Vash's Endurance Companion

[Vash666]

Alright, I decided to make this my race report thread and will update this space as I complete more enduros. Races done so far:

Race 1: GVS 300km, stock Spoon S2000
Race 2: GVS 300km, stock Merc Evo '91
Race 3: GVS 300km, stock Opel Speedster Turbo
Race 4: 4h roadster endurance, stock MX-5 1800RS
Race 5: Laguna Seca 200mls, stock Holden Monaro
Race 6: Laguna Seca 200mls, stock Shelby Series One
Race 7: Indy 500, stock Toyota GT-One Race car
Race 8: Suzuka 1000km, stock Arta Garaiya (JGTC300)
Race 9: Suzuka 1000km, stock Wedssport Celica (JGTC300)

Hey folks I wrote couple of race reports back in the GT4 days and finally took some time off the wheel to write my first race report for GT5. I must say I'm quite disappointed that there are many many things left out from GT5 that I wished were there...
The thing I'm probably most disappointed is that there is no 200 point A-spec races or anything similar to that anymore.
Collecting A-spec points was a major quest (100000 club anyone?) and provided many fun and challenging races for a long time.
The race restrictions in GT5 for most of the events are very loose so I'm continuing my playstyle from GT4 and try to make even races whenever I can.
The main idea is to run with less hp cars and use lower grade tyres than the AI for close racing.
This of course depends on skill level also but by trial and error you can adjust the car to your liking and have a fun race.

Here is my first take on Grand Valley 300km

Car: Spoon S2000 (old oil, S1 tyres, later switched to S3's ) / FR / 267HP / 1100kg / 4.21kg/HP / all aids off except abs 1

The Grid: AI runs on Sport Softs

1 Impreza Sedan WRX STi spec C ´04
2 Skyline gt-r (R34) `00
3 Celica gt-four(st205) `98
4 300ZX 2by2 (Z32) `98
5 Fairlady Z (Z34) ´08
6 Skyline gt-r v-spec (R33) ´95
7 S2000 `00
8 Fairlady Z version S (Z33) ´07
9 MR2 gt-s ´97
10 Celica gt-four rc (st185) ´91
11 RX-8 Type S ´07
12 Stagea 25t rs four ´98


The Race:

Laps 1-24: Standing start, dropped down to 8th after the first corner. Work my way up during the next 5 laps and then settle for 3rd place while catching up on 2nd place skyline.
On lap 16 I finally overtake the 2nd place skyline, gap to 1st place Impreza around 15secs.
Lap 17 I notice my front tyres start to lose grip and see it in my lap times also.
Earlier I was lapping around 2'13 but as the tyres wear off I'm about 3-4 secs slower per lap.
This is no good if I want to win the race as the 1st place car is now about 20 seconds ahead and I don't know when he is going to pit.
I also noticed during this time that there is no notification when the AI pits which makes it much harder to plan strategies and to keep track of things.
The gap keeps increasing so on lap 23 I decide to pit in and change to S3 tyres (no refuel yet). These grippier tyres should help with my laptimes and the wear shouldn't be an issue because of the longish stint already behind on S1's.
After the stop I'm down to 4th and about 45 seconds behind the leader. I take the 3rd place right back after the first corner as the Celica with apparently very worn tyres misses his breaking point and fishtails into the sandtrap.

Laps 25-48: The first fast lap on the S3's and I cant believe how much faster I can go with these tyres than before on S1's.
I clock a new best lap of 2:09.127 and thus completely smash my earlier lap record set with s1 tyres (~2'13].
On the following laps I begin the chase and start closing the gap between me and the leading Impreza. On lap 26 the 2nd place skyline pits and I take 2nd place.
Lap 28 and I set another best lap of 2:07.462, gap to the leader is now only 10 seconds. The grip on these tyres is massive compared to S1's I used earlier.
Then on lap 29 I'm already right behind the leader and I tail him around until the last sector bridge where the AI comes in slow and I cleanly pass the leader and take 1st place.
It is kind of ridiculous how in just a couple of laps I could reduce the 45 second lead next to nothing just buy using softer tyres.
The next laps I start to lap the opposition and work on increasing my lead.

On lap 35 the Impreza finally pits and as he comes out my lead is a whopping 1.36 minutes and in some laps I should be in a position to lap him also.
The tyre change to S3's was kind of a racebreaker but I'm going to see how long I can push the S3's before I have to pit. I would have used S2's (sport mediums] if I had them, I thought I bought them but apparently I didn't.
On lap 45 I'm right behind the Impreza and as we enter the s/f straight I manage to lap him and another car before the first corner... it was quite a sight to see 3 cars side by side breaking to the first righthander
My tyres are quite worn by now and laptimes have slowed down about 4-5 seconds from my best to around 2´12 region. It is pretty much the same pattern as with the S1's but whats interesting is the tyre life.
I'm quite suprised that there is not that much difference in between S1 and S3 tyres when comparing tyrelife, I can run about 25 laps with softs and around 30 laps with hard tyres.
The big difference is in the grip they produce... I'm constantly 4-5 seconds faster with the S3's and the car is much easier to drive. At the end of lap 47 I pitted in and took 9 litres of fuel and new S3's.

