So, here is a little review of three of your big muscle cars:
Dodge Charger Super Bee 426 Hemi '71,
Plymouth Cuda 440 Six Pack '71 and
Swiss Masterpiece '70.
Before I start, I have to apologise for the length of this report/review/comparison. Hopefully you find some interesting information from this...
My first quick test was with Cuda, and after a few laps on GVS it was clear that the car needs some special treatment with the gearbox. The insane amount of torque peaks roughly between 3000rpm and 5500rpm. To get the best out of the cars performance, one needs to change gears way before the "red zone". It can sound weird, but even though I couldn't make a clean lap on my first three-five laps, I was really positively surprised by the way this monster behaves on a race track. On my first test day with this car, I couldn't get a time below 1'47 on GVS.
At this point, I also ran some racing tests which gave confidence in what this thing was capable of...
Now I had already set my eyes on a couple of similarly intimidating lumps of metall in the MFT-hangar.
After the positive experience with the Cuda, I decided to get the Charger from the New York 200 miles. After a very hard 200 A-spec point race I was delighted to see my new charger on the screen. Now I had the car AND the money to tune it. The setup looked quite familiar from the Cuda, so I thought it would be nearly identical to drive... yeah... it wasn't. The ride is kind of sharper and even more racy than with Cuda, and the torque hides behind much higher revs. The main difference between these two cars is that the Charger is alot more forgiving while entering, going trough and out of the corners. My skills were good for just under 1'50 on GVS.
The last one of the three monsters is an evil piece of a ship wreck made by Leonidae. I had the base for the Swiss Masterpiece in my garage already, so I went straight to business. I couldn't believe my eyes when I was supposed to tune the suspension! What the... I had a number of Greycap's creations in my garage, so I expected a similar pattern on the approach... "oh well", I thought, "this will be an interesting comparison". The first impression on the track is: "oh my... it's kind of... friendly?". Everything felt pretty decent: Power, Gearbox, even the suspension... It felt remotely similar to the Charger, but I had to find out more details of the differences between all the three cars. Before heading to my race test, I clocked an easy 1'48 on GVS...
What would be a perfect racing test for these american legends? The All American Championship, of course. It will give a quick overview of the cars' behaviour on different tracks. The early tests with Cuda were very encouraging, but there was on little issue: The tyre wear.
In a fear of being kidnapped at night from my bed, I didn't even dare to change to harder tyres, so all the cars used R3:s in every race.
Because the Cuda was tricky to drive in some conditions, I decided to start with the Charger. There were some pretty scary cars in the lineup(Team Oreca etc.), so I thought it would be best not to underestimate my opponents, and qualify.
Race 1: Seattle. Qualifying, an utterly easy pole position. Now I just had to bring the car home in the lead. If only the tyres would last... They didn't. On laps 4/5 and 5/5 the tyres were all gone/"red"... With insane caution I managed to bring it to the finish line 3rd, about 13.5 seconds behind the Esperante GTR-1.
Race 2: Infineon. Pole. The tyres workes a bit differently, so I was able to fight for the victory to the end with Esperante. A small mistake on the last lap sealed my destiny to become second. The winning margin of the Esperante was in the end only 4.2 seconds.
Race 3: New York. Another easy pole position. It sure seems that if tyres last at all, I'll be fighting for my first victory with this car. The two laps consisted of just overtaking and being overtaken by the Esperante, which is sure quick on the straights... The track seems to be gentle on the tyres, so I manage to pull a gap to the Esperante. In the beginning of lap 4 I already dream of the victory and the 103 A-spec points for the race. In the last circular corner something went wrong... i spun! The tyres were perfectly okay! This didn't drop me last, but it sure was the most bitter 2nd place in a long time.
Race 4: El Capitan.
Guess what? Pole position. At this point it didn't really make me feel better, because I knew that the tyres would fail me on this track. The weight of the car is too much, and the lap 4 is 20 seconds slower than lap 3, resulting in 4th place. This track is going to be a nightmare for the Swiss Boat, I thought...
