New Year Holiday Challenge: Suzuka Circuit 2014 10 Lap Survival Race

[GTsail]

First couple of tries I couldn't get lap times below 2:00, ending somewhere in the back at 7th or 8th place (not even receiving credits for these races ).

Yeah^^^^^^ what's with that??

I've finished the race a few times below 3rd place and received nothing for my efforts.

I wouldn't mind $30k or so to cover the cost of the tires.... but nothing???

See you at Suzuka!
GTsail

 

[Donkerslag]

The 2J is to easy.. I did 21:18,---on my first attempt all the way on ri and a pit stop after round 5 (just for fun because I was already 1)

The vacuum cleaner is so fast that I easily set the last 6 cars one full lap Behind before the end of the race. It doesn't matter if I pit ones or twice, starting on ri or rs. The chaparral brings you victory no matter how many mistakes you make..

 

[YuRiPa]

Yeah^^^^^^ what's with that??

I've finished the race a few times below 3rd place and received nothing for my efforts.

I wouldn't mind $30k or so to cover the cost of the tires.... but nothing???

See you at Suzuka!
GTsail

Only now just found out that the race info also says credits will only be given for a podium finish (at least nothing is shown for places below third).

Ran the race again with some other cars (still gotta try some SuperGT/JGTC cars), won again with the Arta NSX '00 (using the same tune as the Castrol Mugen NSX but with LSD slightly higher to prevent the oversteer), then I did a run with the Raybrig HSV and my god, that's an easy car to win with. Never realised the HSV's are so easy after running with the older JGTC cars (especially the NSX's).

Also did a run with the Castrol TOMs Supra from 1997. That's a lovely car too, easy to get fast lap times, but this car loves to eat your rubber. Did a 2-stop strategy (RS-IM-IM and one time RS-IM-RS to see which one would be faster) pitting in laps 2 and 7. At the end of lap 6 your front tyres will already be a 5, so by the end of lap 7 they'll be at 3 or 4. Contrary to my expectation, the RS-IM-IM strategy was the fastest one. I had a race where at the beginning of lap 8 the track is still 60-70% wet, but at the Dunlop curve it's already down to 35-40%. So, Expected RS tyres for laps 8-10 to be quicker, since the Supra eats your tyres like crazy, leaving nothing much of your inters, they'll end up around 2 or 3, if not lower. Think my RS tyres ended up somewhere around 3 or 4 though, so not much of a difference. I didn't compare lap times between my runs, I guess with RS-IM-IM strategy you make up a lot of time in lap 8, making up more than you lose in lap 10 (since I did a 2:10 or something there with IM tyres). On RS tyres, lap 8 is really slow, but laps 9 and 10 are relatively fast, though I went off the track for a short excursion to mow the grass on lap 10. But that only lost me like 3 or 4 seconds. Total race time with the RS-IM-IM strategy was 22:01, while with RS-IM-RS it was 22:20. Quite a big difference still. Race conditions were exactly the same, having just restarted the race.

 

[croozer_63]

Just to see how it went, I used the new Mazda, xx55 or whatever it is called. The car can be driven so smooth and soft that I did the race without stopping at all for mega-second win. Was lapping cars at the beginning of lap 8. For me, by far the best car for this race, all be it a too easy win. Did the race on IM tyres, which were down to 2 at the finish, although they were still at 6 at the start of lap 8. Just pushed it on purpose to see how they went.

 

[Rit]

I went with the @praiano63 tuned Furai just as suggested by @Marc30599 on page 1 and while I decided to pit on lap 5 rather than risk going for the full-pull 10 laps on one set of tires as he did I still had a very comfortable win in what turned out to be a mostly dry with a bit of rain day.

I'm most impressed that PD has decided to shake up the weather patterns in these 10 lappers. The weather is unpredictable and that makes tire changes a gamble and that can only add excitement as far as I'm concerned.

Thumbs up PD!..👍

 

[P_eMmO_72]

Only managed gold in 2 cars, TS030

And, of course, the 2J

Thanks to @Dom Sireci for the 2J tune.
Will be trying a couple more cars before Thursday's deadline, loving the big money and splashing out on some mad motors!

 

[YuRiPa]

Still love this event, a pity it will only be there for another four days.

