Budget Rider™ Archives, Vol. X & XI

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The BR™ reports allow full scope for some impressive writing skills to be displayed.

Want to see some of the best "Virtual" Nürburgring stories on the Planet ?

You have come to the right place.

Stay tuned.

The Nurburgring Diaries - Volume X & Xl


Edit - Commenced adding BR™ Specification Posts - specs highlighted in Red.

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The Nurburgring Diaries - Volume X

Budget Rider ™ (BR™) Write Ups

Following is a copy of the Rally Car BR™

From: oldguy1957 / Posted: 9/12/2005 6:48:15AM / Message Detail

Your brother-in-law, Pete, has just started a new career as a Rally Race car
driver. He bought a Rally car, but then went on a short vacation. He decided to
leave his car with YOU. You promised not to touch it, but couldn’t resist taking
if for a little spin on the back-roads near your home. Unfortunately, on your
little joy-ride, you wrapped his car around a tree, totally destroying it,
except for the wheels.

By coincidence, your family car is the same make and model. You run to the bank
and take out a second mortgage on your house and come home with $50,000
(credits). Then you go to work.

So here’s the rules:

1. Pick an unmodded Rally car from your garage (or buy a new one if you so
choose). Run it around the ring. Do any tweaking you want. Get your best time
with it which will be used as a target time.
2. Find a production car (in your garage, or buy one) that is as close as you
can find to the production model of the Rally car you chose. It doesn’t have to
be the exact year or model. Same make and body style is good enough (Pete’s not
very smart as long as the car looks the same, he won’t notice it’s not the
original).
3. Not counting the price of the car or the R1’s (the tyres survived the crash)
you have 50,000 credits to get your family car to equal your target time on the
‘Ring’. You, of course will have to buy the tyres, but they won’t be counted
against the budget. As far as I know, all Rally cars come on R1’s. If you find
one that comes on something else, just be sure you buy the same tyres for your
family car.
4. No Supercharges. No Nitrous. Other than that, go nuts and do whatever you
want.
5. Use, or don’t use driving aids, as you choose. But you must use the same ASM
and TCS settings on both cars.

Now, the objective for this is not so much to make a family car that can kick
the butt of it’s Rally model, but instead, to find the most family-car-ish car
that can equal the performance of it’s Rally Car equivalent, using only 50,000
cr.
There’s a wide variety of cars to choose from. I’ve done a few tests and one
with one car I needed more than 60,000 credits to equal the target time….the
other only about 25,000. Be creative!


From: jwrebholz | Posted: 9/15/2005 2:33:18 PM |

I was going to have one hell of a time explaining this to Pete.

Now I'll admit I shouldn't have been driving it, but to be honest I couldn't
resist unwinding it on a few local backroads. The experience was nigh surreal.
The only car I've driven that was this easy to drive this fast was my own
car--and considering that it, like Peter's car, was a Lancer Evolution, wasn't a
surprise. The real shocker was just how much more responsive and tight the
WRC-tuned version of this car was. Understeer was almost nonexistant. The car's
reflexes were unparalleled. No matter how hard I threw it into a corner it
stuck--then begged for more. Of course the trip back was kind of a killjoy
thanks to some road construction (Damn you PennDOT!) but at least I made it home
without incident. I consider myself fortunate that the car just looks like any
one of a million tarted-up rice-rockets that dot the neighborhood. Once I
arrived home, I resolved to not drive it again, and hopefully Pete wouldn't
notice the few extra miles on the clock.


How was I supposed to know this was going to happen? I mean, it wasn't my fault
my idiot neighbor decided to chop down a 150 year-old oak tree in his front yard
and squash the car. At first I thought "Better his car than mine," but then I
realized Pete wouldn't be quite so blase about it. I mean, this car was to be
his livelihood and here I sit with a mangled pile of twisted metal wreckage.
After the tree was removed, I had a chance to survey the wreckage myself--and it
wasn't pretty. Brakes, suspension, powertrain, it was all totaled--completely
unsalvageable. The only thing that could be saved were the wheels and tires, so
I pulled them off. And that's when I saw my own car, a refrigerator-white
Evolution. Same year, same model, identical in appearance aside from the lack of
decals (and that could be easily fixed). I started to get an idea--it would mean
sacrificing my own Evolution, but for Pete's sake it was worth it. Fortunately I
had some extra cash lying around--50 grand, to be precise, and it was burning a
hole in my pocket anyway. So off I went to the local speed shop to grab me some
parts.

The wealth of factory and aftermarket support for this car is astounding. It
turned out I could buy almost anything I needed to turn my street car into a
competition-ready rally car. The pimply-faced geek at the counter knew me
well--I was ALWAYS in here buying something for one project or another--so
seeing me with three or four cartloads of equipment wasn't an unusual thing. I
looked at my checklist to make sure I had everything I needed. Fully
customizable trans kit, check. High-performance racing intercooler, check.
Race-ready suspension kit, check. High-flow intake, K&N filter, header and
straight pipe, check. Racing brake kit, double-check. 5 quarts of Mobil 1,Wix
filter, check (I needed an oil change anyway, may as well kill two birds with
one stone). Replacement panels for the interior, got 'em. 41,000 bucks..not
cheap, but could be worse. I loaded everything into the car and headed home.

I must have spent the next three days wrenching on that damned Mitsubishi. If
the car didn't behave as if it were a part of me before, it ought to now
considering how much of my knuckles I donated to it during the work. Lots of
blood, sweat, tears and Dr. Pepper went into this build, and now that I was
finally through with it, I decided there was only one way to be sure it was up
to snuff. So off I went, back to the back roads I called home.

I had always thought the local byways resembled the Nordschliefe more than a
little bit, but I don't think I ever realized just how much until I saw a map.
Since taking a trip to Germany with the car was out of the question (I just blew
40+ grand on this car, and anyway Pete will be back tomorrow night!) so my local
road will have to do. I just have to pray my city's finest revenue collectors
are all at the nearby Krispy Kreme. Off I went, and boy did I go! The relatively
mild engine work I did to that little 2.0L four really woke it up. Who'd have
thought an intercooler and open exhaust would give me this much extra power? Of
course, the suspension and lightening had a hand in it as well, and the brakes
were more than up to the task of hauling this beast down from high speed. While
the car didn't feel EXACTLY the same as the rally car it was to replace, it was
close. VERY close. It might actually have been BETTER. It was a tiny bit more
skittish on the pavement, but it was still well within the limits of control for
a capable driver. And the power, what power! No wheelspin, no fishtailing, just
stand on it and GO.

When I arrived home, I saw the twisted remains of Pete's Evolution, and stared
for a long time at both it and its newly-created doppelganger. You know what?
Screw Pete, his insurance will pay for it!
---

From: MrPinstripes | Posted: 9/18/2005 8:14:43 AM |

Pete's Rally Car BR

I got a chance to run Pete's '69 Nissan Bluebird Rally Car on the 'Ring. I
didn't mess with the setup he had coming back from a rally at the Grand Canyon,
so the car was a bit soft-n-squishy. In addition, my redline light was flashing
on the short straight after Hatzenbach, so I was going to be running out of
gearing frequently.

For a having a dedicated dirt setup, the Nissan didn't handle badly at all.
Phenomenal grip at "speed" (117 was my top speed) and a hint of oversteer 'round
the bends. Target time: 8'58.8 (on S2 "bias ply racing slicks")

Now I had to get down to the business of creating its doppelganger. Some engine
work (NA2, Racing Exhaust, Port Polish, Racing Chip), a new transmission and
clutch (Twin Plate), a FC suspension, and a set of Enkei wheels round out my
purchases- 50,000 Cr. even. My tuned street car was short 10 horsepower, but it
was short a few kg, too. I'd have to hope that would balance out.

While my sheep-in-wolf's-clothing handled remarkably like the race version, it
lacked the grunt to make it up the hills as quickly, and the lack of downforce
nibbled away at my time the entire lap. Final time: 9'09.9.

While Pete might be able to notice the difference (an extra gear might clue him
in), he shouldn't have to put too much more money into the Bluebird to match his
old one. NA3 would eliminate the need for the port polish and the racing chip
(and NA2, naturally), and some bodywork (a wing) would finish the job. I don't
think Pete will miss the LSD at all- it doesn't seem to help much on such a
low-powered car.

---

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From: OCAdam | Posted: 9/18/2005 9:46:24 AM |

So now, I had the keys in my hand from Pete’s Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IV
from 1997, and I wanted to test it out. So I did, at the local byways, that
resembled the Nurburgring for some weird reason, and I got a lap time of 7
minutes, 58.283 seconds.

As I got the car into the driveway, I saw my neighbor, who hated my family for
being able to afford new cars, cutting down a tree. I thought nothing of it,
until I got out and the tree fell on top of Pete’s Rally Car! After we finally
got the tree removed, and I finished yelling curses at my neighbor, I looked at
the wreckage. The entire engine was smashed by the tree and only the wheels
would make it alive, so I pulled them off to make sure they didn’t get destroyed
by some fire that the car was becoming. I ran into the garage and got my fire
extinguisher and sprayed out the fire.

I looked at my car for a second, and realized it was almost the exact same as
Pete’s RC, as it was a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IV from 1996, just one year
off. The only difference in appearance was the fog light covers were off, but
they were in my glove compartment and the decals of course. I drove the Lancer
to the Mitsubishi dealer and went straight into the Ralli Art tuning department
with $50K, and bought myself for the car several things.

I got a new turbo Stage 1, VCD Controller, Racing Transmission, Racing
Suspension, Racing Muffler, Weight Reduction Stage 1 for the car and went
straight to my car and installed the things the next day at home. Well, actually
it took 5 days to do so, but it didn’t matter. Pete was getting home in three
days after I got the mods into the car.

I took the car back onto the streets and got an oil change, leaving only $200
left after the original $50K. I revved the engine and I made a single lap, with
no cops chasing me yet, and made 7 minutes and 56.570 seconds for a lap. Not bad
considering I beat the RC lap by 1.713 seconds.

I went back home, but found a cop car chasing me, so I left it in the dust with
my WRC tuned factory Lancer Evo IV. I had earlier found a log of Pete’s exact
tunings for stock WRC configuration, and used it on my car. The cop wasn’t even
able to try keeping up with my car, so he gave up. I went into my local vinyl
dealer, and got them to install the WRC stickers and decals onto my car. The
next day, I got the car home and into the garage, and decided to try and fix as
many parts as possible from Pete’s car. I was finally able to get the gas tank
out, and I sold the wreck to the junkyard, and got myself 12K as a result to buy
myself a new car.
---

From: viperinthegrass | Posted: 9/19/2005 8:28:12 PM |

BR™ - Rally/ Street car, part 2

Sacre Bleu! What have I done? Pete’s car totalled, except for the wheels. Have I
ruined his rally career? My only hope is to do up Dads old Turbo ’80 and hope it
is a worthy replacement. I think though I have bitten off more Fromage than I
can chew. Pete was lucky enough to drive his car at Nürburgring when the Factory
was doing some testing there, so I have a look at his Logbook “I can only have
five laps and wont have time for any tuning so I will have to run as it would
have come from the factory. First lap 7 ’47.605 car has major power off
understeer and major power on oversteer, what I’d call The Butterfly Effect i.e.
car feels like it is pivoting around a vertical axis in the middle of the car. A
lot of this can probably be put down to the R1 tyres. I will just have to brake
early and be precise with my lines and don’t back off mid corner! Car is also as
jumpy as a Kangaroo on heat, being easily unsettled by bumps - it definitely
needs major sorting. Second lap very rough but a 7’ 37 .393. Two laps washed
out. Last lap, very hard work but a clean lap at 7’ 35.675. That’ll do pig,
that’ll do”

I set to work with my second mortgage money adding:
Oil change
Racing Chip
Semi Racing Exhaust
Triple Clutch
Racing Flywheel
Stage 2 Turbo
Large Cooler
Sports Suspension
Racing Brakes
Fully Gearbox
Lose some Weight (Stage 1)
Add a Wing for a grand total of $47350 and a car of 263 horses and 940Kg

Now where to test the car? Luckily there is a stretch of road nearby that is a
dead ringer (sorry!) for Nordschleife, so I head off there.
First sighting lap, 8’ 05.004, second lap 8’ 01.557. Not bad but I need to tune
the suspension a bit, so set the ride height at 110 / 110, dampers at 5 / 5,
camber 1.5 / 1
Gearbox auto 6 with final ratio 3.490 and down force 20 / 25
That’s better 7’ 56.603; try again a clean lap at 7’ 51.425 that is getting very
close to the cars limit, drat! Car is handling well with some mild oversteer and
is much more stable over bumps than Pete’s car.
Right! One more lap, full speed ahead and d**n the torpedoes. I set my beret on
my head at a jaunty angle, light a Gitane and head off. I am flying and 3.5
seconds up approaching Galgenkopf, okay stay left and look for my exit and oh
no! I’ve put a wheel onto the grass, the car slews violently to the left and I
struggle to correct but I have no control and the Armco is getting bigger and
bigger and bigger, can this be the end of Ricco?

I wake with a start, what?? I lurch out of bed and stagger to the window and
there in the yard is Pete’s car, untouched! Now I remember! Pete left his car
with me as he was going to tie one on with some mates last night, Mum always
said it was a bad idea to eat cheese and drink red wine for supper as it always
gave me nightmares.
I look at Pete’s car, I wonder if those suspension changes I had in mind would
work?
The sun glints suggestively off the windscreen -------

Thanks Oldguy for a great BR™, I thought it was a hoot! Having the background
story added an extra dimension to my futile efforts, although getting within 15
seconds is probably alright after giving up 92 Hp
I think both cars have great potential and if properly sorted would hold their
own with many bigger cars.

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From: jwrebholz | Posted: 9/19/2005 10:07:13 AM

I guess since nobody's mentioned a BR yet, I'll go ahead and tell you mine.

For this week's BR, the budget is generous--125,000Cr, and 75,000Cr for parts.
However there's a catch. You will not be buying one car. You will be buying FOUR
cars. Call this BR "Filling the Stable". Since variety is the spice of life (and
to keep you clowns from just buying the same car four times) you must fill the
following requirements.

1. One car must be new (and by new I mean no classics.)
2. One car must be less than 10,000 Cr purchase price.
3. One car must be FF.
4. These must not be the same car.
5. NO car may have less than 100 horsepower stock.

You can do anything you want to the cars. Also, today you got a flyer in the
mail. Ordinarily you toss these things out, but the line at the top caught your
eye. "GT SPEED SHOP BLOWOUT SALE!!!!" You read on to see that your local
performance shop is dumping all its low-level upgrade items at cut-rate prices,
parts for all vehicles are on sale.
SP exhaust, SP suspension, S1 weight reduction, NA Tune 1, Turbo 1, SP
intercooler, CL trans, SP clutch, SP flywheel, all differentials (except custom)
and R1 tires are on sale this week only at 50% off!. They're also throwing in a
free oil change with any purchase and a free Rigidity Refresh with any purchase
of 15,000Cr or more (per car, after discounts). All other components are 25% off
except for NA tune 3, Turbo 4, nitrous oxide and S3 weight reduction. It's for
this week only, so go clean house!
---
From: jwrebholz | Posted: 9/19/2005 11:15:21 AM

Just a clarification. You can buy a classic for this, but you must buy one BRAND
NEW car. Buying a classic doesn't count toward the first requirement, but it can
be used to fulfill any of the other two, or as a fourth car.


