Automation Sunday Cup - Race 4: Laguna Seca

[Knugcab]

TRAFIKJOURNALEN WEB

Hello again, it’s Eric Carlén reporting from his crypt. It turned out that putting a turbo on my LMC was a bad idea, because it would cost too much, and not be very useable since the car was very close to the minimum kg per hp limit anyway. Especially after the gutting of it, I started on the inside, sound insulation and carpeting was history after a while, it won’t be of any use in a race anyway. The power output was bumped up mostly by fine-tuning of the fuel system, camshaft, head and exhaust system, and on the dyno it showed an output of almost 291 hp. The suspension was tweaked a lot and I bet that the camber will chew like crazy on my new and expensive 18" tyres with their track-friendly compound, but racing is about winning, not about saving tyre thread. Finally, even if the car was almost new, I could not resist a repaint when I had the chance. The colour is called “taxi yellow” and belongs on the IP Mastercab. Hey, don’t laugh, I’ve always wanted a chicken yellow sports car!

Soon it’s time for our first race on the Tsubuka circuit, see you then!

[thecarlover]

Team Mosport Tuning Garage

1989 Zenshi Tsumori 2.3G ‘Mosport’

[LinkLuke]

Thursday Morning: The TDT Tales Begin

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The three boys from Grimsby arrive, psyched and ready to race. The team take their Dragotec Venture out for a quick spin. After a few laps and a set of tyres the boys pull up in their bay as Corey unpacks his tools from their mobile workshop, an old '78 LLA K3200 G3. Luke steps out of the green racer and states “I’m gonna take a quick walk up the pit-lane, y’know to scout the competition”. Saj replies “I’ll come with, I want to spray somebody’s car pink, just to show who’s boss”, with a dissapointed expression on his face Corey exclaims “You’d better not, I don’t want to be banned from one of these events. Especially after the waffle incident”.

A few moments later the boys find themselves strolling down the paddock, looking to his side Saj notices a retro classic, and LLA Comet. Luke had noticed too and as always immediately had to mention “Y’know my father was the lead engineer on the famous LLA Moth?”. Reluctantly saj replied “Yes I did, you have mentioned it every time we walked past an LLA Sports car, it’s the only reason we have that piece of crap van back in our pit!”.

On the way back to their pits the boys notice one other… thing of interest, an old Mystery machine. Saj bursts into joy and notes “Lets paint a ghost on the back of our car” equally as exited Luke Shouts out “Wuh oh shaggy, it’s a g-g-g-ggg-GHOST!!!” whilst not being able to control his laughter.

By the time Luke and Saj returned, it was late so the guys left for the hotel, Luke and Saj still not being able to keep a straight face over the mystery machine parked in the paddock.

[flop404]

SARA Gentlemen club arriving at Tsukuba

While the Caliban looked gorgeous in its Bleu de France paint, the SARA guys didn’t seem very happy in the paddocks, with Watteau and Turini in heated discussions.

“We’re slow, and that car is downright impossible for me to drive”, Watteau screamed at Turini. “I Should have been the one tuning it, we could have made more sensible choices with the limited budget we had, yet you still insisted on spending everything on these turbos that don’t even had power”.
“I HAD a perfectly good tuning, were it not for you being a (censored) for requiring to keep some comfort. This is a racecar, what did you need padded seats for anyway ?” replied an incensed Turini.

Watteau took a deep breath. “Not me, Jean, the regulations. I know you Turini guys fear like regs go against your god given right to make the car you dream about, but at SARA we have an understanding of the compromises it implies. You build your car for the regulations, then you squeeze whatever character you want while keeping them. You design the car you want, then try to shoehorn in into regulations.
Aaaaaaaaand that’s exactly the kind of attitude that causes top brass to think about closing your branch. The berlinettes are cars with a vision, but they aren’t car that people buy. Your no compromises attitude hurts your sales, and if you don’t sale the accountants will shut you down”.

Turini was on the verge of exploding, then saw that Watteau was concerned, not attacking him. Realization dawned slowly on him… “Oh, that’s why you came to me with this half assed plan to participate in the Sunday Cup”

"Yeah, we need to bring back some luster to the Turini name. Management is all bean counters now, and even though you work on sexy cars while I’m a master of the bland displacement commodity, we’re both designers at heart. I grew with Turini posters in my bedroom, I joined SARA because it was the parent company for Turini. I draw bland cars because there is an interdependance between the sportscars and the people movers.
Your cars help us sale our shitboxes, but without the volumes of our shitboxes you wouldn’t have any budget to develop and build your cars.

