Gran Turismo 4 Competitor Data for Endurance Races. Version 1.0 May 17, 2006 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. ================================================== Grand Valley 300KM ================================================== 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. ================================================== Laguna Seca 200 Miles ================================================== 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... ================================================== Roadster 4h Endurance ================================================== 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. Lap times coming soon... ================================================== Tokyo R246 300KM ================================================== 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. ================================================== Super Speedway 150 Miles ================================================== 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. ================================================== Nurburgring 24Hr Endurance ================================================== 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. ================================================== Nurburgring 4 hour endurance ================================================== 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. ================================================== Suzuka 1000 KM ================================================== 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. ================================================== Motegi 8 hour Endurance ================================================== 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. ================================================== Tsukuba 9 hour Endurance ================================================== 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. ================================================== Circuit de la Sarthe I 24 hour Endurance ================================================== 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 ... ================================================== Circuit de la Sarthe II 24 hr Endurance ================================================== 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. ================================================== Fuji 1000 KM ================================================== 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. ================================================== Infineon World Sports ================================================== 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. ================================================== El Capitan 200 Miles Endurance ================================================== 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. ================================================== New York 200 Miles Endurance ================================================== 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.