Last Day K-Car Battle

On the final day before the official release of GT6, a one off event, organised by Mustafur, was held at Tsukuba Circuit for the super lightweight Kei Cars. The race was initially to be in much faster V8 sedans but, after the enormous amount of fun had in the Iron Van 4 event, the car format was changed. Once again the higher division drivers were given a slower/handicapped car, the Suzuki Capuccino, while the lower division drivers used the gruntier (well, for a Kei car) Daihatsu Cuore/Mira Avanzato R '97. It was a two part race, with 2 lots of 15 lap sprints.
Without further ado, here is race 1.

GRID: emmo46, TTR_joe90, Mustafur, Anon666, Ad2mny, bjh1012, S_CLOSE and t_b_williams

The field got away to a smooth start, except for Anon666 who gained a large jumpstart penalty and fell straight back to last, while Mustafur and Ad2mny moved up to 2nd and 3rd.



bjh1012 had a weird laggy moment at Turn 4, falling a long way back by the time he had recovered. Lap 2, S_CLOSE ran off track in 3rd exiting Turn 5, running across the track to the other barrier at Turn 6 and dropping back to 7th.

Lap 3, emmo46 had a weird laggy moment, again at Turn 4, and appeared to get rammed off track by an invisible car. Mustafur and Ad2mny were right on his tail, and Mustafur seemed to hesitate for a moment, not sure what was happening. Ad2mny took full advantage and took the lead. As emmo46 tried to recover, he had 2 further weird moments and finished up with damaged rear suspension and a long way behind. t_b_williams passed Mustafur into Turn 9 and moved into 2nd starting Lap 4.

Lap 5, TTR_joe90 threw his Capuccino up the inside of Mustafur at Turn 8, but his slow wide exit slowed them both to let t_b_williams pull slightly away, and S_CLOSE with Anon666 latched onto their rear bumpers.

TTR_joe90 ran too hot into Turn 1 next lap, as did S_CLOSE trying for a pass on Mustafur, but the latter slid back past on the inside of the wide running pair back into 3rd. S_CLOSE managed to recover quickest and moved up into 4th, with TTR_joe90 hot on his tail and Anon666 watching on in 6th. bjh1012 and emmo46 were running lonely races in 7th and 8th.

Ad2mny had a handy near 2 second lead from t_b_williams, who in turn had the same amount on the brawling 4 car 3rd place battle. A shortcut penalty for Anon666 at Turn 5 dropped him slightly off the battle, frustratingly just out of the draft.



Ad2mny and t_b_williams slowly pulled away as the battle for 3rd raged on, with a lot of side by side action but not a lot of completed passes. End of Lap 9, S_CLOSE had a good run out of Turn 9 and managed to hold Mustafur at bay long enough to take advantage of his little bit extra poke to pull away. The superior braking and turning of the little Capuccino no match for the Daihatsu's low down torque, which was only really an advantage when in front, not enough to draft past.

Lap 11, Anon666 had finally found his way back onto the battle just as S_CLOSE was starting to pull away, and the three Capuccino's were left to battle amongst themselves.

Lap 13 and the battle for the lead was getting serious, with t_b_williams laying down some good clean laps and closing the gap on Ad2mny. S_CLOSE was running in 3rd, and Anon666 had managed to break away from Mustafur and TTR_joe90. bjh1012 and emmo46 were still running very lonely races on the tail of the field.

Lap 14, t_b_williams threw it up the inside of Ad2mny, the latter holding his ground and they ran side by side down to turn 4. Ad2mny had a slightly wide exit and they ran side by side again approaching Turn 5. It was going to be a tight squeeze to run side by side, and Ad2mny blinked first, slowing ever so slightly more than normal but losing too much momentum and his first place.



Meanwhile Anon666 had caught up to S_CLOSE and was pressuring for 3rd, making his move at Turn 1 on the final lap.

t_b_wiiliams and Ad2mny ran bumper to bumper all of the Final Lap, but t_b_williams held Ad2mny off and crossed the line a car length ahead. S_CLOSE had been hounding Anon666 too and managed to get alongside exiting Turn 9. It was a drag race to the finish, with S_CLOSE just managing to put half a car ahead to take 3rd. Mustafur and TTR_joe90 finished just behind in 5th and 6th, while bjh1012 and emmo46, unable to make up any ground, finished in 7th and 8th positions.

A brilliant last to first run from t_b_williams, and some awesome racing all round.

RACE 2
GRID: emmo46, bjh1012, TTR_joe90, Mustafur, S_CLOSE, Ad2mny and t_b_williams

Unfortunately Anon666 could not participate in the final race, parental duties forcing him to retire.

bjh1012's fortunes were not to improve this race, having another strange glitchy moment ending in the wall before he even got to Turn 1. Mustafur and S_CLOSE moved ahead of TTR_joe90 at Turn 1. S_CLOSE ran wide at Turn 8, allowing TTR_joe90 briefly alongside, but the little Daihatsu pulled S_CLOSE back into 3rd.