Race 5: Laguna Seca. Pole. The 5 laps is too much for the tyres and I have to settle with 5th place.
In overall Championship standings I finnished 3rd, with 21 points, just 2(!) points after Team Oreca but 29 points after Esperante.
As I climbed into the Swiss Masterpiece, I started to think about how a car this heavy can handle those races, in which even the less powerful Charger was demolishing the tyres? The answer was even too obvious but insane at te same time... 💡 Pitstop? In a 4-5 lap race?
Allright... With this car I chose not to qualify, because compared to my pitstop plan, it wouldn't make a big difference. 80 A-spec points for a race if I win...
Race 1: The first two laps prove me right. On the first straight I overtake two cars, in the first corner two more. This sure feels a bit quicker than the Charger I tested earlier... A pitstop on lap 3 drops me 5th, which is my final position. A ford GT40 gets owned by a musclecar that has to pit every other lap... hehe.
Race 2: Experimental pole position, with a 8.3 second gap!
Pit in on lap 2. Screw up in the last lap ---> 6th... The car felt very good on this track. With harder tyres it would certainly be a race winner. It amazes me how this car can shred tyres apart one lap bedore Charger(which is heavier!)...
Race 3: Decided to try without a pitstop. First 3 laps fighting with Esperante. 4th lap, the tyre problem strikes! Forced from the lead to 2nd place... Like with the Charger, New York seems to be gentle on the tyres.
Race 4: Doomed from the start. A 4 lap race with a pitstop... This car feels miraculous in some corners of El Capitan, but the strategy is good for only 6th place .
Race 5: A daring plan: no pitstop. Somehow I manage to save the tyres with cautious driving and finish 2nd! It appears that it actually IS possible to finish a 5 lap race in this car with these tyres.
Final points from the championship: 16. 4th place. Not bad! I only had about 5-6 laps of testing with this car before the championship.
Okay... The last one. 440-6. I remembered it eing very fast, so I decided not to qualify, and drive a bit more carefully than the other two.
Race 1: WIN!
Race 2: WIN!
Race 3: WIN!
Race 4: WIN!
Race 5:
WIN!
The only thing that I remember noticing while the first race was on: This Cuda... doesn't... like... these... JUMPS! Braking just before jump is... umm... not recommended? Strangely, the Charger was very stable under braking, even before and after jumping in Seattle. Other than that, well... The Cuda owned the All American Championship! The tyre life was JUST enough to bring the car home in first place.
So... Enclosure? Well. Allright. I'll put you out of your misery.
Charger: A surprisingly sporty, almost nimble feeling. The sharp steering makes it feel like a race car. Sufficient power, that enables (with proper tyres) victories in All Amercan Championship. As a sunday ride, with no racing in mind, this is a very good piece of american muscle.
8.5/10
Swiss Masterpiece: Feels almost like cheating to drive around in a car this nimble, but which has these spacial dimensions... A bit quicker than the Charger, and with proper tyres, this would have without doubt pulled off the same result as the Cuda. This one feels te most like something I would tune for myself, so it feels kind of nice and safe. It was the only one of these three that I could keep on the road on my first test lap on GVS. A pleasant and fast package, and the suspension made sens after all: this one didn't take so much air from the bumps.
9/10
Cuda: The most torque and the least weight of the three... result? One insanely fast muscle car! The feel is very different from the other two: Some kind of gliding feeling trough the corners, as if the engine was behind the seat instead of the front. This kind of slippery feel makes it also more daengerous... the torque may come as a surprise at first, but after a few test sessions this car reveals some of its potential... and a LOT more is yet to be discovered, but not by me... they'll need someone much braver for that task... With harder tyres, this one would give podium finishes in the real circuit tours, something that is hard to achieve even in a JGTC-car.
9.5/10