Legal Stuff: This walkthrough may not be reposted, in whole or in parts, on
any sites other than gamefaqs.com unless explicitly permitted by me. The
permanent home for this FAQ is on my own website www.hansenonline.net/GT4.
Please don't plagiarize my work, I spent a lot of time getting this together.
Written by: Lars M. Hansen (lambert (at) hansenonline.net)
(c) 2006
Disclaimer: I've made every effort to capture the lap times of every car
in every race, but it is possible that I may have missed one. However,
these should be the most likely competitors for each race.
Best laptimes simply means that it is the fastest laptimes that I observed
for each car. It does not imply that that cars will run every lap at that
speed, nor that they will actually run at that speed. It simply gives you
some indication as to what to expect from the competition.
Endurance races can be so much fun, but only if you are racing with a car
that is suited for the race at hand. Entering every endurance race with the
Audi R8 might ensure a win, but if you're racing against regular production
cars, where's the fun in that? So, I have put together this guide that will
tell you all you need to know about each endurance race before you enter it,
so you are better prepared with regards to your choice of car.
This is a 60 lap race at the Grand Valley Speedway. The cars are all Touring
cars or JGTC cars, so pick car accordingly. Plan for 3 pit stops, just about
every 15 laps, or you can do 4 stops, with a couple of short but fast stints
to get a gap, and then cruise through the rest. This can be risky, especially
if you calculate your stops poorly, and end up having to make a fifth stop.
The toughest competitors in this race are the Mazda RX-7 LM Race car, the
Nissan Motul Pitworks Z (JGTC), the Mazda RX-8 Concept LM Race car and the
Toyota Woodone Tom's Supra (JGTC). These cars all put in fastest laps under
1:55.0, so you need to be able to match that. This does in no way mean that
the rest of the competition is pushovers. The Honda Loctite Mugen NSX clocked
in only 0.1 second outside of 1.55, and the 2000 Ford Falcon XR8 was only 0.1
seconds behind the Loctite.
Here are a list of likely competitors, the fastest laps, and expected laps
between pitting.
# Car Best Laptime Pits
1 Mazda RX-7 LM Race car 01:53.453 15
2 Nissan Motul Pitwork Z (JGTC) 01:53.772 15
3 Mazda RX-8 Concept LM Race Car 01:54.134 12
4 Toyota Woodone Tom's Supra 01:54.813 14
5 Honda Loctite Mugen NSX (JGTC) 01:55.099 13
6 2000 Ford Falcon XR8 01:55.237 11
7 Abt Audi TT-R Touring Car 01:55.526 14
8 Opel Astra Touring Car 01:55.593 15
9 Toyota au Cerumo Supra (JGTC) 01:55.714
10 Mercedes CLK Touring Car 01:55.717 15
11 Nissan Pennzoil Zexel GT-R 01:55.766
12 Nissan Xanavi Hiroto GT-R 01.55.769
13 Toyota Castrol Tom's Supra 01:55.824 13
14 Honda Takata Dome NSX (JGTC) 01:55.848 13
15 BMW M3 GTR Race Car 01:55.866
These are the fastest laps I've observed with these cars. There are other
cars as well, but these appear to be the fastest 15 cars.
Tire recommendation: Hard racing tires. Keep some super-hard and mediums on
hand in case you need some extra speed or you need to run a few extra laps
before pitting. The hard racing tires should keep you out for 15 laps or so,
unless you are driving really hard.
Other suggestions: Don't take on more fuel than you need for the number of
laps you need to go. Also consider using different tires on the front and
back if your tire wear is uneven.
This is an American muscle car, 90 lap endurance race at Laguna Seca raceway.
You'll probably be pitting in every 15-20 laps, depending on your driving
style and choice of tires, so that'll put you at 5 or 6 stops.
The toughest competition in this race will come from the Ford GT '05, the
Saleen S7 '02, the Shelby Series 1 Supercharged '03 and the Proto Motors
Spirra V8. These cars will do their fastest laps under 1:32; and I've seen
the Ford go under 1:30 as well.
It's difficult to pass at Laguna Seca, so cars often gets stuck behind slower
cars, so lap times vary tremendously.
