VCRC vintage & low power :: Sunday 3pm GMT / 10am US EST

[bongoplyr]

511 PP and 431 HP; it's a beast to handle on CS. Well, at least for me it is.

 

[BrandonW77]

It does come w/Comfort Softs, but at 431 HP, I'm not sure I'd consider it a low power car.

511 PP and 431 HP; it's a beast to handle on CS. Well, at least for me it is.

But it is "vintage" so it qualifies. 👍 When I drove it I found it felt like a low-power car, very deliberate and lacidasical.

Also, this car did not have anything near 431hp in real life. Most had around 200hp (some a bit under, some a bit over), to me it feels more like a 200hp car in GT6.

Horsepower was finally making a comeback in good old America, and assigned to lead the pack was the 1978 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am's W72 optioned engine- ( coded WCwhen bolted to the 4-speed and X7 if you needed an automatic ) the 220hp T/A 6.6. Good old cubic inches were finally saved from the Government's noose and an engine worthy of the Trans Am moniker was available.

source:http://www.2gta.com/1978ta.html

 

[bongoplyr]

But it is "vintage" so it qualifies. 👍 When I drove it and found it felt like a low-power car, very deliberate and lacidasical.

Also, this car did not have anything near 431hp in real life. Most had around 200hp (some a bit under, some a bit over), to me it feels more like a 200hp car in GT6.



source:http://www.2gta.com/1978ta.html

I like the fact that it's got a little more power than we're used to, but it'll be difficult for me keeping it out of the sand.

Curious what times you fast guys will be posting.

 

[LongbowX]

Erm...yeah. Pretty sure it has about 220HP and is around 421PP when oil changed. Not sure where you pulled those figures from. Linky

@daddyo845 It's not that they weren't allowed to make high HP cars in the late 70s...they just couldn't!

 

[bongoplyr]

Erm...yeah. Pretty sure it has around 220HP and is around 421PP when oil changed. Not sure where you pulled those figures from. Linky

@daddyo845 It's not that they weren't allowed to make high HP cars in the late 70s...they just couldn't!

I'm an idiot. At some point I installed Stage 3 Tuning. Now this is more like it.

 

[daddyo845]

Yeah I was gonna say I drove it around once and it definitely didnt feel like there were 400 ponies in there.

@LongbowX, yes you are right there was no rule against the power but there was a rule about emissions. Any possible powerful car at that time wouldn't have been able to pass the test so yes it was more like no one could make a high powered car. Although that trans am certainly is a step up from other cars of the mid '70s

 

[LongbowX]

@daddyo845 I'm well aware of how restricted they had to be in order to meet the standards at the time. I even had one such model in my possession! They were indeed dark times, mostly.

 

[daddyo845]

Boy am I glad I will never have to drive one of those cars . Do you care to tell us what car that happened to be or is it too embarrassing

 

[watermelon punch]

updated post #2

 

[LongbowX]

@daddyo845 You could if you wanted to, I'm sure they are still around. I wouldn't say it is embarrassing, it was pretty good for its time. Which is how bad it was! It was a mid-70s Corvette. It was removed of as much of its emissions gear as possible however, with a custom-built (kind of deafening...) exhaust. I will say, it was kind of an experience though. Even though it wasn't so fast, the exhaust made it more thrilling. It would make your hairs stand up, that's for sure. You could feel the vibrations.

 

[daddyo845]

Well I yeah of course there still around because no one wants them . Well at least it was a vette and no I don't mean a chevette . I know not every car from the mid to late '70s were bad but many of them were. Now if you had a mustang 2 that would be humiliating . It's a disgrace that they even badge that excuse for a car as a mustang

 

[amarynceos]

This is a fantastic car/track combo. I was skeptical at first, not being a muscle car fan, but the Trans Am has really surprised me. It is much more poised and drivable than I would have imagined. 👍 Has all the power it needs, in my opinion. Doesn't sound too bad, either.

I did a single test run online, and although the best I managed was a 1:48.5xx, I was able to rattle off one 48.5 after another -- did about ten laps in a row within a tenth of that (ignoring one where I accidentally followed the Zanardi Line). I'm not sure I can find much more time without pushing past my limit though -- plus I finally committed fully to ABS 0, so I'm not sure what effect that's having on my lap times... Did a full fuel burn and I ran out of gas coming up to the Corkscrew on Lap 18, so I wouldn't recommend trying to do more than a 17 lap stint.

Tyre wear is pretty heavy, as one might expect. Rears hold together nicely, but the fronts take a pounding; when I ran out of fuel the front right was down to 7 and I was getting noticeable understeer -- nothing horrid, but it was definitely a little pushy. Rainey Curve is probably the biggest rubber eater.