Laps 48-60 Not much happened during the final stint, I had a comfortable lead so I tried to finish the race as soon as possible while lapping some more AI drivers and trying to beat my best lap of 2:06.602 without success.
The tyres lose their best grip after a only a couple of laps so I couldn't reach 2:06's that often.

Final results: I couldn't write down the results fast enough as the win screen disappeared quite fast (no way to pause this?) but my finish time was around 2hours 15mins. (I think)
I lapped the Impreza once and rest of the field a few times.

For a close and exciting race one should definitely try sport mediums (S2's) against a similar grid I raced against. If there is a NSX in the grid I'd take S3's right from the start as the NSX's are usually the fastest of the AI drivers by a large margin.

 

[freedomweasel]

Awesome, definitely post more of these as you continue playing. Definitely an entertaining read.

How's the Spoon S2000? I've been waiting for one to show up, but no luck so far.

 

[JeremiahFyffe]

Thanks a lot for the race report!

I started a thread about the Grand Valley Enduro with a race report using my "Union Jack Mini".

https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/showthread.php?t=147505

I'd love it if you would stop by and share/link to your thread. There are a few suggestions in the replies for good competitive setups.

 

[bimmer3002]

great write up. keep em up as you finish more enduros

 

[Vash666]

Awesome, definitely post more of these as you continue playing. Definitely an entertaining read.

How's the Spoon S2000? I've been waiting for one to show up, but no luck so far.

It was a smooth and easy to drive as one would expect from any s2000... I also bought the S2000 LM version from the used dealership and will give it a go in some other enduro.

Thanks a lot for the race report!

I started a thread about the Grand Valley Enduro with a race report using my "Union Jack Mini".

https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/showthread.php?t=147505

I'd love it if you would stop by and share/link to your thread. There are a few suggestions in the replies for good competitive setups.

Yeah I noticed your thread recently, nice going there. I'll run this enduro a couple of more times and might try out your setups also.

 

[Vash666]

Alright, I have finished my second run at this enduro and here is the race report:

Grand Valley 300km, take II

The track:

Big thanks to AMG for providing the maps. 👍

Car: stock Mercedes-Benz 190 E. 2.5 - 16 Evolution II '91 (oil changed, sport medium/soft tyres) / FR / 230hp/ 1340kg / 5.83kg/HP /

The lineup:

1. RX-7 Spirit R Type A (FD) '02
2. ARISTO V300 '00
3. IMPREZA Sedan WRX STi spec C '04
4. Fairlady Z Roadster (Z33) '03
5. IMPREZA Coupe 22B-STi Version '98
6. IMPREZA Coupe WRX typeR STi Version VI '99
7. 190 E. 2.5 - 16 Evolution II '91
8. Lancer Evo X GSR PP. '07
9. Lancer Evo GSR ' 92
10. IMPREZA Sedan WRX STi '02
11. Mazdaspeed Atenza '05
12. 350Z Gran Turismo 4 Ltd.(Z33) '05

The Race:

Laps 1-16: The race starts and I'm immediately overtaken on both sides, the old merc can't quite match the acceleration of others, dropped down to 11th before first corner.
I'm not worried though as I may have much less hp but I can take corners faster than the AI so I begin steadily to climb towards the front on the following laps.
The race has progressed to lap 16 and my gap to the front is not looking too good (+35secs and increasing). My best lap so far is 2:14.513 but I get gradually slower times as the fronts lose more and more grip.
I'm about 1,5 secs slower per lap to the front runners and I think I need a change in strategy.
It is quite early to pit but I need to see if I can start to reduce the gap with S3's and thus I enter the pits for a tyre change.