From: Flibutz | Posted: 9/21/2005 3:16:03 AM |

BR:

Since this BR consists of several cars, I'll treat them separately.

Car 1: (new car) FPV GT '04 in Winter White
Cost: 48,640cr.

Upgrades:

Wing
R1 tyres
Sports Exhaust
Racing Chip
NA Tuning Stage 1
Weight Reduction Stage 1
Sports Suspension
Sports Clutch
Sports Flywheel
Free Oil Change

Total of 15,577.5 Cr. after discounts.

At first, this one was somewhat reluctant to turn. But the problem was easily
fixed this time. Just added some front camber and used hard shocks in front and
even harder in the rear. It's still not as responsive as it could be, but
overall it handles good and the understeer is very slight. It responds well to
light trailbraking. It's 475hp/1606kg(sell screen) now, and my best lap was 7'11
making it the fastest of the four. Downsides of this car are its overly tall
fifth gear, and absence of the sixth. Should probably have bought the close
gearing. Furthermore, it looks ugly with the wing, but most cars do. That's one
of the reasons I always have one of everything in stock condition before tuning
the other. More importantly, some mods are irreversible. Used TCS @ 1

Car 2: (under 10,000Cr.) Used Isuzu Piazza XE '81 in Ceruleanblue Metallic
Cost: 8,627Cr.

Upgrades:

Wing
R1s
Sports Suspension
Weight Reduction Stage 1
Racing Chip
Sports Clutch
Stage 1 Turbo
Racing Brakes
Sports Exhaust
Semi-Racing Flywheel
Oil Change (free)
Rigidity Refresher (free)

Total of 15,100 after discounts

The Isuzu was a pleasant surprise. I actually chose it because it's one of the
ugliest cars in the game (huge wing was a nice finishing touch to it's
ugliness), and out of curiosity. (just how crappy is it going to be?) It turned
out to have a fair amount of grip, and the handling was quite neutral to begin
with, so setting it up was easy. When pushed too hard, though, it sometimes
exhibits sudden and quite severe understeer. Sell screen stats are 180hp/1118kg
now. Best laptime was 8'14, so it's the slowest of the bunch which is not
surprising. No aids used.

I'll have to cut this in half..
---
Relax. Have a homebrew.
From: Flibutz | Posted: 9/21/2005 3:20:09 AM |

BR part 2:

Car 3: (FF) Used Honda Integra Type R (DC2) '99 in Sunlight Yellow
Cost: 16,353Cr.

Upgrades:

Wing
Sports Suspension
R1 Tyres
Weight Reduction Stage 1
Racing Chip
Stage 2 Turbo
Racing Brakes
Sports Clutch
Semi-Racing Exhaust
Free Oil Change

Total of 23,200 after discounts

I remember driving this car in GT3, and I liked it then. An Integra R was also
featured in one of the license tests (Suzuka guide run), and it felt like it
could be very good without the ASM. I still used 1 "point" of TCS, though. The
price was right, and I liked the colour, so I bought it. I was not disappointed.
It's geared perfectly for the 'ring, it's both stable and responsive, and
controllable with the throttle. Accelerate, and the line widens. Lift off the
throttle and the turn radius tightens rapidly. And it sounds good. Specs are
279hp/1015kg and 7'47.

Car 4: (wildcard) Hommell Berlinette R/S '99 in Jaune Italien
Cost: 47,360Cr.

Upgrades:

Wing
Weight Reduction Stage 1
R1 Tyres
Sports Suspension
Racing Chip
NA tune Stage 2
Semi-Racing Exhaust
Sports Clutch
Sports Flywheel
Free Oil Change

Total of 21,050Cr. after discounts

This was the most exciting of the bunch. At first, it oversteered like there's
no tomorrow. I might have bought my first 2-way LSD if I hadn't run out of
credits. After messing around with the settings I got it under control, halving
the front downforce was the main key to stabilizing the Berlinette. I'm glad I
didn't have the loot to buy the LSD, even my mother says I shoudn't use it. But
what I do miss is the racing brakes. I should have used more cost-efficient mods
for the Integra. But anyway, the car was nothing short of spectacular. Careful
utilization of the lift-throttle oversteer paid off splendidly, and this was the
car I liked the most. It was slower than the FPV, though. But at
248hp/921kg/7'27 this car is no lemon, even in yellow. The gearing turned out to
be perfect, too. As an added bonus, the wing actually looks good on this one
(the first one on the list, black). As usual, 1pt of TCS was used.

Whew. Four reviews in a row. Good thing I drank that extra cup of coffee this
morning.

Summary:

Total price of the cars: 120,980Cr.
Total price of upgrades: 74,927.5Cr.
Combined laptime: 30'39
---
Relax. Have a homebrew.

[vitg]

From: jwrebholz | Posted: 9/21/2005 12:13:16 PM |

So I got a little tweaked and decided to go on a little carshopping spree. I had a hundred or so thousand credits begging to be wasted, so off I went in search of some new iron to play with.
The first car I selected was a brand-new Pontiac GTO. Its 5.7L,350-HP small-block would provide adequate motivation, Ifigured, and for a hair over 34,000, a hard deal to beat. So itooks like a Cavalier. So what? I can't see the outside of the car when I'm driving anyway.

Still though, I felt I'd need something to haul the family, and there was no way I was getting Aunt Ethel in the back seat of a GTO--not with her hip. So I headed down the road to the local Mazda dealer and picked me up a front-wheel-drive Mazda6i 5-door. I've driven the 6 in the past and liked it, so I thought why not pick one up? Too bad there were no V6 models available. Oh
well, the 4-cylinder will suffice.
While I was waiting for them to find my Mazda on the lot, I was leafing through the classifieds, and that's when I saw it. 1969 Camaro SS, orange/white stripes, 350, 4sp, mint, 60,000 firm. I HAD TO HAVE IT. As soon as the Mazda was ready I hauled ass down to that guy's address, dropped a stack of bills on his door and drove off in the delightfully unrefined rolling obscenity that is the Camaro SS.

With all this power, I felt like I should get something a little more
economical. As much as I like these three cars, I thought maybe I should get a cheap runabout to go to the store and back. I didn't have much money left, so it had to be cheap. Again I looked through the classifieds and spied a well-worn '83 Toyota Sprinter Trueno for sale, for just over 5 grand. It had the 5-speed.
It was in good shape. So that also became mine.
Four cars, four days, and a lot of tweaking to do.
---

From: jwrebholz | Posted: 9/21/2005 12:28:18 PM |

Even with the discounts at the local speed shop, my remaining budget was a little tight. I'd have to spend wisely if I was to improve all four of these cars. I decided that addressing their shortcomings was more important than just adding power. The first car I started screwing with was the GTO. It's a modern
car, with a big motor, good suspension, solid brakes, and is all around a pretty good package. I picked up a set of racing tires, a stage 1 weight redux and a sport suspension kit, and felt that would be enough. With a total spent of only 6400 credits, this was the least I spent on any car by a wide margin. A quick
oil change netted me about an extra 20 ponies (settings screen) so off I went to the track to see what she'd do.
It seems understeer is a problem in this car, a problem the simple bit of tuning afforded by the suspenion kit couldn't cure. Still it wasn't terrible, and I managed to score a time of about 8 minutes without much difficulty. It's a well-rounded car to start with. It just needed a few tweaks.

Next up was the Mazda. Again, a S1 weight drop was ordered along with R1 tires.
To this I added a sports suspension, sports exhaust and a stage 2 turbo kit, to the tune of 13,425 credits after discounts. The Mazda had a bit less power, but otherwise was a solid performer on the track. Like most front-drivers it had a
tendency to understeer, but lifting the throttle or giving some brakes corrected it easily. It did run out of gear on the final straight, but still a time of 8:15 isn't bad for a car with only about 230 or so HP.

The next car I decided to tackle was the Trueno. It had the least power by far (only 115HP) and would need the most help. The rest of the car was fine though.
A stage 2 turbo was added along with a racing exhaust kit, S1 weight redux, R1 tires and a semi-race suspension kit. In all I spent over 20,000 cr on this ride, and the benefits were quite noticeable. The extra power really helped the car stretch its legs on the uphill section between Bergwerk and the Karussell
(an area where the car actually lost speed before) and while I still ran out of gear on the last straight, the car pulled strong and handled superbly--even let me hang the tail out some. Unfortunately it wasn't enough to catch the rest, and at 8:25 was the slowest of the group.

Then there's the Camaro...hoo boy. This car needed help. LOTS of help. It's got plenty of power--that's a 350 small block under that hood, and it pulls 300 horses dead stock. Its main problems lie in its transmission, suspension and brakes. The 4-speed in this car forces it to top out early and often, gear-limited to 120 MPH. The brakes are 1969 technology, and aren't up to
stopping this car in any sort of timely fashion. The suspension is soft, wallowy and has far too much roll, squat and dive. I blew almost all the remaining budget fixing the Camaro--over 32,000 credits in fixes, which included a FC transmission (full price), brakes, semi-race suspension, R1 tires and a S1 weight drop. After these modifications were done, I added a stage 2 NAupgrade to boost power up to 374, figuring hey why not?
Tuning was required. The first thing I did was spread those gears out--a LOT. I also lowered the final drive ratio (down to 3.56:1 from 3.89:1) and stiffened up the suspension as much as I felt would benefit. (can't go too stiff, this is a bumpy track). The tuning and testing rewarded me with an eager track car, that
could go, stop and turn with the best of modern machinery. My final time was 7:56.2, well ahead of the rest.

[vitg]

From: Nito_Musashi | Posted: 9/21/2005 9:23:14 PM |

Well after setting my best lap in my Saleen S7 the gearbox decided to give up
the ghost, break pads were on their last legs, and the body needed some work
after a brush in armco....not bad just the breaks didn't have quite the grip I
normally expect and scraped the armco. Still bad enough in a Saleen.

So while that car was being repaired, skipping the whole adventure of finding
someone would work on a Saleen in Germany; it was time to find some new cars.

First car Mitsubishi FTO GPX '97 with 23,160 odd miles, 14,965 cr. I like
Mitsubishi cars they look good usually are a fun ride. Bumped it up with:
Racing exhaust
Turbo stage 1
Racing breaks
Sports Suspension
Spots Clutch
Spots flywheel
Weight Reduction 1
Total 15,052.50
Then some free oil change and a bit of Rigidity Refreshing and it was off to the
Track.

I tried to have fun, the car was not awful, but it was heavy, responsive enough i
suppose but not very peppy. Lap times were 9'01.something and 9'02. something. I
expected more thrill bit more pizazz something but could just not find it.

I suppose that some more weight loss some engine work and there was a fun car in
there somewhere, but on a budget it was on to the next car.


From: Nito_Musashi | Posted: 9/22/2005 10:54:16 AM |

Day two of the BR fun.

My next trip was to the Volkswagon dealer, I try to hate VWs, they have 0
sexiness, looks like 0 aerodynamics. The interiors are nice but nothing great.
Then you drive a VW and you couldn't care less if it looked like a garbage truck
while your driving it.

I looked over the options, and saw hmm a 4 wd VW Golf IV '03 for 43,240 cr, yet
again not a pretty car by lest by my stretch of the imigination, but it didn't
look awful in blue plus the break pads matched the paint....hey. I could not
recall having driven a 4 wd VW before, so i plopped down my cr and headed right
to the tune shop.

Semi Racing Suspension
Carbon driveshaft
Racing Brakes
Racing Exhaust
NA tuning stage 1
Level 2 weight reduction
Everything else standard.
Parts total 22,100 cr.

It took some suspension tweaks, and again ripping out ASM controllers. My first
runs it was better than stock this car liked to throw out its back end. Made it
fun powersliding through turns. So a few more tweaks later to make the back end
a little more stable I headed back.

Now I hate VW styling with a certain passion, but driving a VW especially a
302hp 4wd beast with a back end that slides nicely taking turns hot. Can you say
yummy?

She would barrel down straights power into turns, side the back end out through
and come out nicely. There were a few grab the wheel and counter steer to keep
the car on the road moments. but even the worst episode that had me correcting 3
times heading into Schwalbenschantz (I really was having a blast ) were
managable and tho exciting I never felt I was loosing the car. Laps in the 8'15
or so.

Another winner a 4wd on the n'ring for a fun afternoon car.


From: Nito_Musashi | Posted: 9/22/2005 11:40:43 AM | Message Detail

I had pretty much blow my parts budget on the first 3 cars, plus the billls for
the Saleen were staring to come in...... Now I had to find a decent car under
10.000cr and I did not have enough for the tune shop sale of a free rigidity
refresher so hopefully I got a car that the frame wasn't torqued so bad the
thing would pull every way but straight.....

I headed for a few new cars dealers that might have a cheap ride but some close
but nothing under 10k cr, so finally made my way to the used car showroom. Took
a bit of looking but hmm a Skyline GTSt type M '91 with 38,386 miles and on sale
for the amazing price of 9,313 cr.

Now I really didn't want to think about what had happened in or to that car to
make it so cheap w relatively few miles on it......but it was a nice metallic
gray and it looked mean on the showroom floor plus nothing seemed grossly bent
out of shape nor could I see any bodily fluids on the seats or anything so hey I
got a new used car.

I know I had driven skylines in the past but honestly I could not remember much
about them, wether I liked them or hated them or was indifferent to them, but I
know I had never driven one on the n'ring and now with my limited parts budget
took it to a tune shop.

Turbo 1
Carbon driveshaft
Weight reduce 1
Sport suspension
Racing Brakes
Sport exhaust
racing chip
racing flywheel
oil change
grand total 12,425 cr

I wasn't quite sure what to expect of the car but first thing I did before even
taking it to the track was to hit a garage and do some suspension changes that
seemed to make sense for the car.

Reaching the track I told myself just take it easy, get a feel for the car. That
plan was completely out the window by Flugplatz or so.

This car just wanted to go fast, my brain said get to know her she was like put
that damn pedal down. So before I know it I am powering through turns with the
roar of a very deep good sounding engine roaring in approval. The back end would
swing out nicely, with gentle counter steer she would come right back in line.
Lap times in the 8'20s on my first runs. Again another nice fun ride.

So out of 4 cars one dissappointment 3 very nice rides. That mitsubishi is
going to a junk yard tho.



From: Soulidarity | Posted: 9/28/2005 7:50:13 AM

Here's a BR if I'm not stepping on anyone's toes by grabbing it.

Volkswagen AG Challenge

75k to buy and mod any VW, Audi, or anything else falling under the VW flag. No prize cars, and no HPA Golf. That's about it.

