Laguna Seca 200 miles

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flyingkiwi

180
The Grid: 174 a-spec points
Pontiac GTO 5.7 Coupe 375hp, 1690kg
Dodge Viper SRT10 532hp, 1533kg
Callaway C12 461hp, 1480kg
Saleen S7 586hp, 1250kg
Shelby Series 1 SC 341hp, 1202kg
Ford Mustang GT 373hp, 1332kg, NA tuning Stage 1, Fully customized transmission, rear spoiler

Tyre Rule
Each set of sports tyres (hard, medium, and soft) must be used for at least 25% (23 laps) of the race distance.

Laps 1-15
I start on hard sports tyres. The Shelby carves his way through the field and gets into the lead by lap 3. I get stuck behind the Saleen and the Viper for the first few laps and by lap 5 we are already 16s down on the Shelby, lapping in the 1:37s. It's the classic scenario: I am faster through the corners but they pull away from me on the straights. I finally make it past the Saleen at the end of lap 8 and manage to repeat the move on the Viper a lap later. The Saleen follows me though. But after 10 laps I am a whopping 33s behind the Shelby.:scared: The Saleen continues to stick to my tail and actually repasses me on lap 14. After 15 laps we are 47s behind the Shelby, who is busy lapping the Pontiac for the first time.

Laps 16-30
Sadly, my front tyres turn red and I have to pit at the end of lap 19 after a few slow laps. The Shelby pits at the same time, so I can't even run longer than him, despite being on my hardest tyres. Depressing stuff. :(I switch to soft tyres in a desparate attempt to make up ground, but even now I am thinking it will be a battle to make the podium.

I rejoin in 5th, which becomes 3rd a couples of laps later when the Viper and the Callaway pit. The Saleen actually stays out for a long time and closes to within 5s of the Shelby before pitting on lap 25. He rejoins just up the road from me and my superior grip sees me back into 2nd at the end of lap 26. But I am 1:03s behind the Shelby and lapping at the same speed. My front tyres turn red and I pit on lap 29 after only a 10-lap stint. I put on another set of soft tyres and rejoin just in front of the Shelby. :ouch:

Laps 31-45
I stay ahead of the Shelby for a few laps until he gets past me. I repass him again before he pits on lap 38. On soft tyres, I can lap at an identical speed to him, but no faster. I pit myself on lap 39 for yet more soft tyres.

Laps 46-60
The next stint is my fastest of the race. I do my fastest time on lap 45 (1:32.356) and remain in the 1:32s until the final two laps. By this time, i have lapped the Pontiac and the Callaway, and I also lap the Viper (who has dropped off remarkedly in the last 20 laps) before pitting on lap 49 for medium tyres. My 3rd place is a lock-in. I am actually only about 25s behind the Saleen, who has also lost a lot of ground over the last stint. He is now in danger of being lapped by the Shelby. I am finally lapped myself as I trundle through pitlane.

Laps 61-90
I lap in the 1:33s and close up to within 10s of the Saleen before pitting again on lap 63 for more medium tyres. When the Saleen pits on lap 72 I have the chance to retake 2nd place and I duly pass him at the end of lap 75 and hold my position for a couple of laps before pitting for the final time for hard tyres (I only completed 19 of the mandatory 23 laps at the beginning of the race.)

I cruise the remainder of the race, having noone to battle with.

Final Result
Shelby Series 1 SC 2:23:16.419 (4 stops)
Saleen S7 +1:33 (3 stops)
Ford Mustang GT +1 lap (6 stops)
Dodge Viper SRT10 +3 laps
Callaway C12 +4 laps
Pontiac GTO 5.7 Coupe +6 laps

Analysis:
A lack of horsepower, and more importantly, poor tyre wear cost me this race. If I could have lapped one second a lap quicker on average and got three or four more laps out of each set of tyres, I may have been able to challenge the Shelby.