And look at the cars around us. We managed to find some nice SARA 4 Turinis, and even a vintage Berlinette, for the ASC, but nobody cared enough to buy one. We have to perform well… But that turbo you stuck in there out of sheer pride won’t help. We needed larger tyres more than we needed extra torque is a small bandwith"

“Don’t worry, I feel confident the car isn’t that bad. A bit tricky to drive, since you have to keep the turbo under boost to get some nice times, but I’ll show you the technique. Get in the passenger seat, we’ll have some laps”

And, under Turini’s hands, indeed the Caliban looked better, powersliding in the hairpins curves of Tsukuba while Turini kept it under boost to abuse the massive torque his V8 Turbo offered. This was a ballet, with the car moving like a ballerina to the exuberant noise of the V8…

It wasn’t that much faster actually than Watteau sober, test-pilot style of minimal inputs, but it was a great show…

Upon getting out of the car, both men embraced each other, having reached an understanding…

“Okay, we might not win, but with you driving we should at least get some good coverage based on the style. Now, it is time for the apéritif”

“Fine… Though if you try to make me drink sake again I’ll fly back to Europe immediately - I have smuggled some beaujolais, and I’m sure we can borrow a corkscrew from the FAAL guys”

[Chickenbiscuit]

Seabeast Motorsports: Pre-Race 2

Eric and Barry are making tweaks to the Meme Machine as a familiar face comes into view.

Oliver: “Remember me, fellas?”

Eric: “Mr. Ross, been awhile!”

Barry: “Wait, that’s Oliver Ross? The kid that kicked your ass in ASCAR back in '87?”

Eric: “Something like that…I heard about you joining the ASC. Nice to have some real competition out there.”

Barry mutters to himself: “…but he’s like 50…”

Oliver: “I was thinking the same thing…I have to ask…Are you actually driving that in the race?”

Eric: “Yeah, thanks to Barry here, but we did some heavy modifications to it. Should still be fast enough for a Sunday cup.”

Oliver gives a slight grin, thinking about the track-tuned Sagitta sitting in his garage.
Oliver: “I wouldn’t be so sure, have you seen what the other teams are racing?”

Eric: “Not yet, I was about to walk the pits. Wanna join?”

Oliver: “Sure, wouldn’t mind stretching the legs.”

Oliver and Eric leave the garage and catch up a bit before reaching a stretch of open garages. A violently green Keika is parked closest them.

Eric: “Holy shi- …schnikes. That’s a race car.”

Oliver: “I think you brought a van to a track car fight.”

Eric looks down the row and sees an all black Baltazaar Zeppelin sporting a full bodykit. He could also make out a few Mosport Arrows, a Maglev, and more Keikas across the way. His heart sank.

Eric: “Damn…one of these yours?”

Oliver: “No, but you’ll see what I’m driving soon enough.”

Eric: “Looks like we really have some stiff competition. No way a van can keep up with these.”

Oliver: “Don’t sweat it. If you’re half the driver I’ve known you to be, you’ll do fine.”

He won’t be fine.

Eric: “Nice of you to say, but -”

A loud bang coming from the Seabeast Motorsports garage cuts him off.

Eric: " Sigh…I better go see what happened. Good luck Sunday Mr. Ross."

Oliver: “You too.” hmm…seems different than before.

Oliver heads to his own garage to take the Sagitta on some test laps.

@Mr.Computah Sorry that took so long, not much of a writer

---

On another note: A few stats to tide you over

(all stats not including modifiers)

Highest MPG: 29.2
Average MPG: 19.9
Lowest MPG: 12.2

Highest Reliability: 70
Average Reliability: 66.8
Lowest Reliability: 62.6

Highest Drivability: 51.9
Average Drivability: 41.7
Lowest Drivability: 32.2

[BoostandEthanol]

Hmmm… not that I’m saying that lowest drivability is me. But there a possibility it’s me.

Welp. My team will die.

[LinkLuke]

Blame me, you’re using my car.