From: Soulidarity | Posted: 9/28/2005 4:05:54 PM |

Audi S4 '98 Hibiscus Red Pearl - 46292
Transmission SC - 5700
Carbon Driveshaft - 3000
Suspension SR - 7400
Exhaust SR - 2900
Racing Brakes - 4700
Weight Reduction 1 - 1200
Racing Chip - 1500
Intercooler Sports - 1800
Oil Change - 50
Car Wash - 50

Grand Total - 74592

HP - 304
Weight - 1328

First lap - 8'27.828
Second lap - 8'16.610
Third lap - 8'15.104

Impressions - My first lap was run with all driving aids on and no driver
ballast. This was done for a few reasons. Having not played for two or three
weeks, I didn't want to jump straight back into the deep end. I needed to
re-familiarize myself with the course and the game controls. The car had a
tendency to swing the back end out ever so slightly, then heavily understeer.
This had the effect of making me try to react to the pseudo-oversteer, only to
have it slide off into the grass or rail when the understeer kicked in. It was
an extremely sloppy lap to say the least. My second lap, with all aids off and
my driver ballast (87 kg) added in, made a huge difference in the car's
handling. The rear end swung out freely (and sometimes unexpectedly on slightly
curvy "straights" such as the area following pflantzgarten), and the oversteer
was pretty easy to control. A more experienced drifter could probably make good
use of this car. Still I had a number of offs, even if less than half of the
first lap. The third lap was a slight improvement on paper, but didn't feel like
an improvement, as I made most of the same mistakes again, as well as some new
ones to counter any spots that I raced better than before. Overall, the S4 feels
a bit sluggish. It just doesn't have the punch that the S4 badge is known for.
The rev limiter was kicking in just under 140 mph, which severely limited my
runs on the straights, but the lack of power left me unwilling to tweak the
tranny at all. The oversteer was controllable most of the time, but would
occasionally show up at odd points as mentioned above. I really never felt like
I had this car fully under control, which accounted for most of my offs. All
runs were on the stock tires (S2s). At over 21000 miles it was in bad need of a
rigidity refresh, but that would have exceeded the budget even with no other
upgrades, so I had to do without.

Volkswagen Bora V6 4Motion '01 Reflexsiber Metallic - 38910
Weight Reduction 1 - 1100
Exhaust SR - 2850
Racing Brakes - 4600
Transmission FC - 10200
Suspension SR - 7200
NA Tune 1 - 4700
Racing Chip - 1250
Carbon Driveshaft - 2750
Flywheel Racing - 1000
Oil Change - 50
Car Wash - 50

Grand Total - 74660

HP - 257
Weight - 1355

First lap - 8'41.781
Second lap - 8'31.936

Impressions - This second BR vehicle was mostly used because I own a Jetta in
real life, and while this one is 4WD with a V6 engine, it is still the closest
to resembling my real life ride. It was actually the first car that I ever drove
in this game, but I really didn't care for it at the time, so it got very little
use. With driving aids off and driver ballast added in, I was thinking a second
opinion might be in order. If you take an underpowered car, add in a healthy
dose of understeer, and top it off with a layer of not so fun to drive, let it
simmer for about two laps, and you've got the Bora. The understeer was
predictable, and the lack of power was expected, but it was really just a boring
car to spend nearly 20 minutes on the ring in. Not much else to say about it.



Interesting twist to the BR. Since you cant enter the A3 quatro in the Liga B, I
ran B spec bob through in the SLR maclaren to see what time it would take to win
and he crosed the line in 7:30:*** with the second still half way down the long
straight at the end. So add 30-40 seconds I figure, and a 8:00 lap should do it.
So

Audi A3 3.2 quattro 42490 cr.
Sport Suspension 3200
NA tune #2 12500
racing brakes 4700
semi racing susp. 7400
sport exaust 2900
racing chip 1500

total 74790
total HP 337

The first try tuning it up I went with the close tranny and was very disapointed
with top speed only being 120ish. So I lost that and went with stock which gives
much more speed in the straights but not quit enough power to fully use the
new top end. I did a few laps and the best I could pull was a 8:07:228 which
maybe could win the ring in Liga B. Especially since I was off at Adenauer-Forst
and basically took the hill instead of the turn.


The only 4wd cars that fit My driving style seem to be the euro Hot hatches like
the A3. So not a bad ride and a pretty good BR for the week. I should be able to
try a different car soon. Maybe the Audi RS4 (it’s cheaper than the S4 so maybe
more money to spend on power)



From: Flibutz | Posted: 9/29/2005 6:27:42 AM |

BR:

Last night, I bought an Audi RS4 '01 in Nogano Blue Pearl Effect. I was thinking
about maybe getting a Seat, since everyone seems to like it, but the temptation
of 400hp prevailed. That's a lot of bang for buck.

I had (almost) no idea what this car would be like, so I decided to try it out
stock with oil change, first. I ran a couple of laps with it, with BL of 7'52
which I think is unimpressive for a 400hp car. The handling was not good, mostly
due to the horrible power understeer. A "funny" feature was that while it had
the power understeer, the occasional oversteer was not easily stabilizable with
the throttle. I was thinking: "Oh boy. This is going to be a long night." It was
clear that I needed tunables. Lots of them. I thought about it some more, and
decided to the right thing and go to sleep.

This car is not eligible for Schwarzwald Liga A, but it fits the Liga B nicely.
I tried it there and won the 'Ring race over the M3 though it took two tries.
With only a little over 40,000cr spent, that was pretty cost-efficient.
(Possibly the cheapest car available to win Liga B stock?)

Ok, on to the tuning part.
A good night's sleep works wonders. Now it was clear what the Audi needed. It
needed a VCD controller. Though expensive, I think was worth every cent. This is
what I got:

Audi RS4 '01 - 41,380
Oil Change - 50
Wing - 1,200
Racing Hard Slicks - 10,500 (hey, they weren't forbidden)
Racing Chip - 1,500
Weight Reduction Stage 1 - 1,200
Racing Intercooler - 3,000
VCD Controller - 10,500
Sports Suspension - 3,200
Sports Exhaust - 1,600
Semi-Racing Flywheel - 600

Total - 74,730cr.
Final hp - 454 (settings screen)

Before even trying it out, I made a quick setup to be used as a starting point.
Ride height to minimum, which was 104mm, dampers to 5/5, camber to 2.0 front 1.0
rear. Downforce to 30/30. The VCD default was 45! No wonder it understeered when
accelerating. I set it to 15.

Now it was like a completely different car. The throttle understeer was
practically nonexistent, and it had lots of grip due to the racing tyres.
Actually, I began to appreciate it's handling. The suspension was still soft,
allowing proper weight transfer. It was so good I didn't bother to tune it any
further. That's how I am. When a car becomes driveable, I usually can't get
myself to fine-tune anything. The Audi rewarded me with a neat lap of 7'08.

[vitg]

From: oldguy1957 | Posted: 9/30/2005 6:39:00 PM |

My original plan for the BR was to pick up a VW, but I failed to find one that
inspired me, so I ended up at the Audi dealership. I noticed that someone had
chosen the S4, so (not noticing that flibutz had already done so) I decided on
the Soccer Mom version...the RS4.

I must say my impression of the car was much better than that of flibutz. A
station wagon with 379 hp right out of the box is, on its own, impressive. Being
a 4WD, I was apprehensive about its handling, but was pleasantly surprised. Yes,
it understeers slightly on entry, and oversteers slightly on exit, but I like it
that way. It's far better than the opposite. I was able to turn a 7'46 with it
stock. I then added:

Racing Chip
Stage 2 Turbo
Racing Intercooler
FC Transmission
Racing Flywheel
Stage 1 Weight Reduction
Wing
Sport Exhaust
Oil Change

Total spent: 74,880 cr.
Horsepower after ups: 496

I first ran it with no downforce, just...um...to feel it slide around, I guess.
It was great fun!! The handling was very predictable, and I thought very fast,
considering it was still on S2's. I ran a 7'25.9 with a couple minor offs.

Then I cranked the downforce to max. You don't get all that much from the
available wing, but it was enough to get me another 10 seconds. My best lap was
a 7'16 flat. I loved the way it handled. The front would slide just a bit (but
comfortably) under hard braking, then it would four-wheel slide though the
center of the turn, and then kick the tail out a hair (just enough to make the
replay look cool) when I hit max cornering speed on exit.

Considering my best time in a M5 (which everyone, including me, raved about) is
7'23, I'd say the RS4 is damn impressive, especially for a Soccer-Mom looking
car!

In conclusion, the 10,000+ I spent on the Racing Tranny was a waste. The stock
transmission is a 6-speed with plenty of top-end. I just have a habit of
throwing in a FC tranny and Racing Flywheel whenever I mod a street car because
the stock versions usually suck. But I had already spent the money before I
realized I probably shouldn't have, so I stuck with it.

If anyone's looking for a fun-driving Station Wagon, give this baby a try!


From: MrPinstripes | Posted: 10/3/2005 1:40:21 PM

I was a bit rushed typing up the intro for the BR (stupid work), so it wasn't as clear as I'd have liked it to be. Here is a better breakdown of how it should work.

"One foot [in your mouth], and one on the gas! (Mk II)"

Step 1: Put your foot in your mouth! Predict just how fast you think you can tear around the 'Ring with 100,000 Cr. Make the most ridiculous boast you think you might actually be able to pull off. Don't check a car's power first, don't test run cars first; just open your yap, then deal with the consequences.

Step 2: Purchase and tuning. Snag a new car (classics are fine, but no used ones), then tune it into a monster. No nitrous allowed, but all other upgrades (including racing tires) are fine.

Step 3: Put the hammer down! Self-explanatory. If your first car doesn't make it, feel free to try another (as time allows, of course).

Whoever comes closest to their target time (either under or over) is the winner.
They win nothing.

My focus for this BR is threefold

1- A way to push our own limits.
2- A way to expand our car/tuning knowledge.
3- A way to have a competition that's totally independent of driver skill.

---

I hope that clears some of the confusion up.

For my BR, I set my target time at a blistering 6'20. After I get this typed out, I'm heading out to find a car that'll run that fast. I don't know if I can.

Later.



From: jwrebholz | Posted: 10/3/2005 4:50:42 PM |

I'm starting to think I should've added another 30 seconds to my time. I've
tried three different cars so far, and none have gotten me anywhere close. First
I tried a Vette Z06, betting on cheap American horsepower. After I set an 8:01
best time, stock, I knew already that nothing I could do with the remaining
46,000 credits would shave a full minute off my time.
Next was the Evo MR, another exercise in futility. Sure it was quick, but with a
time similar to the 'Vette, not nearly quick enough. I needed a car that could
get into the mid-7:00s STOCK as cheaply as possible.
A lot of searching and comparing led me finally to the NSX. It was the
best-handling car I could find that still had power and was under the price
cieling--but only just. With no room to modify and a base time that was STILL
over 8 minutes, I decided to throw in the towel. While it's possible any of the
cars I selected could get to 7 minutes in the hands of a capable driver, I am
far from a capable driver. I just set the bar too high.
---

From: Soulidarity | Posted: 10/3/2005 7:00:34 PM |

2 cars and a massive failure for me. I first tried the TVR Tamora. Its
lightweight and reasonable horsepower led me to believe that it was possible to
put down some good times. Its cost didn't leave a lot for modification, however.
I used an NA tune 2, lightweight 1, R1 tires, racing chip, semi racing exhaust,
and racing brakes, which put me around 98k (I may have forgotten a mod if that
total comes out lower). Of course, I added in driver ballast and removed aids.

Mistake # 1: No six speed transmission. I hit the rev limiter in four or five
spots on the track at around 157 mph.

Mistake # 2: My own inability to control this car. Its a fun ride, but I'm
simply not skilled enough to take this badboy out and get it under control in a
few laps. This cars tendency to pull itself off the track hard if you let a tire
touch the grass was driving me nuts.

My 7'36 best lap was so far off of my target time that it wasn't even funny. In
the hands of a capable driver with a 6 speed tranny, 6'50 could be obtainable.

After scrutinizing car after car in the Euro market, I really didn't have much
more time to look. I skipped over the large American and Japanese markets, as I
simply didn't have time to look through them all. I settled on the FPV GT,
simply because of the high power for low cost, even if it was a heavy mammoth.
Lightweight 1 and 2, R2s, FC tranny, Sports clutch, Racing Flywheel,
Supercharger, Racing Exhaust, Racing Brakes, Racing Chip, which brought me in
around 99k.

This car simply isn't fast enough. Despite its nearly 600 hp, I really don't
think anyone could put down a sub 7 in it within this budget. It handled well,
but had a lot of wheelspin in low gears, which caused me some minor problems. I
never hit the rev limiter, but I did redline down the d-h at over 180 mph. My
best time was a 7'33, and I think I could take that down into the low 7'20s with
a clean lap.

Like usual, I'm out of time for now. If I have time later in the week, I'll pick
out another car or two.

---

From: oldguy1957 | Posted: 10/3/2005 7:07:07 PM |

Foot-in-mouth BR:

This has been very educational for me. I DID hit my projected 6'45, but only by
cheating! I'll explain:

For last weeks BR I put together an Audi RS 4 for 75,000 cr. that would do a
7'16. So, thinks me, subtract the money for the Stage 2 turbo and the FC tranny
that I deemed unnecessary, then add a stage 3 turbo, some racing slicks, and
that should put me well under 7 minutes! I was going to say 6'50, but
Soulidarity chose that number so I got my mouth ready to chew some foot, and
said 6'45!

BUT, the stage 3 turbo didn't add much more hp than the stage 2, and DID cost a
bundle more money. I was only able to afford R1's, and couldn't do the weight
reduction, or add the Racing Chip as I did before. The result was a slightly
more powerful, 200kg heavier car, on only slightly stickier tires. I clocked in
at an embarrassing 7'14...only two seconds quicker than my 75,000 cr. car.

So, I got pissed and went back to that other RS4 (from last weeks BR), threw
some R5's on it (which put me about 20,000 cr. over-budget because they cost
47,500), and drove with a head full of road rage, and just happened to clock in
at 6'45.8 (which actually rounds to 6'46, but hey...I cheated anyway, so what
the heck).

I then tried it with some R3's which actually DID fit in the 100,000 budget,
because they only cost 22,500. The one lap I ran was a 6'55, which I will call
my fastest LEGAL time so far. I could probably pick up another 3 or 4 seconds,
but not 10.

In conclusion, I learned, once again, that horsepower isn't everything. The
weight reduction and racing drive train was worth more (for the money) than the
upgraded turbo and stickier tires.

Foot-in-mouth claim: 6'45
Actual legal time: 6'55

But I'm not through yet! We've got all week!! I'll probably spend at least
500,000 cr. on this 100,000 BR!!!


From: oldguy1957 | Posted: 10/3/2005 10:36:33 PM |

I did it! Beat my target time by almost 10 seconds with a couple of offs. I
could (and will) improve it by at least 3 seconds. Got a 6'36.370 with 410 cr.
left in the piggy bank.

I give the details later in the week. I know many of you could do as well or
better with this car and ups. I'll see if you make the same discovery.

The 100,000 cr. limit is what makes it tough. There's no way to get sub-7's on
S2's. But R's cost a lot of money. So you need a relatively cheap car with a lot
of stock hp and a stock tranny that will take you to high speeds so you don't
have to waste money on the FC upgrade.

Currently getting some really nasty weather here in Duluth. Summer's last
hurrah. Thunder, lightning, very heavy rain, flash flood warnings and all that.
I know that doesn't seem like anything serious to those of you on the gulf
coast, but Lake Superior usually keeps that stuff away from us. It somehow has a
neutralizing affect on the weather. We've got a narrow band of nasty stuff
running lengthways over us. "Freight-training" they call it.

