Leonidae
(Banned)
- 6,881
- GTP_Leonidae_MFT
Time for my second writeup. Successor to twinturbo madness vol.1 is on it's way, as soon as I will find another 6.2mile/10 km twinturbocharged victim fro mthe used car lot. but now, into 80's shootout, and this time I tested three cars.
It was beautiful summermorning, when I stepped out from hotel's lobby. My friend was quite anxious, so he just ordered a taxi for us, and thus we were off to the legendary Green Hell, AKA Nürburgring.
When we arrived there, the cars were already there, ready for testing. We had picked up three turbocharged awd cars from the 80's, and luckily, we knew willing owners who did give their precious ones for us today.
In the lineup we had one car from Germany, one from Japan and one from America.
In the European corner we have legendary Audi Quattro, a car that brought AWD to road and tracks. Turbocharged 2.1 inline five pushes out healthy 200 bhp which is enough to give this boxy coupe top speed of approximately 230 km/h.
In the American corner we have another beast from Group B, Ford RS200 '84. This low, agressive looking car is one of 200 homologation models that had to be made in order to race in Group B, thus, it has power to match the challenge, even in street form: 250 bhp from 1.8l four.
In Japanese corner we have Toyota Celica GT4 from late 80's. Although it doesn't look as agressive as RS200, it has looks that tells us that this car is anything else but slow. Anyways, in this lineup, it has the smallest powerfigure of 195 bhp from 2.0 four.
After discussing about proper drivinglines and speeds, we decide to start. My role was to push the cars to the limits to find out the good sides and bad sides. my friend decided to aim onto perfect laps. first car that we shall test is Celica GT4.
This little Toyota feels familiar. It's like an old friend. Gears are accurate and the steering gives me direct feed from the road. Finally, after getting the feel of the cars behviour, I floored the pedal.
Celica leaped forwards eagerly. If there was small turbo lag, I didn't notice it thanks to the light chassis. In the corners the car was steady and easy to drive, and when the speed got higher, little nudge at the wheel induced tail-happy sliding, no matter what the speed was. Turn it justa a bit more and you're going sideways at ridiculous speeds! After fooling around in the twisties I got onto straight sections and decided to try out the brakes.
I went thru all gears, till I had to step on the brakes. This car had good handling, but not THAT good. wheels locked and tyres screamed as the speed dropped swiftly. nose did dive deep and then, small turn of wheel and we could step on throttle again.
then I decided to try out sudden moves. in a pair of somewhat tight curves I turned the wheel from lock to lock as fast as I could.. And off she went! First it was reluctant to let the grip go, but then it was gone and the car spun wildly.
after that, final straight opened in front of me. I pushed the car to the redline, doing my best to push out the best performance friom the engine. whan I had to start slowing down for last two corners, the speedo claimed that I had done 215 km/h. after that, I drove to the pit and handed the car over to my friend.
He returned slighty after 9 minutes, looking happy. " It's a great ride when driven correctly."
Next, I took the Audi. The sound of that inline five was both civilized and powerful. Interior was so angular and plastic that I could almost think that I was back on the 80's. But, we're here to drive this car, not to roll in the nostalgy. So, let's Floor it!
underneath 3000 rpm's the engine was just like any stock inline 5 from Audi. But when the revs reached 3,500rpm's, turbo woke up and after that, there was no end to acceleration.
traction was incredible. Audi didn't understeer nor oversteer, it was neutral, like it would be running on rails. Though, if onwe tapped the brakes when entering a curve, one could had some tailhappy going, but not in such ridiculous amounts as in Celica.
Brakes weren't as good as in Celica, but this car was made in the beginning of the 80's, when the standards were bit lower. Quattro is also bit heavier than Celica, but the grunt of the engine repaired that minor flaw in this car.
At extreme situations this car was very stable, as earlier. always perfectly on control, but still, one has to keep the laws of physics in mind. even almighty Quattro can't hold it grip forever. Loosing the grip just happens at higher speeds than usual..
After my lap I gave the Quattro to my anonymous friend, and he was off with sexy growl that could almost be trademark of Audi. He returned after slightly faster lap than he did on GT4.