[strop]

It’s not that much lower than mine to be honest. You’ll be just fine!

[stm316]

Race you for it

[Nicking_HC]

Well, the good news is that drivability is close to a professional driver’s car (it’s the Mystery Machine, but it’s still a racing driver’s Mystery Machine). The bad news is that reliability is nowhere near close. Not even the lowest value!

Perhaps trying to emulate my first ever Gran Turismo 4 car (the Mitsubishi Galant VR-4) didn’t translate so well into my Automation recreation…

[Knightophonix]

Above average in everything.
Bless.

[Knugcab]

TRAFIKJOURNALEN WEB

We’re now at the Tsubuka track, and it’s just hours before the race will start. Just being here for the first time is of course a really big thing for a motorsports enthusiast, let alone to drive here! And it’s really a interesting mix of cars. But what’s confusing is that I think that I have arrived in an episode of Scooby Doo since I see the Mystery machine which I really wonder what it’s doing here. Also, seeing a Zenshi Tsumory is a bit odd… I didn’t know that you had to pass through the Tsubuka track when taking your kids to daycare? Anyway, time to check out the LMC properly before it’s race time! Report with results will be in later!

[abg7]

Team Sunday Strikers, Pre-Race 1

Prior to the first race of the season at Tsukuba, the Sunday Strikers were still as upbeat as ever, confident that their fettled Arrow could keep up with at least some of the opposition they were about to face.

“With the extra power we now have at our disposal, we should easily avoid being off the pace compared to our closest rivals”, Walter remarked.

“On the other hand, our fuel economy has taken a huge hit, but it’s not the worst in the field, and we should be able to run faster stints between pit stops to compensate”, Henry added.

“And it’ll look good doing it, too - #37 ought to make everyone envious of its rear end. But we chose the Arrow for another reason as well - its forged internals could easily cope with the extra torque we gave it, courtesy of a revised turbo setup. Even though the conrods are optimized for low weight (to better withstand high revs) rather than high strength (for high torque loads), they should still hold up well under the strain of endurance racing. Any questions?” Pat asked.

Neither Walter nor Henry bothered to ask Pat about anything related to the car. He continued:

“All right then, let’s get our bright red #37 Arrow ready for the first race. Should be exciting with the short, twisty layout, which favors lighter, more maneuverable cars like ours - no wonder we’re expecting a decent result to kick off the season, but the proof of the pudding is in the eating.”

Later, Walter took the Arrow out for a shakedown lap at Dunsfold Park, recording a lap time of 1:25 from a standing start. “Seems like we made all the right decisions, then!” he chuckled as he got out of the car. Satisfied with their work, the Sunday Strikers decided to pack up and head back to their garage to resume their preparations for the first race at Tsukuba.

[Radster]

The Throwback Club - Pre Race (Tsukuba)

Oliver puts his open face helmet on, contouring into the Sagitta. Chen helps him do so until he’s safely strapped in the seat.

Chen: “Flores will be helping you out there as a spotter, but keep in mind you rely on the mirrors most of your time.”

Oliver: “I got used to it back when I raced in the AMWEC, don’t worry about it. Is everything ready?”

Chen: “Yeah, Flores and I have been working on the car to ensure it’s ready to go. Fresh rubber installed, new oil in the engine, everything should be good to go. Have fun out there.”

Oliver saluted Chen, smiling, before closing the door on his side. Starting the engine, the small inline 4 roared to life, it’s single throttle body producing a rather high pitched sound. Oliver waited for the official to give him right of way to join the line of cars leaving the pits in preparation for the formation lap.

As Oliver joined the formation lap, a beep came out of the radio. A familiar voice started speaking to him, it was Flores.

Flores: “Alright Oliver, can you hear me?”

Oliver: “10-4 Flores.”

Flores: “Good. I’ll be your spotter out there, but I can’t take care of it in each and every second. Please don’t forget about the rear view mirrors. There, that’s your qualifying position. Hold it.”

The cars soon arrived at the starting line, each car filling the places they were assigned during qualifying. Oliver did the same, stopping at his place.

Flores: “The first red is going to come on. Focus and prepare for the launch.”

Indeed, the first of red lights came on. Oliver quickly put the Sagitta in first gear, holding the clutch as he revved the engine to the correct rpm up in preparation for the green. The second and third red light came on shortly after. The race was on.

