Ryk's Guide to... Cape Ring South.
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(Thanks to AMG's thread for the above image)
The fluffy Fantasy bit.
It is a comfort to see the south track at Cape Ring on the bottom side of the full Cape Ring layout. Even more comforting to see Fujiyama far off in the mist to the north... Which of course means that the
Cape in question is Izu province, a peninsula which, if you have read the James Clavel novel - Shogun, Izu is where poor old Richard Blackthorne was shipwrecked in the ship Erasmus.
I was asked to do this track. And normally I would look at Cape Ring and do the Full track, then the Outer lap, then the Interior lap and then the two other half tracks North and South. So left to my own devices this track guide would have been last on my to do list. But it isn't.
This is one of the layouts that avoids the corners which most GT players dislike the most, so it should be the favourite version of them all? Well I'd prefer it more if it were the other way around. But it is a bit of a sleeper, 2 miles makes it pretty short
This layout is used in zero races in A-Spec... which is a shame.
Odd track as it has three 180° left handed hairpins but each have a different feel to them and none are like Loews/Virage de la Gare/Fairmont/Gran Casino/Grand Hotel Hairpin in Monte Carlo either.
The Track Guide
Track starts with a very healthy start/finish straight Wide with quite a few landmarks and advertising hoardings to pick form to use as a brake marker. The Pit Wall crowds the right side of the track and th epit lane exit is on the right, but it blends in on the outside of the first corner.
"Blackthorne"
Turn 1 Left 180° hairpin wide banked -
Long wide hairpin, which has a Blue apron of overrun and the pit lane exit. As the track turns the track surface alters from Race Asphalt to Road asphalt. (The actual road that uses this part of the exteded circuit can be seen behind the armco and the road is actually hidden beneath some recently laid turf. This tempory gardening jobhowever cuts up badly in warm weather. The inside of the hairpin has been used by drivers and has dried it out .
Named after the 'Blue Eyed Devil' Englishman Anjin Captain Richard Blackthorne.
"Nurikabe Esses"
Turn 2 Right Banked uphill long.'Nurikabe-ichi'
Nice inviting corner that tightens up butis pretty friendly otherwise. As it is a road for most of the year you can seen the lines on the road surface. You will want to be on the right side of the trackwhen you tackle turn 3... SO you are aiming for a late apex.
Turn 3 Left Banked tight 'Nurikabe-ni'
Combonation of tight and long make it a tough corner. It is a bottle neck as the side by side racing of the previous easy sweep is funnedl in this corner. There are some lane lines on the track, but a fast line uses the full width of the track. If you run side by side with another driver then you can expect contact here, The sides of the track are reasonably wide with some rough grass before the armco barriers.
The right side of the track is dominated by the dark exposed rockface that the track was carved out of volcanic rock. Locals call it the 'Nurikabe' - and tell tales of it coming alive at night to trap travellers...
Turn 4 Right Banked 'Nurikabe-san'
Pretty short corner. I find this part of the track is a place you can either squirrel down the inside of or loop around the outside to make a pass on a driver that has been too defensive in Turn 3
Turn 5 LeftBanked 'Nurikabe-shi'
Easy power corner, it leads to a short uphill straight, but passig here will be down to the car ahead making a monumental eror in the esses. That is possible and cars runing side by side up the hill are common.
In this direction the corner is easier as the initial corner is tight so the second part is pretty easy to deal with, again uphill makes it easier but the pair are linked and for the most part obscured by the tall hedge on the left side of the track.
"Toranaga"
Turn 6 Left Tight
Turn 7 Right Soft
A dangerous place, the right side of the track is perched high and if the retaining armco or wire fences don't confine an accident then the car can end up down a fairly steep hillside and recovering the vehicle and any driver rescue will be extremly hard.
Named after the powerful Daimyo in Clavells novel. In the TV version Toshio Mifune played the Character that was loosly based on real life warlord, Tokugawa Ieyasu.
