Tales from the Nürburgring

[viperin]

These tales are based around various Budget Rider™ challenges proposed for the Nürburgring Diaries (which existed a long time ago, in a Galaxy far, far away).
The challenges in themselves were quite fun, select and build a Car within the terms of your Budget and then complete a lap of the Nürburgring.
Adding a story was not a requirement but they certainly provided plenty of enjoyment.

I would ask your indulgence to present a few of my stories.
Please feel free to join in.

Enjoy.

Rally Car BR™


Your brother-in-law, Pete, has just started a new career as a Rally Car
driver. He bought a Rally car but then went on a short vacation. He decided to leave his car with YOU.
You promised not to touch it but couldn’t resist going for a little spin on the back-roads near your home. Unfortunately, on your little joy-ride, you wrapped his car around a tree, totally destroying it except for the wheels.

Luckily your Family loves all things French and, by coincidence, your family car is just about the same make and model.
You run to the bank, take out 50,000 Cr (Importing French Vin Ordinaire is very lucrative).
Then you go to work……….

The Rules:

1. Pick an unmodded Rally car from your garage (or buy a new one if you so
choose). Run it around the ‘Ring. Do any tweaking you want. Get your best time
this will be used as a target time.
2. Find a production car (in your garage, or buy one) that is as close as you
can find to the production model of the Rally car you chose. It doesn’t have to
be the exact year or model. Same make and body style is good enough (Pete’s not
very smart as long as the car looks the same, he won’t notice it’s not the
original).
3. Not counting the price of the car or the R1’s (the tyres survived the crash)
you have 50,000 credits to get your family car to equal your target time on the
‘Ring.
You, of course will have to buy the tyres, but they won’t be counted
against the budget. As far as I know, all Rally cars come on R1’s. If you find
one that comes on something else, just be sure you buy the same tyres for your
family car.
4. No Superchargers. No Nitrous. Other than that, go nuts and do whatever you
want.
5. Use, or don’t use driving aids, as you choose. But you must use the same ASM
and TCS settings on both cars.

Now, the objective for this is not so much to make a family car that can kick
the butt of it’s Rally model, but instead, to find the most family-car-ish car
that can equal the performance of it’s Rally Car equivalent, using only 50,000 cr.
There’s a wide variety of cars to choose from. I’ve done a few tests and in one
Car, I needed more than 60,000 credits to equal the target time….the
other only about 25,000. Be creative!

(designed by Oldguy1957)



BR™ - Rally / Street car

Sacre Bleu! What have I done? Pete’s car totalled (a magnifique Renault 5 Maxi Turbo). Have I ruined his rally career? My only hope is to do up Dads old Turbo ’80 and hope it is a worthy replacement. I think though, I have bitten off more Fromage than I can chew. Pete was lucky enough to drive his car at Nürburgring when the Rally team was doing some tarmac testing there, so I have a look at his Logbook.
I can only have five laps and wont have time for any tuning so I will have to run as it would have come from the factory.
First lap 7 ’47.605 car has major power off understeer and major power on oversteer, what I’d call The Butterfly Effect ie. car feels like it is pivoting around a vertical axis in the middle of the car.
A lot of this can probably be put down to the R1 tyres. I will just have to brake early and be precise with my lines and don’t back off mid corner!
Car is also as jumpy as a Kangaroo on heat, being easily unsettled by bumps - it definitely needs major sorting.
Second lap very rough but a 7’ 37 .393.
Next two laps washed out. Last lap, very hard work but a clean 7’ 35.675.

