Beater or Sleeper? COTW Forza 7 Week:END The Ultimate Sleeper, The Holden Sandman! Thanks Everyone!!

[Vic Reign93]

So the times for the Renault are..

@Vic Reign93 1:38.807
@Drex124 1:40.584
@Nacho Libre 1:42.989

And the Merkur..

@Vic Reign93 1:45.852
@Nacho Libre 1:49.786

Decent times from you guys. 👍

This weeks car by all accounts, is the Sleeper back in it’s day in 80’s america and even by today’s standards it’s still a respectable cult classic performer.

‘Lord Vader. Your car is ready.’

It is..

The 1987 Buick Regal GNX!!!

‘This ain’t your grandmas Buick.’ The GNX was the top of the pile when it came to the Regal.

The GNX (Grand National Experimental) packed a turbocharged 3.8 V6 which made 300hp (although Buick underrated it at 276hp.) and 380ft-lbs of torque.

Even though it weighed 1.6 tons and was only available with a 4 speed automatic, it could knock off quarter mile times in around high 12’s and low 13’s, putting it above almost every US made car and even some Ferrari’s of the time.

With only around 500 GNX’s made and low mile examples selling in the six figure range, they are becoming a rare breed for most to see in person.

Our example will be tested at a place where Buick V6’s were once absolute powerhouses, Indianapolis Raceway.

Indy cars that ran stock blocks or pushrod engines at the Indy 500 back in the late eighties and early nineties were allowed to run even more boost than the normal indy engines. (Correct me if i’m wrong on any of this.)

As a result, speeds touching 250mph were recorded at the Speedway.

The layout we’ll be running is the Classic GP layout which includes the long banked right hander which had a hand in the 2005 USA F1 GP controversy, among other things.

Hopefully we aren’t running Michelin’s on the GNX.

Best of luck people.

 

[Thomas2012]

Apologies for the lack of runnings! I’ve got my finals in a few weeks and will not be able to participate sadly Once that’s done though expect a lot more from me!

 

[Vic Reign93]

To keep it simple, It’s a Sleeper.

Despite its reputation as a straight line rocket in it’s heyday, This weeks testing showed it can handle decently too.

While slightly floaty in the suspension and weight transfer, it didn’t majorly understeer and the rear was composed for when it was needed, brakes were ok too.

All in all, worthy of its cult classic status as the 80’s american rebel, a V6 among V8’s.

Verdict: Sleeper 👍

 

[Im_Lukas]

First time trying to take part, usually just read the thread and what people have to say, but good job on keeping this going for so long @Vic Reign93

Hopefully this is OK (although my time will be under the non-homologated division leaderboard I believe as opposed to standard C class), I'm trying to grow my garage so have been enjoying running ~1 hour races in stock cars with unbeatable AI and the big mods to amass a load of credits. Usually getting around 700k per hour of racing in C class.

This car really threw me off, although I knew of it's reputation I still expected it to be quite a bit slower on the straights, as for handling I'm seriously impressed as once the weight has settled it can certainly hold a nice line, has no problems getting out of corners either. The brakes were adequate, I wouldn't say they were great but they weren't bad either. Maybe the only thing I don't like that much is how long the gears seem to be with 3rd gear taking you up to 130+ mph.

I guess I'll give this car a sleeper mark.

 

[Vic Reign93]

Here is the 24hrs left reminder to get your times in for this week.

 

[Nacho Libre]

I'm going to say neutral because of the possibility of building a respectable B or A build out of it.

 

[Vic Reign93]

So here are this weeks times.

@Im_Lukas 1:41.250
@Vic Reign93 1:42.396
@Nacho Libre 1:47.086

Great first attempt by Lukas with a 1 second advantage over myself. 👍

This weeks pick is is somewhat more somber for this cars manufacturer with it not being in FH4 despite early game clips showing that they were there.

I’ve kinda given away which company i’m talking about with that.

It is..

The 2008 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X GSR!!!

Yes this week we say farewell (for now) to Mitsubishi’s stay in the Forza franchise with their newest car.. Which is now 10 years old.