Just found 2 other terrific SuperGT cars again. Tried the Woodone Supra '03 with Praiano's tune and it's a blast. Drives really nice, you can go aggressive with it and do pretty low lap times (had a 1:55 something, maybe also a 1:54). No need to say that I easily won with this car.

Another car that will guarantee a win is the Motul Pitwork Nismo Z '04, the best JGTC car from GT4. Will easily do 1:55 lap times too, so many of you will be able to run 1:52 or even faster lap times with it. Did it with a stock tune at first, but noticed it had quite a lot of understeer, so had to tune it to get rid of that.

For the ones interested, here is the tune I used:
Ride height: 55 / 60
Spring rate: 13.70 / 16.00
Dampers comp: 3 / 5
Dampers ext: 5 / 3
Anti-Roll Bar: 3 / 3
Camber: 0 / 0
Toe: -0.12 / -0.05

Brake balance: 4 / 3
LSD: 8 / 18 / 12 (you might want to increase these numbers since the car can behave pretty nervous in the rain, especially with a wetness of over 60%)

Downforce: 350 / 500

Transmission: Kept the default one, just lowered the top speed to 290 km/h

Another great car to run this event with is the au Cerumo Supra '01. I used the same tune as I did for my Denso Sard and Castrol TOMs Supras from 2000. Just had a great race and win with it. It seems to be pretty good on the tyres, could easily do a 6-lap stint on my intermediate tyres. Need to make some good transmission tunes for the Supras and the Motul Pitwork Nismo Z so they can be even quicker than they already are.

More challenging cars are the Pennzoil Zexel Skyline GTR '01 (still have to win with that one, just finished 2nd twice with a really quick Xanavi GTR winning on both occassions) and the Pennzoil Skyline GTR '99. For the Pennzoil Zexel Skyline I just use the same tune as for my Calsonic Skyline '00, but for some reason that tune does not work at all for the Pennzoil Skyline '99. Changed the suspension settings to very low values at the front and high values at the rear, but still can't get rid of the ridiculous understeer, it just only wants to go straight. This car also loves to eat your tyres, had a race where it went to around 55% wetness in lap 3 after which it dried again. At lap 6 my tyres were already at 5 at the front, so IM tyres in these circumstances (with 2 roughly dry laps) barely last for four laps (did my usual 2-stop strategy, pitting in laps 2 and 7 or 8 with RS-IM-RS (or RS-IM-IM depending on the situation)).

So, if anyone has a good tune or idea to get rid of understeer for the Pennzoil Skyline GTR '99, please help me.

 

[GTsail]

****
Raybrig NSX '00
Ride height: 70 / 70 (too high, you should lower it for Suzuka, but this was the Nurb set-up that I couldn't be bothered to change)
Spring rate: 12.40 / 14.80
Dampers compression: 6 / 4
Dampers extension: 4 / 6
Anti-Roll Bar: 4 / 4
Camber: 0 / 0
Toe: -0.04 / 0.08

Brake balance: 4 / 3
LSD: 8 / 12 / 18

Downforce: 350 / 600

I'm not sure where I got the tune from that this one is based upon, might be based on Praiano's Loctite NSX '01 tune, don't remember.

Transmission (using the excel table file from Praiano):
1st: 3.424
2nd: 2.790
3rd: 2.201
4th: 1.791
5th: 1.502
6th: 1.274
Final: 3000 (this is too low, you should use 3.250 or 3.200)
Initial final gear I used was 5.000 with a top speed set at 200 km/h (roughly 120 MPH)

Since @YuRiPa has provided a tune:tup:, I decided to purchase the Honda Raybrig NSX '00 and give it some track time

It seems a bit underpowered in stock form, so when I make my first attempt I get creamed by the AI field.

2nd race with the Honda Raybrig NSX '00:
-------------------------------------------------

So I purchase the stage 1 turbo and then use the power limiter to dial back the PPV to 580 and then its back to Suzuka!

