Trouble with 4hr Nurburgring

[Jujubean]

I am a long time GT fan, and recently started playing GT4 again. I just unlocked Endurance Races, and thought I would try my hand at the 4 hour Nurburgring race. I thought I might run it with the first car I bought in the game- a 96 Subaru Sedan WRX STI with the following upgrades:
Sport exhaust, racing brakes, Port Polish, ECU, Fully Custom Tranny (I was running the super close, but got tired of bouncing off the rev limiter for 2 miles between Galgenkopf and Hohenrain), twin clutch plate, Semi racing fly wheel, stage 1 turbo, race intercooler, semi racing suspension, S1 tires, and stage 1 weight reduction.

364 HP
3.127 Power to weight ratio

Obviously modified pretty heavily. This is where my confusion comes in. I am used to winning races in the 100-140 Aspec points region no prob, as well as a few higher than that, nothing to brag about, but good enough for the moment. When I enter the Enduro though, I get somewhere between a
10 and 20 Aspec point race. I decided to go ahead and race anyways, figuring that if I was going to invest 4 hours in the race, I better make sure I win (I avoid Bspec Bob as much as possible). The problem is that I keep getting destroyed by usually one car. Even after the first lap I am usually behind, and by lap 5, both the car beating me, and I need to pit, so I never get a chance to get ahead.

The other thing that has been confusing me is that when I preview the race to get an idea of the amount of HP the other cars will have, I am just under the ball park figure.

My driving (I hope) is not so bad that a car that is apparently so much better than the competition can't hold the lead.

I guess I am wondering if it is just that I need to work on my lap times (in the 8:10-8:20 range) or if my car is just tuned poorly, and holding me back.

Sorry for the long post, but anyone who can help, I would greatly appreciate it!
Thanks

 

[mafia_boy]

It's a bit of both. The lead car in the 4hr enduro completes his laps in the 7.50-7.55 range. That would make you atleast 15 seconds a lap slower than him and thus, you would be getting destroyed.

The other problem is the choice of car. 4WD cars are notorious for punishing their front tyres. You would be better off using a RWD car, so either MR or FR with a similar power range and re-trying. I've won this using my NSX 'Student Driver' car that is in my garage at GME (Grease Monkey Engineering). It's mildly tuned, with only 334hp, but the power delivery makes it an awesome car to drive. I got around 75pts. for that, and it's a decent competitive drive against the lead car for quite a long time with you coming out on top if your driving skills are up to par. 👍

Also, are you using any driving aids (ASM/TCS)?? If so, turn them off as the aids might be holding your corner speed back.

 

[sukerkin]

I don't know if they'll be if any help but here are my notes on how I 200 A-Spec'd the Nurburgring 4HR:

ENDURANCE HALL

Nurburgring 4h Endurance

Normal or Sports Tyres Permitted
International B Licence Required

Prize Money: 200,000cr
Prize Car: Chapperal 2D Race Car ’67 (233,749cr)


This race has been beckoning me for a while. I B Specc’d it the first time, so any A-Spec gained will be a plus. Of course, what I’m really after is 200 A-Spec .

My first thought was to attempt it in a Jensen Intereptor. I spent an evening tuning one up (a Green one of course ) and got her doing 8’35ish laps on N2 tyres, Black Oil and Max ballast.

I went to the race and kept entering until I got one that offered the required points. It’s academic but the grid was:

Lotus Elise 111R, Jaguar XKR R-Performance, Vauxhall VX220 Turbo, Ford Mustang SVT Cobra R, Lancia Delta HF

After a while languishing in sixth, not even catching up when the tail enders pitted, I surrendered to the fact that this was not going to work. I need to be something like thirty seconds per lap quicker. I tried with S tyres, which seemed plausible but the A-Spec points were too low.

I then spent a day working with a Triumph Spitfire but could only get the same pace (though she was a hoot to drive ).