Powered by a 305hp 2.0 litre turbo 4 cylinder, the natural rival to the Subaru WRX sends its power to all 4 wheels via a 6 speed *automatic* gearbox.

With 60% of the weight over the front axle and a modest 3,395lbs curbweight, you’ll be trying to get 10/10ths out of it this week at the Indy layout at Brands Hatch.

Best of luck people. 👍

 

[Vic Reign93]

Apologies for not getting around to this sooner.

Also small correction from my previous post, it turns out this Evo has a 6 speed automatic and not a manual as I originally stated, I noticed this via the fast upshifts and downshifts on my warm up runs.

As for the Evo itself, bit understeery on corner exits, but mostly well behaved for the most part.

Acceleration was decent, assisted by the fast shifting gearbox and the brakes were pretty good.

Not exceptional, but not terrible either, besides it’s hardly gonna be left stock for long now is it?

Verdict: Neutral

 

[Im_Lukas]

A little understeery but that tends to suit my driving style, the handling, brakes and acceleration are all alright but not exceptional. I had to run this with ghosted AI to avoid them turning in to a huge snake and making clean laps almost impossible, and to be fair it took me a fair while to get through the field. Probably the closest I'll get to exactly 1 hour race time though.

I would have to agree with you for a neutral rating.

 

[Vic Reign93]

Ok there’s less than 24hrs left before the time trial ends.

Also the Route Creator for FH4 is out in tomorrow’s update, i’m gonna try and see if there’s anyway we could use it for FH4 COTW given that currently there’s no open class rivals on there like there was with FH3.

If not, I won’t start it if I can’t remove all variables like drivertars for example and will likely have to wait until they (hopefully) bring back open class rivals to start COTW on there.

 

[Drex124]

(0:55.251)
*Insert opinion*

Verdict: Sleeper

 

[Vic Reign93]

So the times for the Evo X.

@Im_Lukas 54.398
@Vic Reign93 55.216
@Drex124 55.251

So another win for Lukas and Drex was right on my tail by less than half a tenth. 👍

This week, we’re going full FBI on this one, No not THAT one.

We’re going Full Blooded Italian with...

The 1952 Fiat 8V Supersonic!!!

Another one for the Jet Age styling book.

Based on the normal 8V, The Supersonic was visually different to the normal 8V with styling done by coachbuilders Ghia, an already rare car (114 made) now had an even rarer version (only 8 Supersonics were made.).

What does a unrestored original 8V Supersonic go for at auction? Well back in early 2011, $1.7 million all in.

Powered by a 2.0 litre V8, it produces 115hp and 107ft-lbs of torque which is sent to the rear tyres via a 4 speed manual gearbox.

While not majorly powerful, it only weighs 930kgs which should mean the handling isn’t half bad, only one place to find out.

Of course if we’re going full FBI, it can only mean one of few places, This weeks event will be at Mugello on the Club Circuit.

Best of luck on that people. 👍

One last thing, It looks like we might be here awhile longer than expected, I can’t see a practical and reliable way of running COTW in FH4 unless we don’t do Time trials on there as there’s no open class rival leaderboards on all tracks.

I’m more than open to options if someone’s got a decent alternative way we could do it.

 

[Vic Reign93]

So the Supersonic, fast it ain’t.

With around 115hp that’s expected with speeds touching just over 100 before turn 1, sounds nice mind you.

Handling while it feels soft, is also somewhat responsive, but the lack of a differential means it wants to spin up the inside wheel during cornering under acceleration.

If it had more power that would be more of an issue.

It’s definitely a collectors piece, but could do well in lower classes. 👍

Verdict: Neutral

 

[MightyL]

Let me jump in as i really like the idea of driving all them cars in their stock outfit.

I did a 1'21'037.

Oh boy that interior. Looked like they wanted to rethink some of the essentials there. styled through the roof... And I guess thats what the whole car is about. Being styled. The mechanical part of things is not the selling point. So typically Fiat. You can feel the engine is not a small engine but its definitely not spectacular what one gets out of it. Same for the handling. Being rear drive you would expect it to be a bit more agile and wanting to tackle corners but it s just unwilling and really complaining when you start throwing it around the corners in a more aggressive way.
The Supersonic is a car to have in the garage and get it out for a sunday morning drive to the local bakery in autumn when the sun is still low and a little bit of fog is hanging over the road. definitely not a circuit drive.

just a little off note. Such a pity FM didn't take the effort to make analogue odometers work so one can see mileage in the cars also when they are from the non-digital era. and also there should be a leaderboard for stock cars in FM. I don't understand why they don't do it.

