Trial Mountain Enduro - Elise 190

[Luxy]

RACE: Trial Mountain 2Hr

CAR: Lotus Elise 190 (Chrome Orange Metallic)

TUNING: T5 Tires and an Oil Change.

THE FIELD:

NSX Type S Zero
RX-7 Type RZ
Skyline R32
Supra RZ
Lancer Evolution VII

PIT STRATEGY:

Me:
Every 5-7 laps (12 Stops, average stop: 0'18.222)
5
11
16
22
29 (-0'15.2)
35 (-0'37.3)
41 (-0'36.4)
46 (-0'38.5)
52 (-0'41.5)
58 (-0'43.5)
64 (-0'49.9)
69 (-1'10.5) (The NSX went 1 stop down)

NSX: Every 5 Laps (13 Stops)
RX-7: ?
Skyline: ?
Supra: ?
Lancer: ?

RESULTS:

Total Time: 1:20'14.216
Total Laps: 73
Best Lap: 1'33.792 (Lap 68)
Average Speed: 89 MPH / 143.1 KPH
Average Lap: 1'38.825
Average Hot Lap: 1'35.240 (?)

Won the Mine's Skyline (plus a suprise 787B for 75% complete).

Me: 73 Laps
NSX: 73 Laps (+1'15.xxx)
RX-7: 71 Laps
Supra: 71 Laps
Skyline: 68 Laps
Lancer: 68 Laps

NOTES:

It didn't look good for me at the beginning. On the first lap, I passed the pack, except for the NSX by the end of the back streach, leaving me about 1.5 seconds back. As others have noted, the NSX is the only real competition in this race. For the next 5 laps, I couldn't gain anything on the NSX, except when he hit the rocks on the outside before the second tunnel. After the first set of pit stops, the NSX started to pull away. At one point, the worst gap of the race, I was about 8 seconds back. After the second set of stops, I settled into a rhythm - consistency won me the race. I couldn't out-run the NSX, so I had to avoid any mistakes and wait for the him to hit the rocks (which he did about 50% of the time). I finally took the lead on lap 17, and slowly extended it for the rest of the race.

The race would have been more competitive if I'd taken T3 or T4 tires, and stuck to a 5 lap pit schedule. The Elise is better on orange tires than on blue. Running a 7th lap on a set of tires would have been no problem. Having a longer pit window than the NSX gave me a one stop (18 second) advantage over the course of the race.

The Elise handles well on Trial Mountain. I had to be really careful about the rumble strips going through the last chicane, so as not to get thrown about. I had a big advantage on the right before the second tunnel (didn't even have to lift off) and the downhill right coming down out of the mountains, which I could apex properly without much difficulty.

Took the lead for good: Lap 17
Oil Light: Didn't come on.
Replay Save: None (?!)

 

[Sleek Stratos]

Nicely done Luxy. I'm keen on the Elise myself. There sure were lots of info and numbers to look at, I liked that.
Last time I tried out the 'Trial...' 2 hour it was with a Z concept (oil changed) way too many horses to make it interesting, though I did have some fun times with an R34 in the first few laps, but as you pointed, the cars smash into the rocks about half of the time. Am I the only one who finds this quite annoying?

Anyway, your write-up: good stuff, and keep racing. 👍

 

[Duke]

Excellent race and description! The TME is low on my list of things to repeat, but only because it's hard to fund a time window big enough. The Elsie is going to be my next attempt.

 

[Luxy]

I'd highly recommend the Elise It's a really enjoyable drive on Trial Mountain.

 

[Der Alta]

One of my favorite little cars. I've logged more than a few miles on one, and I' think it'll have to happen again soon.

Luxy, have you considered something similar to my "Strait out of the Box" series? I basically take a car right from teh dealer and run it. No oil change, or tires. So far my most interesting run was with an Esprit V8 SE on the Polyphony Digital cup. I won Seattle but a bumpers width, and a a number of other races by mere seconds.

Finding a car forthe TME has been on my list for a bit now.

Good run!