# Car Best Laptime Pits
1 Ford GT '05 01:28.881 16
2 Proto Motors Spirra V8 '04 01:30.328 16
3 Saleen S7 '02 01:30.758 22
4 Shelby Series 1 '03 01:31.081 17
5 Chevrolet Corvette ZR-1 01:32.248
6 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 01:33.508 21
7 Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sports 01:33.562
8 Dodge Viper SRT10 '03 01:33.570
9 Callaway C12 01:33.599
10 Dodge Viper GTS '99 01:33.776 18
One would think that the Saleen S7 would prevail with its very long stints,
but the Ford GT is the probably the biggest threat here. It's only marginally
faster than the Saleen, but it drives incredibly fast also on cold and worn
tires, and may catch up to the Saleen in the 6 laps between when it pits and
the Saleen pits.
Tire recommendation: Hard racing tires should give you 15 laps or so, and
good laptimes as well. Super hards will give you longer stints, but your
laptimes will drop, and that might move you out of contention.
Car recommendation: If you want to win easily, pick any of the top 3 cars on
the list above. If you want more of a challenge, pick one of the bottom 3,
the Pontiac GTO or the Ford Mustang SVT Cobra...
This is a Mazda Miata race. You have to pick a Miata to be able to enter.
There's really no serious research necessary for this one. All the Miatas
will do laps around 1:15 - 1:16, with the occasional dip into 1:14, so
there's your target time.
Tire Recommendation: Hard sports tires. No racing tires allowed in this race,
and the hard tires should give you enough speed and endurance you'll need to
win this race.
Car Recommendation: Pick the Miata with the color you like best. At least it
will look good on replay...
If you are afraid that you won't be able to win with a stock Miata, put a
racing chip in it. That'll give you a few extra horses, which will bring your
car over the top.
Again, a JGTC/Touring Car race. Pick car accordingly.
I'm not going to put out a list of cars for this race. It's the same list as
for the Grand Valley 300 KM race at the top of the page. Lap times here are
around 1:40 - 1:43, depending on the car. The fastest car list appears to be
very similar, with the Nissan Motul Pitwork Z and the Mazda RX-7 and RX-8
putting in the fastest laps. Most cars here go for two stops, with stops
between laps 24 and 29, again depending on car. For instance, the Pitwork Z
pits on lap 28 and 56, the Toyota au Cerumo Supra pits on lap 27 and 54.
# Car Best Laptime Pits
1 Nissan Motul Pitwork Z 01:39.837 28
2 Mazda RX-7 LM Race Car 01:39.885 28
3 Mazda RX-8 Concept LM Race Car 01:40.172 22
4 2000 Ford Falcon XR8 01:41.080 22
5 Opel Astra Touring Car 01:41.090 29
6 Toyota au Cerumo Supra 01:41.138 27
7 Honda Loctite Mugen NSX 01:41.281 26
8 Nissan Penzoil Zexel GT-R 01:41.525 28
9 Toyota Castrol Tom's Supra 01:41.811
10 Honda Takata Dome NSX 01:41.848 27
11 Audi A4 Touring Car 01:42.235
12 Honda Mobil 1 NSX 01:42.247
Tire recommendation: You can do this with hard racing tires, if you nurse
them. Everyone pits at least twice, so if you can do 20 laps on hard tires,
then you are good to go. Always bring a set of super-hards with you in case
you don't make 20 laps on your first stint, because if you have to make three
pit stops, you may not be able to win the race. Pit stops put you back about
35 seconds, plus another 10-15 seconds of lost time due to cold tires on the
first couple of laps and potential traffic.
This is truly a high speed race. The incredibly short and smooth track along
with the fastest cars in the game is sure to get the adrenalin pumping. Bring
out your best race cars, because this is a race where 10ths of seconds
matters.
The toughest opponents here are going to the be two Nissan race cars (R89C
and R92CP), the Sauber Mercedes C 9 and the Minolta Toyota 88C-V. That
doesn't mean that the other cars will be pushovers, but those 4 cars show up
very frequently, and they always drive fast!
Here's a little table showing some of the faster cars and their fastest
laptimes.