 

[Im_Lukas]

Beautiful car, it just looks incredible and I already had 3 in my garage just in different colours . I found this car really responsive and quite easy to throw in to the higher speed corners, whereas the slower turns required a bit more finesse on the throttle to prevent the inside wheel spinning up, that said once you get used to these characteristics it can be an enjoyable drive. Another thing worth noting is throughout this hour long race my fuel had only gone down to 59.3%, the Audi RS3 I've done quite a few races with recently is running on fumes after 40 minutes. This would be the perfect car for some of the old Positano/Amalfi tracks from the previous generation games, a shame we don't have them here.

My vote goes for sleeper .

 

[Vic Reign93]

Here’s your less than 24hrs reminder to either add or improve your times for this weeks event.

 

[Drex124]

(1:21.914)

Looks like a boat, drives like a boat, so it must be a... no wait it's a car...

*Some research later* Ok maybe that's a bit harsh, it's a peculiar little car I'll give it that.

The titular engine (yes you read that right) was put together by combining two V4's, making for an unusual and rather small 70° V8. It's also the only V8 Fiat has ever put in one of their cars thus far. I said titular since supposedly Fiat named it the 8V because they thought Ford held a copyright to the V8 name at the time. Four wheel independent suspension and drum brakes round out what ended up being quite a competitive car at the time, still having success on the Italian racing scene several years after the car ended production.

Personally though I'm disappointed we got the Ghia bodied car rather than any of the better looking cars made by Zagato, Vignale, or even Fiat themselves. I'm guessing this one's more to a certain Cowboy's taste?

Verdict: Neutral

 

[Vic Reign93]

Ok so the times for this week are..

@Im_Lukas 1:18.818
@Vic Reign93 1:19.854
@MightyL 1:21.037
@Drex124 1:21.914

Either i’m losing my touch or Lukas is just decent, either way great times from all.

So this weeks event is gonna use the vehicle which’ll be needed for the upcoming weekly Forzathon in FH4.

It is the..

1973 Ford Capri RS3100!!!

It may have the badge of Ford, but it’s not a american car sold in Europe, it’s a British car that was sold in the U.K, Europe, then Australia and lastly in North America and South Africa.

The idea behind the Capri was to replicate the success that Ford had with the Mustang, A European counterpart of the Pony Car.

Over the first gen Capri’s life, there was a smorgasbord of engine’s that you could pick depending on what model year you had.

There was a choice of Inline 4’s or V4s from as small as 1.3 up-to 2.0 litres with the 2.0 being the Pinto engine (A preferred choice for british hot rodders.), but there was also a choice of V6’s with the Cologne V6 being available in 2.0,2.3 and 2.6 litre versions or the Essex V6 in 3.0 or 3.1 litres in the RS3100.

And if you were in South Africa you could even get it with a 5.0 Ford Windsor V8.

The RS3100’s 3.1 V6 was good for 148hp and 187ft-lbs of torque which is sent to the rear via a 4 speed manual gearbox.

With only 250 RS3100’s made for homologation reasons, It’s becoming a rare machine, one sold at auction back in 2016 for just under £50K and there’s currently a great condition recreation up for sale in the U.K. with an asking price of just under £26K so these are still somewhat realistic prices for the average joe and janet.

So this week we’ll be taking it to Maple Valley Raceway Full Circuit in the dry to see if the old school homologation special still has a trick or two to show us.

Best of Luck People. 👍

 

[Im_Lukas]

You're doing great Vic, don't worry about me

I'll get one in early this week, I ran this one in rivals so I have a ghost available for this on the E class leaderboard for anyone to use. I also recorded my lap, just in case anyone is in to that instead.