Laps 17-36: I lose some positions during my time in the pits and drop to 7th for the time being. In the first sector I'm a little over a minute behind the race leader but decide to continue the race despite the large gap.
Lap 19 sees me setting a new fast lap of 2:11.723.👍 Lap 20 is fantastic as I climb 3 positions during the lap. First I overtake the 6th place Lancer Evo X at the first corner,
then pass an Impreza at the tunnel and another Impreza at the sector 2 bridge.
At the end of the lap I'm 4th and 50 seconds behind the leader. The S3's provide excellent grip and on lap 21 I manage to pass yet another Impreza at the first tunnel.
Lap 23, backmarkers start to appear and I lap the old Lancer for the first time before T1 and later the Atenza approaching the s/f straight.
Lap 28, consistent fast laps pay off and I'm right behind the 2nd place RX-7. The AI brakes a bit in the early s-bend at sector 1 and I take it at full throttle and manage to pass the RX-7 cleanly.
On the same lap I also overtake another backmarker, the 350z at the first tunnel. Gap to 1st place already reduced to 23 secs and things start to look much better.

Its the halfway 30/60 laps completed and 1 hour 8 minutes on the clock. I'm at 2nd place 16 seconds behind leader with quite worn out front tyres and laps are around 2.15's on average.

Lap 34, the 1st place Impreza pits exactly at the same time as in my previous GVS race and I know its the same car that I'm up against here.
I take the lead for the first time in this race and as he comes out of the pits the gap is 44 seconds to my favor.
A brief look of the track map and the driver list and I see that the RX-7 barely managed to pass the Impreza for 2nd place.

Its lap 36 and my front tyres have little grip left, I notice that at the end of the lap my lead is reduced by 7 seconds. Its time to enter the pits and
as I'm in favor of a close race I decide to switch back to S2's all around. I should have thought of this move a bit longer as it is a big gamble.
As the tyre change is done I immediately have second thoughts as the race will very tight towards the end.
Whats done is done and as I come out of the pits my lead has dwindled down to only 3 seconds before the Impreza and RX-7 behind me.

Laps 37-60: The final stint is ahead and its going to be hectic one with no margin for error. Luckily there is some traffic ahead and as the lap progresses I lap the 370z and the Atenza on the same lap.
The backmarkers should give me some breathing space as the AI is usually not so good at overtaking slower cars.
This works for a few laps and I manage to increase my lead to 8 seconds while the Impreza and RX-7 are slowed down by the traffic.
Lap 45, the Impreza finally overtakes the RX-7 for 2nd place and begins to pull away quickly. The next lap I already see my lead begins to decrease and its down to 6 seconds.
What worries me the most is my tyres, I thought the S2's would have lasted longer but I'm beginning to lose grip at an alarming rate. My laptimes get slower and slower and still have 14 long laps to go...

For the next laps the heat behind is increasing and I drive as fast I can with the worn tyres but it seems increasingly hard to keep my 1st place. From laps 50 to 55 I manage to block the Impreza but the tyres are not going to last.
At this point my front tyres are in bad condition and my laptimes have plundered to around 2.19 mins... the blocking becomes almost impossible.
I begin to accept that the win is not within my reach anymore and on lap 56 it happens, both the Impreza and the RX-7 overtake me and I drop to 3rd place.🤬 There is nothing I can do to catch them now
and I have to pit at lap 57 to take new tyres. Atleast I pulled large enough gap to others and remained 3rd after the pits.
There is not much to say about the final laps, I just wanted to quit the race so bad but had to keep going to get prize money and xp rewards.
So I completed the final laps finished in 3rd place after 2h and 18 mins of racing.......... I was gutted by the defeat.

Well, my gamble didn't quite pay off as I would have liked but I still got reasonable 48936xp from the race and some prize money for my effort. And whats more this is a race I will remember for a long time.
As a result of this race I need to come back atleast once more before moving on to other enduros as the 3rd place is just not acceptable.

 

[Vash666]

Grand Valley 300km, take III

The track:

Car: Opel Speedster Turbo '00 (no oil change, sport medium/soft tyres) / MR / 191hp/ 1005kg / 5.26kg/HP /

The lineup:

1. SILVIA spec-R AERO (S15) '02
2. Lancer Evo IV GSR '96
3. 300ZX 2seater (Z32) '98
4. CELICA GT-FOUR RC (ST185) '91
5. IMPREZA Sedan WRX STi Version VI '99
6. SKYLINE GT-R (R34) '00
7. Speedster Turbo '00
8. RX-8 Type S '07
9. Fairlady Z 300ZX TT 2 seater (Z32) '89
10.GTO Twin Turbo MR '98
11. Fairlady Z Version S (Z33) '02
12. Supra RZ '97

The Race:

Laps 1-20: We start off and I take a safe approach to first corner which drops me to 10th. I take the first laps easy and pick of some positions in places where the AI corners slowly.
On lap 10 I hear the phone ringing and without thinking pause the game in the middle of a corner before T2 and of course as I come back and unpause the game I can't control the car and oversteer right to a wall.
I try to get back to driving line but the notorirous AI drivers ram the car and I do another spin. This costs me alot of precious seconds dropping me quite far from the leading pack.