# Car Best Laptime Pits
1 Sauber Mercedes C 9 Race Car 00:29.2 43
2 Nissan R89C Race Car 00:29.2 41/42
3 Nissan R92CP Race Car 00:29.2 40
4 Minolta Toyota 88C-V Race Car 00:29.3 38
5 Bentley Speed 8 Race Car 00:29.7 44
6 Peugeot 905 Race Car 00:29.7
7 Mazda 787B Race Car 00:29.8 48
8 Jaguar XJR-9 Race Car 00:29.8 33
9 Audi R8 Race Car 00:29.9
10 Toyota 7 Race Car 00:30.3 49
11 Toyota GT-One Race Car 00:30.3
12 Pescarolo Courage C60 Race Car 00:30.4
13 BMW V12 LMR Race Car 00:30.6 49
Tire Recommendations: Hard racing tires might seem like a gamble, but it does
look like everyone pits twice. So, as long as you can make your tires last 34
laps, you can you get away with using hard tires. Since these have more grip,
you can maintain a higher speed during those corners, and that might give you
the edge you need... You can also short-fill on fuel, which means you'll
shave a couple of seconds off your pitting time.
Welcome to my nightmare. I hope you're gonna like it.
This is quite possibly the most difficult race to win (A-Spec), and only a
very few have what it takes to race for 24 hours. Not only does it take 24
hours to race, but you cannot save your progress. You can pause it, and leave
it on, but not save...
This is another Touring Car/JGTC car race, and the cars that appear here are
the same as those appearing in other similar races, like the Grand Valley
Endurance race.
There is one almost unbeatable competitor you might encounter in the race:
the Chaparral 2D Race car. If you see that on the list of car, you might as
well want to back out and try again. It's incredibly fast, and it last 6 laps
between pitting, and its tires are not even worn out enough to make it wipe
out anywhere.
So, let's take a look at the competition.
# Car Best Laptime Pits
1 Chaparral 2D Race Car '69 7:00.072 6
2 Abt Audi TT-R Touring Car '02 7:16.980 6
3 BMW M3 GTR Race Car 7:19.747 6
4 Nissan Falken GT-R Race Car '04 7:20.023 5
5 Audi A4 Touring Car 7:21.752 6
6 Alfa Romeo 155 2.5 V6 TI '93 7:22.947 5
7 Opel Calibra Touring Car '94 7:28.029 5
8 AMG Mercedes 190 E Evo II 7:33.439 6
I've left out the JGTC cars here, because none of them appear to pose any
real threat to the cars on the above list. Also, the Opel Astra did not show
up in any of the races that I started, so I was unable to clock a time for
it. I would suspect that it would come in between 3rd and 6th on this list.
Tire recommendation: Super-hard tires will likely give you 5 laps, hard tires
will give you 4 laps, but with much better lap times. Bring both, and see
how you do with either. 4 very good laps may be better than 5 mediocre laps,
even if some of the competition is doing 6 laps between stops.
Other recommendations: Your car will suffer from rigidity degradation.
Consider getting the rigidity upgrade before you start the race, or you may
find yourself with a car that gets very difficult to handle after about 8
hours of racing.
This is one of the easier endurance races. The cars are all regular
production cars, so the speeds aren't too high, and navigating the Ring isn't
too complicated. The duration of the race is also not too long, and it can be
completed in one sitting.
This list contains the most frequently seen cars that has a fastest lap under
8:30. These are your biggest and most likely competitors.