(1:57.933)

Out of all the cool Ford's my dad has owned before I was born, the Capri (Mk3 at least) is right up there with the way he talks about the Escort Mk1 Mexico. I think this car looks fantastic, especially with the little ducktail spoiler hinting at it's performance. Acceleration was what I expected with good gear ratios, the brakes weren't tested too much on this track, but bonus points for the handling being so predictable, and once the weight of the car had settled it was very easy to see where I could get on the throttle while still making the corner.

With it being so predictable and easy to place I have to say this is a sleeper.

 

[RikkiGT-R]

148bhp from a 3.1L V6

This is my brother's dream car, a good old Ford Capri. I might have a bash at this later, do I need to upload a video?

 

[Vic Reign93]

148bhp from a 3.1L V6

This is my brother's dream car, a good old Ford Capri. I might have a bash at this later, do I need to upload a video?

It’s your choice, photo or video, as long as it’s a clean lap in a stock Capri it’ll count. 👍

 

[RikkiGT-R]

Yeah... I just. What.

Do not like that car at all. Kinda reminds me of the GT4 mission with the Plymouth Superbird around Seattle (3-lap battle) - once you figure the car out you can actually take the lead within 2 laps. Until then it feels really slow and awkward. Like the Capri. I'll have another go tomorrow because 2:08 is embarrassing really.

 

[Vic Reign93]

Admittedly 148hp wasn’t much for what it had, but given in roughly the same time period you could get a 8.2 V8 from Cadillac which started with 400hp and then dropped to 235hp in 1971 after both emissions and a change on how engine power was measured (Gross HP to Net HP), it’s by no means the worst offender i’ve seen.

But I digress.

(Switched back to Sim steering after one too many sim twitches in the past kept me on normal handling.)

The MK1 Capri, the unofficial car of “Yeah, but didn’t you always want one?”

Like what’s already been said, once you adjust to weight and body roll, it’s a nice car to drive and the Essex V6 has got a tone to its sound.

Not overly expensive, not tricky to drive and it’s still a rare classic with motorsports pedigree.

Sounds like a Sleeper to me. 👍

 

[Vic Reign93]

Here’s your less than 20 hours reminder to either upload or improve your times before the time trial ends.

 

[MightyL]

oh boy. I didn't know the track. Turned out to be a real challenge . How come a car that light feels like very heavy? I did 10 laps on this track and only one lap didn't get nullified. only one... a very frustrating run. the car. yes it looks nice. both in and out. yes the engine is something. but still somehow I dunno. I'm missing a kind of excitement. My verdict: Neutral.

laptime 2'00'198

 

[Vic Reign93]

Ok the times for the Capri are as follows.

@Im_Lukas 1:57.933
@Vic Reign93 1:58.416
@MightyL 2:00.198
@RikkiGT-R 2:08.557

The margin between me and Lukas is getting smaller, good times all round. 👍

Today both a free car pack and monthly spotlight car arrived with today’s update which also brought Collision Assist, a starting block for Forza’s eventual race regulations update(And a good starting block at that.).

From the Hot Wheels pack I’ve selected..

The 2012 Hot Wheels Rip Rod!!!

After asking themselves the question, ‘What would happen if we combined the stylish looks of a hot rod with the all terrain ability of a beach buggy?’ the answer they built was the Rip Rod.

Now I do need to point out that even though it’s the same model year as the one that debuted in Horizon 3, it’s completely different, both in visuals and performance.

The FH3 Rip Rod had a turbocharged 1.0 3 cylinder making over 200hp which was sent to the back via a 8 speed sequential gearbox.

This 50th Anniversary model is not as powerful, my best guess (Can’t find anything on this new layout.) is it’s a 1.0 litre 4 cylinder bike engine which makes 110hp and 72ft-lbs of torque.

Also different is the weight and gearbox, The 8 speed gearbox is replaced with a CVT gearbox like on the Polaris RZR, the FH3 Rod weighs 1874lbs whereas this one weighs only 1500lbs.

It’ll likely be an easy to learn, hard to get 10 tenths out of sorta car so it’ll be driven on a short track, the Mini Circuit on Homestead will do nicely.

But like I said, there was the spotlight car included today.

And man is it a monster of a spotlight car.