I start the race on RS tires:

Lap1...1:54.525.....25 secs back
Lap2...2:00.738.....26 secs back
I pit at the end of lap # 2 for IM tires and 3 liters of fuel.
Lap3...2:36.312.....35 secs back
Lap4...2:14.078.....10 secs behind the Philippe/Calsonic
Lap5...2:04.348.....10 secs behind the Philippe/Calsonic but now in 2nd place
Lap6...2:04.446..... 2 secs behind the Philippe/Calsonic
Lap7...2:07.710.....11 second lead over Philippe who has been slowed by the heavy rain.
I pit at the end of lap # 7 for another set of IM tires.
Lap8...2:29.638..... 9 secs behind the Philippe/Calsonic and also behind the Treluyer/Xanavi GTR
Lap9...2:00.160..... 1.5 seconds ahead of the Treluyer/Xanavi GTR
Lap10...2:01.895... Win!

Race Time was: 22:03.666

AI Finishing order:
--------------------
2nd....Treluyer/Xanavi GTR.....7.0 secs back
3rd....Philippe/Calsonic GTR....19.0 secs back
4th....Coute/Denso Sard.........37.4 secs back
5th....Izawa/Raybrig HSV.......38.1 secs back
6th....Krumm/Motul GTR........51.8 secs back

Nice race!
@YuRiPa 's tune is excellent!👍

So I decide to de-tune the Raybrig NSX some more and adjust the PPV to 575:

3rd race with the Honda Raybrig NSX '00:
----------------------------------------------

I start the race on RS tires as usual:

Lap1...1:55.649.....26 secs back
Lap2...2:02.578.....30 secs back
I pit at the end of lap # 2 for IM tires and for 2 liters of fuel.
Lap3...2:36.462.....39 secs back
Lap4...2:14.628.....20 secs back
Lap5...2:03.885..... 1.7 seconds in the lead over the Treluyer/Xanavi GTR
Lap6...2:03.685.....10 second lead over the Treluyer/Xanavi GTR
Lap7...2:09.359.....20 second lead over the Treluyer/Xanavi GTR
I pit at the end of lap # 7 for another set of IM tires
Lap8...2:30.429..... 4 seconds behind the Treluyer/Xanavi GTR
Lap9...2:01.119..... 1 second behind the Treluyer/Xanavi GTR
Lap10...2:01.807....Win!

Race Time was: 22:07.801

AI Finishing order:
--------------------
2nd....Treluyer.......11.7 secs back
3rd....Quintarelli.....19.9 secs back
4th.....Coute..........30.0 secs back
5th.....Izawa..........33.6 secs back
6th.....Philippe........40.1 secs back
7th.....Krumm........49.5 secs back

Nice race!
The AI was a little slow over the second half of the race due to heavy rain

4th race with the Honda Raybrig NSX '00:
----------------------------------------------
I de-tune the Raybrig down to 572 PPV which gives me 495HP

I start the race on RS tires as usual:

Lap1...1:57.099.....27 secs back
Lap2...1:59.624.....29 secs back
I pit at the end of lap # 2 for IM tires and for 1 liter of fuel.
Lap3...2:34.824.....46 secs back
Lap4...2:07.858.....29 secs back
Lap5...2:00.391.....32 secs back
Lap6...2:04.144.....17 secs behind the Philippe/Calsonic
Lap7...2:07.363..... 7 second lead over the Philippe/Calsonic
I pit at the end of lap # 7 for another set of IM tires
Lap8...2:29.090.....10 seconds behind the Motoyama/Xanavi Z
Lap9...1:59.982..... 5 seconds behind the Motoyama/Xanavi Z
Lap10...2:01.467....Win!

Race Time was: 21:49.992

Quite a fast overall race time! The AI were quite cooperative during all the passes so I wasn't held up that much. On the final lap, the race leading Motoyama/Xanavi Z drove off the track going thru the Degna right-hander which allowed me to drive past into the race lead. I was about 2 seconds behind him at this point so I was going to catch him anyway, but he made it much easier on me!

AI Finishing order:
--------------------
2nd....Treluyer/Xanavi GTR......9.2 secs back
3rd....Motoyama/Xanavi Z.......9.3 secs back
4th....Philippe/Calsonic GTR.....20.4 secs back
5th....Oliveira/WoodOne GTR....21.9 secs back
6th....Duval/Weider HSV..........29.1 secs back
7th....Coute/Denso Sard..........39.5 secs back

more to follow...
See you on the track!
GTsail

 

[Stoop Solo]

Just to see how it went, I used the new Mazda, xx55 or whatever it is called. The car can be driven so smooth and soft that I did the race without stopping at all for mega-second win. Was lapping cars at the beginning of lap 8. For me, by far the best car for this race, all be it a too easy win. Did the race on IM tyres, which were down to 2 at the finish, although they were still at 6 at the start of lap 8. Just pushed it on purpose to see how they went.