# Car Best Laptime Pits
1 Lotus Elise 111R '04 7:40.107 5
2 ASL Garaiya '02 7:47.753 6*
3 Opel Speedster Turbo '00 7:49.981 4*
4 Honda NSX Type R '02 7:56.532 5
5 Honda NSX Type S '01 8:00.713 5
6 Clio Renault Sport V6 Phase 2 8:05.150 4*
7 Subaru Impreza Sedan WRX STi 8:08.545 5
8 Jaguar XKR-Performance '02 8:11.994 5
9 Mazda RX-8 Type S '03 8:14.183 5
10 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII GSR 8:14.197 4
11 Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport 8:16.115 6
12 Ford Mustang SVT Cobra '00 8:17.972 5
13 BMW M3 '04 8:20.150 5
14 Nissan Skyline GT-R V-Spec II 8:20.279 5
15 Audi RS 4 '01 8:20.729 5
16 Jaguar S-Type R '02 8:20.853 5
17 Chevrolet Camaro SS '00 8:21.571 5
18 Mercedes CLK 55 AMG 8:27.203 5
The Opel Speedster should pit every 4 laps, but its tires are so bad at the
end, that it will crash when going down the hill towards the pit-in. Because
of this, it will consistently miss the pit-in, and have to do a fifth lap on
really bad tires, losing about 4 minutes on that lap. Because of this, the
Opel is not really as big a threat as it may look, as it will only be able to
pick up 30-40 seconds on the next few laps.
The Clio Renault has some significant problems on the last lap before
pitting, causing a major time loss. So, even if it does take off leaving you in
the dust, you should be able to make up a minute or two every 4 laps...
The Lotus also has some control problems, especially on lap 1 and 5. Most
cars lose 30-40 seconds on the pit-in lap, while the Lotus is likely to lose
between 50 and 70 seconds. However, due to its high speed, it's a difficult
car to beat.
The ASL Garaiya does run into some trouble on the last lap before pitting,
but not enough to take it out of the race like the Opel and the Renault. In
all the tests that I've done, this car has only come up once, so it may not
be a frequent show for you either, but if it does show up, it will be as big
a threat as the Lotus.
Tire recommendation: Hard sports tires. The medium sports tires doesn't have
the durability to be of much use here. Try the hard tires and aim for 5 laps
between stops.
Other tips: Pick a car you enjoy to drive, and keep its engine stock. Any
engine upgrades will sink your A-Spec points, and make the race too easy. If
the Lotus (any Lotus, actually) shows up, consider re-starting the race. It's
not unbeatable, but the Honda NSX should be competitive enough for most.
Yet another JGTC/Touring car race, and this is definitively a track that
favors the Japanese GT car. The car list and ranking is almost identical to
the Grand Valley list. Some of the cars didn't show during my tests, but it's
safe to assume that the top 5 cars from the Grand Valley list will also be
very competitive in this race.
# Car Best Laptime Pits
1 Mazda RX-7 LM Race Car '01 02:03.617 15
2 Nissan Motul Pitwork Z 02:03.974 14
3 Mazda RX-8 Concept LM Race Car 02:04.159 11
4 Toyota Woodone Tom's Supra 02:04.408 13
5 2000 Ford Falcon XR8 02:05.516 11
6 Toyota au Cerumo Supra 02:05.642 14
7 Mercedes CLK Touring Car 02:05.753 14
8 Nissan Xanavi Hiroto GT-R 02:05.845 14
9 Opel Astra Touring Car 02:05.890 15
10 Honda Takata Dome NSX 02:06.200 15
11 Nissan Penzoil Zexel GT-R 02:06.213 14
12 Abt Audi TT-R Touring Car 02:06.674 14
13 Audi A4 Touring Car 02:06.850 14
14 BMW M3 GTR Race Car 02:06.931 12
Tire Recommendation: Suzuka is a track where grip is essential, so you may
want to forgo the super hard (R1) tires on this one, and go with the hard
(R2) tires instead. It appears like the competition are on hard tires as
well, at least that seems to match up with B-Spec Bob and his speed and
pitting. Attempting the race on super hard tires may give you longer stints,
but the cost of 2-3 seconds per lap in lost time is going to be hard to make
up...
Other tips: As always, only fill up as much fuel as you need for your next
pit stop. Go out hard on the first lap to try to pass at least two of the
slower cars into the first corner. Be careful with the two right hand corners
before T1; if you can't make either of those corners, you'll end up in the
sand pit, and lose a lot of time.
The Motegi Endurace race is a race of tuner cars. The list below is, as far
as I can tell, the only competition you will see in this race. The various
incarnations of the Honda S2000 are probably going to be the toughest
competition. The Amuse S2000 R1 goes 32 laps between pitting, and that might
be difficult to top.
Here's a little table showing some of the faster cars and their fastest
laptimes.