It is..

The 1973 Porsche #6 Penske Sunoco 917/30 Cam-Am Spyder!!!

Yep, The TurboPanzer is here.

The 1973 season of Can-Am saw this monster carry on from the previous year’s takedown of Mclaren and ending their 5 year championship streak and set the template of what the likes of Ferrari and Mercedes Benz would go on to do in F1, be pretty much untouchable throughout a season.

Out of the 8 races in 1973, it only lost the first two,(to Porsche 917/10’s) but then won every other race with Mark Donohue taking the first place on the podium at each one.

It was such a domination that Mclaren pulled out of Can-Am at the end of the season and Can-Am only lasted one more season before folding after the 1974 season.

The Turbo Panzer got its new nickname, ‘The Can-Am Killer’.

What made it so dominant? Turbocharging.

Turbo’s back then were really a prime example of russian roulette at 150+mph, there was no middle ground, you either had no power or all of it at once and you lay down skid marks, in both senses of the word.

Porsche took it’s tried and tested and proven 4.5 litre Flat 12, punched it out to 5.0 litres with the 917/10 and then 5.4 litres with the 917/30, both heavily turbocharged.

The end result was the 917/30 made 1100hp in race trim (1085hp in game) and 809ft-lbs of torque, but the in game version is heavier at 2,573lbs compared to 1,872lbs in reality.

That nutty power figure by itself would be enough, but the thing with turbochargers, you can oh so easily crank up the boost and the qualifying boost took the 917/30 in to uncharted territory with over 1500hp on tap(1543hp in game).

Porsche somehow managed to tame that power enough so it didn’t destroy the 4 speed manual gearbox every time they went near full boost.

So where does one take such a mega power of motorsports to? One of the places it won of course, Watkins Glen.

Specifically the full circuit alternative layout. 👍

He who dares, Wins this week, Best of luck people.

 

[Vic Reign93]

So the Rip Rod, surprisingly fun to drive on tarmac.

With no need to worry about shifting gears thanks to the CVT gearbox, you can focus on getting through the corners quickly.

Handling was darty and agile and whilst it only had 110hp, it’s low weight meant it was still touching over a 100mph on the straights.

Could be a wild card if given a more tarmac friendly setup, but it’s still good fun to drive.

Verdict: Sleeper 👍

And the Can-Am Spyder..

It’s both terrifying and fun to drive, terrifying when the boost kicks in low speed turns and fun when you tame it.

It does understeer in the turns due to the huge rear tyres and I can only assume a locked differential, but when you do put the power down in 2nd gear, 95% of the time it’s gonna grip and go with no wheelspin.

Once you figure it out, it’s a rocket ship from the 70’s, just a shame it’s in no mans land for what you can use it for.

It’s PI is too high for R Class, Can’t be upgraded to the top of P Class and it’s in the Forza Specials division(mainly because the huge rear tyres are way past the limits for Prototype Group Racing.), you could maybe use it as a Le Mans or Oval special for P Class.

But aside from that, It’s the most powerful of the free spotlight cars, Can’t say no to an excellent freebie.

Verdict: Sleeper 👍

 

[Im_Lukas]

Rip Rod. It looks really fun and handles nicely but the CVT, I could only drive 4 laps before I had to stop for my own sanity. The sound reminds me of 50cc scooters and their constant buzzing around, completely ruins an otherwise decent car for me.

As I can't bear to drive this car, I'll have to say beater, regretfully.

The 917/30, takes some getting used to how it handles. Them huge rear tyres leave it really struggling to get round the corner, but once you're facing almost the right way just slam on the gas and it will grip and go. The brakes on this thing are fantastic, bringing you to a stop in reasonable distances from unreasonable speeds.

Feels a bit weird to call a car with over 1000 horsepower and known as the "Can-Am killer" this, but I'll have to say sleeper.

 

[Obelisk]

Lost track of this thread, but am definitely gonna hop on tonight and try the 917/30 now that I've beefed up my rig enough to handle Forza properly.

 

[Vic Reign93]

Here’s your 24hrs left reminder, if you haven’t posted a time or want to improve it, do so before midnight in the U.K.