Should be a fun race!

--amar

 

[John Wells]

Tried a few laps as well car seems good

Will have more practice later

 

[daddyo845]

Alright I have the car now I need to find time to practice up. Maybe I would actually drive better if I practiced . I figured the combo would be great. I mean its a muscle car on Laguna seca. It's not the same as other muscle cars though its more like a muscly sports car rather than full blown muscle car. Iirc this car can maneuver better then its size would suggest. I think I'm going to have fun with this one.

 

[BrandonW77]

Alright I have the car now I need to find time to practice up. Maybe I would actually drive better if I practiced . I figured the combo would be great. I mean its a muscle car on Laguna seca. It's not the same as other muscle cars though its more like a muscly sports car rather than full blown muscle car. Iirc this car can maneuver better then its size would suggest. I think I'm going to have fun with this one.

I don't really consider this a muscle car either. True muscle cars died off in the early 70's and their reincarnations didn't really reappear until decades later. Plus, the T/A has a transmission that goes more than 100mph. It's probably the closest you could get to a muscle car at the time and certainly one of the best looking 'Murican cars of the era. My parents and an early 80's version of this car, white with the screaming chicken on the hood and turbo charged. Some of my first car memories are from that beauty. In game I found it quite enjoyable to drive at several tracks and I'm looking forward to enjoying the full interior (with multi-monitors) and being overcome by the wood grain and "gold" plating. It does look proper 70's in there.

Should be a great race and provide some marvelous photos. 👍

 

[BrandonW77]

Some 70's Trans Am porn for your Wednesday.

 

[John Wells]

Why did they die off Brandon, emissions, health and safety

 

[BrandonW77]

Yep.

 

[daanhardeman]

Some 70's Trans Am porn for your Wednesday.

View attachment 127247

(Eric Cartman voice) Dude that setup is sweeeeeeet

 

[BrandonW77]

(Eric Cartman voice) Dude that setup is sweeeeeeet

It's something, that's for sure. The only downside is that if I bump someone while going two-wide through a corner I can't claim I didn't see them. The Screaming Chicken does have a very cool retro interior, but I'm a bit faster from bumper cam so I probably won't be seeing it too much.

My best around Laguna after about a dozen laps was 1:49.555. A warning to those running without ABS, once the front tires get worn (after 7-8 laps) the front brakes start locking up very easily. I turned my bias down to 4/4 but I think I might need to go down to 3/3.

 

[BrandonW77]

This Sunday at 3pm GMT/11am EST we will be taking the 1978 Pontiac Screaming Chicken Trans Am to beautiful Monterey, California for 27 laps around Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca on Comfort Soft tires. I am continuing to guest host so if you have not done so already please send me a FR on PSN, BrandonW77. This car only has enough fuel for about 16 laps so one pitstop will be necessary. Hope to see you all there!

 

[daanhardeman]

Isn't changing the brake bias considered tuning? Or can it be done i a room where no tuning is allowed?

 

[kcheeb]

It's not considered tuning in PD's eyes. You can enter a tuning prohibited room with other than 5/5 brake balance 👍

 

[daanhardeman]

It's not considered tuning in PD's eyes. You can enter a tuning prohibited room with other than 5/5 brake balance 👍

That's pretty cool, i never knew that!

 

[BrandonW77]

That's pretty cool, i never knew that!

Yep, that's the only thing you can change besides tires. It's a good thing too because a lot of cars need some kind of tweak to the brake bias in order for them to behave properly. Seems to work better in GT6 too, especially if you run without ABS. 👍

 

[amarynceos]

Personally I found a 4/5 bias pretty comfortable, although the crest approaching the Corkscrew requires careful modulation, as does the final bit of braking at Andretti.

Wish PD would hurry up and let us use the RA online, blast it! Would be nice to be able to adjust the BB to deal with changing conditions.

 

[daddyo845]

Ra?

 

[BrandonW77]

Personally I found a 4/5 bias pretty comfortable, although the crest approaching the Corkscrew requires careful modulation, as does the final bit of braking at Andretti.

Wish PD would hurry up and let us use the RA online, blast it! Would be nice to be able to adjust the BB to deal with changing conditions.

I haven't tried a rearward bias, just did minimum fiddling last night. The crest at the corkscrew is where I was getting the most lockup, I found that letting off the throttle and coasting the last few meters to the crest before applying brakes seemed to help a lot.

Last night when my front tires got worn was the first time I had thought about the RA function, that would really come in handy with this car/track combo. I'll probably end up starting the race with 3/3 or 3/4.

 

[KingKlingeling]

Nice that the ra menu now works. Makes my button box less useless online 👍
I will post some times in a couple hours to compare

 

[daddyo845]

But what is ra?