One of my cats is scared and keeps crying. The other one is sleeping...not
worried in the least. LOL Anyways, I'm on high ground. Peace, out!
---

From: MrPinstripes | Posted: 10/4/2005 3:33:49 AM |

Foot in Mouth

I've really got that thing crammed in there this time. I grabbed the sneakiest,
"Cheatyface"-est car available in the game; the HPA R32 Golf. 32k for 550
horsepower? Yes, please and thank you!

The HPA and the Buick Special are both so blatantly underpriced I consider them
cheating in any "budget" situation, but I did say 6'20. I figured the Special in
when I set my target time, but I'd forgotten about the HPA. Since I hadn't
driven it before, I gave it a shot.

The best I've managed so far is 6'37, but I'm still tinkering with mods. The
powerband is almost as ridiculous as the Escudo's- nothing from idle to 4000
RPM, a whole buttload of power and torque from 4-5000, then back to nothing
again. Tuning the tranny was quite an excercise.

I'll post more results when I get the chance (probably Wednesday).


From: Amarynceus | Posted: 10/4/2005 4:24:28 AM |

Ha! I knew I wouldn't be the only one tempted by the HPA! I resisted though, and
with the first car I tried, achieved my target.

Well, close enough for now. I ran a 6'35.849" and I was up by nearly 2" on that
when I went a bit too deep into Pflanzgarten and was rewarded by a trip in the
kitty litter. I'll run it again tomorrow and actually come in under my "FIM"
time.

My car: Ye newe Ford Mustang GT '05 (25,950)
Modification---------Price
Racing Softs--------35,000
3-plate clutch--------4,700
Sports Flywheel-------450
Supercharger------13,500
FC Tranny-----------10,400
Racing Exhaust-----4,800
Racing Chip----------1,500
Weight Redux 1----1,200
Wing------------------1,200
Oil Change--------------50
Grand Total---------98750

I was fortunate that the stock suspension is actually quite good, although the
Mustang does like to try and swap ends under heavy braking. It was a blast to
throw around the track.

Actually, on my first run I had an NA2 tuning instead of the supercharger and
ran a 6'39"; I also did a run with no FCT and R5s instead of R4s and ran a
6'42". The stock gearing has a ridiculously tall 5th gear though which
completely killed my top end speed.

Hmmm.. actually, that could work with the Supercharger, come to think of it. The
SC adds buttloads of low-end torque; I hadn't used one before for some reason
and it kinda threw me at first to find that spreading out my gears actually
improved acceleration rather than the other way 'round...

Another thing to try tomorrow, I guess.

---

From: Flibutz | Posted: 10/4/2005 5:08:17 AM |

I seem to have misunderstood the idea the first time. To be as legit as I can
under the circumstances, I'm holding on to my original claim of 6'35. After all,
that claim was made before even thinking about the Mustang I'm using now, let
alone modifying it. I think this makes it almost valid.

I upgraded it with:

Oil Change
AB Wing
Supercharger
Racing Chip
Racing Brakes
Weight Reductions 1&2
Racing Flywheel
Racing Exhaust
FC Suspension
R3s
Total so far: 98,950
I haven't decided on wheels yet.

I've run a 6'40 with it, and I think the 6'35 is within reach once I fine-tune
the suspension. This might take some time, it's not exactly my specialty, but
it's already faster than with the original setup. As it is now, it exhibits
incredible turning ability under braking while still being very stable in any
situation. This car just loves to go over the curbing!

I'd like to still lessen the understeer, but it already turns almost too fast
when trailbraked so I'm a bit puzzled. Well, the 'Ring beckons. Later!
---
Relax. Have a homebrew.

[vitg]

From: timi_hendrix | Posted: 10/4/2005 6:21:41 AM |
Okay, gonna find some flavored polish for my cowboy boots and aim at a 7 even.
-Tim



From: viperinthegrass | Posted: 10/4/2005 7:03:26 AM |

Foot in Mouth BR™
I think I have found a car. After looking everywhere and toying with the idea of
using the Buick( I reserve the right to use it my second car if I fail !). I
settled on the Chrysler 300c. $38780 with plenty left over for goodies.
With a couple of parts thrown in and no setting up I managed a 7' 24.890 on my
first run which was clean enough to fill me with hope. It is now 1 a.m. here so
I had better leave more for later.


From: wanderingmuse22 | Posted: 10/4/2005 4:16:33 PM |

2003 Mazda RX-8 Type S(j)

Purchased for 27,500 credits.

I then added:

22,500 R3 tires
1,200 Stage 1 weight reduction
13,500 Supercharger (running theme, eh?)
4,800 racing exhaust
1,500 racing chip
10,400 Fully Customizable Transmission
4,700 triple plate clutch
1,000 racing flywheel
4,700 racing brakes
1,200 wing
---------------------
65,500 spent in parts

93,000 total, leaving my RX-8 at 421hp (garage figure), weighing a trim 1192kg.

I, like Oldguy, may not have bitten off enough foot. My first lap was 7'02, and
while that may seem close to my target time, I'd forgotten to turn off the
driving aids.

The second lap (with mistakes) was 6'54, and should have been at least 6'50.
Mind you, I haven't tuned the transmission yet, and that's a single hot lap, not
the best lap of a run.

After driving a modified RX-8, I'm not sold that horsepower is the most
important ingredient here. The combination of a wing (set at 30? most racecars
have less downforce, do they not?) and racing tires makes any car
unrealistically fast through the bends.

I'd like my second helping of foot to be 6'42, and we'll go from there. Got any
hot sauce?


From: fed76 | Posted: 10/4/2005 8:36:38 PM |

After 4 solid hours of racing I kept my foot out of my BR mouth, beating a 6:37.

First try, 05 Mustang, R3’s, supercharger, triple clutch, racing suspension and
exhaust, weight reduction 1 and a big ugly wing. Final cost 97850 with 486 HP,
oops make that 510 HP cause I forgot about the oil change. After about 3 laps of
tweaking, I pulled a really clean 6:46 and new I’d never find 9 seconds of
improvement so back to the drawing board I went.

Second, third and fourth tries where the Nissan 350Z (Z33), 350Z GT4 edition and
Fairlady Z option wheel. They all got super chargers, R3’s, chip, racing
suspension (except the Z33 which only got the sports exhaust), weight reduction
1, oil change, and big ugly wing. The Z33 also got port polishing since it is
33000 unlike the other 2 which are 36000.Final prices 97750 for the two special
Z’s and 98350 for the original.The Z33 got the best time of them with a 6;41 and
that was a pretty clean lap I think even first try. The Z’s seem better than the
Mustang I think just because the 6 speed stock tranny means 3rd gear can take
slower turns not having to grab 2’d as much as in the Mustang.

Finally back to the U.S, and into the Z06 (C5) vette, with super charger, racing
suspension, R3’s Racing breaks, chip, weight reduction 1, oil change and a big
ugly wing.Final Price 99920 final power 559. Then first lap I pulled a 6:36:272.
It was a perfectly clean lap and every lap thereafter just got worse.


From: The White Ghost | Posted: 10/4/2005 8:45:39 PM |

im aiming for 6:05 flat in my fimfotg (<-goofy yes)
ill be back with details in moments....
---
Su unica opcion es suicidio-choco2000

From: The White Ghost | Posted: 10/4/2005 9:12:43 PM |

okay car 350Z option wheel version ST price 36,000Cr
mods...
R3 tires
Supercharger
semi-racing suspension
race chip
stage 1,2 lightening
racing exhaust
racing brakes
racing flywheel
wing
aids off
oil change overall i had 600cr left first lap....6:39.224 i should be able to
come close to 6:15 though gimme a few more laps
---
Su unica opcion es suicidio-choco2000


From: The White Ghost | Posted: 10/4/2005 9:20:44 PM |

woo i said 6:05 hmm it looks like im eatin foot tonite cause 6:05 aint happin
ill replace that guess with a 6:15 that is in a few laps i be back with
results...wish me luck
---

From: Flibutz | Posted: 10/5/2005 3:45:55 AM |

BR:
I've been very anxious to try the Z, it sounds like a good one, but I'm not yet
satisfied with my times in the Mustang. I studied amar's experiences with the
car, and decided to ditch the FC suspension. Doesn't do much good if you're not
an expert tuner, anyway.. Traded it for R4 tyres and sport clutch, that helped a
lot. I would have got the foot deep in my mouth if it wasn't for amar, so thanks
to that direction.

So far, I've done a 6'34.3, which is kind of good because it's close to my
claimed FIM time but the car can definitely go much faster. For some reason, I
just can't seem to get the full potential out of it. And this is not to say it's
a bad car. It's a very good one. Maybe I should just get the Z and get back to
the Mustang later.


From: Soulidarity | Posted: 10/5/2005 4:57:06 PM |

After about 20 partial runs on the ring in my Monaro, a frustrated Soulidarity
gave up. Regardless, even a full clean run would probably not net me the 6'50
that I proclaimed when I shoved my entire leg in my mouth. After doing the 24
hour ring, I feel like my knowledge of where I need to be at any given time for
a 7 minute lap is pretty damn good. When I was running clean and fast (for me),
I was pretty much on par with a 7 minute lap. Unfortunately the furthest into a
lap I ever managed was Bergwerk. Spinning out, or performing my best impression
of a riding lawnmower, set me behind the mark, and I couldn't see the sense in
finishing an already failed lap. I may have time to try another car or two, but
we'll see.

---

From: viperinthegrass | Posted: 10/6/2005 2:43:59 PM |

I managed to get a few laps in late last night with the Chrysler 300C, and had a
pretty good setup working with money still in the bank. the only problem seemed
to be the Car was very slow accelerating although speed was good, hmm? then I
twigged to what was wrong - its a porky beast and I had forgotten about weight
and this baby has got plenty!!
With about 8 seconds to go to achieve my FIM prediction
I will reorganise my modifications and shed some weight and see what happens
tonight.
Flibutz - nice work on guessing the weekend rider, I will officially confirm
model tonight.
My coupe does indeed have handrabe on front wheels as well as twin carbies and
four wheel disc brakes, good suspension and a body that is still as tight and
solid as the day it was built.

More later



From: MrPinstripes | Posted: 10/6/2005 6:01:33 PM

I'm happy that my BR could entertain everyone so much. I thought it would be a
pretty fun one when I thought of it, and after development it seemed to get
better and better.

I haven't had time yet to run my updated HPA, and after the time that Flibutz
put in with the RX-8, I had better be able to make it. I'll never forgive myself
for "cheating" if it wasn't necessary.

As for the Radical, I'd hesitate to call that a street car, whether it
technically is one or not. It looks more like a closed-wheel F1 to me. The fact
that he demolished the previous best by so much says a lot, too. I'll have to
add in my "Holy ****!", though, since 6'55 is insane. Nice find, Muse.


From: Soulidarity | Posted: 10/6/2005 7:59:37 PM |

Who is your damn daddy?!

I didn't want to steal someone else's car to accomplish my goal, but all the
talk about the RX-8 brought the RX-7 to mind, and there happened to be one in
the new car lot. With some R4s, Stage 2 Turbo (no supercharger or NA available),
Racing Chip, Racing Intercooler, Racing Brakes, Semi Racing Flywheel, a wing
(max downforce), oil change, and car wash, I came in about 1000 shy of the
budget. I only ran one lap, with plenty of minor errors, and pulled in a 6'57.
I'll definitely make a few more runs in this badboy tomorrow, and I'm confident
I can finally pull my leg back out of my mouth.

Obviously the R4s accounted for the amazing handling, but the ability to drift
and pull out of a drift at will for even a driver of my skill level was
amazingly fun. I don't think it has a sixth gear, but since I never hit the rev
limiter, even at 170+ on D-H, I didn't need one.

I was pretty disappointed with my part in this BR until now. weeeee!
---

From: Soulidarity | Posted: 10/7/2005 12:00:43 PM |

meh, I guess I'll have to settle for being 7 seconds off. After more than 10
promising laps, each of which was destroyed with either one major error or a
series of minor errors, I'm throwing in the towel. 6'57 is much closer than I
was thinking I was going to get a couple days ago, and I'm happy with that. I'll
pick up the Speedster tomorrow.

---


From: MrPinstripes | Posted: 10/8/2005 7:22:03 AM |

Foot in Mouth- Target time of 6'20

I haven't entirely removed that foot, but all I've got left to suck on is a few
toes, and I can live with that. After some dinking and tweaking, I settled on
the following mods for my HPA:

FC Transmission
Racing Flywheel
R5 Tires
Stage 1 & 2 Weight Reduction
Straight Type AS Wing

I had the majority of my tranny settings from the last time memorized, so all I
had to do was re-input them and make some tweaks. I softened the suspension a
bit and raised the ride height, but everything else was set on "stun" (no
ballast, no aids, oil change, max downforce).

Starting off with a super-long 1st gear is a bit nerve-wracking in the HPA. It
only generates 30 or so horsepower up to 4,000 RPM or so (I'm not exaggerating
by much), and accelerating from a stop feels like you're driving a motor
carriage instead of a 600 hp monster. Once you hit about 3.8k, though, it really
takes off.

I've come to the conclusion that I don't like R-grade tires. Every car I've put
them on (excepting race cars, of course) has turned into an uncontrollable POS.
The HPA exhibits such terrible oversteer on landings and under braking that I
briefly considered ditching it and finding something else.

The tradeoff was, of course, that the turn-in and front-end grip was great
around any corner that I didn't have to brake into. For a 4WD, the HPA handles
beautifully- no understeer under acceleration, and just a hint of oversteer when
you'd want it. My opinions may change if I ever drive it on N-grade tires,
though.

My best lap was by no means a perfect one, and clocked in at 6'23.7. I could
shave the last 3 seconds off without too much trouble (another 4 or 5 runs), and
I'd bet there's more than that lurking in there. That will have to do, though,
as I have another car to run and some work to do around the house.

Later.


From: viperinthegrass | Posted: 10/8/2005 8:33:08 AM |


Foot - in - Mouth BR™
Car - Chrysler 300C '05 “Cool Vanilla”

Target Time : 7' 07.445
Time achieved : 7' 07.276

I guess my target was a bit conservative, but I achieved it with money left
over,in fact I way overshot the time and had to remove some parts to slow down.

Car 34780
S'charger 13500
Wgt. Reduction 2 6700 ( Final weight 1652kg, Final Hp 540)
R2 Tyres 10500 ( R1 would be good too )
Engine Bal 12000
Port & Polish 5500
82980 total

This was enough to achieve the time but I added a semi racing exhaust and chip
for an extra 4400 cause it sounded better. Other parts removed - triple clutch ,
racing flywheel.
At first with this car I thought I had bitten off more than I could chew (again) as it was so heavy but I was in for a nice suprise. Mark my words this is a good car.I tried different combinations of mods and ended up buying 3 Cars so I could back out of the permanent changes if I wished.
Final setup was stock suspension & tranny as they were more than adequate, I think the extra weight helps “settle” things down when pushing. The close gearbox I tried gave good acceleration but hit the limiter early on at DH.I thought the stock box with engine balancing to reset the redline would be okay, it was but 5th. Gear is wasted really.
The car drives really well with some easily controlled oversteer and is fast but somehow not stressful to drive.
I also built a fully modded version, tuned the FC gearbox to balance top speed & acceleration but kept stock suspension and was improving my BR time by 16 seconds.
I would really appreciate a fast guy having a drive and swapping impressions.