I have to start pushing after the spin and on lap 15 I take back 5th position from Lancer Evo IV at the chicane before T1.
On the same lap the RX-8 has the same fate on T2 (bridge). Next lap I get a good draft behind 3rd place Silvia and manage to pass him on the first S-bend.
At this point my gap to 1st place is +26 seconds. Tyre wear starts to affect the car noticeably and it takes more work to keep the back end from oversteering.
The speedster reminds me alot of the Elise so careful throttle and steering is needed with these cars. I notice the RX-8 driver increases his pace and he overtakes the Silvia.
In a couple of laps he catches me and it seems he is not happy about me overtaking him earlier and tries to harass me the next laps.
I keep him behind until lap 20 when I pit in for a fresh set of tyres.

Laps 20-40: Because of the first stint spin my gap to front is a little too much to take on S2's so I have to switch to S3's to start catching the leaders.
I come out of the pits on 7th place and on T1 I am +57 secs behind 1st place. My best lap on S2's was 2:14.920 but thats quickly broken with new S3's.
On lap 23 my tyres have warmed up and I should move up the ranks quickly as the AI is on worn tyres. I start to take back positions as I pass Lancer and Fairlady before T1 and also a Silvia before the bridge on T2.
Now on 4th place and with a clear track ahead for a while I clock a new best lap of of 2:11.987. Then on lap 25 I'm already behind the RX-8 and it doesn't take long to pass him as his pace is very slow due to the worn tyres.
Couple of laps later the Celica is lapped for the first time and my gap to the 1st place is +18 secs. Then on lap 28 I set a blistering new best lap of 2:11.807.
On lap 29 I have catched up to the leaders and pass the 2nd place Skyline at chicane before T1, and on the same lap the 1st place Impreza on T2.
Once again the soft tyres made big difference and as I'm now on first place I can relax a bit and keep increasing the lead until my next stop on lap 40.

Laps 40-60: On lap 40 my lead is a comfortable 45 seconds but as i need to make a pitstop that gap is greatly reduced. Remembering the result of my last GVS race I decide not to change back to S2's.
Its not the same situation as then but I want to play it safe and take fresh S3's. This is a very fuel efficient car and it seems I can easily finish the race without refueling.
I come out the pits about 15 secs ahead before 2nd place Skyline GT-R. With the S3's I have not much trouble keeping the lead and over the following laps I can increase it to over 1 minute.
During the last stint I became a bit bored as I didn't see much of the other cars as they were on the other side of the track or I lapped them when they were in the pits.
On laps 45 to 55 I drive quite carelessly and drift around some of the corners. This results in quite worn rear tyres for the last 5 laps and I really have feather the throttle to keep the car from spinning.
Nevertheless it was pretty uneventful last stint and I finally pass the chequered flag with 2 hours and 17 minutes on the clock with about 60 second lead before 2nd place.

At the end the top 4 was:

1st Opel Speedster
2nd Subaru Impreza
3rd Nissan Skyline
4th Mazda RX-8

With three GVS enduros behind me and probably over 250 laps with all the testing its time to leave this enduro and move on to other ones.
I might come back later here though as it has been one of my favorite tracks since the early GT's.

I'll update this with photos from the race later on.

 

[freedomweasel]

Great reports again, keep em coming. Once you get some pictures up they'll be even better.

 

[crowhop]

Wow. Great thread.

 

[MadduckUK]

👍 those were great

 

[RikkiGT-R]

This might sound odd, but I'm delighted you lost in the Mercedes.
I was going to start a thread asking if anyone has ever lost an endurance race on GT as it seems we pick a car and saunter off into to distance, even if we are using a car similar to those in the starting grid. It seems people DO indeed lose them. Really exciting reads, thank you Vash666 - I'll be following this thread with great interest.

PS - I have never lost an endurance race but you've inspired me to play with fire and pick a slightly weaker car for the challenge.

 

[Silver-Sylph]

I did this with the FGT and finished in 1hr 28min mainly because of the XP. Close to getting to lvl 30.

 

[Vash666]

This might sound odd, but I'm delighted you lost in the Mercedes.
I was going to start a thread asking if anyone has ever lost an endurance race on GT as it seems we pick a car and saunter off into to distance, even if we are using a car similar to those in the starting grid. It seems people DO indeed lose them. Really exciting reads, thank you Vash666 - I'll be following this thread with great interest.

PS - I have never lost an endurance race but you've inspired me to play with fire and pick a slightly weaker car for the challenge.