Nice. I used the LM55 on this one as well, but was obviously considerably less kind with my driving as I had practically worn the tires down to the brake disks by lap 6. I used intermediates as well with one change halfway. No extra fuel needed. What actually caused me headache was the spray coming from the road when overtaking/lapping - a fair few moments driving completely blind, panic as suddenly a pair of brake lights suddenly materialize right in front of me, but forward, ever forward!

I concur, I actually quite like the LM55. I can see it getting wheeled out quite oftenin the future.

 

[nowayback]

Most interesting , difficult race yet with Raybug NSX '00 AT 560PP. Rabbit and me pitted 9th lap. was behind 2 secs I think. 1st check point behind 10 secs....passed on last lap(1:57.251) won by 4secs. 22:20 time with some offs
and penalties

 

[Racin510s]

@Racin510s .. I believe that is my Mazda Furai tune that I initially setup for the past A-spec Expert Level Racing Car Challenge: Silverstone GP Circuit and have since then made a lighter weight revision with better cornering ability for the A-spec Expert Level Racing Car Challenge: Laguna Seca [Mazda Raceway] that works just as well for these two rainy holiday races with a few minor modifications. 👍

I do apologize for not remembering it was your setup. It had been a long time and I just couldn't remember where it came from. Thank you very much because that is the A tune I put on my new GT Red Met. Furai. Please point me to your new setup. Either way it's the best tune I have found for one of my all time favorite cars.👍👍👍👍👍

 

[nowcontrol]

It's fine, I'm pleased that you approve of the tune.

Those links in that post you've quoted ^^ will take you straight to the posted setups in those threads. 👍

 

[YuRiPa]

Another car that will win the event, though careful driving is needed (with my set-up at least ):

Nomad Diablo GT-1 '00

Ride height: 55 / 65
Spring rate: 16.40 / 17.00
Dampers comp: 3 / 7
Dampers ext: 7 / 3
Anti-Roll Bar: 3 / 5
Camber: 0 / 0
Toe: -0.13 / -0.10

Brake balance: 3 / 2 (low brake balance is an absolute must, otherwise it will just eat your tyres like crazy)
LSD: 10 / 35 / 18 (since especially in the rain it will become quite tail-happy, you might want to increase these values)
Downforce: 350 / 550

Transmission: Default, set top speed to 310 km/h

Was a very fun race, did a different pit strategy than normal, first stint was of course on RS till lap 2, then change to IM, but in lap 7 I changed to RM tyres. Since three laps on RS, or IM on a drying track, would just kill the tyres before the final lap I opted to go for RM tyres. This tactic worked, caught the lead car I think at the Spoon curves in the final lap.

Tried again also with my Pennzoil GTR '99, best I could do was third (or second), still no win, but I'll beat it with this car, sometime.

Don't use the Calsonic Skyline GTR '93 for this event, that car is rubbish. Way too slow in stock form, add a turbo and it drives like a lunatic. Although it may just be my tuning, which most likely is the problem.

I've now won this event with all GT500 class cars (each kind, for instance have only raced one Lexus SC430 car till now and haven't raced all of the Supras and Skylines from the same year, they're the same anyway, just different liveries), except the Calsonic Skyline '93 and the Pennzoil GTR '99.

 

[Blacktop]

Just wandering what is everyone's fastest race time. Mine was 21:07.326 with second place Woodone Advan GT-7 .0565 behind at 21;07:881. I saved the replay.

 

[JustOneSecond]

I can't seem to catch the the 4 cars up front. Weird but I think the 1st - 4th place cars doesn't pit. After lap 2 I go from last to 10th then slowly gain to 8th then back to 10th and stay there the entire race without pitting just to see if those cars pit. They DON"T!!!! Agh!! so frustrating.

