Stock Drifters Competition - MR Division TEST COMPLETE

[Alfaholic]

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Introduction​

The seed for this competition was planted by the Protomotors Spirra. I was racing it around the streets of New York one day when I unexpectedly found myself in an oversteering slide as I entered that long 270 degree turn. When I came out the other side of the corner still on line and still with a half a turn of opposite lock wound on, I knew I had found something special. I forgot all about the race I was competing in, did u-turn, and drifted the Spirra around that corner again... and again... and again.

Let's put this in perspective. I love powerslides. I love steering the car with the throttle and balancing it with the steering. I'm not particularly good at it though, and so when a car like the Spirra makes long, lazy drifts accessible to someone with my level of talent, it becomes news that must be shared with the community. One sentence would do that - "The Spirra is a cool MR drift car" - but that's not the whole story. How good is it, really? Is it better, for example, than the Lancia Stratos? The Italian car was designed to go rallying... sideways action is built in as a neccessity. Can the Korean car really hang its tail out with more style than a professional drifter? The only way to find out would be to stage a contest between the two cars. In fact, come to think of it, I've driven a few MR cars in the game that were quite happy to swing their tail.

The original Toyota MR2, for instance. The supercharged version was my first car in GT4. Its racing career in my hands was cut short by its tendancy to oversteer. This made it slow and made me unwilling to give the car more power. I soon sold it to finance a faster racing car. Still, that trait should make it a perfect entry here - so I'll just have to buy another one!
In too is the Lotus Europa Special as an outsider. This car is not a natural powerslider, but it has an adjustable chassis and it may just charm me on the right tyres.

Two more outsiders were chosen to fill up the ranks. These were MR cars that had shown their crab - like aspirations on license tests. I didn't own either of these cars, so I had to buy an example of each for this competition. These two outsiders are the '00 MGF and '00 Renault Clio V6.

Six cars had now been chosen to battle it out to decide who the the inaugural holder of the best off-the-shelf MR drift toy crown will be, and so some ground rules would need to be laid down. Please remember that I myself am not a drift king. This competition is to find out what MR car a drift virgin like myself can go out and buy, swap the tyres, put on a track, and enjoy some entertaining opposite locking with.

Rules of the Competition​

Many of the rules under which I ran this competition were decided by my finances at the time. I was nowhere near completing my progress through the game, and at the time it was more important to spend my funds on winning races than on drift competitions. It was thus decided that the purpose of this competition was to find the simplest affordable way to go MR drifting. Entries had therefore been limited to road cars. No modifications were allowed apart from an oil change (to bring the second hand entries a bit closer to their original power) and a tyre change. I did not set a specific tyre spec. I decided instead that the car can run on whatever N tyres show its drifting ability the best. In the end, 5 of the 6 entries ran best on N1 tyres.
Financial restrictions also ruled out a chassis refresh for the high mileage cars. This, of course, is bad news for the three second hand entries.. but the idea is to find the best affordable drifter, and spending 50 grand on a car seemed to be not in the spirit of the contest. No other modifications were allowed to any car.

The competition then would run thus: All cars would get a chance to run for as long as they needed and as many times as needed. N1, N2 and N3 tyres were available for each, so a pitstop and tyre change during a run could show which tyres best suited a car. I would drive around and around the track until I had a clear order in mind and a favourite had been chosen.

The venue is Autumn Ring Reverse. I chose this track because it encourages oversteer in most cars, it has a nice selection of fast and slow corners to test a car's driveability on opposite lock and varying speeds, it has switchbacks, it has a lovely 270 degree corner to test stamina (mine as much as the cars... at my skill level, if I can drift a car the whole way around this corner, then the car has to be seriously good indeed.) and most importantly, it has some reasonable run-off areas

Format​

During this test I did a lot of driving and took a lot of notes. I also took quite a few pictures. The winner cannot be decided by measurable figures, so it is all down to my observations and feelings about the car. My report, therefore, will be extensive. I will break it up by putting a new post in this thread for each of the six entries. Bear in mind that at this time the test has been completed, and a winner decided. I have by no means tested all of the MR cars in the game and I have left the crowned king open for challenge. Indeed, I drove the cars at the Autumn Ring again recently to take the photos for the report, and may well have come to different conclusions this time around than I had on my original drive 6 months previous, but at this time the report will be faithful to my original observations.