At last we could lay our eager hands on the beast. This particular car was delivered in two colours, red and white. This one was red. I wouldn't mind seeing it in black though. Sexy one.. from Ford.
Almost everything in this car shouted that it was planned for racing. Deep seats closed me into tight hug as I squirmed onto the tight cabin. Everything was nicely in reach. I fired up the engine, just to find the sound disappointing after Audi's beastly snarl.
And off i went. From the beginning I noticed that this car was real sports car, because it wasn't childishly easy to drive like Quattro.
Gears were long, almost like this thing would be planned to un on autobahns, not on normal roads. the engine required almost 5k rpms, before anything happened. underneath or above those rpms, there was nothing that told you that you were driving race-bred 250bhp mid-engined awd roadcar.
If you didn't touch brakes in curves, it wouldn't turn. This car needs advanced weight shifting maneuvers, otherwise it would plow right off from the track.
And in case you overdid it, this car will bite your head off. It doesn't forgive at all, especially not when braking.
In proper hands this car is a winner. in hands of full out maniac like me, it was a killer, mad SOB who tried to tame me instead of me taming it. I got oversteer, i got understeer, we went sideways, we went backways, everything! but finally, I got it tamed, and after that I just drove it to the pit, topping out at 230ish, because the gears were long and there wasn't enough power for the fifth gear, which was needed only on the final straight.
I gave the car to my friend, who gave me a look because i was sweating like pig. i told him that I'd write to his family if he wouldn't make it. he just grinned and went on the track, just to return half a minute faster than GT4 or quattro.
Times for these cars:
Toyota Celica 2000 GT4 (ST168) '89 : 09'07.434
Audi Quattro '82 : 09'03.591
Ford RS200 '84 : 08'32. 357
conclusion:These cars bring out clearly the development of AWD systems and turbochargers. Audi has the halo of legendary pioneer, and it handles neutrally in every situation. Celica is pure fun and enterntining to drive, ready to try the impossible and do it with ease. RS200 is a small supercar for road, with proper temperament. Though, if I would have to pick up one of these cars, I'd take Celica, mostly because it's more common than the two others, and they're easier to maintain.
It was beautiful summermorning, when I stepped out from hotel's lobby. My friend was quite anxious, so he just ordered a taxi for us, and thus we were off to the legendary Green Hell, AKA Nürburgring.
When we arrived there, the cars were already there, ready for testing. We had picked up three turbocharged awd cars from the 80's, and luckily, we knew willing owners who did give their precious ones for us today.
In the lineup we had one car from Germany, one from Japan and one from America.
In the European corner we have legendary Audi Quattro, a car that brought AWD to road and tracks. Turbocharged 2.1 inline five pushes out healthy 200 bhp which is enough to give this boxy coupe top speed of approximately 230 km/h.
In the American corner we have another beast from Group B, Ford RS200 '84. This low, agressive looking car is one of 200 homologation models that had to be made in order to race in Group B, thus, it has power to match the challenge, even in street form: 250 bhp from 1.8l four.
In Japanese corner we have Toyota Celica GT4 from late 80's. Although it doesn't look as agressive as RS200, it has looks that tells us that this car is anything else but slow. Anyways, in this lineup, it has the smallest powerfigure of 195 bhp from 2.0 four.
After discussing about proper drivinglines and speeds, we decide to start. My role was to push the cars to the limits to find out the good sides and bad sides. my friend decided to aim onto perfect laps. first car that we shall test is Celica GT4.
This little Toyota feels familiar. It's like an old friend. Gears are accurate and the steering gives me direct feed from the road. Finally, after getting the feel of the cars behviour, I floored the pedal.
Celica leaped forwards eagerly. If there was small turbo lag, I didn't notice it thanks to the light chassis. In the corners the car was steady and easy to drive, and when the speed got higher, little nudge at the wheel induced tail-happy sliding, no matter what the speed was. Turn it justa a bit more and you're going sideways at ridiculous speeds! After fooling around in the twisties I got onto straight sections and decided to try out the brakes.