The next step was to go to the car I’d wanted to try in the first place … the TVR V8S (running Black Oil the Garage HP is 219).

I fettled the suspension and got wonderful handling (just a shade of understeer) with lap times in the 8’10 to 8’15 range.

The eventual set-up was:

Brakes: 5/4
Springs: 6.4/5.2
Ride Height: 116/116
Damper Bound: 5/5
Damper Rebound: 9/8
Camber: 2.0/1.0
Toe: +0/+0
Stabilisers: 4/4

Gears: AutoSet 10 @ 3.360

LSD: 10/34/17
Weight: 200 @ 0

I try her against Grid 4: Lotus Elise 111R, Mazda RX-8 Type S, Honda NSX Type S, Jaguar XKR R-Performance, Honda NSX Type R

This grid allowed me to drop the Ballast to 136kg and still have 200 A-Spec but it didn’t work out. I worked my way up to fourth before I had to pit at the end of lap five. I did another lap and quit as the Elise and the NSX Type R were just running away from me.

I learned that tyre wear was quite uneven (I’d been running S1/S1 and should’ve used S1/S2) and that my 8’10 to 8’15 seemed a competitive pace … just not against the two I mentioned .

I tried again versus grid Six:

Nissan Skyline GT-R V-Spec II, Ford Focus RS, Alfa Romeo 147 GTA, Opel Speedster Turbo, FPV F6 Typhoon

The Speedster vastly outperforms the field. On Lap Nine I thought I had a chance as he stayed out a lap too long for his tyres and crashed so much that I overtook him. However, he only made that mistake once. The result was that I completed thirty laps in 4:10’39.155 whilst he won with 4:05’39.805. My Best Lap was 8’11.xxx. The prize money of 80,000cr barely paid for the chassis rebuild and the valet service .

I went on a ‘Grid Hunt’, loading the TVR up with 200kg and cycling the races. I went as far as the twenty-fifth grid and the best I found was Grid Thirteen:

Nissan Skyline GT-R V-Spec II, Vauxhall VX220 Turbo, Audi RS4, Mitsubishi Lancer EVO VIII MR GSR, Ford Focus RS

This is a 200 A-Spec race with 137kg Ballast.

The Vauxhall was a rocket, just like the Opel Speedster but the AI miscalculated the pit-stop (or failed to get in) nearly every time. When he made his stop, he surged to the front of the AI pack and started to close on me . If he’d made his strategy work, he’d have won, no question about it. However, I pitted every five laps (five stops) for a Total Race Time was 4:07’55.746, with a MoV of6’12.656 and a BL 8’06.818. Fuel use was low enough to permit ten laps without refuelling but after the initial two stints, I (conservatively) filled to 40 units each time in.

The highlight of the race for me, given the beatings I’d taken in previous attempts, was lapping the VX220 as he careered about trying to get into the pits ROFL.

Finishing Order:

Pole – Silver (I don’t have a Green one ) TVR V8S ‘91
2nd – Mitsubishi Lancer EVO VIII MR GSR ‘04
3rd – Nissan Skyline GT-R V-Spec II ‘00
4th – Vauxhall VX220 Turbo ‘00
5th – Audi RS4 ‘01
6th – Ford Focus RS ‘02

 

[Rikki GT-R]

What mafia_boy said in regards to the driving aids - if they are on then switch 'em off! You'll be amazed at the difference, even more so on a course as long the 'Ring.

 

[Jujubean]

Thanks to everyone. I had already turned off my driving aids. I changed over to my Lotus Espirit and won with a margin of about 2 seconds. My heart was beating like crazy that last lap, trying to hold off an RX 8. I think tire ware was my main problem.

Thanks again

 

[PF]

won with a margin of about 2 seconds

Nice work mate, they are the most incredible enduro races that end up like that.

 

[DK]

Try this set-up. It got me round the 'Ring in 7'11.

 

[Greycap]

Two more setups, made specifically for the street car endurances and tested to be fast enough.