Once I have added a post for all six cars, I will add a "conclusions" post and name the deserving winner. Please note that the Europa that took part in the competition was a black one, not the Regency Red one pictured. Also, the Clio that took part in the competition was Blue, and not the black one pictured. In both cases, both entries have received irreversible modifications since the original competition and were therefore not ideal for the photography runs which took place some time later.

Hope you all enjoy this!




The cars were driven to the limit.... and beyond!

 

[Smallhorses]

Can't wait for more....
unfortunately I've not spread the "reputation" around enough yet, or another well deserved red tick would be headed your way!

 

[Alfaholic]

Can't wait for more....
unfortunately I've not spread the "reputation" around enough yet, or another well deserved red tick would be headed your way!

Hah! I must pay more attention to the community I'm in... I've only now realised what the red tick is for. Thanks for the heads up, Smallhorses..

P.S. first drive coming up soon!

 

[Alfaholic]

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Protomotors Spirra​

Power: 319bhp
Preferred Tyres: N2

The Spirra is the car that got this whole idea going. On N2 tyres, it's a natural in this competition. This car has two weaknesses: It doesn't like braking in mid corner, and it feels like it could make good use of perhaps another 20bhp.

The attractive Korean works best when driven smoothly, as if the driver is not intending to provoke it at all. Corner entry speed is important when initiating a long drift in this car. Go in too fast and you will get understeer which can only be cured by lifting the throttle gently and waiting for grip to return. Adding throttle will only convert the understeer into a neutral drift that sees all four wheels sliding further away from the inside kerb. Instead, enter the corner a bit slower, while smoothly coming off the brakes, and the front tyres will lock into the apex. At this point, you will have two choices:
1) drive smoothly through the corner by gently applying throttle, or
2) push the tail wide with an exaggerated squeeze of the loud pedal.
Once traction is broken, countersteer smoothly and relax throttle pressure a tiny bit, and the Spirra from this point on can be steered on the throttle for as long as the corner lasts. Add pressure for more angle and a tighter line, reduce pressure slightly for the opposite effect. Stay committed now, and the Spirra feels like it will drift until it runs out of petrol. Panic and snap the throttle closed (or worse, hit the brakes), and it will spin. With practise even I could drift this car the whole way through the 270deg corner, as long as I got the entry right. Get the entry wrong, or try too hard, and the Spirra becomes a complete handful.

These responses were the same in the tight hairpins or fast 3rd gear sweepers. As the speeds rose the controls got more sensitive and needed a lighter touch, but the Protomotors car was huge fun on every corner. That said, it didn't like the switchbacks quite so much, where it could easily be driven into a momentum induced spin, but overall it feels built to be driven sideways. That large V8 engine makes braking traction with the throttle easy, and gives you plenty of reserve power with which to play with the angle of drift. The long wheelbase makes sure everything always happens progressively and controllably, and is probably responsible for the benign behaviour in the faster corners. The wheelbase is probably also responsible for the car's reluctance to flick from lock to lock in the switchbacks, where the weight of that wonderfully torquey motor in the back becomes more of a handicap, but overall it's a great compromise.

This car will be hard to beat.

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[Alfaholic]

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Lancia Stratos​

Power: 198bhp
Preferred tyres: N1

I walked away from the Spirra thinking it would be hard to beat. First signs for the Stratos, though, are promising. Pull away and enjoy engine's voice as it expresses itself with a cultured growl, as though it loves its job. It can't match the Spirra for punching ability - it doesn't come close in fact - but what it gives away in grunt, it wins back in growl. Load the steering into the first corner and the tail slips wide without prompting, and yet remains fully obedient to the helm. Get to the tight chicane at the top of the hill, where the Spirra really struggled, and the Lancia's short wheelbase and light weight prove their worth, flitting from lock to lock instantly, rear wheels automatically slipping out wide to help the car to turn. All very encouraging so far.

