colored now, which is making me pretty nervous.
I manage to stay right behind the Civic (drafting & braking) despite the disintegrating front tires, until Porsche curves when it simply starts boogying again.
Lap 7/8: Let's try this again! On my 2nd try into the pits, I realize IT WAS THE SUPRA'S FAULT! He slowed way down. There's no reason to slow this far down, it's possible to do this area cleanly (just like the rest of the track) but not have to slow so massively. Therefore I wasn't purely at fault when I hit him!?! He coulda moved-in a little faster.
I'm just ranting, don't mind me.
Anyways, I change only the front tires (SH again) and take no fuel...the 3rd place Supra now passes. Best lap of mine so far is
5:18.111
I'm REALLY MAD now about the FPE thing, but determined not to start over. I could be having a pretty exciting race against taht Supra RIGHT NOW, you see.
Grrrr....instead I'm a distant 3rd place. Wondering when (or if) the Supra will pit again, but I know at least the Civic is due in a couple laps.
Lap 8/9: The Civic goes for his pit a lap early for some reason. Still, he had a 36 second lead on me, so by the time he's leaving the pits, I'm merely a few car-lengths behind. The Supra now has a
+26 second lead.
In the Dunlop Curve area, the Civic
wipes out into the sand! As he clambers back on-track, I nearly sideswipe him by centimeters it seems, but at least I've got 2nd place back!
hew:
Down the longer straights, I try to keep the Civic at bay. Maybe it's ego, I just couldn't stand it getting ahead. SO whenever it caught up, I'd block it. I figure it would eventually pass me anyways cuz this can only last so long before a mistake is made. But then a funny thing happened: we're jsut entering the Porsche curves when I hear a
SWIIIISSSSSSSSH. I look behind and saw this black thing flying in the air (I swear it looked like a tire). I got situated into the curve and then chanced another look. All I saw was a green cone flying into the air and the Civic
SPINNING ROUND AND ROUND like a pinwheel! Oh, I laughed so hard.
Lap 10: 5:18.536 was my last lap (9). Well if anything, at least my lap times are damn-consistent. The Supra is [color=+26 seconds ahead[/color], but he's due in the pits by Lap 12 by my estimation, and I aim to come in a little early next time so I can equip some sticker front tires and hopefully clinch this thing!
By the end of the Mulsanne straight, I finally see the Civic behind me, but it's nothing. Just a shimmer. But i know this will change probably by next lap down the Mulsanne...
In the Porsche curves, the Civic now looks like a car instead of a shimmer, but it doesn't gain any ground thankfully. Neither does it shunt off-track, though.
Lap 11: Lap 10 was my best so far: a
5:16.313. Front tires still a solid green. What have I been doing wrong? lol. Could be the fact that by now there's 4 bars of fuel gone.
Lap 12: Fairly uneventful. The Civic & the MINI cat & moused a few times towards the end of Lap 11, but now on Lap 12 it hasn't caught me until the straight between Arnage and the Porsche curves, where it nosed me from behind (without my blocking it this time). Sometime during this point there was a message saying the Supra was now in the pits.
The Civic must have screwed up again because during the end of the Porsche curves, it was now waaaay behind. I decide to pit early for some sports-medium tires, but no fuel or rear tires, which are a light spring-pea green. This is my chance to make time on the leading Supra.
The Civic also pits behind me as the plot thickens...
Lap 13: As I drive thru the Dunlop esses and enter Mulsanne, I keep looking behind. The Civic must have screwed up again, for I see no trace of it. The Supra, unfortunately, is still gaining huge seconds with every split.
Laps 14-15: Those medium fronts seem to be doing the trick in keeping the Civic at bay. It simply didn't gain any more. Unfortuantely, I made a HUGE mistake and confused the L'Arche chicane with the other one. IN other words, I started spacing out during the first segment of the Mulsanne and thought I'd have to turn-in to the LEFT instead of to the RIGHT. Disaster.
The MINI wound up spinning into the sand now! As I clambered out (losing about 10 seconds) the Civic now caught up!
There was the usual cat/mousing again.
But it didn't matter. It wound up wiping out
again in Porsche curves.
the rest of the race was pretty predictable, since the Civic had to pit and I got a firm, unlosable 2nd place. 3 bars of fuel and yellow-going-orange front tires at the end.
Best overall lap of the race:
5:15.271
Abandon race.
and get a DTP. Race control takes over my Camaro, and I get a nice leisurely drive down the pit lane. I'm not allowed to stop for tires, so... race over!
But this time I'm going to wait until it's all over and write as I'm watching the replay...
Maybe next year. 
Over a minute ahead of my over-larded Nissan!
Pick it up from :45 seconds on. I guess the gas station at 1:53.00 could count as a pit. Pretty exciting, huh. 