From: Onikaze | Posted: 10/18/2005 5:42:27 PM |

Budget Rider Idea

Take a Car in game, and try to duplicate as closely as you can a car which did
not make it into the game.

You have 50,000 for Modifications, the Car is free, try to match up the number
specs (weight/power-weight/horsepower/acceleration) as best you can, and then
let us know if you think it would be a fitting tribute.

Hell, thats the name of this idea.

T.I.N.T.B.B.R.I.T.I.O.A.T.

This is not the best budget rider idea, this is only a tribute.

[vitg]

From: sackedagain | Posted: 10/19/2005 11:21:44 AM |

The Miata Club Budget Rider

At the end of ‘70s, the roadster was dead in the United States. You might see an MG or a TR7, but usually on blocks in someone’s driveway. These days, you see roadsters everywhere-Z3s, TTs, Boxters. What happened?

In 1979, journalist Bob Hall begged Kenichi Yamamoto at Mazda to build a
roadster. Hall ended up changing careers. Over the next 10 years, at Mazda
Automotive North America in California, he was part of the team that developed
the MX-5 under Toshihiko Hirai.

In the US, the car has always been called the Miata. "Miata" is from Old High
German and means “reward.” In Japan, the car was called the Eunos to avoid
confusion with the bicycle company, Miyata. In Europe, I’m told that it has
always been an MX-5.

From 1989 to 1997, Mazda was scared to make major changes to the car. It had had
tremendous sales and enormous support from Miata clubs across the world. Mazda
upped the horse power in 1994, replacing the 1.6 with a 1.8 engine. But that
only compensated for extra weight.

After the 1997 model, Mazda finally retooled, with input from club members. The
second generation Miata carried on the look and feel of the original roadster.
The quickest difference to spot is the headlights. The first generation had
pop-ups, but by 1998 Mazda was able to use a smaller headlight to achieve the
same illumination. The badging also changed, with the new Mazda logo.

The third generation has stepped away from tradition. RX-8 fenders, roomier
interior. But enough said. Oh wait there is one more thing, ugghhh.

GT4 has nine models from the first and second generation. Forget the second
generation for now. For this BR, you have your pick of five cars, all 1st gen
Miatas. You’ll need oil and a Viagra to restore the car to original specs. Don’t
tune it any further.

Now, I agree, it is a nice secretary’s car. But trust me, or check out a Miata
spec race sometime, the car is a riot to drive. Great handling with 50-50 weight
distribution and has one of the best gear boxes ever made.

In GT4, the Ring replaces Mazda’s original test track: The Pacific Coast
Highway. Keep your revs high and avoid braking. For grippers, this is a very
forgiving drifter. Momentum at work. If you miss Bergwerk or Ex-Muhle or
Dottinger Hohe, all corners leading into hills, there is no recovery. Your lap
time may be off by 5 to 10 seconds.

You’ll find these cars in the used car and historic lots:

1. The original MX-5 from 1989. Steel wheels, 118 HP/6500 rpm and torque at
100.97/5500. There is a god-awful blue that I wish I hadn’t bought. Look for the
silver.

2. The J-Limited from 1991. Who knows J-limited means? I’m assuming it’s a
Japanese model. All the cars are right-hand drive. Mazda always releases a
couple editions. In 1991, Mazda released a special edition but it was available
only in British Racing Green and that car is not in GT4. I do think the GT4 car
has the alloy wheels option available in 1991. Same engine and weight as the
1989 model.

3. The J-Limited II from 1993. The weight grows to 980 kg and 1.6 is replaced
with the 1.8 engine. Oiled and refreshed, the car gets 130 hp at 6500 rpms.
Torque is also up to 115.35 at a lower 4500 rpms. The redline moves from 7500 to
7000 rpms. In 1993, the Limited Edition released in the states were “Brilliant
Black” with a red interior. They came with BBS wheels, Nardi shifters, Bilstein
shocks, a spoiler and a rear lower skirt. Only 1,500 sold here. That car would
be a real find.

4. VR-Limited from 1995. This car has a mixed interior, tan seats in a black
cockpit. Other than that, seems very much like the 1993 model.

5. And finally, the 1997 SR-Limited. I don’t see any major changes in the GT4
1997 model.

I look forward to your reports and observations.


From: sackedagain | Posted: 10/19/2005 11:43:46 AM |

Just found this link regarding Miata models. I was correct, these are all Japanese models. The following is an english translation from a Japanese site:

www.aus-cartalk.com/tech/miata.htm


From: oldguy1957 | Posted: 10/19/2005 10:26:27 PM |

(see my last post in volume X if you want this to make sense)

I test drove two of Sacked's Miatas to get some experimental results of my RTP.

'97 Miata
Lap time: 8'55.751
RTP: 72

'89 Miata
Lap time: 8'59.718
RTP: 68

So, even though the '97 had a better top speed (by about 4 mph) and faster lap times, the '89 made better use of its power.

Am I boring everyone with this, or do at least some of you find it as
interesting as I do?

Welcome, BTW, to any newcomers to The Diaries. The more, the merrier!! This will be my third volume of participation, now. I think that almost qualifies me as a veteran. Maybe semi-veteran...
---

[vitg]

End Of Volume X Budget Rider ™ Writeups

[vitg]

The Nurburgring Diaries - Volume Xl

Budget Rider ™ (BR™) Write Ups


From: sackedagain | Posted: 10/20/2005 7:30:22 AM | Message Detail

Oldguy, thanks for your tests on the 89 and 97. I admit I had some hope, based
on our similar age, that we would be competitive time-wise. Alas, I remain,
relatively slow. In the '89, my best time is 9:08. And, in my Chaste White 1997,
my best time is 8:59.


From: wanderingmuse22 | Posted: 10/20/2005 7:49:05 PM | Message Detail

As for the Miata Club, mine is the '95 VR Limited in "Combination A Artvin Red
Mica". I'd say it's Maroon, and "Maroon is All That Matters". (whoever gets that
reference gets a cowbell salute from me)

Peace.

I ran a lap with my Miata on N2's. I don't like N2's, so I may abandon that
approach (due to my own impatience). However, I did enjoy the feel of the car,
and I liked the idea of my lap times being representative of real times, so
we'll see. I can see this as being an ongoing "hobby" car that I pick up
occasionally (indefinitely) rather than one I focus on briefly and discard.

There's a catching psychology at work when driving for simulation, a bit of
character in the laps, perhaps?

It's funny to me that "catching psychology" and "ring psychology" are exactly
the same thing, but neither has to do with driving, though one is distinctly
more European than the other (if not flat out German). It's a matter of telling
stories without words. I couldn't digress more senselessly if I tried, but kudos
to the wrestling fan who gets it.

From: Flibutz | Posted: 10/21/2005 5:53:02 AM | Message Detail
Wow, a lot has happened since I last posted, and that was only two days ago..

I tried 4(!) of the MX-5/Miatas out. They were so much fun, and it is a relaxing
car after more hair-raising experiences with faster rides. I liked the 1.6liter
versions more but 1.8s were great too. There is just a little more understeer to
be found in the heavier versions. Actually, I'm planning on tuning one of the
MX-5s (preferably 1.6l) but I want a 10km special for it and I've yet to find
one. There are 11 MX-5s in the PAL version, 7 of which are '89-'97 models. The
S-Special is 20kg heavier than other 1.8l versions. All of the cars got an oil
change and a viagra, none were 10km specials.

Laptimes in the order I drove them:

'91 J-Limited - oops, didn't record exact time. 9'00.xxx
'95 S-Special Type I (J) - 8'51.874
'97 SR-Limited (J) - 8'48.215
'89 - 8'52.910

I drove each car for two laps, except for the '89 which I drove for three laps.
The J-Limited isn't as bad as it looks, I clearly hadn't gotten used to the cars
yet. the S-Special actually felt more sluggish than the SR-lim, at least I think
so. Probably not that much slower anyway.


From: viperinthegrass | Posted: 10/23/2005 9:27:43 PM | Message Detail
BR™

Various MX5 ( Miata )

Hi Sacked,
Did not get as much track time over the weekend as I would have liked but I
managed two laps on each of the following:

'89 Crystal White - 120kW - 9.26.xxx / 9.11.xxx
'91 J Ltd. Sunburst Yellow - 120kW - 9.14.xxx / 9.07.xxx
'93 J Ltd. ll Sunburst Yellow - 132 kw - 9.05.xxx / 9.01.xxx
'95 VR Ltd. Green Mica - 132 kW - 9.15.xxx / 9.08.xxx
'97 SR Ltd. Sparkle Green - 132kw - 9.03.xxx / 9.01.xxx
In summary, as usual I lose too much time through overbraking plus I am losing
time at Bergwerk ( this has become my Bete Noir lately ).
The Yellow ones are quicker.


In my version there are 11 to choose from, new and secondhand- mind you they are
a popular Car over here in Oz.


From: wanderingmuse22 | Posted: 10/24/2005 4:36:24 PM | Message Detail

Speaking of MX-5's, here's a tidbit about their relationship with the 'Ring:

www.askaprice.com/torque-article.asp?article=Mazda_MX-5_race-tested&item=572


From: Flibutz | Posted: 11/1/2005 5:16:42 AM | Message Detail

BR™:
Sorry for the delay, guys, but here it is. This week we'll have a...

Budget Ricer™

For this BR™ you will assume the role of a german jap car enthusiast. Your car
club has a meeting coming up, and it includes a trip to Nordschleife. Time to
mod your lemon!

For this challenge, you are limited to japanese cars. Your car budget is
23,000cr if you buy a new/legendary car, and 13,000 if you get a used one.
Rigidity refreshers are free. 22,500 for upgrades. Any leftover from car budget
can be used to buy upgrades, but not the other way around.

This car is your daily driver, so you are limited to N tyres. Weight reduction
is not recommended.
NOS is allowed. In fact it officially makes you cool.


Author Unknown ( Lost Header)

I had been the first in the car club with an Evo, but Ludwig, Jonas, and Klaus (always the
followers) had gotten their own Evos soon after. Gertrude and Gunter were
married and had twin Sti's (how cute! I'm going to throw up now). So I decided
against both. I saw a 300 ZX in the lot as well, but at over 13000 Euros, I
wouldn't have enough cash to spare for all the mods that would be needed to make
it cool. I ended up settling on an '88 Nissan Silvia K's (S13) for 6600.
Friedrich said it was in bad need of an oil change (shouldn't he have done that
as a courtesy to the customer?), but I went ahead and took it. It would
certainly stand out from all the Hondas, Subs and Mitsus in the group.

Luckily there was an Amuse tuner shop just down the road. I had Otto do the
work, since he had done such great work with my Evo. I had him install a Sports
Suspension, Sports Clutch, Sports Flywheel, Carbon Driveshaft, Stage 1 Turbo,
Sports Intercooler, Racing Chip, Sports Exhaust, Racing Brakes, a 3D Type DW
Wing (my friends were going to be so jealous) and set the downforce to max, a
set of Rays 024 gold rims, and a tank of nitrous. I also had him pull out the
back seat to get rid of some weight, and do an oil change. Otto is amazingly
fast, so he only took a few hours to get it all done. I ran it down the street
to get it washed. I had 700 euros left over after all this, so I looked
desperately for a shop that sold stickers, as that was what I really needed to
get this baby moving. But alas, there were no sticker shops in this town

This brings me to yesterday. When I rolled up to our meeting spot outside of the
ring, Ludwig and Klaus were already there fawning over each other's Evos, and
Norbert and his Prelude were keeping aloof as usual. They were shocked to see my
new ride, as they hadn't heard about my Evo's fate. Reinhard showed up next in
his Civic hatchback, followed shortly by Gertrude and Gunter in their twin
Subies. Eventually Jonas showed up in his Evo, and Ludwig and Klaus migrated
over to it and continued their fawning there. We were just waiting on Sascha.

My smile from watching the three stooges and their evos quickly faded when I saw
the yellow NSX come around the corner. "Dammit, who told Sigmund about this
meet?" I yelled. Sig always managed to show up whereever we went. The guy was
annoying. He seemed to love flaunting his wealth by running that NSX around with
us. No one liked the guy, and he wouldn't even push his car anyways. Why buy a
fast car if you're not going to test its limits? While I was fuming about all
this, Sascha finally arrived, and we hit the ring...


From: oldguy1957 | Posted: 11/1/2005 6:41:45 PM | Message Detail

In the tune shop it says that balancing the engine will increase maximum RPM's,
and that the rev limiter will be reset. DON'T BELIEVE IT!!

For my Budget Ricer, I chose a used '94 Subaru WXR STi (in Vivian Red) for 9,722
cr. I added a stage 2 turbo and racing intercooler (and of course some N3's),
bringing it to 373 hp. It was really fast, but maxed out at 150 mph. On my test
lap I ran an 8'08.4, but was on the rev limiter more than half of the Dottinger
Hoho straight.

I had just under 10,000 cr. left to spend, which isn't enough for the FC tranny,
so I thought I'd be smart by taking off the intercooler, which gave me enough
money to do the engine balancing. It gave me slightly less hp (364), but I
thought I'd make up for it with the higher top-end speed from the higher RPM's.

Think again! Top speed was STILL 150 mph!!

Strangely enough, my single test-lap time was a nearly identical 8'08.1, even
with the lower hp. Both laps had a few minor offs, but nothing major.

Unfortunately, you can't undo engine balancing, so my attempt with the WRX is
finished...my budget used up. I DID see a tasty-looking Supra, though. I think
maybe I should give a FR a try instead of another 4WD.
---
The best laid plans of mice and men, often go astray.


From: fed76 | Posted: 11/1/2005 7:15:30 PM | Message Detail

BR, Toyota, MR2 Spyder.

Car, 9900
N2 free
Sport susp. 3100
Nitrous 5000
Stage 2 turbo, 13000
WR stage 1 100
50, LOF, Total mod 22250. 209HP

Sounds like a good Visa comercial EH!
The first lap was 8:41, and I was very surprised by the handling of the car so
thought why not try the N1’s for one. After a not as clean lap with a few lawn
mows, the second lap was a 9:03 and was really pretty clean over all. I mowed
the lawn a couple of times at Angstkurve and I think slipped up at the top of
Fuchsohre but didn’t die or hit the Armco. That was much better than I thought
I’d get with N1’s let alone the N2 time with only one lap. So now I’m wondering
if an older RX7 or 250Z can do that with me as pilot.
I have my doubts but will cetainly give er a go tonight FR my faves verses WR. I
bought a 96 250Z before taking a movie break and dinner. Heh, I suppose I could
afford lunch and a movie with my 250 left over from the car.

---
100% complete, 100% win ratio, 18 Gold Liscences and the rest silver. Gave up on
all golds, O well.


From: Havok3595 | Posted: 11/1/2005 8:17:09 PM | Message Detail

I'm still deciding on the Budget Ricer to use...I'm considering an offbeat
choice like a *gasp* Isuzu.