Fastest laps:
Shelby Series 1 SC 1:32.353
Ford Mustang GT 1:32.356
Saleen S7 1:33.828
Dodge Viper SRT10 1:36.411
Callaway C12 1:37.157
Pontiac GTO 5.7 Coupe 1:40.284
 
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The Grid: 200 a-spec points
Pontiac GTO 5.7 Coupe 375hp, 1690kg
Chevrolet Camaro SS 347hp, 1560kg
Saleen S7 586hp, 1250kg
Ford GT 586hp, 1451kg
Shelby Series 1 SC 341hp, 1202kg
Mazda RX-7 Type RS-R 324hp, 1088kg (Sports muffler, Sports ROM, Turbo stage 1, sports suspension, fully customized transmission, sports clutch, sports flywheel)

Tyre Rule
Each set of sports tyres (hard, medium, and soft) must be used for at least 25% (23 laps) of the race distance.

Laps 1-15
There is a lot of action in the opening 2 laps as the faster cars try their best to move through the field. The Ford GT takes an early lead whilst I battle with the Saleen and the Shelby for position. I move up to 3rd by the end of lap 2 behind the Ford and the Saleen. The Shelby passes me easily on lap 3 and pulls away. By the end of lap 5, I am already 16s down on the Ford GT. I soldier on but I cannot do better than 1:36s, and after 15 laps I am 53s down on the Ford. The Saleen and the Shelby are having a battle for 2nd, about 10s off the lead, whilst I am having a very lonely race.:indiff:

Laps 16-30
The Ford GT pits from a 12s lead on lap 17, which leaves me 47s behind the Saleen. The Shelby pits two laps later, which leaves the Saleen alone in first. A small consolation to me is that I make it to the magical lap 23 on my hard tyres, which means that I don't have to use them again in the race. I pit immediately and change to Mediums. The Saleen pits the next lap. I rejoin the race with half a tank of fuel, 1:13s down on the Ford GT. At the end of 30 laps, he is about to lap me.

Laps 31-45
The Ford duly laps me on my 32nd lap, before pitting a lap later to hand over the lead to the Shelby, who has gotten past the Saleen. I am now 1:15s off the lead. There appears to be a tremendous 3-car battle for the leed. It is a shame I can't be part of it. The Shelby pits on lap 38. This leaves me 1:17s behind the Ford GT, who has the Saleen right behind him. I pit on lap 42 for soft tyres, rejoining a lap down.

Laps 46-60
The next few laps are the most interesting of the race for me. The Saleen drops back from the Ford GT and then pits, resuming in 3rd. The Ford GT then pits on lap 51 and rejoins just up the road from me. I press hard to catch him and unlap myself. I also have the Shelby behind me and we lap at exactly the same pace for a number of laps before he finally passes me, only to pit at the end of the lap! I pit again for more soft tyres on lap 57, rejoining just behind the Shelby, and thus we resume our mini-battle.

Laps 61-75
A mistake drops me behind the Shelby and it is a lonely drive from then on until I pit for medium tyres on lap 71.

Laps 76-end
Cruise to the finish, with nothing to race for. Overall, another disappointing outing. The race up front was great, though. The Shelby in the end just pips the Ford GT, who had to make the extra pitstop. I wish I could have been a part of it.

Final Result
Shelby Series 1 SC 2:23:04.301
Ford GT +2.478
Saleen S7 +11.087
Mazda RX-7 Type RS-R +1 lap
Chevrolet Camaro SS +4 laps
Pontiac GTO 5.7 Coupe +6 laps

Fastest Laps
Saleen S7 1:32.261
Shelby Series 1 SC 1:32.371
Ford GT 1:32.498
Mazda RX-7 Type RS-R 1:33.729
Chevrolet Camaro SS 1:37.698
Pontiac GTO 5.7 Coupe 1:39.972

Analysis
Again a lack of horsepower. The first three cars are all very close, so it would be a great race if I could run at the same pace as them. I will probably have to bite the bullet and put on race tyres.
 