 

[Teflonicus]

I'm not sure if it is considered fair or not (although it probably doesn't matter against AI) but I ran the race in my YellowHat Supra and noted that the best strategy for this particular weather was RS then IM for about 5 laps each. Then I repeated/retried the race. Even with a hideous "ramming" penalty from an opponent coming up alongside me and repeatedly sideswiping me as I held the same line, it was a comfortable win.

 

[Teflonicus]

I can't seem to catch the the 4 cars up front. Weird but I think the 1st - 4th place cars doesn't pit. After lap 2 I go from last to 10th then slowly gain to 8th then back to 10th and stay there the entire race without pitting just to see if those cars pit. They DON"T!!!! Agh!! so frustrating.

Start another race. Treat it as a practice. Start off with RS and see how far you get. If the track moisture goes above 55%, try to continue for a lap on RS and see if it dries. If the moisture stays above 50-55%, and laps on RS become untenable, restart the race with IM and change at the end of lap 5-6 to a new set of IM tyres.

Most races can be won with IM/IM, some with RS/RS if they are real dry. Every race has two periods of rain and increasing moisture on the track.

If your first attempt with RS tyres doesn't work out, retry with IM and change to a new set of IM midway.

However the weather turns out for each race is how it stays for each retry of that race. If you know how the weather works after your first attempt, you should be able to choose the best tyre setup and apply that for the next retry of the same race.

 

[YuRiPa]

I can't seem to catch the the 4 cars up front. Weird but I think the 1st - 4th place cars doesn't pit. After lap 2 I go from last to 10th then slowly gain to 8th then back to 10th and stay there the entire race without pitting just to see if those cars pit. They DON"T!!!! Agh!! so frustrating.

There's only two cars that don't pit at all, these are the Weider HSV and the Keihin HSV, but they run the entire race on RM tyres, never ending up front (though had once that the Weider finished third) behind me at 2nd and the Xanavi Nismo at 1st.

The Xanavi Nismo GTR pits only once in lap 2 and is crazily fast on his inters the rest of the race. Depending on the weather he can still do lap times of around 2:00 to 2:02 in the last lap, but have had him do a 2:28 last lap too with much dryer conditions.

The Nismo Z and WoodOne GTR both pit once in lap 6, especially in dryer conditions the Nismo Z is a threat, he's very quick in the first 6 laps then. In wet conditions he is no threat at all, with some luck he'll change to full wets, after which he can't do anything anymore from lap 8 onwards.

The Raybrig HSV stops twice (lap 2 and 7) but he never ends up front, so he's no threat.

The YellowHat GTR can be a threat, especially in dry conditions, it only pits once in lap 4 and changes to RH tyres normally.

Other cars to watch out for, the Calsonic GTR and Motul Autech GTR both stop twice in laps 2 and 8. Since the Calsonic GTR is normally pretty slow on laps 7 and 8 (especially in wet conditions) he's no real threat to you, but may come out as winner of the race. They normally run RS-IM-RS (exactly the same as I do).

I'm still convinced that a two-stop strategy is the fastest (well, depending on weather of course), but if the wetness goes to more than 50% on both occassions, a two-stop is faster. If it's dryer, a one stop might be enough. Once nearly won with a RH-RM strategy with really dry conditions. Only won once with a one-stopper, using the Takata Dome NSX '03 with an RH-IM strategy pitting on lap 6. Also watch the weather closely at the end of lap 7 if you're doing a two-stopper. Might be better to pit in lap 7 and although the track is still 60% wet, to put on RS tyres. Sometimes the track will be completely dry by the time you reach the bridge and hairpin, but not always.

Depending on the conditions, you can make up a lot of time in the last lap. I have won while still being like 20 seconds behind at the start of the final lap, but that only occurs when the track dries early in lap 4, with a late start of rain in lap 5 and an early dry track in lap 8. These are also the conditions where I would go for an RS-IM-RS two-stop strategy in laps 2 and 7.

 

[GTsail]

I can't seem to catch the the 4 cars up front. Weird but I think the 1st - 4th place cars doesn't pit. After lap 2 I go from last to 10th then slowly gain to 8th then back to 10th and stay there the entire race without pitting just to see if those cars pit. They DON"T!!!! Agh!! so frustrating.