“That’ll do pig, that’ll do”

I set to work with my 50 K adding:
Oil change
Racing Chip
Semi Racing Exhaust
Triple Clutch
Racing Flywheel
Stage 2 Turbo
Large Cooler
Sports Suspension
Racing Brakes
Full Gearbox
Lose some Weight (Stage 1)
Add a Wing for a grand total of 47350 Cr, and a car of 263 horses and 940Kg

Now where to test the car? Luckily there is a stretch of road nearby that is a
dead ringer (sorry!) for Nordschleife, so I head off there.
First sighting lap, 8’ 05.004, second lap 8’ 01.557. Not bad but I need to tune
the suspension a bit, so set the ride height at 110 / 110, dampers at 5 / 5,
camber 1.5 / 1
Gearbox auto 6 with final ratio 3.490 and down force 20 / 25

That’s better.
A neat 7’ 56.603 ; try again a clean lap at 7’ 51.425 that is getting very
close to the cars limit.Merde !!
Car is handling well with some mild oversteer and is much more stable over bumps than Pete’s car.
Right! one more lap, full speed ahead and d**n the torpedoes. I set my Beret on my head at a jaunty angle, light a Gitane and Go !.
I am flying and 3.5 seconds up approaching Galgenkopf, okay stay left and look for my exit and oh no! I’ve put a wheel onto the grass, the car slews violently to the left and I struggle to correct but I have no control and the Armco is getting bigger and bigger and bigger.

Can this be the end of moi?


I wake with a start, what ?? I lurch out of bed and stagger to the window and There, in the yard, is Pete’s car, untouched !
Now I remember !!
We had a party to celebrate Petes success.Too much Red Wine !!!!


I look at Pete’s car.
I wonder if those suspension changes I had in mind would work ?

The Sun glints suggestively off the windscreen --------------

 

[GT-R]

Niicee 👍 Sad it was just a dream

Go on this way, buddy

Have a nice day and best wishes,

S-Line Audi Fan

 

[viperin]

Okay time for another Tale.

I call this one ...........The Big Yellow Taxi Budget Rider™

Rules :

Select a Car to comply with the following -
Minimum weight 1500 kg,
Four doors,
Economy tyres,
Any colour you like as long as it is Yellow (Orange & Red shades okay).
As usual ASM / TCS optional, but preferably off.
Do what ever necessary for sub 9 min ’ 30 secs Laps.

Do your best and report back, cookies on offer for a decent yarn as well.
Good luck.

Big Yellow Taxi Budget Rider™

Never marry a Lawyer.

I did, only she was better at than I was.
I was left with the suit I went to work in this morning and my trusty old ‘91 Lexus GS300.
She took everything else and ran off to the Bahamas with our Dentist ( If I see him again he will be getting a Root Canal he wont forget in a hurry ).

But what to do ? No money, no office and the house bore a sign “ Future site of your favorite store – Wally Mart !! "
Then I thought back to my days driving a Cab to help get through University. Yeah ! I could do that again, skimming chumps would be easy money !

So I went to see an old grateful client of mine, Paco, who ran a chop shop ( they could not make it stick though ) out of a warehouse down in Isola.
He agreed to a respray of my Lexus. He also fitted a radio scanner and a working Taxi meter he had lying around. A few strips of checkered tape and you would be hard pressed to pick it from a real Cab.

He was not that grateful though ( “hey business is business” ) as I had to give him my fancy rims and Potenza’s as payment. He was kind enough to give me a set of standard rims and what he called “Economy” tyres as replacements.

So I was set, I began the same scam I ran at Uni, work nights, scan the Taxi Company frequency and get there before the other Cab and steal their customers. Sweet.

I hit the jackpot straight away ( must be karma ).
“Cab 86, Hyatt Regency, Pick up a Mr. C.I. Scrack of Scrack Enterprises, drop off at Airport. VIP in a hurry”.
“Roger Base on my way, eta 5 minutes”.

I was there in three.
So the chump gets in – “ Airport, and if you can get me there in less than ten minutes there is a bonus in it for you”. With that he stuck his nose in his Blackberry and started pecking away.
He must be from out of town definitely, as it was only 6 minutes, tops, to the airport from here using the superfast link freeway.
But hey there is no money in going the shortest way, so I took a slight “detour”.