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I think you're giving yourself a very unfair disadvantage in these races by running sports tyres. The AI cars in this race run Racing Hard (R2) tyres.
 
Oh no, you definitely have the ponies, just not enough grip!
I know 'cos I've beaten this race in a couple of different stock Honda NSXs.

200 A-spec Laguna Seca 200 miles. (Stock Honda NSX Type R '92)
Another 200 A-spec Laguna Seca 200 miles. (Stock Honda NSX '01)

This is the one exception out of the endurance races where normal road-going, non-race cars actually use race tyres.
You'd have to do a little lineup fishing to find something without the fastest cars in the field to beat them in your Rex, but based on this info:

Ranking & Data on all the AI Cars for Endurance Event: Laguna Seca 200 Miles

you should be good to go with all but the top 4 cars, Saleen, Ford GT, Protomotors Spirra and Shelby Series 1.
I've just recently raced this event in a Plymouth Superbird for Crooooooow's Classic American Muscle Championship, and though I did have 497HP and a full-custom transmission on it using RSH tyres, I raced against the 18th lineup after reset which saw me finish 3rd, ~29s behind a Corvette Z06 and 23s behind a Viper GTS, but ahead of a Corvette ZR-1 (C4), Camaro SS and Callaway C12. The Plymouth was handicapped by the fact that it weighs as much as Jupiter's 3rd moon, and consequently had to pit for tyres a lot more frequently than the lighter more frugal AI cars who get mindboggling numbers of laps out of softer tyres.
 
Okay, cheers for that.

I might run the Ford Mustang on racing tyres and see where it gets me.:)

By the way, do racing tyres have longer tyre wear that sports tyres?
 
I have finally decided to add race tyres to my vehicle.💡

The Grid: 190 a-spec points
Pontiac GTO 5.7 Coupe 375hp, 1690kg
Chevrolet Camaro SS 347hp, 1560kg
Saleen S7 586hp, 1250kg
Ford GT 586hp, 1451kg
Shelby Series 1 SC 341hp, 1202kg
Ford Mustang GT 320hp, 1332kg, rear spoiler, race tyres (R1, R2, R3), fully customized transmission, and stage 2 weight reduction.

Tyre Rule
Each set of sports tyres (hard, medium, and soft) must be used for at least 25% (23 laps) of the race distance.

Race
I start with R2 tyres, in a bid to take an early race lead, or at least not drop too much time at the beginning of the race. The Mustang was doing 1:33s on R2 tyres during my practice run.

Once I start the race, I realised that I should have taken the R1 tyres, since I get 190 a-spec points:grumpy:.

The Pontiac and the Camaro are disposed of in the first 2 laps and the Saleen takes the lead, with me, the Shelby, and the Ford GT in hot pursuit. I take the lead from the Saleen at the beginning of lap 4 but I can't get away from the pack, nor lap under 1:34s. After passing me for the lead and getting repassed again, the Saleen hits me up the rear on the run to the corkscrew on lap 7, which allows the Shelby the steal 2nd from him.

I start lapping in the 1:33s from lap 8, and after 10 laps, I have a lead of 1.7s over the Shelby, with similar gaps back to the Saleen and the Ford GT.

The Shelby passes me for the lead on lap 12. I stay with him but my front tyres begin to go red on lap 14 and I am forced into the pits after dropping 4s behind the Shelby. I rejoin in 4th with R3 tyres.

The R3 tyres allow me to lap in the 1:32s and I pass the Ford GT when he pits on lap 17. The Shelby pits from a 7s lead 2 laps later and I pass him on the road for 2nd at the beginning of lap 21. This leaves me 21s behind the Saleen. I begin catching him, but my front tyres turn red again and I pit with the Saleen on lap 24. I change back to R2 tyres, albeit now with only half a tank of gas, which should make me faster than at the beginning of the race.