Generally, the leading AI cars seem to follow two pit strategies:

Either they run two laps on RS tires and then pit for IM tires

Or they run six laps on RS tires and then pit for IM tires

The back-markers follow all sorts of pit strategies, but they aren't an issue other than you have to find a way to get past them without driving off the track or getting punted!

Try the race again with a different car and try some different tire strategies as @Teflonicus and @YuRiPa say:tup:

Good luck!
Tree'd with lots of details by @YuRiPa 👍
GTsail

 

[nowayback]

Pennzoil Nismo GTR '99 600pp , killer on the front tires. Very wet race, RS2, IM5, IM3 22:18 with 2 bad offs.1:54.566BL
75-65
13.66-16.83 trans usual trick,max FG, min speed2792,2047,1722,1452,1225,1039-3083
1-1
1-1
6-7
0-0
0- -10
bb- 0-3
lsd-5-60-11
df 200-450

 

[cmt]

Had fun in my quattro S1 Pikes Peak tonight winning by 0.463s in 22m30s - ran RS for first 2 or 3 laps then IM to the end in a very wet race. Fronts were at 1 by the end! Used the 2J yesterday - felt like cheating... Second attempt tonight in the Zonda R was a bit easier (IM -IM) with an 8.5 margin in 22m26s. Not sure what to try next? Don't have many GT500's and find the GT3's too slow...

 

[Hitman444]

Well, I really struggled on the Nurburgring survival challenge with my NSX Stealth model, but it did better here on my first try - though I still didn't win on that first attempt. Decided to try the Chaparral 2J out as I had never driven it, but I keep seeing others using it for challenges like this.

Gold on first attempt with massive lead and I wasn't even trying hard (over 40 seconds which dropped to 17 seconds because I was lazy and didn't pit for lap 10 and wore my tires off). The 2J is just a "win button", it honestly felt like cheating. I'll have to try again with the NSX so that I can feel like I earned it.

If anyone is having trouble and just wants to get the win for the paint chip or the money, using this car should do it.

P.S. - I use a dualshock not a wheel as well.

I must really suck lol tried 2J Furai and other JGTC cars and cannot get a better lap time than 2:00 and place in 6yh sigh I use the dual shock too

 

[Saidur_Ali]

I managed 1:51.172 on first lap with the 2J on Intermediate tyres, I imagine it is possible to get into the 1:48's if you do a good lap with overtakes in ideal positions. Total race time was 20:42.485 on first complete run without ABS, probably lost over 20 seconds due to poor strategy that lead to me making mistakes late on due to running out of front tyre grip.

 

[YuRiPa]

Last day of my fave seasonal, sad to see it go. Would love it if they would make this one permanently available, they may just decimate the credits earned, as long as it will stay.

Yesterday had a fun race again, with the NSX GT500 Base Model, finished 2nd and 3rd all the time. Last race with that car I finished second at 0.123s behind the Xanavi Nismo GTR, my closest 2nd place finish. Just couldn't get enough speed after the chicane to catch the GTR.

 

[Gogga]

Gold with the new LM55. Power to 50%, add a little weight to get down to 600pp. Turns in well under brakes.
First 2 laps racing soft, then 6 on intermediates, then 2 on racing soft.
This is heaps of fun!

Thanks for this. Didn't have much time to do this race. With your strategy, it was a gold on the first attempt.

 

[nowayback]

Anyone looking for nice drive or easy win, Audi R10 TDI Stealth . RS 2 laps then IM 8 laps, tires wear evenly

 

[YuRiPa]

Had some nice final races yesterday evening, hehe. First winning with the NSX GT500 Base Model, finally clinching the win after several 2nd and 3rd place finishes two days ago. Then had a good race with the Weider HSV, with the best overtake manoeuvre ever from me I think. In the third bend of the Esses (the second left-hander) I passed the slow Keihin HSV on the outside, while the Eneos SC430 was overtaking the Keihin HSV on the inside, so we were going three cars wide through the corner in the rain (guess it was around 50% wet, got to check the replay for that), while the Motul Autech GTR was on our tails, and came beside me in the final right-hander. I loved that battle. Had a great race, wish all events could be like this. Nice aggressive AI and a real challenge. If only PD would make the S-class SuperGT 10-lap race at Suzuka like this.

Will miss this seasonal race, thanks to PD for creating this awesome event.