I ran 2 laps before posting the challenge and was in the 1'21's so I figured 4 or 5 seconds off that would be possible... after a few more laps, I don't think that's realistic.

But I figured I'd leave my post alone to scare people into pushing too hard. :devil:

I try for 30 min and this is what I got 1'18.842 not even a clean lap. I think winner gonna be on 1'15. For once that I close to the fast guys (not for long).

A 1'18 is a good lap. I don't think the winning time will be far off that. Laguna Seca doesn't have a lot of places to really make up a lot of time, since it's actually a pretty slow course. The difference between a good lap and a great lap is only a few tenths.

1.18 is really good.

I can't break 1.20.204 :(

Signed,
Charlie

Hey Charlie! Thanks for coming over.

No problem dude. :) It's so hard to break 1.20

Signed,
Charlie

I'm done. 1'18.887 for me.

You're not too far off. I'm at a 1'18.50X.

Gary
Sheehan Motor Racing
www.teamSMR.com

I just ran a 1'18.249 w/ a few mistakes, and a few "lucky" turns where I was too fast, but somehow the car held the turn and didn't go off. I think a low 1'17 is possible in this car, but I'll be stoked if I can get *any* 1'17.

Can the winner also tell us what gear ratio he's running?

I'm using a 240kph top speed. If I get a good exit off T11, I top it out for like 1 rev limiter blip before nailing the brakes for T2. Also, 1'16's are probably possible if you nail every corner. I ran a 1'17.5 w/ like one little mistake in every turn from 2 to 6, and a bobble in 9, which is (just like in real life) now the most difficult corner for me. There's a razor thin line between waiting long enough to keep from early apexing and getting thrown in to the dirt on exit, and sliding off the corner on entry and into the wall.

Here's the in car video.

I don't know how you guys do it! Hah, I couldn't break 1.20

I guess I'm not as good at GT4 as I thought I was. I guess I was driving the car too hard - I wasn't breaking in some corners and I was braking too hard in some corners. I just watched the video and I have to say, that's finess.

Signed,
Charlie

Man, I haven't been able to spend any time on this challenge and that's not going to change today.

Hopefully all this work I'm involved with will get you guys fired up!

Gary
Sheehan Motor Racing
www.teamSMR.com

That sounds promising... working on a Grand Am Cup ride? Or maybe something Subaru based... I hear the WRX is Speed TC legal these days! :devil:

And, I don't think I'll have any time before 11:30 tomorrow night to work on my lap times (I'm trying to get my ass to the Bay to pick up my car from Gruppe-S). So, my 1'17.519 is just gonna sit there to be sniped! Have at it everyone!

word = mum

Gary
Sheehan Motor Racing
www.teamSMR.com

Ha! Welcome to the club. Hopefully tonight I'll finally get a couple laps in, but I've given up on the idea of actually winning any of these Challenges. Who's stupid idea was this anyway? :oops:

I'm just waiting for the video to see how sperry does a 17.5. Bring on the next challenge I say!

He posted the link to the video in his screenshot post above.

http://www.seccs.org/gallery/Car%20P...7_1-17-519.wmv

I'm totally taking him down though. :lol:

Or...did you mean you're waiting for it to download?

Well, I'm not heading down to the Bay tonight... but I don't think I'm gonna run more laps... I've got an SCCA t-shirt to design.

No I didn't realize he posted it. Nice lap. Turns out I completely botched the Andretti hairpin before.

1'17.979

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y83...2/DSC01733.jpg

Nice lap Alan! Looks like you got the next challenge... what're we doing?

Let's go for some drift action on Trial Mountain w/ Opel Speedster Turbo '00.

Nice... :devil: I've never actually run laps there for time... just to pass tests and win races. That should be interesting!

Wow! What a horrible, awful, boring car that is to drive! Am I missing something?! I just did 6 laps and I think I'm done for this week!

Gary
Sheehan Motor Racing
www.teamSMR.com

Really? I haven't driven it, but it's basically a turbo Elise, so I assumed it'd be cool. Very much like the Miata...

HOLY understeer!!! And no torque.

Gary
Sheehan Motor Racing
www.teamSMR.com

Time to remap the e-brake button to the shift lever? :lol:

Understeer? On such a tail happy car?