The Shelby now leads from the Saleen, the Ford, and myself. I am 19s off the lead. I pass the Saleen for 3rd on lap 27. The car is handling well, and I am lapping in the 1:32s. I reduce the Shelby's lead to 15s before we both pit on lap 38. I put on more R3 tyres. I charge for the next few laps, and pass both the Saleen and the Shelby on lap 42. But, I can only build a 4s lead and I am forced to pit, this time for R1 tyres, on lap 47. The Saleen follows me in. I fill the tank up to halfway, since there is no way I will be able to do the obligatory R1 laps in one stint.

I rejoin in 3rd, 32s behind the Shelby. This soon becomes 2nd when the Ford GT pits on lap 51. The Shelby extends his lead over me to 40s, which is less than I expected. The Mustang can still do 1:33s on the R1s, which is a blessing. Luckily for me, the Shelby pits on lap 57 and spends his first 2 laps stuck behind the Camaro. This allows me to cut his initial lead of 12s down to 2s and I continue to gain on him once the Camaro pits. I am right on his tail throughout the 61st lap and finally make a dive up the inside of him at turn 10. This race is starting to fall back into my grasp.

I stay ahead of the Shelby until lap 66, when my front tyres finally get past their best. I did not have to block too much defend my lead. Instead, I just kept on the racing line. I have saved valuable time by keeping the Shelby behind me, and even brought the Ford GT back into the contest, since he closed up whilst I was defending my lead from the Shelby.

I change back to R3 tyres, planning to do a splash-n-dash pitstop at the end of the race to complete my R1 obligatory laps. I rejoin in 4th, 27s behind the Shelby. He has one more stop to do. I have two. I still don't know how I am going to win this race.:nervous:

I cut the Shelby's lead to 15s before pitting for more R3s on lap 75. I rejoin just behind the Ford GT. The Shelby pits for the final time on lap 76 and rejoins 13s up the road. I pass the Ford GT on lap 77, do my fastest race lap on lap 78 (1:30.505), and pass the Shelby at turn 10 on lap 79. Is there still a miracle on offer for me???

I push as hard as I can, but I can only build a 14s lead before I pit on lap 85. I lose 3s because my front tyres were already red on my in-lap. The Ford GT follows me in and we rejoin in 2nd and 3rd. I cruise the rest of the race to finish 24s down on the Shelby.

Final Result
Shelby Series 1 SC 2:22:50.724
Ford Mustang GT +24.678s
Ford GT +39.400s
Saleen S7 :41s
Chevrolet Camaro SS +4 laps
Pontiac GTO 5.7 Coupe +6 laps

Race Fastest Laps (Taken from the first 20 laps)
Shelby Series 1 SC 1:32.347
Ford Mustang GT 1:30.505
Ford GT 1:33.342
Saleen S7 1:32.715
Chevrolet Camaro SS 1:37.666
Pontiac GTO 5.7 Coupe 1:39.793

Analysis:
Tyre wear! :ouch:Only managing 14 laps on R2 tyres and 9 laps on R3 tyres is unacceptable. I pitted 7 times in the race, compared to the Shelby's 4. I either need to put in a racing suspension for the Mustang, reduce its weight, or try a different car.
 
I have won every race on Gran Turismo 4 apart from this last one. Can I finally do it?

The Grid: 200 a-spec points
Chevrolet Corvette Z06 404hp, 1409kg
Saleen S7 586hp, 1250kg
Callaway C12 461hp, 1480kg
Shelby Series 1 SC 341hp, 1202kg
Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport 335kg, 1496kg
Honda NSX-R Concept 332hp, 1420kg (150kg ballast), race tyres (R1, R2, R3), fully customized transmission, front and rear downforce


Tyre Rule
Each set of sports tyres (hard, medium, and soft) must be used for at least 25% (23 laps) of the race distance.

The Race
I start on R1 tyres in order to have the change to get 200 a-spec points.