Then comes the 270 degree corner. It took me ten laps to persuade the Spirra to go the whole way around this bend on opposite lock, and when it did it, I was impressed. The Stratos, however, manages this trick on its first attempt, as though this is how cars are supposed to go around corners. The Spirra encourages the driver to hang the tail out. The Stratos insists. It simply knows no other way. As a result, no particular corner entry puzzle has to be solved to get the car to play ball. There is no need to mix a particular corner entry speed with, say a slight dash of lock and a sprinkling of trail brake to unlock oversteer mode. The Stratos merely requires that you turn the wheel. From that point on, you can pin the throttle, hold the steering on full opposite lock and drift around the bend while the gorgeous Italian gently scrubs off speed and the slide fades away. Or, you can lift the throttle mid-skid and give the oversteer more momentum before gassing it again, to prolong the drift. It's like holding a sustained note on an electric guitar.

The Lancia's only weak link is the available power of the engine, which is simply not punchy enough to drive the tail out with the throttle and help sustain the long, lazy powerslides which the Spirra excels at. In all other respects, and against my expectations, the Stratos has the Spirra truly beaten. It oversteers as a way of life and is instantly alert to steering and throttle commands when oversteering, courtesy of its short wheelbase. And yet it is extremely resistant to spinning. Being a rally car, this all should not be as much of a surprise as it has been, but behind the wheel it all feels so much easier than the car's intimidating appearance and uncompromising lack of length had led me to believe. Most anyone who can drive can drive this car sideways.

And then, just in case you start to find it all a little boring, the Stratos reveals hidden treasures. Brake early, turn in, catch the slide just a little bit sooner with steering and throttle - a bit less lock and a bit less power - and the car will drift all the way around any corner before launching itself onto the next straight at a speed that would make the Spirra turn even greyer than it already is. Catch the slide too soon and it vanishes. Let it go too far and the Lancia settles into its default momentum sapping slide. Get it just right and you feel like an opposite locking Rally God setting a pace that few cars could keep up with.

A very, very classy performance from the Italian. The Spirra is great, but this car is a natural.

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[Niels]

Very nice!! I like the variation the cars have somehow. They all look differently, a very balanced competition:tup: Continue this great work:tup:

 

[Alfaholic]

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MGF​

Power: 145bhp
Preferred tyres: N1

Next to step up to the plate is the MGF, which unfortunately takes an early bath in this competition. It's certainly willing to wag its tail, but it cannot match the abilities of the Spirra and Stratos. It's easy enough to get the rear end to step out. Brake early and turn in on a trailing throttle, or lift the throttle mid corner, and the back end will start to move. Floor it now and wind on the steering lock slowly (too fast with the steering and the car snaps the other way) and the MG's tail will keep going..... and keep going... and this is where it all starts to come apart for the little MG. Once you get the tail in motion the car is rather slow to answer the call of the helm. So you wind on some more lock, and then some more, and before you know it you're on the lock stops but the drift angle is still growing. At this point the driver is at the car's mercy. Easing back off the throttle gently may bring the rear wheels back into line, but then again it just may not. There's no real consistency to the whole affair. In second gear corners this is frustrating. In faster bends it is terrifying as the car's momentum takes control even more forcefully. It all seems to slip out of reach much more quickly, and a spin feels inevitable very early on. Again, it can be saved, sometimes, by easing throttle pressure if you do it early enough, and jabbing at the throttle Senna-style (cadence accelerating, anyone?) may restore balance when things get really desperate. Then again, it may not. It's all rather unpredictable and feels very hit-and-miss. The best solution is not to provoke the car in fast corners in the first place..

Like the Spirra, and unlike the Stratos, the F does feel like it might catch its driver out on an unfamiliar road when the driver wasn't really pushing, or during a lapse of concentration. You need to stay on top of this car all the time. This, though, is all relative. For all my reservations, the MGF was entertaining to steer and spectacular to watch. This car gives a lot of sideways fun for the money, but it is outclassed in this company. Perhaps the TF would have faired better, but I didn't have access to one at the time of the test, and the answer to that question will have to wait for another time.