Thirteen miles in fact.

Those economy tyres worked out pretty well, with lots of lurid screeching and screaming as I pretended to be trying my hardest to get the boob to his destination on time. It was like taking candy from a baby.
Arrived at the Airport, sideways in a cloud of smoke.
“We’re here, 9 mins 25 secs " I said.
For the first time the chump looks up, “Excellent work my good man, what do I owe you ? "
My tricked out meter supplied the answer – “$128 dollars”, I said with a straight face.
“And here is another $200 bonus as promised”, said the boob.

I just smiled and helped him with his bags.............



The Old Lexus was a bit slow and ponderous, especially on economy tyres, which reduced braking efficiency markedly and led to strong understeer followed by strong oversteer when overcorrecting. Not too bad all things considered. Needs more power and much better tyres to increase the fun factor.

Budget Rider™ designed by vitg

 

[Rotary Junkie]

Good stuff vitg.

Here's to hoping the 'Ring diaries come back when GT5 hits eh?

 

[viperin]

Good stuff vitg.

Here's to hoping the 'Ring diaries come back when GT5 hits eh?

You said it my friend.
I reckon they will

 

[viperin]

” Welcome to the Nürburgring Diary Zone BR ™ ”

You wake up to find that you've survived a Plane crash, unscathed. However, the Crew and the rest of the passengers are nowhere to be found ! In your lap is a stack of 40,000 dollars/euros/credits. You exit the plane and look around, discovering that you are in a small German town outside of the famed Nürburgring Nordschleife.

But something is seriously wrong.
There are no people. You enter a cafe to look around, only finding more of the same. Suddenly, you hear a car pull up out front. Rushing outside you find a Mysterious Man getting out of a Toyota Altezza Touring Car.

He explains to you that you've slipped into a dead space in time during the crash, and offers you a one shot deal to get back to your own time.

He will drive his Altezza for one lap around the ‘Ring. You must then drive the production car of your choice, with all the modifications you can afford. If you beat his time, he'll allow your return home. He then hands you a nondescript key, and tells you to decide what car you wish to drive and said car will appear, brand new.

So here's the challenge:

Run a lap with the Altezza Touring car. You can do it in “B spec” if you wish, but I strongly encourage you take the role of the Mystery Man and drive it “A spec” to challenge yourself.
Then take the production vehicle of your choice, use 40,000 to modify it, and attempt to beat the Altezza's time.

The Conditions:

The car you choose is free.

There is a limit on horsepower in this dead space in time, and no car can exist over 360 HP. This means that you cannot use a car that starts with more than 360 HP, nor can you modify a car beyond that point.

Driving Aids also do not exist here. I know that most, if not all of us,
regularly turn aids off, but for anyone who does not usually do this, you must do it for this challenge.

Since your car of choice comes in new condition, oil change, car wash, and rigidity refresher are free. You can also put you own choice of rims on your car for free if you wish.

You weigh something, so you must add driver ballast to your vehicle. If you don't currently do this, and you're not sure how much you weigh in kg, you can use the following website for a quick conversion:

http://www.manuelsweb.com/kg_lbs.htm

If you crash into the Armco, you must use your better judgement as to whether or not it has ended your run.
Obviously, if you run headfirst into the Armco at 130 mph, you die, and never make it home. If you lightly brush the Armco, you can decide for yourself whether or not the damage is extensive enough to keep you from continuing. Driving off into the grass is ok, but grass cuts are not. If you cut across grass with the intention of gaining time, the Mystery Man will know, and he'll be long gone when you pull across the finish line, leaving you stranded here forever.

Have fun!

*(Designed by Soulidarity)



Twilight Zone BR™

Doo Dee Doo Dee Doo Dee Doo Dee…….