Anyway, I ran a 1'36.95 during lunch.

Are you pitching this thing into the corners?

G

I don't know what that means?

Are you having to flick the car and drift it to get it to turn?

Yeah I drift it before it hits the apex.

Hey Sperry, can you tell me or PM me what items you need to record your own videos? I'd like to post some of my drift videos in GT3 and GT4 - which I'm sure some of you will find impressive ;)

I second the drift notion... I will tear everybody up in drift :D

Uhh.... a TV, a video camera, and someplace to host it?

I use a PCMCIA video capture card (cost about $50) in my laptop (instead of just using a video camera pointed at the TV), and dump the monitor out from my TV to the card and record it directly on my computer. Then I downsample the movie to a smaller WMA file for uploading to the gallery.

I hope you drift fast.... this is still a competition for time, not style! :P

For some reason, when I hook up my PS2 to the cheap ass PVR card in my desktop, it looks fucked up. The darker parts of the picture just black out completely. It kinda looks like tar oozing from the surface of the monitor...but I'm not exactly sober either.

That would be sweet if we could find some impartial judges, right Sperry?:p

I'm just givin you shit cuz I know you aren't a fan of driftting. :P

Actually, I really like drifting... as an expostition of driving skill. I just don't consider it a "sport". A sport requires the winner to be transparently selected by a set of rules that everyone can agree upon, not a panel of judges. Basically, drifting is the figure skating of motorsports: incredible difficult, and impressive when done skillfully, but not a sport.

BTW: anyone have some times yet for the current challenge? I just ran a 1'42.1, with lots of room for improvment as soon as I figure out which turns work better driving full grip, and which turns are faster with the back end out... you can't really "kinda" slide this car like the Miata... you have to either drive it straight up and make sure to brake a lot, or really carry some speed and get the back end out to turn.

I think the fastest laps will be by those that figure out which turns to drive which style. This is a very different challenge compared to the previous ones. :cool:

My fastest so far is 1'36.803. Yet still plent of room to improve. I can easily get ahead of my ghost just after the first 2 turns, but I can't pull it together afterwards.

I actually enjoy running laps here, the track is so wide and no sand traps to piss me off when I spin out.

I'm at a 1:40.xx with about 10 laps. Now I'm just tooling around looking for a cliff to drive this car off of...

Gary
Sheehan Motor Racing
www.teamSMR.com

:lol:

Try Grand Canyon.

That was me in the Miata at Seattle (for some reason I just couldn't get the car to flow there). The Opel is *very* pushy if you're too fast into the corner, and it doesn't gain front end grip/lose rear end grip under braking (it's a quirk of the GT4 physics engine) it just pushes more.

I've found that the best way to get the car to rotate is to lift mid-corner. Yes, braking should shift the weight even more dramatically than just lifting, but for some reason the GT4 physics treats braking differently than trailing throttle oversteer.

Also, the e-brake will save you in a pinch and really get the backend to come around with just a tiny little tap. However, the game "disengages" the drive train when you pop the e-brake, so if you use it, there's a noticable delay once you try to get on the throttle before the car starts accelerating again.

1:37.499 after 10 more laps. Now, if you will excuse me, I need to wash the vomit off my steering wheel.

Gary
Sheehan Motor Racing
www.teamSMR.com

Snaps, that's a fast time. I'm at 1.40x myself. I can't get past it. I'm hating this car - simply because it won't let me change the gearing!!

I say we have a special drift challenge soon.

Or else Imma open up my own challenge, lol. I want to see more drifting!

Signed,
Charlie

A drift challenge is going to be pretty tough... it requires everyone to record video of their laps. Right now, I think I'm the only one setup for that.

Plus then we'll have to deal w/ voting for the best lap, since drifting is arbitrary.

I say, just record some drift laps and share 'em w/ us... no need to try to make a complicated competition out of it.

Hehe, I probably will. I'm waiting for my video converter to come in the mail. I'm going to unseat Gran Dorifto from his drifting madness back in the GT3 days. I'll pwn him with my GT3 IS200 Turbo drift video on SS5! :D

Signed,
Charlie