The ZO6 holds onto his lead for the first 2 laps whilst the field jostles for position behind him. I move past the Grand Sport at turn 10 on the opening lap and follow the Shelby past the Callaway at the beginning of lap 2. I then past the Shelby and the Saleen in quick succession at the end of lap 2. I take another lap to get past the Z06 but manage to sneak up the inside of him at turn 10. This is easier than I expected. After 5 laps, I am 5.8s ahead of the Z06, who must surely be holding up the Saleen and the Shelby.

However, the situation changes when the Shelby moves up to 2nd on lap 6. He begins to eat into my lead and at the end of lap 10 he is less than 2s behind me. My fastest lap so far on the R1s has been 1:34.684. Meanwhile, the Saleen has also made it past the Z06 and sits 10s behind us. The Callaway and the Grand Sport are about 22s behind me, which is not much compared to how slow the Pontiac and Camaro were in my previous races here.

The Shelby gets past me easily before turn 5 turn on lap 11. I didn't try to block him on the straight. He doesn't get too far up the road however, and after 15 laps, I have kept his lead to 4.4s.

My next few laps are not so good, and it allows to Shelby to stretch his lead over me to 14s before he pits at the end of lap 20. The Callaway and the Grand Sport pit on the same lap. The leaves me 7.4s ahead of the Saleen. My fronts are starting to turn orange and I struggle for the last 3 laps of my obligatory 23-lap stint on the R1s. The Saleen takes the lead when I pit. The Honda is showing remarkable economy. Just over half the fuel tank was spent in those 23 laps. Therefore, my first stop is only for R2 tyres. I rejoin in 3rd, 23s behind the Saleen. The Z06 also pitted on lap 23.

The Saleen pits on lap 25, which promotes me to 2nd, 13s behind the Shelby. However, the Shelby comes up behind the Callaway and the Grand Sport to lap them but he just can't get the job done. I close in on this kerfuffle and it is only when I am right on his tail does the Shelby finally get past the road block and into clear air. I follow him through immediately and take the lead at turn 10 on lap 35. I am lapping comfortably in the 1:32s, and start to pull away. I lap the Z06 on lap 37 and the Shelby predictably has trouble following me through. I extend my lead to 8s before pitting with red front R2s on lap 37. Only 14 laps on the R2s was a slightly disappointing return. I change to R3 tyres and resume in 2nd. The Saleen has lost a remarkable amount of time in the last previous 15 laps and now sits 40s behind the Shelby, albeit in a comfortable 3rd. This is now a 2-horse race.

The Shelby pits after a very frustrating stint on lap 40, which gives me the lead again. I extend that lead to 32s, despite having trouble lapping the Grand Sport and the Callaway. I actually come together with the Callaway at turn 5. I go up the inside of him and he turned into me, which sends him off the track.

I pit for more R3s on lap 49 and resume 6s ahead of the Shelby. Once again, I increase my lead to 29s before pitting once again for R3s on lap 59. Because the Shelby also pits on lap 60, I am able to extend my lead to 48s before pitting for R2s on lap 69. I am now 23s ahead of the Shelby, with both of us having one more stop to complete.

I change back to R3s at my final stop on lap 84 and cruise the rest of the way to the finish line!

100% completion for Gran Turismo 4!!!:gtpflag:


Final Result
Honda NSX-R Concept
Shelby Series 1 SC +49s
Saleen S7 +1 lap
Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport +2 laps
Chevrolet Corvette Z06 +2 laps
Callaway C12 +3 laps

Race Fastest Laps
Honda NSX-R Concept
Shelby Series 1 SC 1:33.289
Saleen S7 1:34.561
Chevrolet Corvette Z06 1:35.750
Callaway C12 1:36.974
Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport 1:37.075
 
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Choice, bro!​

As a skip I'm not used to complimenting kiwis on a victory, but bloody well done mate. I stand by my previous statement that you should change your username to persistentkiwi.

I really enjoy reading your reports - even though I rarely comment - and am looking forward to reading more of your exploits. Well done.
 

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