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[Alfaholic]

Toyota MR2 G-Limited SC '86​

Power: 142bhp
Preferred tyres: N1

After the MGF, I felt it was best to give the MR2 a run. Similar engine size and power and aimed at a similar market but separated by a generation, it shoud be an interesting comparison, but 5 laps later the MR2 is back in the pits. The Toyota is more easily provoked than the F, and then once the tail is sliding there seem to be very few options available to the driver for recovery. All you can do is hang on at full lock and full throttle and wait until the car decides if it is going to straighten up or spin. At least the amount of lock you have is more generous than the MGF... The MR2 SC takes control of the driving process very quickly and is then reluctant to pass control back to the driver. All this is nice for getting the car to turn around hairpins, where the sharp turn-in (sharper than the MG) helps, but once in the faster bends the sharp steering starts to work against you. It is all too easy to spin this car at 80mph without even trying to provoke it. As with the MG, once into third gear, oversteer is best avoided.

The MR2 and MGF's problems may owe a lot to mileage. These are, after all, high mileage used cars. A chassis refresh costs 50K however and just wasn't economically viable at the time. Besides, even with a refresh, lack of power would still count against the two pocket sportscars.

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[a112]

Very nice,i like your Italian car use,i am a Lanica fan myself,but Alfa`s are good,and mostly Italian cars are quite good.👍 and keep going!!!

 

[Alfaholic]

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Renault Clio V6​

Power: 253bhp
Preferred tyres: N1

Of all the cars gathered here, the original Clio V6 is the one with the reputation for swapping ends. Although it felt quite malleable in the driving test in which it features, I have to remember that that was a brand new car, and was probably on sports tyres. If it was happy to wag its tail then, what is it going to be like on road tyres and 10000 miles on the odometer? I had already scared myself silly in the MGF and MR2, so this surely would be heart attack material. I truly was apprehensive about this particular drive, but in the interests of science, the car's behaviour has to be explored...

Two corners into the lap and the Clio had already put my mind to rest with some reassuring understeer. OK, so it isn't going to spit me into the scenery every time I dare to turn the steering wheel. Turn in to the 270 degree right hander with the throttle closed, try to stop the understeer. The V6's tail start's to edge out, front wheels locked on line. Squeeze the throttle, but not too much, and the Clio drifts all the way to the exit on a quarter turn of opposite lock. Hmm. That felt pretty special... A bit too fast into the next two hairpins gives some initial understeer, but it is already clear that this little car is willing to hang its tail out, and once it has done that, it's willing to gather it all up again. There's a fine balance to the Renault. It requires a particular corner entry ritual to unlock oversteer mode - kind of like the Spirra in fact. Once the Clio is drifting, you can pretty much drive it at any angle you like, and it will always come back. Too much drift angle and it will start scrubbing off speed as the drag of the skidding tyres becomes too much for the engine to overcome. But find the right balance point - and herein lies the challenge of the Clio - and it will drift the whole way around a corner, gathering speed towards the exit and then roaring up the next straight. The Clio was the only car here to respond well to the Scandinavian Flick, and it was the only one in which I could comfortably string drifts together through the complex section. In fact, the car encouraged me to do so.

Against my expectations, the Clio stamps its mark on this contest, and it declares itself to be a true contender.

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[Alfaholic]

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Lotus Europa Special​

Power: 135bhp
Preferred tyres: N1

The Europa has the odds stacked against it, as it is the least powerful car in the group. Additionally, previous experience in this car had shown its willingness to bite, and bite hard, on medium to fast corners. In practise, it is this unforgiving nature that prevents the Europa from winning this competition, and not its lack of power. A truly delicate touch is required to get the best out of the Lotus. In some corners, delicacy is all that stands between you and a really very nasty spin. Third gear bends must be approached with extreme caution. Commit the car to a fast corner and you drive through on a knife edge. Anything you do once committed - squeeze the throttle or lift slightly, tweak the wheel to adjust your line, ride a kerb - can tip the car into an unrecoverable rotation.