Lap 2, emmo46 leading, Ad2mny got a good run out of Turn 1 and passed TTR_joe90 at Turn 4. t_b_williams also got past TTR_joe90 with a better exit at Turn 8, powering past by the end of the back straight. Mustafur pushed hard into Turn 9, trying to stay on the outside of S_CLOSE as he tried to move up to 2nd. Mustafur paid dearly for a slight mistake, running just a little too wide and running off the track, bouncing off the outside wall just near the start/finish line. He gained no damage but lost momentum and 2 places, and then another as t_b_williams outbraked him at Turn 1.

S_CLOSE had a very wide exit at Turn 1, running along the grass all the way through the 2-3 kink, and his dirty tyres hindered his exit speed at Turn 4, allowing Ad2mny to move up his inside into 2nd. A wide exit at Turn 8 gave S_CLOSE a sniff back at 2nd, but both Ad2mny and t_b_williams were ahead by Turn 9, with Mustafur sticking his nose up the inside in the final turn. S_CLOSE outdragged him across the line but a massive braking move at Turn 1 saw Mustafur take 4th from him.




With the previous race fresh in there minds, the drivers were all straight up to pace, and emmo46 was making up for his Race 1 disappointment, pulling a small gap on the field.

End of lap 4, Ad2mny ran too hot into Turn 9, slowing so as not to leave the track, and t_b_williams shot past up into 2nd. Lap 6, Ad2mny made a small error into Turn 8 trying to keep t_b_williams in his sights, and Mustafur slid up his inside taking 3rd place. Ad2mny powered alongside again on the back straight and stayed there through Turn 9 all the way to Turn 1 Lap 7, but Mustafur outbraked him and covered his line, skilfully taking back the place. TTR_joe90 was slowly dropping back in 6th place, and bjh1012 was still circulating but nearly 1/3rd of a lap behind.

emmo46 was slowly losing ground to t_b_williams, and by lap 10 he had t_b_williams all over his bumper. Ad2mny was also starting to get desperate, diving at Mustafur every chance he had. emmo46 ran just a little wide at Turn 4, and t_b_williams needed no further invitation.



Ad2mny getting more desperate every corner, divebombed Mustafur at Turn 8, making heavy contact with his drivers door, and in turn pushing him wide into emmo46. emmo46 skewed wildly sideways, and Mustafur slowed slightly to avoid turning him around, as did Ad2mny to avoid taking advantage of his mistake, allowing S_CLOSE to move past into 4th. S_CLOSE powered alongside Mustafur down the back straight but was outbraked into the final turn. t_b_williams had pulled a small gap after the tussle and was looking good for another victory.

Lap 11, Mustafur dove up the inside of emmo46 at Turn 1, taking 2nd, with S_CLOSE looking to do the same but only managing to pull alongside and then drop back. emmo46 returned the favor to Mustafur at Turn 4, and Ad2mny moved up the inside of S_CLOSE into 4th.

Lap 12, emmo46 took a wide line into Turn 1, allowing Mustafur up the inside, but a switchback on exit allowed emmo46 to move back ahead. Mustafur retook second on the inside at Turn 8, and emmo46 slowed to make another switchback pass but slowed too much cutting the corner and gaining a penalty, dropping 2 places to 5th.

With 3 laps to go, t_b_williams was leading comfortably by nearly 2 seconds, Mustafur in 2nd just ahead of Ad2mny getting harassed by S_CLOSE, emmo46 in 5th with TTR-joe90 right on his tail, and bjh1012 a long way behind in 7th.

S_CLOSE came alongside Ad2mny exiting Turn 8, and they ran side by side through Turn 9, with Ad2mny outbraking S_CLOSE around the outside at Turn 1 Lap 14. S_CLOSE came back along the inside but dropped back through the kink. A switchback move at Turn 4 had S_CLOSE on the outside for Turn 5, and this time Ad2mny wasn't going to back down, but paid dearly trying to chuck it in on a tight line and cut the corner, dropping back to 6th, and far enough back not to be able to make up any positions.

emmo46 had 1 final lunge at 3rd place into Turn 8 Last Lap but was too far back to pull it off. He nearly lost his 4th place to TTR-joe90 as he did a carbon copy of Mustafur's last turn off, running wide and bouncing off the outside wall.

So it was a dual victory for t_b_williams, from last to first both races. Well done!!

These little Kei-cars provide awesome close racing and despite the low speeds, it's a white knuckle ride keeping what little momentum you have going.

A fitting send off for the final day of GT5's monopoly of the league races.

Till next time!!

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