AO

 

[Luxy]

I was just reading about your straight out of the box series the other night. I don't think I could have beaten the NSX with a stock Elise 190. It might make an interesting race if the field were reloaded without the NSX

Running the PD cup is one of the next things on my list. This is my second time through the game, after getting over the excitement of all the race cars the first time through, I find driving normal cars much more enjoyable - more about maintaining momentum and proper braking, as opposed to cranking up the downforce and just trying to keep it on the road

EDIT:
lol, just went and re-read the straight out of the box thread again. The TVR Speed 6 is one of the cars I tested for the TME (it would have been a blowout), and was my lead contender for the PD Cup ... now I'll have to find another car

 

[phattboy]

This write-up encourages me to give it a go in the Elise.

I've thought about it several times but always decided otherwise because it seems every time I try to drive the little bugger I spent more time turning back around than I do actually racing. IE: It's a blowout for them for once.

I have to add that I'm not sure I could even come close to the fastest time you put in. For me, in that car, that would be rippin'!

Nice write-up!

 

[Cap'n Jack]

Same, I also want to do it in the elise now. I havn't even done that race yet so I might try it in a nissan Z or a mustang.

 

[DRIFT4EVA]

Nice.

Is it just me or is it the game? When you Pit and someone else pits with you but behind you. Do the AI cars have faster pit stops so they are right up your a** even though they are a bit of distance behind to start with?

 

[phattboy]

Originally posted by DRIFT4EVA
Nice.

Is it just me or is it the game? When you Pit and someone else pits with you but behind you. Do the AI cars have faster pit stops so they are right up your a** even though they are a bit of distance behind to start with?

It isn't you. I have noticed the game AI dip VERY liberally into the ole time equalizer as well.

Sometimes in a very close race it gets kinda irritating to take a 4-5 second hit every pit you make doesn't it?

I guess it was the game maker's way of keeping things competitive but boy does it make it hard sometimes.

phattboy

 

[Cap'n Jack]

Originally posted by Sleek Stratos
Nicely done Luxy. I'm keen on the Elise myself. There sure were lots of info and numbers to look at, I liked that.
Last time I tried out the 'Trial...' 2 hour it was with a Z concept (oil changed) way too many horses to make it interesting, though I did have some fun times with an R34 in the first few laps, but as you pointed, the cars smash into the rocks about half of the time. Am I the only one who finds this quite annoying?

Anyway, your write-up: good stuff, and keep racing. 👍

I have done testing for the trial mountain 2 hour, one of the tests involved a ten lap arcade race, I also had alot of fun with the R34 and the AI running into the rocks annoys me too, I was doing really well on the first lap and a lancer ran into the rocks and bounced off into me!

BTW - I'm also using the 350Z.

 

[Carl.]

Just finished it, I tried with a 8 laps strategy, and that wasn't a good idea, I lost control two times in the last high speed chicane , one on a lap before going to pit, and the other time on the 73th lap (9th lap since pitting... very slippery car). I beat the NSX mostly on pit strategy, but I was able to pull away from it on the track too in my hotlaps. The Elise is one of my favorite car in GT3, controlling its slides with the throttle is a lot of fun, once you get used to it.

Total time 120'54" about 50 secs before the NSX.
Fastest time: 1'34.7xx I suck...
Average hotlap: low 1'35.xxx

To stop an enduro and finish it on the next day isn't a good idea, you lose a few laps to get your rythm back.

Good challenging race Luxy 👍 As you said, it might be a bit closer with T4 or T3 tires.

 

[Smallhorses]

And Lo, 5 Months later, the thread came back from the Dead. And it had a new story, and thus it was told.....

Still plugging away at the TM 2 hr and Rome 2 hr trying (as yet in vain) to win those last 2 remaining cars I can get from these races, and nowhere else! I.E. The Lister Storm V12 Race Car and the Lancia Delta HF Integrale Rally Car.
I posted a few near misses in attempts at both of these races in relatively underpowered cars, a little while back, Why I Hate AI.....Parts 1 & 2.