To be continued.

[squidhead]

Not bad. Did you also decide to forget the acceleration in first gears in favour of the shorter gear gaps at high speeds? Or is your 0-100 time actually…not laughable like mine

[Chickenbiscuit]

Welcome to the first race of the Automation Sunday Cup! Today’s race takes place on at Tsubuka Circuit. Home of the time attack, this course is tight and won’t give racers an inch to breathe in this intense 200 lap race.

Thanks @XenoYparxi for the photoshop.

So what are we waiting for? Let's pop in some tunes and get this race started!

The Cardigans - My Favorite Game - Alternative
Ash - Lose Control - Rock
The Crystal Method - She’s My Pusher - Electronic/Big Beat

Laps 1-50

3…2…1…START
The cars launch off the starting grid with engines revving and turbos whistling. Williams and Ross set the pace early on taking the lead. Hunter is able keep up in 3rd during the first lap but quickly falls behind Donahaugh and Faulkner. Miles Phillips maneuvers his way up to 7th after a rougher first lap. In the midpack, Thompson and Prior battle fiercely until a risky move sends Prior’s Venture into the wall, taking damage. Young’s Tsumori stuns Morgan and Martin as it puts up a fight against 2 well-known MR sports cars.

William’s Keika gains a sizable lead while Ross and Faulkner sit comfortably away from the midpack. Braithewaite’s superior Russian engineering earns her a spot in 14th in lap 10, but falls back to 19th by lap 50. Young is the first to pit at lap 34, giving Andrew Morgan a chance to catch up. Phillips is pressured by Whitestone and takes a turn too wide into the grass which sends him back to 13th. Prior comes back with a vengeance overtaking Thompson in lap 43. Callaway makes a series of smooth overtakes in turns 4-8 passing Agregaatti and Nurse for 24th.

At lap 50, Patrick Williams leads followed by Oliver Ross and, Lawrence Faulker. Not far behind, Donahaugh, Hunter, Whitestone, and Jones battle each other for 4th.

Laps 51-100

Things start settling into place as the race goes on. Donahaugh starts to pull away from the pack with some battle scars while Whitestone passes Hunter to take 5th. Connor Jones loses the battle and falls back to 8th. Beijer and his MM Excelsior have slowly moved up the pack to 7th place by lap 100. Phillips out handles Kuntz’s Caliban and Hurley’s Xenus, trying to make up for lost time. Shinomiya and Cooper have challenged each other throughout the race with Shinomiya now having the edge. Nurse tails behind at 26th, unable to solve Agregaatti.

Skyler Newman in the Comet tries to keep Eric Jonrosh’s van at bay but is muscled off 20th place. Another aggressive move is made on Newman by Schwob in the large Epoch, who completes the overtake just seconds later. Hurley is the last to make his first pit stop at lap 95.

Laps 101-150

The later laps in the race were rather uneventful as packs were spreading apart. Jones makes his way back to a hard fought 5th place. Hurley gains a few positions on 2 cars in the pits. Prior has shaken off one of the packs, now sitting comfortably in 14th. Jean Turini loses a battle with Phillips, falling back to 12th. Scott Wilford, stuck in 27th for most of the race, tries to make a move on the outside of Agregaatti, but the Horven understeers into the wall.

Laps 151-200

Little happened in the last stretch of the race until lap 189 where Andrew Morgan’s Maglev had a mechanical failure which caused Morgan to lose control and slam into Connor Jones. Jones was able to get a few more laps out of the Harrier before it succumbed to the damage. Ross’s Sagitta breaks down just 4 laps shy of the finish, leaving 2nd place to Faulkner.