Stick to playing in the slower corners and things start looking up. The Lotus wags its tail in response to throttle pressure and will keep it there the whole way around the hairpins while remaining responsive to the driver's commands. I was worried about the lack of power but as it turned out, stamina was the least of this agile little car's troubles. In fact, the Europa was the only car here apart from the Spirra which could be tipped into a spin mid drift by applying too much throttle. I COULD also get it all the way around the 270 degree corner on opposite lock, but as with everything else about this car, delicacy is required to sustain the drift.

Stick to the tight corners and the Europa's flexibility is enough to place it above the MGF and MR2, but because this adjustable nature does not stretch into third gear, it cannot win this competition.

This then leaves the Spirra, Stratos and Clio to fight it out for top position. Final results coming soon!

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[Leonidae]

if you just would had found 6.2 mile MR2 SC, you would be thinking differently. with oil change it has 150 bhp and it was the very car which got me drifting MR's.. I moved on to Elise and finally into V8 Esprit! the last one was ridiculously easy to drift.. even with sports tyres, just like Elise 111R.

 

[Alfaholic]

Decision Time​

Standing in the car park, I will admit here and now that the Spirra is the car that I most want to see win this competion. It is the car that instigated the whole thing. It's taking on the establishment. It's a supercar from a budget car country, and it looks the part, too. It's long, low and wide, with a short, sculpted nose and an aircraft carrier deck on the back, flanked by classic flying buttresses, all in the old school mid engined junior supercar tradition. It walks the walk, too. The American sourced V8 growls convincingly and provides all the kick you want, and the chassis is properly sorted, too. It's fun to drive, and, crucial to this contest, if you want to dance with the opposite lock demons, the Spirra plays your tune. Its long wheelbase makes it progressive in its response, so the driver never feels rushed, though the price of this is that the car can feel unwieldy in switchbacks. It's challenging enough to be greatly rewarding when you get it right on the balance point, but not so challenging as to be properly scary. This Korean supercar is really, really good.

The Stratos also looks fabulous, and it sounds even better. It is a one trick pony, but it's the right trick for this meeting, and it plays it better than any other. It is a rally special, after all, and controllable, accessible oversteer is its professional bread and butter. The Lancia does lack the challenge of the Spirra, but then it is just soooo controllable. This car is simply laughing out loud oversteering fun. It is, without doubt, the best balanced and most controllable car on opposite lock in this group.

The Clio looks like it shouldn't even be here. To be honest I've never been a fan of the Clio V6. For all its flared wheel arches, low profile tyres on huge wheels, and scoops scattered all over, it still looks more modified hot hatch than mid engined sportscar. It was never meant to be a mid engined car, and it carries all sorts of odd compromises as a result. Driving it, though, was a revelation. It doesn't have the Stratos's balance, but it comes close to it. It can't match the Spirra's power, but it is just as challenging, just as rewarding, and more adjustable. In the end, it fits somewhere between the Spirra and Stratos.

It's a close competition, but the outcome is clear. The Clio makes the Spirra feel long and heavy, and it makes the Stratos feel too easy. It is the one I drove the most, and no corner was too good for it. It is the winner. The Stratos comes second through sheer ability. The charming Spirra won my heart, but has to settle for third.

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[Appie]

awsome report dude

(+ reputation)

 

[T4 GTR]

^^-REP ADDED-^^

Cheers

T4 GTR

 

[pzygho_freak]

This is nice! I love those images.

Reading the reports think of describing the car.

 

[niky]

Nice work! Purely subjectively, I would have chosen the Spirra myself, but the Clio is admittedly a more challenging and rewarding car to drive. 👍

I should hang around in here more.

 

[Alfaholic]

Nice work! Purely subjectively, I would have chosen the Spirra myself, but the Clio is admittedly a more challenging and rewarding car to drive. 👍

I should hang around in here more.

To be fair, my choice was pretty much subjective too. It was "which one was the most enjoyable to drift?" and the end result is most likely the car that best matched and challenged my own personal driving and drifting habits.

The Spirra is great fun. The big torquey engine makes it an altogether different type of drifting experience from the others. It was hard to place it third.

 

[niky]

I can imagine. Every time I drive it, I have fun, whether I'm driving it well or not.

Again, nice article! 👍