You should definitely have a read in the GT4 race reports section, There are many good race reports to read. And talking about tough races I remember this race by Smallhorses... crazy stuff

 

[Tired Tyres]

This might sound odd, but I'm delighted you lost in the Mercedes.
I was going to start a thread asking if anyone has ever lost an endurance race on GT as it seems we pick a car and saunter off into to distance, even if we are using a car similar to those in the starting grid. It seems people DO indeed lose them. Really exciting reads, thank you Vash666 - I'll be following this thread with great interest.

PS - I have never lost an endurance race but you've inspired me to play with fire and pick a slightly weaker car for the challenge.

I've lost a few endurance events in GT4 and now in GT5. I'm perfectly okay with that because it's the price you pay for making the race interesting.

 

[Vash666]

Next up... MX-5 enduro

Ahh, the 4h roadster enduro... this one brings back memories from GT4 (and not all good memories). This race was a major PITA for those of us who wanted the full 200 A-spec points.
To get full points here you had to use a vastly inferior car compared to the rest of the field.
First you had ensure that the grid had a mx-5 1800RS (fastest one) in it to get full 200pts. Then you bought a used mx-5 with low hp and then add around 167kg of ballast and to top it of use N1 tyres for the start of the race.
There was a very specific strategy for winning the race under these conditions and still it was very hard. Basicly it was a 4h blocking nightmare because of the 1800RS. Not so fun after a while.
If you are interested reading more of the this GT4 race, head over to the 200 a-spec forum.

4h Roadster endurance

The track:

The car: Mazda MX-5 1800 RS '00, (used, 27510 km on clock, old oil, S2/S1 tyres) / FR / 148HP / 1070kg / 7.23kg/HP

The lineup: AI runs on sport softs and around 160hp cars

1. MX-5 Miata J-Limited '91
2. MX-5 (NA) '89
3. MX-5 1.8 RS '98
4. MX-5 J-Limited '93
5. MX-5 S-Special '95
6. MX-5 Miata 1.8 RS '98
7. MX-5 1800 RS '00
8. MX-5 1800 RS '04
9. Eunos Roadster VR-Limited '95
10. MX-5 Miata VR-Limited '95
11. Roadster 1600 NR-A '04
12. Eunos Roadster (NA Special Package) '89

The race:

First 30 mins: I take the first laps easy and try to start finding a good driving rhythm. After a few laps the field is not so bunched up and there is more room to make clean passes.
By lap 10 I manage to get 1st place and the main contender is the 1800 RS '04. This is a track where faster AI cars can get easily slowed down by slower cars and this results in a -18 second lead on lap 26.
Most of the laps so far have been 1:09's, consistent laps are easy to achieve on such a short track.

1st hour: On laps 31-40 I have lapped the first cluster of miatas and on lap 50 only 3 other mx-5's remain to be lapped. On lap 52 my lead has increased to -30 secs. 1h and 20 mins to the race and I pit in on lap 68 for fresh rubber.
I switch to sport hards to have a slight chance in pace and to see differences between tyre compounds. I come out of the pits with a -21 sec lead.

1,5 hours: Lap 77, I'm clocking 1:11's with S1's and have around -45 sec lead to 2nd place. Moving on to lap 96 I finally lap the 2nd place MX-5 and none of the AI's have pitted in yet.

2 hours: 2h 10mins to the race and the AI's start to pit on the following laps. This means they only pit this one time during the race to change tyres.
I'm disappointed with the sport hards as one would think that they would last longer than mediums but no. With the S1's my pace was pretty much even with the 2nd place runner and the gap stays in -1 lap.

2,5 hours: I have to pit 10 mins too early as the tyres just don't last long enough. This seems very odd as S1's should outlast S2's. Something is just wrong with tyre durability in my opinion
as there not much point in using harder grade tyres strategy wise.👎 Softs last around the same time and are much much quicker per lap. Using harder grade tyre is a good way to make your car slower though and something I will continue to use in my races.
I take sport mediums all around as they seem to last longer and I want to finish this race without pitting in again. Its lap 133 and with fresh S2's and a light car I clock a new best lap of 1:08.858.

3 hours: On lap 152 I put together a great lap with a bit of draft assist and my best is now 1:08.499.

3,5 hours: Lap 167, I lap the 2nd place Mx-5 the second time. At this point I pretty much have had with this car and track but keep on driving as there is not much more left of the race.
The 2nd place car gets stuck behind slower cars for a loooong time and right before the end I lap him the third time. I hit the 4h mark on lap 203 and the race finishes as I complete the lap.

As a reward for 1st place finish I get 193k credits, 207898xp and a '68 year Mazda 110S (L10B)

To be honest I didn't like this track/car combo back in GT4 and its the same thing with GT5. Maybe I should have used N3's (comfort soft's) throughout the race but I'm not doing this race again. On the horizon looms the 9h tuned car Tsubuka race and I definitely need to think of a fun combo there or else boredom strikes fast.