Hump leads to a downhill brake zone for a possible overtaking point into the fairly spacious Barcelona Hairpin.
"Barcelona Hairpin"
Turn 8 Left 180° hairpin
Only due to the colours, as the track moves from the outer (Blue) layout and onto the "Totori's Forest" of the interior layout. The margin between the tow layouts is painted blue and red, which are FC Barcelona's colours. (Which of course originated from Merchant Taylor's school - home to old crosbian, James Allen the former F1 commentator and Ferrari-o-phile.
As the track moves form the Periphery layout to the interior layout the curbstones shange from Blue/White to Red/White. The run to over the only split is pretty open, and the next corner is so weak in terms of corner radius.
"Harmony Crescent"
Turn 9 Right Long banked loop.
Named after the school motto at Merchant Taylor's Boys School,
Concordia parvae res crescunt "Small things grow in harmony". The fast banked blast rips through the heavily wooded area. It is a very long banked downhill sweep that tightens slightly as you drive. Visability is good as the inside of the corner only has a low armco barrier and a service road runs on the other side, so the trees don't obscure too much. Long corner but you need to get your cars placed correctly to tackle the fast dusty chicane. There are a few land marks on the outside of the track, Omega Lubricants hoardings (Which if you loko at them are stepping down every hundred yars or so as the track thunders downhill.) You really are after a wide line into the crescent and then bring it in tight at the end to straighten the Susuwatari Chicane out s much as possible.
"Susuwatari Chicane"
Turn 10 Left kink
Turn 11 Right kink
Very fast pair, leads onto a short straight with a very slow hairpin. So if you mess this combonation up they you run the risk of getting passed into the final hairpin. The curbs are pretty gentle here and everyone seems to ride up and over them and onto the grass, which hasn't survived and the bare earth turns to dust on a sunny day which creates a nasty duststorm. Some locals say this part of the track is haunted by Makkuro kurosuke and garlic eating gaijin should not visit at night. If you are following close to a "Dirty" driver you need to know what you are doing as your visual clues will be obfuscated by a choking miasma of dust and dirt kick up. It is highly reccomended that you wash your car after you race here. It will greatly appease the locals who seem to be a bit delicate and nervous when near a dirty car.
"Juichi Matsu "Eleven Pine straight"
- Named after the line of ten pine trees that terminates in a Camphor tree on the left of this straight.
One quirk of the track owners is that any race winner is presented with a pine cone from one of these trees - That is sure to spruce your day up and make you pine for the good old days.
The pit lane entry is actually on the right here and you
should stay over on the far righthand side of the track and stay on this side all the way around the outside of the
Squarepin and then into the pitlane.
***(Have to get Mayuri to test out pit lane coding.)***
"Squarepin"
Turn 12 Left 180° flat Hairpin
Double apex takes you off the Totoro track and onto the Main straight. The track surface does alter, but you are still on "Race track Asphalt". If you need the pits then you can really banzai this corner run wide and shoot into the pitlane (Or can you?). This hairpin follows
Juichi Matsu straight and is centred on a modestly sized Camphor tree (Cinnamomum camphora).
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Ponderings
The central wooded chunk of the track has always reminded my of the Studio Ghibli animated film
My Neighbour Totoro - the rather closly packed mystical Forest that seems to encroach at the start of the fantasy anime. I've tried to put a few names from this and the novel Shogun.
Real life location. Logic would say somewhere in Izu peninsular - it has that crazy doubel spiral bridge and has views of Fujiyama in the distance to the north - A japanese highway traverses some of the track. Maybe Route 414
"Kawazu-Nanadaru Loop Bridge" in Japan
North, Periphery and Full circuit
http://fulgerica.com/en/2008/02/11/double-spiral-bridge/
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Some real roads in Izu - too narrow to be the "real road" but nice shots of Fujiyama near the start.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_II826AyhRk
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http://www.redrktracing.com/gt5_cape_ring_south
Typed up to the sounds of Onmyouza