I went thru all gears, till I had to step on the brakes. This car had good handling, but not THAT good. wheels locked and tyres screamed as the speed dropped swiftly. nose did dive deep and then, small turn of wheel and we could step on throttle again.
then I decided to try out sudden moves. in a pair of somewhat tight curves I turned the wheel from lock to lock as fast as I could.. And off she went! First it was reluctant to let the grip go, but then it was gone and the car spun wildly.
after that, final straight opened in front of me. I pushed the car to the redline, doing my best to push out the best performance friom the engine. whan I had to start slowing down for last two corners, the speedo claimed that I had done 215 km/h. after that, I drove to the pit and handed the car over to my friend.
He returned slighty after 9 minutes, looking happy. " It's a great ride when driven correctly."
Next, I took the Audi. The sound of that inline five was both civilized and powerful. Interior was so angular and plastic that I could almost think that I was back on the 80's. But, we're here to drive this car, not to roll in the nostalgy. So, let's Floor it!
underneath 3000 rpm's the engine was just like any stock inline 5 from Audi. But when the revs reached 3,500rpm's, turbo woke up and after that, there was no end to acceleration.
traction was incredible. Audi didn't understeer nor oversteer, it was neutral, like it would be running on rails. Though, if onwe tapped the brakes when entering a curve, one could had some tailhappy going, but not in such ridiculous amounts as in Celica.
Brakes weren't as good as in Celica, but this car was made in the beginning of the 80's, when the standards were bit lower. Quattro is also bit heavier than Celica, but the grunt of the engine repaired that minor flaw in this car.
At extreme situations this car was very stable, as earlier. always perfectly on control, but still, one has to keep the laws of physics in mind. even almighty Quattro can't hold it grip forever. Loosing the grip just happens at higher speeds than usual..
After my lap I gave the Quattro to my anonymous friend, and he was off with sexy growl that could almost be trademark of Audi. He returned after slightly faster lap than he did on GT4.
At last we could lay our eager hands on the beast. This particular car was delivered in two colours, red and white. This one was red. I wouldn't mind seeing it in black though. Sexy one.. from Ford.
Almost everything in this car shouted that it was planned for racing. Deep seats closed me into tight hug as I squirmed onto the tight cabin. Everything was nicely in reach. I fired up the engine, just to find the sound disappointing after Audi's beastly snarl.
And off i went. From the beginning I noticed that this car was real sports car, because it wasn't childishly easy to drive like Quattro.
Gears were long, almost like this thing would be planned to un on autobahns, not on normal roads. the engine required almost 5k rpms, before anything happened. underneath or above those rpms, there was nothing that told you that you were driving race-bred 250bhp mid-engined awd roadcar.
If you didn't touch brakes in curves, it wouldn't turn. This car needs advanced weight shifting maneuvers, otherwise it would plow right off from the track.
And in case you overdid it, this car will bite your head off. It doesn't forgive at all, especially not when braking.
In proper hands this car is a winner. in hands of full out maniac like me, it was a killer, mad SOB who tried to tame me instead of me taming it. I got oversteer, i got understeer, we went sideways, we went backways, everything! but finally, I got it tamed, and after that I just drove it to the pit, topping out at 230ish, because the gears were long and there wasn't enough power for the fifth gear, which was needed only on the final straight.
I gave the car to my friend, who gave me a look because i was sweating like pig. i told him that I'd write to his family if he wouldn't make it. he just grinned and went on the track, just to return half a minute faster than GT4 or quattro.
Times for these cars:
Toyota Celica 2000 GT4 (ST168) '89 : 09'07.434
Audi Quattro '82 : 09'03.591
Ford RS200 '84 : 08'32. 357
conclusion:These cars bring out clearly the development of AWD systems and turbochargers. Audi has the halo of legendary pioneer, and it handles neutrally in every situation. Celica is pure fun and enterntining to drive, ready to try the impossible and do it with ease. RS200 is a small supercar for road, with proper temperament. Though, if I would have to pick up one of these cars, I'd take Celica, mostly because it's more common than the two others, and they're easier to maintain.
later that engine was placed on 405 T16 hill climb car. and some guy is running RS200 on hillclimb.. it has 900 bhp+, if I recall right.
80's pocket rockets that still are able to slay such contestants as Focus RS and Honda's Type R's...