 

[bimmer3002]

another great write-up man. i really enjoy these.

one quick point: you mentioned the opel speedster reminds you of an elise. there's a really good reason for that...... it's a rebadged elise. just thought that was funny. keep these coming!!

 

[Nismo Guy]

These are simply amazing and fun to read, full of detail and excitemnt 👍

They deff. Make a section for these, i could read them all day,

Wish i could write one, only if i knew how

 

[MadduckUK]

Well i did the Grand Vally 300km thanks to Vash666's inspiration

Honda Prelude Type S '98
231BHP 1310KG (5.67KG/BHP)
Racing Air Filter, Sports ECU, Oil Change, S3 Tires.

Ended up scrapping directly and indirectly with an RX7 Spirit R, marginally faster than it throughout the race, but needing to pit 3 times on lap 15,30,45 while he could get away with just the one on around lap 33 proved just a little too much and i came in second, 19 seconds down.

Brilliant race even if i didn't win though. Might try with a SiR Type S when i find one, the 40KG difference may be just enough to grab 1st.

 

[Vash666]

Laguna Seca 200 miles

Not much has changed in this enduro since GT4, the opponents still consists of American cars and their HP is around the same. The lineups in GT5 are now a bit more colourful as there are some old musclecars from the earlier eras.
Also, the AI runs on sport tyres in GT5, they used R1 tyres in GT4 which was probably a slip by PD.

The track:

The car: stock Holden Monaro CV8 '04, (used, old oil, S1/S2/S3 tyres / FR / 309hp / 1658kg / 5.37kg/hp

The lineup:

Tempest Le Mans GTO '64
GT350R '65
Challenger SRT8 '08
Corvette Stingray L46 350 (C3) '69
GNX '87
Corvette Coupe (C2) '67
Monaro CV8 '04
Viper GTS '99
Viper GTS '02
Cuda 440 Six Pack '71
SRT4 '03
Charger 440 R/T '70

The race:

Laps 1-22: On the first couple of laps I pick up positions mainly on the last 2 corners and get up to 2nd place but then on lap 5 I miss the braking point on the last corner and run wide resulting in 3rd place.
The 1st and 2nd cars are quite slow though and I manage to overtake them pretty soon on the next laps.

The Viper's have also passed the slower cars and soon start to harass my 1st place. With much better acceleration the Viper GTS '02 is constantly on my rearview and I cant keep him behind anymore when we are on lap 10.
He overtakes me as we approach the corkscrew and instantly begins to pull away.

Then on lap 14 I'm too eager with the throttle and the car gets sideways coming off the corkscrew. I cant catch the slide and the car spins.
My quick spin costs me the 2nd place as the Viper GTS '99 goes by. I finish the lap in 1:54.5 and the gap is already +28 secs to 1st place.

The S1's are hopelessly slow against the GTS '02 and I lose a couple seconds each lap.
To make matters worse on lap 20 I spin yet another time on corkscrew but I barely manage to keep 3rd place. The pack behind me is very close and I'm getting fed up with the poor handling of the car at this point.
As the tyres wear out the already sluggish handling becomes even worse and the car feels like a boat at some places.
I enter the pits at the end of lap 22 and I take sport medium tyres. My best lap so far is 1:44.408 with averages around 1:45's.

Laps 22-44: During my stop most of the opponents fly by on the s/f straight and as I come out I have dropped to 10th place. I'm also almost a lap behind the leading Viper but I refuse to abandon the race just yet.
Actually the Viper is so close that I can see him in rear view as I enter turn 2. The S2's once again prove to be much faster than S1's and on the following laps I quickly take positions.

With worn tyres the AI's cant put up much of a fight and on lap 27 I'm already back to 3rd place after overtaking a Camaro at corkscrew.

With warmed up tyres I make a new fastlap of 1:41.589.
I hope the leading Viper gets slowed down by the traffic for as long as possible as so I can put down some more fast laps and reduce the gap. On lap 29 I lap the Cuda '71 for the first time.

Lap 34, the 2nd place Viper pits and I take 2nd place, I also lap the Stingray. Despite the spins I'm now 2nd but the leader Viper GTS'02 is worryingly fast. On lap 37 the leader finally pits and I'm anxious to see how close I can get.
As he comes out, the gap is "only" +18 secs at T1 but its still too much. It seems the AI in GT5 doesn't suffer from the cold tyre syndrome nearly as much as in GT4 and the AI's quickly pick up the pace after pitting.

I can't match the Viper's pace and on the last laps before my stop the gap is over +30 secs. On lap 44 the 3rd place Viper '99 overtakes me and at the end of the lap I make my next pitstop.