Without wishing to wipe the floor with the competition, I was searching through the write-ups thread for a good challenge, when I came across this one. Sounds interesting..... Looking at the results from Luxy though, it seems like a 1'15 margin of victory could be brought much closer and make a more exciting race with a couple of minor adjustments.

So here goes..... I took my Lotus Elise 190, in Lightning Blue, with the 7-spoke gold Yokohama alloys on to Trial Mountain, its in pristine condition, 0.0 Miles on the clock and a stock 181HP (no oil change.) Realising, I'd forgotten to hitch up the damned trailer with my racing tyres in it I didn't want it to be a totally wasted journey and decided I'd race on the sports tyres I had in the back of the truck.

Started at the back of the grid, and as I came to terms with the handling of the Lotus over the first 3 laps I was able to pass several cars, and climb to 2nd place, as the NSX roared out to a 9s lead. I clawed a few 10ths back on lap 4 but had a largely sideways incident out of the chicane onto the S/F straight, and crossed the line with a 14s deficit and the rest of the pack breathing down my neck!
NSX pits on lap 5 from a 17s lead and exits just ahead of me. We swap places for a couple of laps, and I pit from about 1s back on lap 8. End of lap 9, my outlap and I pass through the final chicane, chanting "Don't touch the kerbs, Don't touch the kerbs, Don't touch the kerbs!" and finish the lap at 23s behind the NSX.

He pits on lap 10, and exits 9s ahead of me going into lap 11. Gap is 7.3s at the end of the lap, thanks to a fastest lap so far of 1'36.191, but the NSX's tyres are warmed up and he gets ready to stretch his legs again and extend his lead for a while. Gap at end of lap 14 is 14.9s after I had another painful introduction to the pit-wall a couple of laps before, again, touching the kerbs in the left-hand part of the chicane upsets the precariously balanced Lotus and leaves me heading right at the pit-wall, losing precious momentum and a couple of seconds on the lap time.

Lap 15 NSX pits, and I take a slender lead, for most of lap 16, before diving in for fresh rubber myself. (The tyres technically would go longer, they're yellow at front and pale orange at the back, the right back tyre being slightly darker than the left, but I get the feeling that using a 10-lap strategy I'd start to get lonely in front towards the end of the race....) After my outlap I ended lap 17 22.2s behind the NSX, with much, it seems, to do....

Lap 20, NSX in again, 9s back from him as he exits the pits.
Pit in in Lap 24 and end lap 25 behind by 18s, after he pits too.
Fastest lap falls to 1'35.825 on lap 27, and end lap 28 with just over 12s to the leader.

Lap 30, NSX pits in, and exits 2.6s behind the flying Elise, which moves into 1st place for a short while. Pit in on lap 32 from 4s lead, surrendering 1st place back to the NSX. Fastest lap drops another 1/10th on lap 34, down to 1'35.714
NSX goes in for more tyres on lap 35, and pulls back out of the pitlane right into the path of one very annoyed Elise driver! NSX runs into wall before tunnel 2 while trying to lap an R32 Skyline, ever the opportunist, the Elise sneaks through the tiny gap between the 2 cars and back into 1st place which was held until lap 39, when the RX-7 blocked me badly throughout almost a whole lap, and allowed the NSX through.

Thankfully the RX-7 then proceeded to shut the door as badly on the NSX, and though we both passed the lapped RX-7 midway through lap 40, it meant we entered the pits nose-to-tail at the end of the lap, NSX 1st, Elise 2nd.
NSX leaves pits some 4s before the Elise, wich translates to a gap of 6.5s by the end of our outlap (He must pay his pit crew more than I do!!!)
Before the NSX pits on lap 45, the gap widens to 6.5s, before falling to a little over 2s when he pits, thanks in part to another fastest lap for the Elise on lap 45.
1'35.527.