# Car Best Laptime Pits
1 Opera Performance S2000 02:12.683 29
2 Amuse S2000 R1 02:13.657 32
3 Opera Performance 350Z 02:14.545 21
4 Spoon S2000 02:16.291 22
5 Nismo Fairlady Z S-Tune Concept 02:16.811 23
6 Mugen S2000 02:17.623 22
7 Tom's X540 Chaser 02:19.656 19
8 Nismo GT-R LM Road Going V. 02:20.371 26
9 Trial Celica SS-II 02:21.133 14
10 Spoon Civic Type R 02:22.110 12
11 Spoon Integra Type R 02:25.965 11
Tire Recommendations: Hard sports tires will keep you out on the track for a
long time, but grip may be an issue. For a challenge, try N2 tires. My B-Spec
driver (you didn't think I was A-Spec'ing all these races to collect this
info, did you?) did 40 laps in the Opera Performance S2000. He wasn't
winning, but once I turned the speed up, he was keeping up with the best of
them.
Finally a regular car race. This is a short track with some surprises. It
appears that some cars are having some trouble passing, while others are hard
to pass. Because of this, the order may change quickly after some cars starts
to pit, and the car to look out for may not be the one you first thought.
# Car Best Laptime Pits
1 Lotus Elise 111R '04 01:02.003 33
2 Honda NSX Type R '02 01:03.682 33
3 Mazda RX-7 Spirit R Type A '02 01:04.183 36
4 Clio Renault Sport V6 Phase 2 01:04.281 22
5 Nissan 350Z '03 01:04.422 31
6 Nissan Skyline GT-R V-Spec II 01:05.455 24
7 Toyota Supra RZ '97 01:05.741 28
8 Subaru Impreza Sedan WRX STi 01:05.799 21
9 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII '03 01:05.823 22
10 Subaru Legacy B4 2.0GT '03 01:05.913 20
11 Mazda RX-8 Type S 01:05.994 30
12 Audi A3 3.2 Quattro '03 01:06.194 23
13 Alfa Romeo GT 3.2 V6 24V '04 01:06.669 16
14 BMW 330i '05 01:06.746 26
15 Alfa Romeo 147 GTA '02 01:08.900 15
As far as I can tell, that is the complete line up for this race. I'd suggest
trying to avoid racing the Elise and the NSX. Their consistent fast laps make
it almost impossible to keep up with them. Bring hard and medium sports
tires. Start with the hard tires, and change to medium if you need a little
extra speed.
The second of three 24 hour Endurance races, and this on the infamous Le Mans
circuit. The cars are all (with a few exceptions) LMP1 race cars, which are
the fastest cars in Gran Turismo 4. I don't know why they sometimes would
include the Corvette C5R and Panoz Esperante GTR-1, as they are not LMP1
cars, they compete in the LM-GT1 class. Along with the Nissan R390, these
pose no threat at all, and are just obstacles that have to be passed every
10-12 laps.
The (almost) complete list of cars along with fastest observed laptimes
follows:
# Car Best Laptime Pits
1 Sauber Mercedes C 9 Race Car 3:26.140 7
2 Nissan R92CP Race Car '92 3:26.984 7
3 Nissan R89C Race Car '89 3:28.172 7
4 Mazda 787B Race Car '91 3:28.808 8
5 BMW V12 LMR Race Car '99 3:30.747 8
6 Audi R8 Race Car '01 3:30.942 8
7 Playstation Pescarolo C60 '04 3:31.867 8
8 Toyota GT-One Race Car '99 3:32.285 9
9 Bentley Speed 8 Race Car '03 3:33.430 9
10 Nissan R390 GT1 Race Car '98 3:38.647 8
11 Panoz Esperante GTR 1 Race Car 3:47.831 8
12 Chevrolet Corvette C5R '00 3:58.300 9
Recommendations: Any car in the top 7 will do, with a little tuning. The
Pescarolo, with the proper tuning can give the Sauber a run for its money,
and it's not just because it runs a lap longer before pitting. All of these
cars in the hands of a decent a-spec or b-spec driver can do laps under 3:26.