Laps 45- 67: On the pits I take S3's with 40litres of fuel and hope I can outpace the Viper with these tyres. The race is at halfway point and as I pass the T1 my gap to 1st is +1 minutes and 23 secs.
On lap 46 I clock a new best lap 1:38.954 and pass the SRT4. I'm now on 3rd place and I have reduced the Viper's lead to 1 min and 8 secs.
Moving on to lap 58 I take back 2nd place from Viper GTS' 99 at the corkscrew. My gap to 1st is a little over 1 minute and I'm starting to have a hard time reducing it.

Lap 67, The Holden Monaro is not the lightest car around and the 1658kg takes it's toll on the front tyres... at the end of the lap I have to make my final stop as the car is becomes very understeery.

The final stint, laps 68-90: I come out on 3rd place and I'm still almost a lap behind the leader. I keep on pushing but the Viper GTS' 02 is just too fast. On lap 68 the 2nd Viper pits and I take back 2nd place.
Around lap 75 the leader pits and comes out over +50 secs ahead. With only 15 laps to go the win is out of my grasp and I have to settle for the 2nd place.
with a comfortable gap over the 3rd place GTS I don't have much to do and just cruise around the last laps.

I cross the finish line at 2:36:28.116 on 2nd place, +45 seconds behind the Viper.

The top 5 was:

1. Viper GTS '02
2. Monaro CV8 '04
3. Viper GTS '99
4. Challenger SRT8 '08
5. Charger 440 R/T '70

I get 108000cr, 91727xp for the 2nd place and will return here victorious the next time.

 

[Spacegoat]

Great write up mate.👍

Keep up the good work.

 

[Vash666]

Laguna Seca 200 miles, take II

Its time for another run here after the defeat I suffered at previous race and I found a promising car at the used car dealership...

The track:

The car: stock Shelby Series One Super Charged '03, (used, new oil, S1 tyres / FR / 302hp / 1202kg / 3.98kg/hp

The lineup:

1. Viper GTS '99
2. Camaro SS '69
3. SRT4 '03
4. Mustang V8 GT Coupe Premium '07
5. Corvette Z06 (C5) '04
6. Corvette GRAND SPORT (C4) '96
7. Series One Super Charged '03
8. GT350R '65
9. GTO 5.7 Coupe '04
10. Camaro Z28 Coupe '97
11. Charger Super Bee 426 Hemi '67
12.Corvette Z06 (C5) '00

The race:

Laps 1-30: I keep my position after the start, pass the 6th place Mustang at corkscrew, then Corvette Grand Sport at last corner.
Lap 2, I overtake the Z06 '04 at last corner and now 4th. On next lap I pass the SRT4 at corkscrew and a lap later I take 2nd place from the Camaro SS '69 at first corner.
The 1st place Viper is about +10 secs ahead and as the slower cars are now behind I begin to chase 1st place.

Coming to lap 10 I have catched up and I tail the Viper for a while. Our pace is quite similar with laps around 1:41's.
The Z06 '04 has taken 3rd place and begins to catch us slowly. On lap 13 I see an overtaking spot and manage to pass the Viper cleanly at the last turn.
My 1st place is short lived though as on the next lap I mess up at turn 2 and brake too late. The viper passes me and drops me back to 2nd place.
Lap 15, the Mustang is seriously off the pace and we pass him on s/f straight. Couple of laps later on lap 18 I get another chance at passing the Viper. I get a good draft behind him and I take the lead coming to turn 1.

Lap 20, the Pontiac is lapped next at corkscrew, my lead about -5 secs. Lap 23 sees me lapping the Charger and I increase my lead over the Viper by another 5 secs. Lap 29, the 350R is lapped and I'm getting ready for a pitstop.
Fastest lap so far is 1:38:642 and at the end of lap 30 I pit in. The Shelby Series One is a beast compared to the stock Monaro I drove at last race and is much more friendly to the tyres allowing me to drive for a good 30 laps.
The Shelby accelerates very nicely allowing me to almost match the speed of the Viper and Vettes on the straights.
With sport hards I'm around 4secs faster than the Monaro and there is much more potential when equipped with softer tyres.

Laps 30-60: As I come out of the pits I'm on 3rd place, +9 secs behind Viper and Vette. Three laps later with frest tyres I pass the 2nd place Vette easily and a lap later the Viper has the same fate at first corner.
Both of them pit after a couple of laps and my lead increases to 1 min and 15 secs at T1. Lap 47 and 1h 20 mins on the clock the race goes very well with me having 1,5 minute lead over the 2nd place.