From: fed76 | Posted: 11/1/2005 8:27:57 PM | Message Detail

Nissan 240 SX ‘96
Car, forgot but just under the limit
N2 free
Sport susp. 3000
Nitrous 5000
Stage 2 turbo, 12500
chip 1000
50, LOFsecond lap. Total 21550, total HP254
First n1 9:09.860 , clipped sand at Shwalbenschwanz, and sloppy of the start.
Second a disappointing 9:02, 399, the added power didn’t negate the added weight
as I had planned and the handling was not near the MR2. The added 10 or so miles
per hour really was all that saved the 240 from losing, and only by 1 second.
Although a better driver/ slash drifter could have probably easily pulled it
off. I am starting to enjoy N1’s way to much although the aids are still on and
might have to be. But that’s next.


From: fed76 | Posted: 11/1/2005 9:35:34 PM | Message Detail

Wow! I turned off the driving aids in the 240Z and took it for a ride. Shaved
just over 5 seconds off breaking the nine minute mark. Thanks totally to added
acceleration from the loss of ATC. The 240 was almost easier to handle. By just
nailing the nitrous, or in lower gears nail the throttle and you can line er up
where you want it. I think maybe lap 2 in the F1 race today helped me on that
especialy through the last to turns (tooo much woooork to type the names) before
the long straight.
The MR2 on the other hand became a beast, thanks in part I believe to the loss
of weight. It was getting nitrous just on the top end of four and mostly through
5. It didn’t need any help breaking the back end loose at any speed.
Any way got time and money for one more tonight and then will probably crash.
Hey being on the F1 tour and 10 or so rings in a day gets a guy tired.


From: oldguy1957 | Posted: 11/1/2005 9:53:07 PM | Message Detail

Budget Ricer attempt #2

The Supra I had my eye on was, indeed, the '90 twin turbo. I bought it for
11,458 cr. which left me with 24,042 cr. for mods. I spent it as follows:

50 - oil change
0 - N3 tires
13,500 - Stage 2 Turbo
3000 - racing intercooler
1500 - racing chip
2900 - semi-racing exhaust (I hope it passes the sound level test!)
3000 - Carbon driveshaft

That left me with 92 cr. and gave me 418 hp.

The combination of turbo-lag and serious wheel-spin until I hit 3rd gear made it
a handfull coming off slow-speed corners. It was impossible to get smooth
application of power on exit of turns. It was also very unstable at high speeds.
Making it through the Pflanzgarten "straight" and negotiating the slow-down
before the S/F line both had about a 50-50 success rate...usually including some
wheel-whipping panic-corrections.

Despite all this, I was able to break the 8-minute mark with a 7'58.9. And that,
by necessity, was a fairly cautious run. I was much happier with the handling of
the Subaru, and could have easily beaten this time if I hadn't had the top-end
speed limited to 150 mph. The Supra, BTW, topped out at around 176 mph.

In conclusion, I'd have to say that if this really was my every-day ride I would
have had to knock at least a minute off my time (if not two) in order to assure
I still had my car (and my body in one piece) at the end of the day!

[vitg]

From: sackedagain | Posted: 11/2/2005 12:48:50 PM | Message Detail

For the Budget Ricer, I also picked the 1990 Toyota Supra 2.5 Twin Turbo. The
torque number (241 at 4800) looked interesting, despite the weight of the
vehicle (1520 kg). The car in the lot was black, which meant I could match a
wing to it and set the black off with some gold rims.

Yes. It's true. I am a slave to style...

The car cost 11,458, which boosted my upgrade budget to 24,042. The wing
(straight type bb), rims (OZ 031), oil and wash left me 22,242 cr. to play with.

I ran a few laps, with a best of 8:41. The car felt stiff, heavy and fat. But it
was pretty. Taking after its owner, in a way. With weight reduction out of the
equation, more power was needed to bring the Supra to life.

I didn't want to spray, figuring I was "cool" enough with my wing at zero
downforce and flashing my gold rims. So, I added the Stage II turbo, sports
intercooler, the 1.5 LSD, and the sports exhaust. That brought the power up to
383 hp and left about 842 crs in the budget.

The Supra had a little spring in its step now. But still dull. A tendency to
understeer. On sharper downhill corners, I was able to push it into a four wheel
slide. From a dead stop, I could spin my tires through three gears. Tons of
torque.

Back on the track, the car failed to post any impressive times due to the dead
handling. If it wasn't a daily driver, I would lose the weight and put some
sport tires on it. But, in any event in three laps, my best time was an 8:26.

Bottom line: I think I'm quitting the german japanese car enthusiast club and
joining a japanese german car club.


Budget Ricer

Havok's first official contribution that actually contributed something

While I was growing up in Bergwerk, it was not easy to find a person who
understands cars. Everyone thinks that Mercedes, or RUF, or BMW, or even Audi
makes the best cars. Everyone is wrong. None of those Euro sedans could compare
with the splendor of Japanese engineering. And NOS.

When I turned 18, I found an obscure uncle had left me an inheritance of 35,500
credits. I wasn't sure what a credit was either, but I knew that I could finally
own my dream piece of Japanese engineering. And NOS.

I found a local German Japanese car enthusiast club. Like me, they had all been
mercilessly picked on in high school, but we all found comfort in Kraftwerk. And
NOS. They explained that they would be taking a trip to the Nurburgring soon,
and that I should come along. But what to buy? Civics and Accords were well
represented, as were Imprezas, Evos, and even a glorious Skyline. Supras were as
common as NOS. So, with my meager inheritance, I went to Crazy Siegfried's Used
Car Lot. The beauty I would soon drive stood out to me immediately, beckoning to
me with its luxurious Super White paint job. Oh yes, the 1981 Toyota Celica XX
2800 GT would soon be mine, for only 8,130 credits. The NOS would come later.

Even after changing the oil, it only had 170 hp of pure unadulterated power, so
I added a 3D Type DW Wing in matching white (no downforce added, though) and N I
O 249 rims that were on sale used. Somehow, it still only had 170 hp of pure
unadulterated power. There had to be a mistake. So, I went to the local Blitz
tuner and bought some NOS. WTF? Still only 170 hp? Obviously that system is
inaccurate.

I added a Sports Exhaust to sound more bad ass, NA Stage 2 tuning for a little
hp, now up to 236, and then got some carbon fiber going to reduce the weight to
1123 kg (WR 1 and 2). I also bought a semi-racing flywheel because I had barely
enough money for it, but had no real reason to do so other than it was shiny,
and I like shiny things. And NOS.

In preparation for the Nurburgring, I bioengineered a new body for myself out of
carbon fiber (I forgot to add in personal weight, but I did go on N2's with no
driving aids). Lap one, I didn't touch the magical go-juice and finished at
9.26.999 with a top speed of 151 mph. On the second lap, I let it all hang out
and took 10 seconds off that. Would have been more, but my vision was still
blurry from NOS and I missed the last series of turns. Thank god I'm immortal. I
got up to 172 mph with NOS going, which clearly demonstrates the superiority of
Japanese engineering. And NOS.
---
"I will be cool and creamy.
I will have my recommended daily allowance of pie."


From: viperinthegrass | Posted: 11/3/2005 12:56:25 AM | Message Detail

BR™ - Nice work Flibutz!

Thought I would share this letter from my Cousin in Germany with you,
(Translated from German)
Hi Cuz,

Have just returned from our Japanese Gran Teuton Club's annual day at the 'Ring.
As usual I took my old Silvia K's Aero along. Normally this would mean another
frustrating day of coming last on the time sheets, but thanks to your tip on
that horse race, I won a 22500 cr. quadrella, which I spent on upgrading old
Silvia, thank you!!
We gathered at our usual campsite and had a jolly old time, everyone was in high
spirits, laughing and joking hysterically - heres one “ my dog has no nose, how
does he smell? Terrible!!” I thought I'd split my lederhosen after that one!
The next morning after some calisthenics and a hearty breakfast of sauerkraut,
würst and kartoffelpuffe, we set off for some laps. Imagine everyone's surprise
when I was consistently second on the time sheets, embarrassing the usual bunch
of WREX and EVO freaks. Of course it was Stucki with his '90 Supra 2.5 Twin
Turbo R, churning out laps in his usual Robot like fashion who topped the lists.
I was only .225 seconds behind him but I had my secret weapon!! Last lap for the
day and I was right behind Stucki into Dottinger Hohe, time to act. I pressed
the button hidden in the cigarette lighter which would unleash a Huge Nitrous
burst. Nothing! I tried again, Nothing!!
Those Scheisekopf's!! No wonder they were in a good mood last night, they had
sniffed all my Nitrous! Oh well there is always next year.

Budget Ricer Details :

Purplish Blue Nissan Silvia K's Aero (S14) '93 8868 Cr. 1220Kg / 213 hp

Upgrades :
Wheels ( cho232 ) 500
N3's 0
Oil change & Wash 100
Turbo 2 12500
Chip 1000
Sport Suspension 3000
R Clutch 4500
Racing Flywheel 900
Large Cooler 2500
Sport Exhaust 1500
Total 26500 ( Budget available 26632 ) Final hp 291

Silvia run stock - 8 ' 48 . 087 best
After upgrading - 8 ' 20 . 222 (clean lap)

I tried various combinations of upgrades but settled on the one above, the turbo
2 only gave me lap times tenths of seconds quicker than turbo 1 due to wheelspin
and lag.
Oldguy - I also tried using a close gearbox and engine balancing ( before I read
your post ) to overcome the turbo lag but it did not really work as it was too
slow, ( 227km/hr. vs. 253 km/ hr ). In the end the stock box was okay and the
stock suspension would be also.

I was going to use the '90 Twin Turbo Supra but it had already been snaffled, so
I used it as a comparison car, setup as follows :

Turbo 1 4800
Chip 1500
FC G'box 10400
Tr. Clutch 4700
R Flywheel 1050
Total 22450 (317 hp )

Best lap - 8 ' 20 . 008 clean lap ( Nice Car )
I am going away for a few days so I will have to leave Mr. Pinstripes WR until I
get back.
Having Fun, Bye.


From: Flibutz | Posted: 11/3/2005 5:14:16 AM | Message Detail

Budget Ricer:

Hi. It's Franz reporting from the good old Deutschland. I heard there was a lot
of talk about the wonderful japanese cars in the world-famous Diary, and thought
I'd add in my piece. I'm still laughing at VITG's dog joke (a Monty Python
quote?)and Havok finding comfort in Kraftwerk. And NOS. Not to mention Gunther
and Gertrude with their Subies.

When our good car club decided to include a 'Ring trip in our next meet, I
wasn't too happy about the idea. Not that I don't like the track, I even know it
pretty well, but my '89 'Line wasn't up to snuff at the time. Well, I scraped
together my last credits, 6,900. Clearly not enough, so to the bank I went and
got a quick loan of 20,000. That should do it.

I chose to tune my car at Amuse who also offered a free installation for bigger
buys. Though the shop was a long ways from my home, I knew Otto's
lightning-quick installation work would save me a lot more time than I lost
driving there and back. And time was of the essence. I slept on a thin mattress
at Otto's garage while he was working on my Nissan.

The morning came, and I woke up sore and aching but already a little late for
our meet. Thankfully, the car was ready and I left a hefty tip in Otto's pocket.
The poor bastard had fallen asleep on the couch of their office room, still in
his overalls, and I didn't dare to wake him up. I pulled a dyno slip out of the
printer and was happy to see it reported over 330 crank hp.

When I arrived at the meeting point, everyone was already there. Helmut was
leaning against his shiny new Integra and other Honda guys were circling around
it. Ludwig had installed a new set of neons on his 200SX and was looking sharp.
Ernst was just about to steal the show with the WRC stickers on his STi, when I
rolled in. My rear wing instantly caught the attention it deserved. I was proud
to show them my nitrous bottle and other goodies, although Konrad claimed I
couldn't match his Civic that had a B18C engine swap done and was iced with a
turbo. We also had a surprise visitor, a crazy yankee whose name was
Mr.Pinstripes and who was driving a supercharged MR2.

Initially, most of the guys were laughing at my "high" (100mm) ride height, but
Ludwig spoiled his front spoiler before we even arrived at the track, and Kurt
did the same on the 'Ring... Hope they learned something.

On the track, I performed pretty well. I didn't clock the fastest laptime,
thanks to Rudolf and his overpowered EVO, but I did put some hard-tuned cars to
shame. Additionally, I got an honorable mention for my death-defying drifts.

Specifics:

Nissan Skyline GTS-t Type M (R32) '89 in Red Pearl Metallic - 8,347cr.
Oil Change - 50
Dunlop 006 Wheels - 500
Straight type CB Wing - 1,200
N3 Tyres - free
Nitrous - 5,000
Racing Chip - 1,200
Stage 2 Turbo - 13,000
Sports Suspension - 3,100
Semi-Racing Exhaust - 2,850
Otto's tip - 200
Total - 8,347+27,100 = 35,447cr.
Final hp - 337 (garage figure)

I ended up with a fine 'Line. RWD R32s rock. Very responsive, though a handful
at times. The engine provided brisk power through a reasonably wide powerband,
and the turbo lag was very manageable. When cornering, it spins its rear wheels
nicely all the way through 3rd gear. In 4th also, it only needs a slight tap of
nitrous to go into the wheelspin mode. I didn't want to use TCS (as I usually
do) and spoil the fun.
The wing was set at 0 downforce. More drag makes a car slowa dontcha know.
My best lap was a 7'56.500. Strangely enough, my best Godzilla (R32 GT-R) lap on
S2s was 7'57.500 and yes, those are exact figures.

The WR sounds good, I haven't driven the TVRs much in GT4, though I liked them
in earlier GTs. I have driven the Griffith 500 before, but it was number
300-something in my ride history so I have no recollection of it.

---
Currently suffering from the lack of a good sig.

[vitg]

From: Onikaze | Posted: 11/3/2005 5:40:57 AM | Message Detail

Don't know why you said sorry about the TVR Griffith.

Sounds good to me.

Oh, my budget ricer.

I went with the "Legendary" option.

Nissan Skyline GT-R V-Spec LM Limited (R33) '96
(Champion Blue) 20,500 or so.

I tricked out the exhaust, and gave it a new air cleaner, to get that phat
buzzing sound comin out me tailend (Sport Exhaust), then I chipped it (Racing
Chip), swapped tha intacoolah (Sports IC), put on a set uv Bilsteins and dropped
it a bit (Semi-Racing Suspension), a Carbon shaft, lightah flywheel, and ah new
clutch, to make tha spinny bits work bettah (racing flywheel, sports clutch, CF
Driveshaft), then ah took out tha back seats, put a CF hood on (lightweight 1),
painted to match the car, don wanna look ricey, now do me? and picked up an ol
set uv rollies (the blingy PD Chrome rims which are there with the Gold ones)
and a trick 3D AB wing!

It'll put down 376 aych pee, but ahv got it set up ta driff. (20 Front/10 Rear
downforce+suspension tweaks)

So, ah ran an 8'17 race driffin my N2's off, what you blokes thinka tha?



From: Havok3595 | Posted: 11/3/2005 6:38:10 AM | Message Detail

By the way, my Celica with a monster wing was a tribute to a guy who used to
live in my old apartment complex. He had this completely rusted out Celica, the
innards of it were practically falling out, but it had a shiny new monster wing
and rims. And probably NOS. When I saw a Celica in the used car showroom, I
couldn't pass it up.