Bring along both Super-Hard and Hard tires, as you may need to make some
changes unless you have done some preliminary testing. The Pescarolo will do
8 full laps on Hard tires, so there shouldn't be necessary to use the Super
Hard tires. It has to stop every 8 laps to refuel anyways...
No Minolta Toyota? That's right. In all the test runs I did, the Minolta
never showed. The above are all the cars that showed up in 15 line ups.
However, the Minolta will show in the ...
More or less the same track as above, but there are no chicanes on the back
straight, which makes the track about 15 seconds faster. The track is very
bumpy, especially towards the end of the long straight, so make sure there's
room in your suspension to absorb it.
And, everyone's favorite race car, the Minolta Toyota, is here.
Here's the list of cars and observed best laptimes.
# Car Best Laptime Pits
1 Sauber Mercedes C 9 Race Car '89 3:11.728 8
2 Minolta Toyota 88C-V Race Car '89 3:12.342 8
3 Nissan R92CP Race Car '92 3:12.487 8
4 Nissan R89C Race Car '89 3:13.963 8
5 Mazda 787B Race Car '91 3:15.139 9
6 Jaguar XJR-9 Race Car '88 3:15.244 8
7 Peugeot 905 Race Car '92 3:16.067 9
8 Ford GT40 Race Car '69 3:53.291
That's all the cars that I've observed. Any of these cars can win the race
(with the possible exception of the Ford...). You can also use the cars from
the other Sarthe race, and they'll have a good shot at winning too.
The lack of a chicane on the back straight reduces fuel consumption and tire
wear, so most cars will last one extra lap. Bring Super Hard and Hard racing
tires and maybe even some mediums. Do a rigidity refresher before starting,
if necessary, and consider installing the as well. This is an extreme race,
and your car will go "soft" if you don't have the extra cage.
Don't like the Fuji racetrack? Well, here are 288 laps of it, again with the
LMP1 cars. This race appears to have the same choice of cars as the Sarthe I
race. This track is fast, and even small errors will quickly end up being
valuable seconds that will be hard to catch up.
The list of cars along with fastest observed laptimes follows:
# Car Best Laptime Pits
1 Sauber Mercedes C 9 Race Car '89 01:17.439 15
2 Nissan R92CP Race Car '92 01:17.662 15
3 Nissan R89C Race Car '89 01:17.764 15
4 Mazda 787B Race Car '91 01:18.411 19
5 Jaguar XJR-9 Race Car '88 01:18.991 15
6 Audi R8 Race Car '01 01:19.104 20
7 BMW V12 LMR Race Car '99 01:19.435 21
8 Playstation Pescarolo C60 '04 01:19.691 22
9 Bentley Speed 8 Race Car '03 01:19.903 20
10 Playstation Courage C60 '03 01:19.965 22
11 Toyota GT-One Race Car '99 01:20.107 20
12 Nissan R390 GT 1 Race Car 01:22.520 18
There are other cars as well, but none of the clocks laps under 1:20, so
they're rather irrelevant in the big picture.
Tire recommendation: Bring your Hard and Medium racing tires. I suspect the
cars pitting every 15 laps are running on Mediums, and the ones pitting later
are running on Hard tires. My car during testing (Pescarolo) did 22 laps
(same as the other Pescarolos) on hard tires, so I think it's a fairly safe
assumption.
More fast cars on another fast track. More LMP cars on a track that really
play havoc on your tires. The Sauber and the Nissan R92CP are again the two
fastest cars on the track, and it's really hard to keep up with anyone on
this track...
The mandatory list
# Car Best Laptime Pits
1 Nissan R92CP Race Car '92 01:22.601 14
2 Sauber Mercedes C 9 Race Car '89 01:22.683 14
3 Nissan R89C Race Car '89 01:22.766 14
4 Mazda 787B Race Car '91 01:23.171 16
5 Playstation Pescarolo C60 '04 01:24.002 18
6 Audi R8 Race Car '01 01:24.100 18
7 Jaguar XJR-9 Race Car '88 01:24.214 12
8 BMW V12 LMR Race Car '99 01:24.373 17
9 Playstation Courage C60 '03 01:24.526 17
10 Toyota GT-One Race Car '99 01:24.635 16
11 Bentley Speed 8 Race Car '03 01:25.246 17
12 Nissan R390 GT 1 Race Car 01:27.102 14
13 Panoz Esperante GTR-1 01:30.273 14
14 Dodge Viper GTS-R Team Oreca '00 01:30.769 15
15 Chevrolet Corvette C5R 01:32.243 15
Tire recommendations: Consider hard tires on the rear and medium up front, or
step it up one hardness level. The problem is that putting the super-hard
tires on the rear takes away a lot of grip, and you'll end up with too many
trips in the grass.