Laps 60-90: I stopped taking notes as the race was pretty much decided in my favor. I should have picked a stronger lineup with the Camaro SS '10 and Viper GTS '02 for a more challenging race.
Also choosing comfort soft's as tyres would have been an option to make the race more even. 💡
Near the end of the race I was a lap ahead of the field but interestingly I had a good fight with the Viper and Vettes for the last 15 laps. I had quite worn tyres near the end and they actually outpaced me for the last laps.
Some good fighting ensued but I couldn't hold my 1 lap lead from the 2 corvettes and I ended up winning the race with a 1 min and 35 sec gap.

I finished the race with 2:34:42.321 on the clock and the top 6 looked like this:

1st Shelby Series One
2nd Corvette Z06 (C5) '04
3rd Corvette Zo6 (C5) '00
4th Dodge SRT4 '03
5th Dodge Viper GTS '99
6th Camaro Z28 Coupe '97

Next on the list is the Indy 500 but that race seems quite uneventful, will have to test some cars and see what I can come up with...

 

[GTP_ClockWork]

Awesome logs dude! Are you using a wheel or a DS3? Can't wait until you do some of the enduros with higher powered cars.

 

[Vash666]

Awesome logs dude! Are you using a wheel or a DS3? Can't wait until you do some of the enduros with higher powered cars.

Thanks, I'm using a G25 and having so much fun... big change for the better as I used a controller in GT4.

 

[MadduckUK]

at last i have a Prelude '98 SiR S Spec. so i shall be running the grand valley 300 again. fingers crossed the 40kg difference from last time get me the edge on the RX-7 now. writeup of interesting bits to follow if there are any.

Sooo as we were, amost:

Honda Prelude SiR Type S '98
231BHP 1270KG (5.49KG/BHP)
Racing Air Filter, Sports ECU, Oil Change, S3 Tires.

wish me luck!

 

[elrousso]

@Vash666 : Your reports have inspired me to write my own, I'd be honored if you would leave a comment on it : Grand Valley 300

Nice races and reports, I'll keep on reading while reporting on my own races, I'm in the middle of the Roadster 4hr race at the moment, still thinking about writing a report on this one or not...

 

[RikkiGT-R]

You should definitely have a read in the GT4 race reports section, There are many good race reports to read. And talking about tough races I remember this race by Smallhorses... crazy stuff

Good grief

I'm not sure I would have the guts to take that on. I'd cry if I lost, and I mean genuine tears

 

[MadduckUK]

oh lord, i think im going to have to make my own thread for this one - in the morning 04:00 here now. nighty night all

 

[Vash666]

at last i have a Prelude '98 SiR S Spec. so i shall be running the grand valley 300 again. fingers crossed the 40kg difference from last time get me the edge on the RX-7 now. writeup of interesting bits to follow if there are any.

Sooo as we were, amost:

Honda Prelude SiR Type S '98
231BHP 1270KG (5.49KG/BHP)
Racing Air Filter, Sports ECU, Oil Change, S3 Tires.

wish me luck!

Good luck with race, a bit lighter car might just do the trick. Now you also have the experience from your previous attempt so I'm sure you will prevail. 👍

@Vash666 : Your reports have inspired me to write my own, I'd be honored if you would leave a comment on it : Grand Valley 300

Nice races and reports, I'll keep on reading while reporting on my own races, I'm in the middle of the Roadster 4hr race at the moment, still thinking about writing a report on this one or not...

Thanks, its nice to see others starting to write race reports also. Which MX-5 did you choose for the roadster 4h? Also good luck with the race also if you are still running it.

Good grief

I'm not sure I would have the guts to take that on. I'd cry if I lost, and I mean genuine tears

Yeah, ending up on 2nd place after 24h of A-spec racing must have been utterly horrible. I wasn't that far from losing a 24h sarthe race either... Inspired by the likes of Smallhorses I entered both Sarthe I and II enduros in stock BMW mclaren race car with only oil changed and race tyres bought. Sarthe I (chicane version) was a fight till the end and 22 hours into the race disaster struck. I was very lucky to still win after that incident. Not sure if I'm still willing to enter a 24h race like that one. Now that I look back to those races I realize what a huge gambles they were.

The rest of my old GT4 reports are also to be found with a bit of digging if interested.

 

[Destinkeys]

Vash, how do you keep so much of the race in your memory as you drive? Do you dictate to a memo recorder, or run a capture card or video camera, or what? The game won't store a replay that long (and God knows how mind-numbing it would be to sit through the whole thing with no fast forward!).

I've done five lap sprints I wasn't able to keep so much detail in my head for!

What's your secret?

 

[elrousso]

The game won't store a replay that long

Actually I watched the complete replay of my race on Grand Valley (while writing my report), so I'm pretty sure the game can store at least a 2h20 replay file, though I can't say for the longer races...