Pit in again on lap 48 from 15s lead over NSX. Exit pits in 2nd place, 0.2s behind.
Pass NSX to reclaim 1st place as he pits on lap 50, and finish lap 51 with a 10s cushion over him. Unfortunately a lapse of concentration on lap 53 saw me hit the wall before tunnel 2 and gave 4s back to the NSX, finishing the lap only 6s behind me. Having got as close as 4.4s behind, he pits in on lap 55 leaving me to cruise round lap 56 and pit in myself from a 24s lead. Finish lap 57 in 1st place, but only just, NSX is a mere 0.110s behind me as we cross the line. Lose 1st place as NSX nudges his way past through the sharp right bend into the rocky section after the 1st tunnel. Regained top spot towards the end of lap 59 out of the yellow chevroned hairpin.

NSX pitted at lap 60 from just over a second behind, and by the end of his outlap on lap 61, he was 18s adrift in 2nd place. As I pit from 1st place at the end of lap 64, the NSX is 18s back and gaining, he passes me as I exit the pits. I'm less than 2s behind him though as he dives into the pitlane at the end of lap 65.
He's 13s back going into lap 67, and I sense a hard earned, but satisfiying victory by around a 10s margin coming on.

The NSX's last set of tyres go on on lap 70, and at the end of his outlap 71 he's 31s behind the Elise, which is due for its own last change of rubber at the end of lap 72. Exit the pits at 119'55.416 which means 1 lap to the finish line, and the NSX crosses the S/F line some 14.7s back in 2nd place. I spend the last lap toying with the Supra RZ which is 2 laps down, and finish in a total time of 121'22.693, and the NSX, which has taken advantage of the Supra slowing me down comes home just 7.065s behind after 2 very enjoyable hours of racing. 👍

That's all folks! Not sure I could run as Der Alto suggests in a straight out of the box configuration and beat the NSX on normal tyres, but it might be worth giving it a shot against a field with the R34, RX-7 and Supra RZ present an see how that works out.

Smallhorses.

*edit* Forgot to mention that after all this hard work, the random prize car generator neglected to take pity on me, and yet another Mine's Skyline wound up in my garage briefly before being sold to the highest bidder, for 50,000 Cr.
I WANT THE LISTER NEXT TIME, OK?!!!!

Just another excuse to give it another go!

 

[slowman]

One of my favorite little cars. I've logged more than a few miles on one, and I' think it'll have to happen again soon.

Luxy, have you considered something similar to my "Strait out of the Box" series? I basically take a car right from teh dealer and run it. No oil change, or tires. So far my most interesting run was with an Esprit V8 SE on the Polyphony Digital cup. I won Seattle but a bumpers width, and a a number of other races by mere seconds.

Finding a car forthe TME has been on my list for a bit now.

Good run!

AO

I'm doing the same thing with Esprit Sport 350! The PD Cup is an absolute blast, because every race is close, close, close. The only thing saving me is my 10 lap pit strategy, seems to work on every course, but I'm having to adjust my pit strategy for SSR11. I'm going 7,14 because the tires were starting to turn orange at the end of my 7th lap, and I'm not going to try to push them to 10 laps, especially on this course. My oil turned crap in the middle of the tunnel in SSR5, at about lap 7. (If I remember right)

But the Elise 190 is definately in my Top10 favorite cars in GT3. I want to know if the Elise can run in the PD Cup with an oil change and T4's or T5's. That would be fun. I was also thinking of trying a Corvette GS "straight out of the box"

 

[Der Alta]

I believe it can, In my "to do" list of the compendium I ran a Tommy Kaira ZZS and managed to win 8 out of ten races. I lost Seattle by over 20 seconds (big suprise) and I quit out of Tokyo at the end.

That was on T4 tires with an oil change.

AO

 

[slowman]

I finished the PD Cup with my Esprit 350... not quite, because of the last two races... I skipped out early because I had enough points, and I wanted to pick my car, and I got it... the F094/S with the "Casino" paint scheme. I'm still deciding whether to run this or the F094/H (that I'm going to win from all endurance races complete) in the Formula GT championship. Which is generally referred to as the better car?

I'm going to do a writeup for the F1GT championship, because I'm saving that for last. I want to get the "quattro-prize" (100% completion car - F094/S, F1GT Championship car - 1 of 4 F1's, Simulation mode complete car - F686/M, Professional mode complete car - F688/S) It's cool to win 4 cars at one time. H4RDC0R3.