This is a sports car race with a very nice prize car: The Minolta Toyota Race
Car. The track is very unforgiving with lots of twists and turns and nice
changes in elevation. Probably the most scenic of all the tracks, but who has
time to look at the scenery?
With the sports tire restriction, tire wear is the biggest concern. There
will be quite a few pit stops, so you can probably save some time by sort-
filling on fuel and only fill up as much as you need. In addition, carrying
less fuel means less weight, which is good news.
And now for the car list
# Car Best Laptime Pits
1 Lotus Motor Sport Elise '99 01:54.229 12
2 Proto Motors Spirra 4.6 V8 '04 01:56.059 11
3 Pagani Zonda C12 '00 01:56.123 19
4 Shelby Series 1 Super Charged '03 01:56.742 14
5 Lotus Espirit Sport 350 '00 01:57.054 14
6 TVR T350C '03 01:58.043 11
7 TVR Cerbera Speed Six '97 01:58.043 11
8 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 (C5) '00 01:58.684 16
9 Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport '96 01:59.047 13
10 Dodge Viper GTS '99 01:59.204 14
11 Dodge Viper SRT10 '03 01:59.484 17
12 Mercedes SL 65 AMG '04 02:00.069 11
13 Callaway C12 '03 02:00.348 16
14 Aston Martin V8 Vantage '99 02:01.546 11
Tire Recommendations: Bring hard and medium sports tires. You may need a fast
stint every now and then, and having the option to pit more often but shave 1
1/2 second of you lap time might come in handy.
I would suggest avoiding the Zonda and the Elise. Even if the Zonda isn't
that fast, it will only pit three times (lap 19, 38, 57), while most other
cars will pit at least 4 times. This gives the Zonda at least a 20 second
advantage on everyone else, in addition to its high speed.
Only 200 more miles to go, and it's all over. And these are not just any 200
miles, these miles are in the Big Apple, Manhattan, New York City. And, no
pedestrians allowed.
The cars in this race are sports cars, very much the same list as for the El
Capitan endurance. However, this track is very different with all of its
right-angle corners. This seems to change things around a bit. The Lotus
Motor Sport that did so well on El Capitan doesn't seem to like these corners
at all, but the Corvette and the Dodge Viper SRT10 seems to do better.
So, here's the list of cars and lap times.
# Car Best Laptime Pits
1 Pagani Zonda C12 '00 01:45.630 31
2 Proto Motors Spirra 4.6 V8 '04 01:46.831 19
3 TVR Cerbera Speed Six '97 01:47.254 18
4 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 (C5) '00 01:47.724 26
5 Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport '96 01:48.237 22
6 Dodge Viper SRT10 '03 01.48.522 28
7 TVR T350C '03 01:49.419 19
8 BMW M5 01:49.526 23
9 Ford Mustang SVT Cobra R '09 01:49.618 19
10 Mercedes SL 65 AMG '04 01:49.665 18
11 Callaway C12 '03 01:49.856 26
12 Lotus Motor Sport Elise '99 01:50.027 23
13 Dodge Viper GTS '99 01:50.101 23
14 Aston Martin V8 Vantage '99 01:52.163 17
Tire recommendation: You have to use Sports tires, so that puts a big damper
on the selection. Bring Hard and Mediums; you might just be able to run the
last stint on softer tires, giving you more speed to either build a bigger
lead or to catch up a few seconds on the car(s) ahead of you.
So, there it is. The "incomplete" complete guide to all the endurance races.
It is entirely possible that you may face a car that is not listed anywhere
here. I've tried to make it as complete as possible, but I can only do the
same race so many times before I have to give up.