I made a start on the (Twilight) Zone last night. I sent “Bob” off to do his thing (at speed 4) while I cooked Tea, then checked replay to see he had done a - 7 ' 44 . 175
I then did a lap myself before going to bed; following Muses advice I took Flugplatz and Schwedenkreuz flat chat (and many others thereafter). I was having so much fun I forgot about being conservative and ended up peeling off a 7 ' 10 . 913 – Holy Snapping Duck Doo!!

What a great Car ! the fast guys are going to love this one. I reckon pound for pound this would have to be one of the best handling Cars I have come across so far, what a Gem.
Having made a rod for my own back, I will today attempt to better that time (Pigs fully fuelled and ready for take off).
I am then going to do some more laps with the Altezza to see how much time I can shave off..........................................


It was a Dark and Stormy Night, and our Qantas Jet was being tossed around as if it was some giant Baby's rattle. “This can't be good “ I thought as a particularly savage bolt of lightning tore the left wing off. Suddenly the world became white and fluffy, as if the plane was suddenly full of cotton wool.
“Come to the light” I heard an ethereal voice say.

I know good advice when I hear it.
So I did.

As I waded through the cottony air the scene shifted, I felt as if I had been turned inside out, and I was no longer struggling inside the plane but walking through a green and pleasant landscape, full of trees and hills.
It seemed somehow familiar and my amazement was complete when I saw a large sign which read - “ Achtung Ring Besucher”

Somehow, I was now standing in the pit lane of the Nürburgring !! WTF!
I looked around and I knew instinctively that I was the only person here.
Was I dead? hallucinating? It was all very strange but I felt no fear.
As I pondered, I became aware of a strange shimmering in the air in front of me, and with a loud pop, a snazzy little Touring Car appeared.

“Hey Dude, how they hanging” said the driver as he got out. “I'm afraid there has been a bit of a stuff up at head office, it seems that you have ended up in the wrong dimension”. “Oh well” I thought, “that's better than karking it”.
“You're telling me” said the Mystery Man, who I now noticed, was wearing a Rainbow coloured driving suit, which I could not quite focus on.
Handing me a strangely insubstantial key, he said “are you up for a challenge? if you can beat the 7 ' 10 . 913 I did in the Altezza there, with any car you choose, I will send you home, hale and hearty”.
As I stood there trying to take this all in, a memory popped into my head, unbidden, of my Fathers “mid life crisis” Car.
And suddenly, there it was, in front of us, a '96 Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport.
“I will take that as a yes then” said the Mystery Man.

Of all the Cars I could have thought of, why my Dad's Car? It even had the silly wing, fat R3 tyres and BBS 14 wheels he'd fitted. All up he had spent 40K doing up that car with a Racing Exhaust and Chip, Twin Plate Clutch, Semi Racing Flywheel, Stage 2 flab reduction and a roll cage.

“Oh well, could have been worse” I thought as I eased my 105 kg bulk into the Red Leather Recaro Racing seat. With a rolling start and the Mystery Man clicking his stopwatch at the line, I roared off.

Hmm, the old girl don’t handle too bad once you get used to the brakes wanting to make it swap ends. Nice and stable on the road and it turns in nicely with some feathered braking. The R3's certainly help it stick and the weight still on it helps the stock suspension smooth out the worst bumps somewhat.
"Hey that was fun" I thought, as I crossed the finish line unscathed.

The Mystery Man checked his watch and smiled, “ 7 ' 10 . 577 dude, nice work !! Okay, a deal is a deal, you beat me fair and square, I can send you home now”.

I stood there at the finish line, the car steaming slightly in the strange, perpetual afternoon light, turning that magical key over in my fingers, “if its all the same to you, I would rather stay here” I said as a beautiful Red E – Type Jaguar appeared in place of the Chev.
The Mystery Man laughed, and then, with a faint pop, was gone.

First Lap attempt at challenge - 7 ' 20 . 165
Second Lap - 7 ' 11 . 869
Third Lap of three tries - 7' . 10 .577
No crashes or shortcuts.
TRY THIS CAR