It's only... half a year late, but I owed it to Leon (and Greycap) to finally come through with a review of the Robin, quite possibly one of the most deranged cars in my garage. While I had borrowed it back at the beginning of the year, it had to go back to the MFT garage, so I immediately built myself a replica.
Originally, I drove it at Deep Forest on the recommendation of Leon. An utter rollercoaster there, very nearly feeling too fast for the track, so for the review, I've popped over to GVS, MFT's main-page tuning grounds. I've brought along the MFT Robin, and a "stock" BTR tuned to the same specs. Here we go!
Robin
Oh look, not even 10 seconds after setting tires to tarmac, I'm sideways. In fourth. At nearly 200kph. Needless to say, this is going to be fun.
The first thing you notice dynamically is that the old 911 trait of death-inducing lift-off mid-turn has been dramatically toned down. Some might be tempted to describe it as understeer if one attempts to turn in on lift-off - the word they're looking for is stable. Trail-braking is possible too: this is a good thing, especially on the first turn at Grand Valley, as your feet are busy balancing both pedals as you haul things down. Yes, it will slur over towards the outside of the right-hander if you're too hard on the brakes for too long, but it doesn't feel any worse than a normal car, where the majority of the weight isn't hanging behind the rear axle. Impressive.
True to its makers' origins, this super-BTR responds well to Scandinavian flicks. Using the weight transfer to get the nose pointed in works on varying levels; do it a tiny bit for some line-tightening, or go whole hog and hang the tail out. This is possibly the most impressive thing about this tune - it's oversteery, the steering is super-sharp, but despite both those things, hooliganism is progressive. This isn't the fastest way around a track (well, usually not, more on that later), but it's important to note because you
will slide in this car. It will bite you, hard, but after a few laps, you'll quickly learn where the limits are, and the car telegraphs its movements nicely. That double-left after the first hairpin? You can seamlessly paint down two strips of rubber from entry to exit, and because of the nature of that section, barely be any slower than a grip-line. This obviously isn't the case with most turns, however.
Following the proper lines and trying to limit wheelspin, the best approach is smoothness. Braking is more powerful than the stock balance, which lets you do it in a straight line, turn in, and get on a half-throttle as early as possible. Once you've made it through the majority of the turn, open the taps and prepare for a tiny bit of corrective lock to keep it pointed straight and building speed. If you do need more than a quarter-lock for any reason, the strong LSD settings make opposite-lock corrections much, much easier (and faster) than the stock settings, allowing you to get back to cutting your lap time as quickly as possible.
High speed stability is as good as you would expect from a 600+ horse beast weighing slightly over a ton, with minimal downforce. You will get oversteer, even upwards of 200kph, but it will nudge into it nicely, and most importantly, despite being on race rubber, won't knife-edge into an outside wall when it randomly decides to regain grip during counter-steering.
One last bit; the gearing. Fantastically spaced for GVS, you get a wide powerband, and room for drafting up in sixth if you need it. 2nd gear might appear too short, and when there's any amount of steering angle applied, it probably is. But exiting a hairpin, dropping to 2nd is perfect: the power comes on immediately, and the tires are just at the very limit of adhesion. They'll push you forward, without turning bright red, working much better than simply leaving it in 3rd (my preferred method going around the actual hairpin, since the throttle is much more manageable).
My final lap time was still 1.5sec off the MFT time, though this is with a DS3. A wheel is definitely, definitely better suited for a car like this, as the overriding quality needed is, again, smoothness. Something the controller just can't compete with. That being said, don't let the Expert tag fool you - it's a handful, absolutely, but I urge drivers to try it, as once you master this, nothing shy of an A310 shod in SS/SH will scare you. That and the lap times it is capable of compared to stock are just on another level.
Stock
What a mess. People who don't "get" RUFs, probably have full-tuned a BTR, or worse, a Yellowbird, and not bothered to give it some decent settings, and now I can understand them. The gearing stands out first - despite the slower-reacting chassis, I entered the straight at the same speed as the MFT car, only to be down 15kph by the end of it. The ratios don't take advantage of the wide power band, and are closer-stacked, meaning you're nudging the red in this car before braking, yet you can't even apply full power in the first three gears without guaranteed wheelspin.
I mentioned a slower chassis, and that's what sits at the front of your mind the entire lap - how can this be so slow-witted after the scalpel-sharp responses of the MFT car? Due to the increased amount of power-on oversteer, you end up slowing down more through most turns, having to get on the power later in the exit than the Robin. The stock LSD settings give you more of a workout if you need any corrective lock, delaying the whole "going forward" bit and adding seconds to the lap times. Even worse, the car is more catchy when sliding at any angle; it will randomly hook up with little to no warning, starting an over-correcting spin that will throw you into the nearest Armco.
The brakes are somehow less effective too. Don't ask me how.
After plenty of laps (far more than I gave the MFT), I squeaked to within 1.1sec of my time in the boys' bird. And wasn't happy in any of them.
Conclusion
A grand success, this. It's still a screaming lunatic of a car, but it's now one capable of consistent, repeatable, and most importantly, fast, lap times. It's best suited to a certain kind of track, too; much too stiff and low for the 'Ring, it's deadly at GVS, a ton of fun for zany antics on Deep Forest, and a force to be reckoned with at La Sarthe.