From: Von | Posted: 11/3/2005 10:22:25 AM | Message Detail

Budget Ricer

As I sat in front of the tube, waiting for the winning numbers, I thought to
myself "Id like to go to the Nurbingling place someday..." Then the man rattled
off the numbers... The first number...1. THe second...2...3...4...5 OMG I WON I
WON!!!

I called up my travel agent, and had him book me a flight to Germany ASAP.

Upon arriving, I walked straight to the closest dealership I could find. I
strode up to the sales man, told him of my situation, and we walked over to a
line of beautiful Porches and Rufs, with a nice Ferrari at the end. I stopped to
look at each car, sitting in every other one. Just then, I noticed the
magnificient Bugati Veyron hiding in the back row. I pointed it out, walked over
and sat down. I didnt test drive it, I just said to the man "I want it." he
responded with a "Que?" and because I dont know german I pointed to the car, and
opened up my suitcase full of money. He looked puzzled, and it was then I
realized I had forgotten to pack the money!

I was quickly punched in the face, and hissing and spitting, I walked back to
the airport and E-Mailed my Banker, with orders to transfer 3.55 million dollars
to my german account. Unfortunately, there wa sa miscommunication, and instead
of getting 3.55 million dollars, I got 3.55 million CENTS! With only $35500 to
my name, I jogged back down to the dealer, punched the man in the face, and went
to his used car competitor across the street.

Once there, I jumped into the first car I saw, threw $8700 in pennies out of the
window, and sped off. Much to my suprise, the noise emitting from my engine was
not the familiar sound of a four banger, but the whine of a sweet sweet rotary.
I stepped out, and then quick jumped back in, deciding it was better to stop the
car first.

I screeched to a halt in front of the local track, and to my suprise, it was
NURBURGRING! I took the first real glance at my car. It was a nice 1990 RX7.
Unfortunately, the tired were completely bald. I made a mental note of where the
track was, and then drove to the local HKS shop. A man by the name of Benoit
Rutherford James Mgurk quickly came to my needs. Apparently they were fresh out
of Sports tired, but he rolled on a new set of Road Tires right away. He kept
mentioning something about N3's but I wasnt listening.

I looked around the shop, spotting several parts that would look great under the
hood of my brand new 1990 RX7, but I decided it best to drive it first, and go
form there.

In a stunning drive, I managed to stay on the track the whole way around, and
got it done in a greasy 9 minutes and 10 seconds. I quickly sped back to HKA,
and screamed to benoit, "SHE NEEDS MORE POWER!" Mr. Mgurk didnt understand, so I
pointed to a shiny turbo, held up two bags of pennies, and he got the idea. I
also convinced him to give me a racing intercooler. I figured it to be 1,300,000
pennies for the turbo, and another 270,000 cents for the intercooler.

Figuring that that should destroy the handling of my car enough to justify new
suspension, i drove her back to the track and fired it up. After a scorching 8
minutes and 50 seconds, I decided she was still far too driveable. Back to
Benoit, I hit him over the head with a sock containing 125,000 pennies and he
pointed to a little microchip which his assistant installed promptly. I forced
another 260000 coins on them for a nice twin plate clutch and a cool 100,000
coppers for a nice racing flywheel.

I got out to the track and turned a nice 8 minutes and 38 seconds, after a hair
raising ride out of control. With only 620,000 pennies left, what should I do to
get her back in control?
---
Tiny subaru versus gigantic german deathring!-Amarynceus


From: Soulidarity | Posted: 11/3/2005 12:35:43 PM | Message Detail

I know I haven't been around the diary all that long in the grand scheme of
things, but I have to say that this is, in terms of the reports being typed up
for the diary, my favorite BR ever. Its really managed to spark the creative
spirit in a lot of us. Thanks Flibutz!


From: Onikaze | Posted: 11/3/2005 2:07:18 PM | Message Detail

OOPS!

You guys said Legendary, and I didn't know you meant "Classic" so I had to go
back and repick something.

Can't find a 4WD Skyline for under 13k, and one of you got an FR R32 already...

So I hit the Historic lot, and BAM! There it is, in all it's hideous glory,
Godzilla's Grandfather, the Nissan SKYLINE Hard Top 2000 Turbo RS ('83) Gun Gray
and Black two tone paint job.

Polish it up, slap on some Nismo rims, the same 3D AB Wing, put a Sport Exhaust,
Chip, Turbo 1, Sports IC, Sports Clutch, Semi-Racing Flywheel, CF Driveshaft, 2
Way LSD, Semi-Racing Suspension, and run out of money.

Ok, lets see what it can do.

Man can this funny looking old car drift.

9'03 on N1's, sideways far too much to be fast...

Definitely fun though.


From: MrPinstripes | Posted: 11/6/2005 7:59:13 AM | Message Detail

One last post, then I'll go away. My final act as resident madman will be the...

Phenomenal Cosmic Power! BR-esque.

Here is the rule (yes, only one):

30 hp limit.

Go out, grab a riding lawnmower, and feel free to slap as much aftermarket stuff
in as you want (it'll make this a bit more tolerable). I'd suggest the Subaru
360 or the Fiat 500 series, as both are nigh-uncontrollable monsters (albeit
baby monsters, but still nigh-uncontrollable), and will keep your attention for
most of the lap.

I think I wrangled a 10'00-ish time from a 500R on N1 tires, but I've been
sitting on this one since Vol VII and my memory has always been a bit fuzzy.

---
From: viperinthegrass | Posted: 11/9/2005 12:08:06 AM | Message Detail

Cosmic Power Fiat 500R BR™

To start with I went for an oil change, slapped on some N3's and cranked out a
blistering 14 ' 06 . 731 with a top speed of 127km / hr. Whew.
Next I added every upgrade I could; racing suspension, racing brakes and
controller, port & polish, engine balancing, increased displacement, stage 1 N/A
tuneup, chip, stage 3 weight reduction, racing clutch, FC gearbox, racing
flywheel, R3's and racing exhaust. I would have liked to add a wing as well to
make it even more bizarre but it would not let me ( shame ).
So final power = 30hp, weight 541kg
With the auto box at 15 I managed 157km / hr on the downhill into FuchsrÖhre,
not too shabby.
I did not bother tweaking any of the upgrades and I cannot actually remember
using the brakes at all, probably just backed off a bit for the tighter
corners.The little Fiat handled really well, with just a nice amount of
oversteer if pushed. It struggled a bit on the uphill sections, in fact at one
stage I got out and gave it a push to help it along.
After some very complex Astrophysics equations, I came to the conclusion that
the Fiat is in fact an extrusion into our Space/ Time continuum, and in the
dimension it comes from it is actually travelling at Warp 9, making it the
fastest Car in the game.........by a very long way.

Mr. Pinstripes, as a Swan Song I could not think of anything you could have
chosen that would have been better, thank you!

Flibutz

PCP BR:
I tried the 500R and got a 12'34.378 on N1s. But more on that later. Besides,
I'm already eyeing a Mazda Carol...

Whoa, look at the time, there's the Oz WRC race on the TV right now, better go
watch it. Later, all!


From: Soulidarity | Posted: 11/11/2005 4:46:12 PM | Message Detail

BR

I chose the Honda Life Step Van, which actually varies between 29 and 31 hp
depending on which figure you go by. I chose to ignore the 31 and use it for the
BR (I'm such a cheater).

The rev limiter kicks in at a whopping 63 mph, and on an auto transmission
(which is a bad habit I still haven't kicked to the curb) it loses a lot of
speed and time through uphill stretches, most notably between Bergwerk and
Karusell. After a nice leisurely Sunday drive with my family around the ring,
little Billy clocked me at 14'15.640 for one lap.

I think sub 14s are easily obtainable on a manual tranny, tho. Its strange
driving a car that you almost never have to use the brakes with.

[vitg]

From: wanderingmuse22 | Posted: 11/13/2005 9:07:04 PM | Message Detail

If noone objects, I'd like to present a BR idea.

You've a crazy rich uncle that lives in Germany, and he's invited you to come
visit for a holiday. Having heard of your affinity for driving, and living so
close to the Nurburgring Nordshcliefe, he's granting you one lap in the exotic
car of your choosing.

There's a catch. He knows how dangerous the Nordschliefe is. If you hurt the car
you choose, you have to work off the price of the car in his family business-
not pleasant since the duties would involve a shovel and a gas mask.

He has a jealous nitwit son that won't like his offer (B Spec Bob). Your lap
time must be quicker than his "fast" (4) effort. However, if you can give your
uncle a better lap time than his nitwit son, and also present him with a
spotless car, you get to keep it, and also receive a cash inheritance equal to
the value of the car.

So here's the deal- you must spend at least 100,000 (but no more than 1,000,000)
cr on the car. It must be a new production car that money can buy, and you must
use N3 tires. You get a 500cr budget for modifications, but you may only spend
it on rims. Any country is fine.

Once you've chosen the car, let Cousin (B-Spec) Bob have a lap at setting 4.
Then, take your turn.

If you hit the Armco, even once, even only a little, the BR is over. Feel free
to post the sale price of the car, as that will help cut down on the amount of
shoveling owed.

If you run a clean lap, and beat the nitwit, you win. Feel free to post your lap
time. It's that easy. Or is it?

The idea is credited to sackedagain's comments about how terrible we'd be as
test drivers, since we don't have to regard our physical safety nor the value of
the merchandise we're driving.


From: oldguy1957 | Posted: 11/13/2005 10:26:39 PM | Message Detail

When I arrived in Germany, the first thing Uncle Adolf did was to show me the
brand spanking new Mercedes SL55 AMG he had just bought in a color he called
Tektitgrau. It looked dark grey, to me. But, whatever...

Unfortunately, he had given his son Bob $500US to buy some custom rims before
bringing it home. Bob picked out some "Ray's 005" rims. The red ones. "To go
with the red leather interior," he said. It looked a bit on the gaudy side, to
me. But who was I to complain. Uncle Adolf was going to let me take it for a
spin on the famed Nurburgring Nordschlief!!

But first, to keep from hurting his feelings, he had to let Bob take it for a
spin. Bob actually did better than I expected him to. But then, my expectations
were pretty low. I didn't really expect him to bring it back with all the
fenders still on it...but he did! He turned in a fairly respectable time of
7'58.284.

He hopped out with a big grin on his face, and said "Beat THAT, old man!"

I bit down on my tongue to keep from telling him to go beat something else. But
after all, I was a guest and had to be polite. I decided to let my driving do
the talking for me.

I jumped in and started out pretty carefully, not wanting to damage Uncle
Adolf's nice, new car. But by the time I reach Schwedenkruez I had a pretty good
feel for it, and those 500 horses wanted to run...so I let 'em.

I was wishing Uncle Adolf had spent a little extra money for the low-profile
sports tires. But he didn't, so I made those skinny highway tires sing for me. I
took it a little easy in some the scary places...Mutkurve, for example...but
really got on it through the technical section.

I pulled back in to the parking area after posting a 7'54.519, (almost 4 seconds
quicker than Bob) with nary a scratch on it. Although the temperature gauge was
reading a bit hot...like Bob's temper at having an "old man" beat his time.

I just smiled and handed the keys back to Uncle Adolf, and thanked him for an
experience I shall never forget.


Actually, I think it would have been more appropriate to have US drive the car
first, and then nitwit Bob. Seeing Bob's split times made it easy to just build
up a 4 or 5 second cushion, and then drive very conservatively. I would have
pushed it harder in few places had I not known that I had the aforementioned
"cushion".

Also, no matter what you tell yourself, you still aren't risking car and life
while sitting in your Lazyboy. I tried to imagine I had my son in the car with
me, which slowed me down even more. But if I had crashed, I just would have had
to report to you guys that I had failed. In real life it would be a much more
serious matter. It's hard to compare the two.

All-in-all, it was a fun BR, though. Removing the option of bouncing off a
guardrail or two really does slow one down.
---
A.K.A. Don Papa


From: sackedagain | Posted: 11/14/2005 8:13:08 AM | Message Detail

I love the Say Uncle BR™ idea...I was thinking of proposing a similar idea,
which was, "Hey dude, mind if I take your supercar for a ride?" Must be one of
the reasons the Diaries go on and on. We're all on the same wavelength.


Anyways, great idea. I think my uncle might have a Ford GT. I'll give him a
call.

From: jwrebholz | Posted: 11/14/2005 9:50:10 AM | Message Detail

I was visiting Germany for a while with my uncle Wilhelm. I'd always wanted to
see the land of my ancestors, and I was making the most of the opportunity. I
partied some, blasted down the Autobahn a few times, and mooned a Berlin cop.
After my uncle bailed me out of jail, he took me to Nurburg. Knowing I was a big
racing nut, and that's when he showed me his newest pride and joy--a Mercedes
SLR McLaren. He told me quite simply--Beat your cousin Johann around the
Nordschliefe and you can keep it. You break it though, and you buy it. My uncle
might be generous, but apparently he's also seen me drive. Bad news for me.
Worse news is I've seen Johann drive. I guess growing up around this circuit
gives him a bit of an unfair advantage. I complained to my uncle about this, but
he wouldn't budge.
Driving an unfamiliar car on a track I've never actually seen in real life was a
challenge I wasn't sure I was up to. And to make matters even more heavily
stacked against me I'd only get one lap to prove my worth, while Johann already
knew the track inside and out.
I watched Johann round the track with a level of skill that I could only dream
of attaining. When he crossed the line with a time of 7:49, I knew already I'd
be leaving empty-handed. Instead, I focused on NOT WRECKING THE CAR--because I
had no desire to shovel pig excrement for the rest of my life.
When I exited the track after my single blistering lap of 9:08, all I could hear
was Johann screaming with laughter at my hamfisted effort. "Did you even get it
out of second gear?" he asked, not even trying to suppress his laughter. "At
least I brought it back in one piece," I responded. "That car's worth more than
my life, no way am I going to wreck it."


