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Participated in Tsukuba 9h Endurance (Tsukuba Circuit). Champion.
Time: 1'01.641
Endurance Events: Tsukuba 9h Endurance: Tsukuba Circuit: 0 Lap (9 Hours)
Settings: S1/S1; NA1 (148 SettingsHP); Nitrous @ 50; RideHt 115/115, Shocks 6/5, Camber 0.7/0.2; Triple-plate Clutch; Racing Flywheel; Aids 000; 0 Ballast
A-spec points: 200
Prize: $150000
My Pits (13): End of Laps 39, 73, 108 (Fuel to 50), 144, 180 (Fuel to 45), 216, 252 (Fuel to 36), 288 (Fuel to 45), 324 (Fuel to 42), 360, 396 (Fuel to 33), 432 (Fuel to 37), 468 (Fuel to 31)
| F | S | Car Name | Time (Gap) | Best |
| 1 | 6 | Lotus Elise '00 | 9:00'00.852 | 1'01.641 |
| 2 | 5 | Mazda RX-7 Spirit R Type A (FD) '02 | +8 Laps | |
| 3 | 3 | Mazda RX-8 Type S (J) '03 | ? | |
| 4 | 1 | Nissan SKYLINE GT-R V-spec II '00 | ? | |
| 5 | 4 | Subaru LEGACY B4 2.0GT '03 | ? | |
| 6 | 2 | BMW 330i '05 | +24 Laps |
Please refer to these track maps when looking up Turn numbers/names ** Special thanks to AMG @ GTPlanet.net for the hard work put in to generate them!!! **
Unfortunately, the replay file only contains the first 70 laps or so. Because of this, I don't have accurate lap counts for the RX-8, the SKYLINE, and the LEGACY...
On the first lap, I move into P3 at Turn 3, bashing my way past the LEGACY and RX-8. I overtake the 330i on the inside of Turn 4, and at T2 I'm down 1.534" to the SKYLINE. I'm on its tail as we exit the final right hander, and I manage to squeeze by for the lead at the end of Lap 1, ahead by a scant 0.007".
The main competitor of the field is actually the RX-7, but starting in P5, it struggles for a while before it gets through traffic. The SKYLINE is a quick runner as well, but its tires force it to pit too often to remain near the front. I use the Nitrous sparingly throughout the race, usually only after taking a turn poorly and/or going off track. Toward the end of the race, around Lap 490 or so, I finally work towards emptying the bottle.
By the end of Lap 2, I'm in the lead by 2.880" to the SKYLINE, and I begin to break away from the field with laps in the mid 1'04s. It's not until around Lap 17 when the RX-7 finally breaks through traffic, and it slowly starts to reel in the SKYLINE. However, by that point, I'm more than 20 seconds in front of the SKYLINE, and when it pits at the end of its 24th lap, the RX-7 moves into P2.
As the race continues, I improve my braking into the key turns: 1, 3, 7, and 8. I try to maintain the low 40s for 1 and 7, the mid to high 30s for 3, and the mid to high 70s for 8. With more and more laps run, the fuel load gets lighter, and my fast laps gradually work their way into the low 1'04s and high 1'03s, without using the bottle. When the end of the race nears, I still have nearly half of the bottle left, and I use it to set laps in the mid to high 1'01s.
I tried to pit at the end of Lap 37, but I enter the pit lane too fast, and it sends me back on my way. I slow down to less than 25mph after hitting the wall, and creep my way back onto the track. I eventually pull into the pits at the next opportunity, and after my next stints after Lap 73, I start to pit every 36 laps.
Eventually, I put the RX-7 down by more than 8 laps. I tried to get to 500 laps, and perhaps with better use of the bottle (exiting Turn 7 onto the long straight and/or during in/out laps), I might've been able to reach it. As it was, I cross the line at the end of Lap 496, less than a second past the 9 hour mark.
I ended the race with 667.1 miles on the odometer.
Here's a video of my run:
(Laps 1-41)
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1166927935092928143
(Laps 466-496)
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5043157363322331625
Thanks for reading. Thanks for watching. And Have A Great Drive!
RoadHazard
http://www.mygt4diary.com/