Finish

Results:

1. Patrick Williams (#46 Twist) - 25 points
2. Lawrence Faulkner (#129 MM) - 21 points
3. Matthew Donahaugh (#128 MM) - 18 points
4. Alfred Hunter (#48 Twist) - 15 points
5. Jimmy Beijer (#175 MM) - 12 points
6. Tina Whitestone (#07 MM) - 10 points
7. Erik Carlén (#1 Miro) - 9 points
8. Miles Phillips (#36 Arrow) - 8 points
9. James Hurley (#132 Xenus) - 7 points
10. Jean Turini (#165 Caliban) - 6 points
11. Rusty Kuntz (#25 Caliban) - 5 points
12. Kai Shinomiya (#89 Zeppelin) - 4 points
13. Luke ‘Impossible’ Prior (#149 Venture) - 3 points
14. Richard Cooper (#136 EVO) - 2 points
15. Elena Braithewaite (#21 Sofa) - 1 point
16. Walter Thompson (#37 Arrow) - 1 point
17. Eric Jonrosh (#81 Mystery Machine) - 1 point
18. Loïc Schwob (#91 M10 Ansom) - 1 point
19. Skyler Newman (#11 LLA Comet) - 1 point
20. Jimmy Barnes (#167 Hermes) - 1 point
21. B1 (#101 Erin Merna) - 1 point
22. Marvin Callaway (#49 Twist) - 1 point
23. James Nurse (#16 Horven) - 1 point
24. Aki Agregaatti (#55 280 Sport) - 1 point
25. Scott Wilford (#17 Horven) - 1 point
26. James “Bugsy” Malone (#86 Mesaia) - 1 point
27. Charlie “Guile” Nash (#176 Kyori) - 1 point
28. Lewis Martin (#38 Arrow) - 1 point
29. Alex Young (#72 Tsumori) - 1 point
30. Oliver Ross (#109 Sagitta) - 0 points
31. Connor Jones (#134 Harrier) - 0 points
32. Andrew Morgan (#86 ERA) - 0 points

Standings:

1. Patrick Williams (#46 Twist) - 25 points
2. Lawrence Faulkner (#129 MM) - 21 points
3. Matthew Donahaugh (#128 MM) - 18 points
4. Alfred Hunter (#48 Twist) - 15 points
5. Jimmy Beijer (#175 MM) - 12 points
6. Tina Whitestone (#07 MM) - 10 points
7. Erik Carlén (#1 Miro) - 9 points
8. Miles Phillips (#36 Arrow) - 8 points
9. James Hurley (#132 Xenus) - 7 points
10. Jean Turini (#165 Caliban) - 6 points
11. Rusty Kuntz (#25 Caliban) - 5 points
12. Kai Shinomiya (#89 Zeppelin) - 4 points
13. Luke ‘Impossible’ Prior (#149 Venture) - 3 points
14. Richard Cooper (#136 EVO) - 2 points
15. Elena Braithewaite (#21 Sofa) - 1 point
16. Walter Thompson (#37 Arrow) - 1 point
17. Eric Jonrosh (#81 Mystery Machine) - 1 point
18. Loïc Schwob (#91 M10 Ansom) - 1 point
19. Skyler Newman (#11 LLA Comet) - 1 point
20. Jimmy Barnes (#167 Hermes) - 1 point
21. B1 (#101 Erin Merna) - 1 point
22. Marvin Callaway (#49 Twist) - 1 point
23. James Nurse (#16 Horven) - 1 point
24. Aki Agregaatti (#55 280 Sport) - 1 point
25. Scott Wilford (#17 Horven) - 1 point
26. James “Bugsy” Malone (#86 Mesaia) - 1 point
27. Charlie “Guile” Nash (#176 Kyori) - 1 point
28. Lewis Martin (#38 Arrow) - 1 point
29. Alex Young (#72 Tsumori) - 1 point
30. Oliver Ross (#109 Sagitta) - 0 points
31. Connor Jones (#134 Harrier) - 0 points
32. Andrew Morgan (#86 ERA) - 0 points

Excel Sheet: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1I324CEuYP2ysOx8YGGOmhuxpxMYK3p-a/view?usp=sharing
(The times in the table should be ok, but the times above recalculated at some point)

[Knugcab]

One thing is for sure, the Keika Twist and the MM seems to have been the weapons of choice at least for this race, the standings in the top sure speaks for themselves. Impossible to beat…

[Chickenbiscuit]

There were definitely some missed opportunities when it came to buying cars that could hang with the Keikas and MMs

[Knugcab]

Probably. But when it comes to the cars that finally took place in the race…

[BoostandEthanol]

Lies and slander. The Keika Twist is unbeatable in every way. I bet whoever designed that is a genius, that made the perfect base for a performance monster.

Also he is very cool and good.