So, after a long and tedious adventure of a trip to Germany involving a bus ride
through the Oakland ghetto to the airpot, am missed flight resulting in then
having to take three connecting flights to New york and then a 10hr. or so
flight to Germany, I finally made it to my uncle Nemecio's house. He was
stationed over there during WWII, got a fairly wealthy german girl pregnant, and
the rest is history. Anyways, he tells me that in the morning he's gonna take me
out to his garage to show me his wonderful car collection, let me choose one,
and engage in a competition that my cousin, Bartolo, has challenged me to. Bart
gets to take the car out first, record his best time, then I follow up to beat
his time. If I do, and return it in perfect condition, I get the car. Sweet!
Next morning I wake up, Bart and Nemecio are still sleeping. And continue to do
so until 1PM. These idiots stayed up 'til 4 in the mornin' drinking tequila and
Jaegerbombs. Anyways, they finally get up and we head out to this massive
warhouse he calls a garage. We go inside and it's like walking into an exotic
car dealer. There's an Vanquish, a 430 Spider, a GT500, a BMW M1, his friends'
McLaren F1, etc... I go all the way to the back and I see two Ford GT's, one in
MarkII black clearcoat, the other white, with blue stripes. I get closer and
notice the black one's sittin' on 20" gold Dina's. You know how us mexicans'
like the bling. Awww...Nemecio, I wanna take that one out. "Alright", he says,
"Let's go".
We get out to the track, Bartolo get's in and off he goes. After he takes off,
my uncle starts explaining to me that if I damage the car in any way, shape or
form, I have to work off the debt before I can go home. Oh, what have I gotten
myself into. I gotta drive a high-powered, really expensive exotic car around a
13 mile track I've never seen before, faster than my cousin who drives it every
weekend, and without damage. Right!
So here comes the black GT with gold D's, and he crosses the line in...
7'20.338.
Hmmm... 7' 20 .338!!!! 13 miles!!! Okay, that's umm, what like, averaging over
100mph. Okay, the fastest I've ever driven a car is 110 in my moms' Civic. And
that was in a straight line.
So I get in, my stomach in knots, ready to attempt the impossible. I start off,
ooohh nice power, and across the starting line. First turn, whhhoa! Braked a
little to late. So I'm going pretty well, getting a feel for what this thing can
do. Not bad for the first few miles, a few minor off-road excusions, but nothing
that can't be cleaned off. So I come to this right turn that dives down and
leads into a left hairpin. Aaaackk! That was damn close, got out of it, speeding
toward the next left, try to brake, but, Whhooa!,Aahhhh! Bump! Okay! Now
hopefully I can get back to the starting line without anything else going wrong.
I continue on, being as careful as possible, up to Karussel or whatever. Now I
don't know what happened here. It seemed like I was doing fine, but I kept
drifting right, even though I wasn't gassin' it. Fortunately, I just barely
missed scraping the Armco. I start up the long uphill, into the next left-right,
and...Ohhhh! Too much speed again. Now I scrubbed up the left side of the car.
After recovering from that, I get on my way, no more craches or scrubs, just a
little more grass and mud slingin'. Then I come into those last few turns before
the line. I was apparently havin' too much fun doin' 190 that I misjudged my
braking point, again, and crashed up the front of the car. After coming around
that last turn and seeing my uncles' jaw damn near fall off his head, my time
was.... 7'23.173.
I get out, my uncles' yellin' at me, but I'm so happy that if I hadn't crashed 3
times, I woulda beaten that ****ers' time. Oh well. Now I gotta work off the
price of the car, $149,880. Hmmm.... That's gonna take a little while. Guess I
should go find a german girl to get pregnant.


From: Soulidarity | Posted: 11/14/2005 7:11:17 PM | Message Detail

I had initially written a huge story for this BR in the spirit of cheeseball
80's movies, but decided it was entirely too big to post here, probably would
have taken 10 posts. I'll just summarize it instead.

Soul and Oni (he's not participating so he can be an honorary participant in my
story get out of the last day of school before summer, and vow to make this a
summer to remember. The next day Soul receives a letter from his Uncle Otto, the
billionaire tycoon and insanely fast mechanic (I even referenced someone else's
story about him sleeping in the shop from time to time), living in Germany and
running a tuner shop as a hobby. In the letter, he puts forth the challenge, and
Soul and Oni fly out to Nurburg.

Soul briefly meets a gorgeous girl, who turns out to be his jackass cousin
Lukas' girlfriend. He treats her like dirt, Soul treats her like a princess, she
falls for Soul, but doesn't leave Lukas for Soul until after the competition
when he finally steps over the line. Of course Oni finds himself a girl as well.

As for the competition itself, Lukas smashed up the car pretty good at Adenaur
Forst, but heroically pulled it across the finish line at 7'40.762. I jumped in
and immediately was too late on the brakes for the first corner, and ended up on
the grass, avoided the armco, and spun out, putting me more than 8 seconds
behind. I made a careful but fast run from Hatzenbachbogen to Fuchsrohre, then
tried to slow down for Adenaur Forst, but went over the crest slightly too fast,
trailed a wheel into the grass, and trashed the car. Definitely not a fatal
crash, but enough to total disable the car to be sure. Being that its a 400k+
car, (It was the Saleen S7) Uncle Otto is going to have me every summer for the rest of my life :/

[vitg]

viperinthegrass

BR™
A fun BR Muse, but very nerve wracking, I was concentrating till my eyes bled!!
Anyway heres my report :

I always said it would happen. I was right.
Here I was “right up to my neck in it” shovelling Pig**** . All because of the
Idiot Son of my Crazy Uncle.
( cookies if you can place the quote)

This was going to be the intro to my BR story as I failed to beat Idiot Bob with
a pristine car.
However I succeded! I think. I will give you the details and let you all decide.

My spending spree included an Aston Martin Vanquish. Perfect. A nice big,
hopefully stable, British Sports Limo.
Malham White, fitted with BBS 014 Wheels & N3's, 490hp after oil change.
I sent Idiot Bob off at increased speed ( 4 ) and watched in growing alarm as
“Bob” put in a flawless lap of 8 ' 09 . 444.
My turn, also a flawless lap but only a 8 ' 11. 013
I kept going and managed another perfectly clean lap of 8 ' 06 . 756 but all too
late as I needed to do that with only one lap. Oh well.
Then I realised something, I had forgotten to turn off Driver Aids, Dummkopf!
So I had to do it all again, talk about mounting pressure!
I made the appropriate changes and sent Bob off again.
Very interesting, a 8 ' 09 . 444 identical with his first effort. Hmm.
So off I went and put in a perfect 8 ' 02 . 224
It really is a nice stable car, very predictable handling and pretty good brakes
for a heavy car ( 1835 kg ) I think in this car I would have earned my money as
a test driver no worries.


From: sackedagain | Posted: 11/15/2005 5:26:41 AM | Message Detail

Dear J.

Just got back to the B & B after dropping Uncle Mort off at his hotel. Haven't
seen him since our wedding 18 (17?) years ago, but he hasn't changed at all. No
one at the Fuchsrohre had to pay a dime for food or drinks. He picked up the tab
for the whole place.

By the time we left, he was as drunk as he was at the rehearsal dinner. Remember
that? Yeah, I know, kind of hard to forget. But at least he only spend one night
in jail.

As planned, we spent the day at the Ring. Uncle Mort spent most of the time in
the parking lot. Seems like everybody is his best friend. He drove a lap or two
early, then never got in the car again. Fortunately for me--you know how scared
I was about driving in traffic based on my virtual knowledge of the Ring--he
brought along his granddaughter, Elisabeth, who knows the track.

I don't know if I ever told you about her. I met her when she was about 12--what
a pain in the arse. Well, it's 20 years later and she hasn't changed much. Still
quick to needle, always talking and knows it all. Still, she's got men hanging
all over her. She's got red curly hair, pale skin like Nicole Kidman, and curves
to match the track.

Uncle Mort brought the Jaguar. Will it mean anything to you if I say it was an
2002 XKR R-Performace? Probably not. Let's just say it cost a bundle. Not Uncle
Mort's most expensive car, but he seems very attached to it.

So Betty--she seems to hate it when I call her that, so I did, often--did about
five laps around the Ring with me as a passenger. They tell you not to time your
laps here because of the high mortality rate (sorry, promised not to mention
that). But I timed her last circuit at 8:15.

Then she turned the car over to me. God, I felt like an idiot. The car handled
great, running quiet and fast. BUt when we got to Hocheichen, Betty let out a
loud sarcastic yawn. I felt compelled to pick up the pace.

That was a mistake.

Riding into Schwedenkreuz at around 130 (I guessing at the speed because I had
my eyes on the road) the Jag went a little sideways. Then a lot sideways. And,
to make a long story short, it wasn't like drifting the Miata. Much more weight.
Much more speed.

God bless Betty. She talked me through it or I might have killed us both. The
car got into the grass on the right side of the track. Then went sideways across
the exit of Aremberg and into the kitty litter. Stopped just short of the
railing. How close? She had to get out my side of the car because her door
wouldn't open.

Anyway, I didn't wreck the car. Betty told the story about 100 times at the bar.
Making fun of the GT4 Ringer losing it before I was 2:00 minutes into the
course. Guess I deserved it. Just glad I didn't dent Uncle Mort's pride and joy.

I'm beat. I'll write tomorrow. Love you. Give Bubba a kiss for me.

M.



From: Imperialdramon9 | Posted: 11/15/2005 2:46:52 PM | Message Detail

I'm a bit behind everyone else on this, but I wanted to give it a shot.

Back in 2004, I was racing in the big leagues, taking on all challengers in a
variety of races, and beating them all. My BMW and I were an unstoppable team.
Then came the race on the Nurburgring. I hadn't driven on the course in a while,
but it was a race among some of the best in the world, and I couldn't resist a
challenge. After all, I was one of the best in the world as well, and I didn't
want to disappoint. However, such carelessness was what brought me down. It was
the last lap, and I was in second place. I tried to pass the leader, confident
in my victory. Unfortunately, I didn't notice the turn, so while he braked and
cruised around it, I ran straight into the wall. My car was completely trashed,
and my racing career was over.

By 2005, I was back to my normal self.. All my injuries were healed, thankfully,
but I was now living a boring life back in the USA, a mechanic in a local shop
instead of the racing legend I used to be. That was until I got a letter from my
rich uncle Scott from Germany, the person who first brought me into the racing
world. There was a plane ticket in the envelope, and the enclosed note said to
meet him at his place, near the Ring. I took my chances, and flew over to see
what he wanted.

Apparently, he wanted me to race again, and he had quite a deal set up. I was to
do a time trial against my cousin Ben on the Ring, with the winner keeping the
time trial car. The car was a brand new BMW M5, and I had to say that I was
excited. I've always had a thing for BMWs, so I agreed to his challenge. I
couldn't wreck this thing though, or else I would pay dearly.

So it was off to the race track. Ben, being very impatient, went first and sped
around with a time of 7'56.101. I knew it wasn't a great time, but I hadn't
driven on the track in a very long time, so I was a little worried. However,
once I got back into the car, I lost that fear. I was a little shaky, and had
come between inches of the wall near the end of the race, but I got through
without any damage to the car. Even when I wasn't doing my best, I was still
better then my cousin Ben, as I finished just barely ahead with a time of
7'55.834.

I met my uncle afterwards, and ignored Ben as he moaned about how he could
possibly lose after all his practice on the Ring. I tried to hand over the keys,
but he told me to keep them. He said that I did win the challenge after all, and
that the car was mine to keep. It was time to go back to doing what I did best:
racing.
---


From: wanderingmuse22 | Posted: 11/15/2005 8:14:03 PM | Message Detail

My crazy Unlce Milton tossed me the keys to his million dollar baby- the '98
Nissan R390 GT1 Road Car. It's a razor on BBS 018 wheels.

"Don't scratch it and it's yours." he said.

"And if I do?" He flashed the grin I'd grown to love and fear. I wish he'd
threatened me instead.

Before I could even read the key chain my nitwit cousin Holden punched me in the
arm, "Race you for it." he said. His lazy stare dared me to strike back. He
knows I won't, but in years past I might've.

Funny thing is, I own him. He learned how to drive sooner, but I learned how to
drive better. "Alright, but I'm first" was my reply. There's no way I was gonna
let him waste my million dollar ride before I'd even turned a lap, not with the
'Ring so close.

The car was as good as mine, right? How could it not be, right?

The R390 wanted me. Everything I demanded on the track was given, and then some.
It delivered the very best acceleration, braking, and the handling: sliding
around a bend and planting with perfect grip. It handled better than I drove.
The car had one flaw- top end.

How a million dollar car could have too short a top gear was puzzling, but it
didn't matter. I finished a perfect pflantzgarten run and was planning how to
feather the throttle down Dottinger Hohe, I was mapping in my mind what kind of
gear box it needed and perhaps even a new turbo when... I overstepped my bounds
at Galkenkopf... and smacked the Armco.

Sigh.

Peace.


From: viperinthegrass | Posted: 11/16/2005 3:04:46 AM | Message Detail


BR™

Idiot Son - Take 2
My Uncle stood there in the half gloom of his huge garage, that perpetual half
smile on his face, “well”, he said, “will you do it”?
So there was the challenge, pick a car from my eccentric Uncles impressive
collection ( which he never drove- some still had 0 miles on the clock) and beat
my cousin in a one lap flyer. I could see Ullrich, dressed in his racing suit (
poser !) standing behind my Uncle and smirking.”He is only a car detailer for
Avis, this will be so easy”.

I had always disliked Ullrich( or “Bob” as he liked to be known ) ever since the
days as a boy I had been sent to my Uncles Pig Farm for Summer holidays.
Ullrich was one of those really annoying, spoilt brat kids, always following me
around and repeating everything I said, and as for getting me into trouble, he
was an expert.
Things would happen, he would vanish and I would be left to carry the can.
This culminated in the “incident” involving Pig****, my Uncles gumboots and a
false fire alarm.
Although sent home in disgrace (despite my protestations of innocence), I can
still remember my Uncle standing on the platform as the Train pulled away, that
half smile on his face. I had not been back for fifteen years.
They say revenge is a dish best served cold, here was my chance to sort “Bob”
out once and for all.
“Yes” I said, “I'll do it”
“You have first pick then, and may the best man win”

White '67 Toyota 2000 GT ( a cool $160,000 worth) 1120kg & 165 hp, fitted with
Enkei 033 wheels and N3's. Sweet.
Bob put on the rest of his racegear and headed off and returned exactly 9 ' 17 .
468 seconds later, “Beat that” he smirked.
So I did, with a wonderfully clean 9 ' 08 . 490
Bob was apoplectic, talk about a tantrum! “Double or nothing” he sputtered,
“only this time we will use my car!!”
“Okay”, I said nonchalantly inspecting my nails “you are on”

Berlina Black '02 Honda NSX Type R ( $119, 570 ) 1270 kg & 310 hp O.Z. 012
wheels ( I had to give him that, it was a nice looking car )

Bob headed off and he was so steamed, he left a trail of rubber 50 metres long.
“Good” I thought “Maybe he'll crash and make this easy”.
No such luck, he put in a wild but clean lap of 8 ' 05 . 895
My turn. This was it, my chance for revenge, “Stay frosty” I thought, “ no
mistakes”

And I did'nt! That car was one sweet motor, I got into a nice rhythm, fast and
smooth,I never felt any danger of fouling up, this car was easy to drive fast.
And I was certainly faster than Bob, peeling off an 8 ' 00 . 342
As I pulled up next to my Uncle and Ullrich, I felt a massive wave of relief and
satisfaction. Ullrich started to whine and protest but my Uncle cut him off with
a gesture, “before you start you should know that your cousin indeed started as
a “mere” detailer, but through hard work and dedication he now manages the
entire Luxury and Exotic Rental fleet and has probably driven more top flight
cars than you have had Bratwursts!!
I goggled at my Uncle, he must have been keeping tabs on me all those years.
Well!
“Now get that ridiculous suit off, get changed, we have some cheques to write”
Ullrich, still grumbling, went to pull on his Gucci loafers, there was an odd
squelching noise as he did so and a very familiar smell came wafting up. I
turned to see the half smile on my Uncles face replaced by a wide grin, followed
by huge peals of laughter!!
“ I always knew you were innocent, but Ullrich was never Man enough to own up,
so I believe we have both had our revenge, Ja?