- 1,218
So, my friend and I had this idea over MSN of taking a stupid car, tuning it and seeing how fast we could chuck it round the 'Ring. Because we enjoyed it so much I decided to turn it into a write-up, so here it is. 
Challenge 1
Well, my friend has a rather skewed idea of what's inappropriate for the 'Ring, so he chose a VW Golf GTI Mk.1. Trying to keep in with the FF theme, I went browsing through the car showrooms until, to my friends delight, I found this beast:
Oh yeah!
Some 150hp, a diet and a wing later, and it was ready to go. Er, sort-of. On my first lap the 'car' (I use that term loosely) was understeering horribly.
Ouch. Still, un-deterred, I went back into the settings and solved the understeer problem. Off we go again, except this time with some intersting snap oversteer under braking. Confirming that I had no talent as a suspension tuner, I just put in a random array of settings and hoped it would fix itself.
Back out on track, and it was finally handling in a controllable manner for most of the time.
For my lap I cheated slightly and put qualifying tyres on and went for a photoshoot lap, so there was no tyre wear. I was apprehensive at the start. There were still a few handling issues and my friend was boasting about how he'd made his Golf handle perfectly.
He was even bold enough to bet that I couldn't do a sub 8-minute lap even with qualifying tyres and a wing. Ah well, off I went.
Innediately the front tyres started skipping all over the place. This thing has real trouble putting it's power down on such a bumpy track. Still, it turned better than expected, and was actually quite fun to drive through the first set of corners. Down the hill and then back over the crest into Flugplatz. Then disaster! My lack of suspension tuning skill betrayed me, and as I landed on the entry to Flugplatz, the car bounced and skidded off. I didn't hit the armco, but it was a close call.
Determined to mkae up for lost time, I came careering through Schwedenkreuz at full throttle, tyres squealing like mad. Clinging on for dear life, I gently braked into Aremburg before screeching my way out the other side.
The rest of the lap was quite un-eventful, although on the replay it looks like the car is about to roll over on the Karussel banking.
On the exit of Galgenkopf, I hit R1 and watched as my speed rose alarmingly, showing an indicated 181mph 
into Antoniusbuche. Blimey.
Then it was a flurry of panicked braking and panicked steering into the last section and across the line. Glancing at the clock, I had to double take.
7'35.648
I ended up beating the Golf by at least a minute, and later tests yeilded a top speed of 200.08 mph. Not bad for a FF people carrier than no-one bought.
Pictures
How to win at Flugplatz, Avantime style.:tup:
Takeoff....
Land...(check out the ground clearance )
Takeoff again ...
Before coming to a controlled, gracious stop.
Part 2 coming soon...(hopefully
)
Challenge 1
Well, my friend has a rather skewed idea of what's inappropriate for the 'Ring, so he chose a VW Golf GTI Mk.1. Trying to keep in with the FF theme, I went browsing through the car showrooms until, to my friends delight, I found this beast:
Oh yeah!
Some 150hp, a diet and a wing later, and it was ready to go. Er, sort-of. On my first lap the 'car' (I use that term loosely) was understeering horribly.
Ouch. Still, un-deterred, I went back into the settings and solved the understeer problem. Off we go again, except this time with some intersting snap oversteer under braking. Confirming that I had no talent as a suspension tuner, I just put in a random array of settings and hoped it would fix itself.
Back out on track, and it was finally handling in a controllable manner for most of the time.For my lap I cheated slightly and put qualifying tyres on and went for a photoshoot lap, so there was no tyre wear. I was apprehensive at the start. There were still a few handling issues and my friend was boasting about how he'd made his Golf handle perfectly.
He was even bold enough to bet that I couldn't do a sub 8-minute lap even with qualifying tyres and a wing. Ah well, off I went.Innediately the front tyres started skipping all over the place. This thing has real trouble putting it's power down on such a bumpy track. Still, it turned better than expected, and was actually quite fun to drive through the first set of corners. Down the hill and then back over the crest into Flugplatz. Then disaster! My lack of suspension tuning skill betrayed me, and as I landed on the entry to Flugplatz, the car bounced and skidded off. I didn't hit the armco, but it was a close call.
Determined to mkae up for lost time, I came careering through Schwedenkreuz at full throttle, tyres squealing like mad. Clinging on for dear life, I gently braked into Aremburg before screeching my way out the other side.
The rest of the lap was quite un-eventful, although on the replay it looks like the car is about to roll over on the Karussel banking.
On the exit of Galgenkopf, I hit R1 and watched as my speed rose alarmingly, showing an indicated 181mph into Antoniusbuche. Blimey.Then it was a flurry of panicked braking and panicked steering into the last section and across the line. Glancing at the clock, I had to double take.
7'35.648
I ended up beating the Golf by at least a minute, and later tests yeilded a top speed of 200.08 mph. Not bad for a FF people carrier than no-one bought.
Pictures
How to win at Flugplatz, Avantime style.
:tup:
Takeoff....
Land...(check out the ground clearance )
Takeoff again ...
Before coming to a controlled, gracious stop. Part 2 coming soon...(hopefully
)
