Pete Croney

LOL

Most Fun is nothing like as good as winning the whole test.

Well done David (who did win the whole test )

There should be some good pics and video at www.cccmagazine.com when they up date it.

dingy

LOL like to see you beat Martin

DavidBrown

I think we were all winners..

Anyone who gets free unlimited access to a burger van is a winner in my book !

SCOTTSCOOBY

we will watch out for that!

CraigH

That article may be all the incentive we need to get the Westie turbocharged -it just won't do to have a a girls car (it's got a roof ) be quicker

Anything that gets within 1.5secs of an R500 like that has gotta be pretty special

B4stard

johnfelstead

where the hell was my invite? I would have stuffed the lot of ya. (past tense at the moment!)

DavidBrown

They only invited the fast and/or inexpensive cars John

johnfelstead

exactly, so what were you doing there? LOL

DavidBrown

Winning it mate

johnfelstead

hahaha

You wouldnt if i were there mate. LOL

Richard Askew

I'd have had a fiver on Felly

Type R

I wouldnt have minded a bash at it too now the car is sorted.

10 K for the Supercharger conversion, blimey.

Some nice pics of your cars gents.

DavidBrown

What makes you think your car would have performed any better than the R500 around Anglesey John ? (Given that the R500 was already the fastest car and speed wasn't the only metric)

(Bearing in mind that the cars were driven by 3 professionals and not the owners)

Although I was invited by CCC, the magazine was also asking (over the course of 4-5 editions) for people to volunteer their cars. Why didn't you enter John ?

I must say, I was surprised that my car won the event, as there were some very serious machines there (R500, Escort Turbo, Integrale, Impreza), but I'm not going to argue with the experts

I trust you've already been invited to Evo magazines Track Car shootout ?

Still, I guess if you don't participate, you can make fatuous after-the-event claims.


[Edited by DavidBrown - 4/13/2002 4:56:42 PM]

P1Fanatic

David - excuse me ignorance but what car were you driving (specs etc).

Simon.

DavidBrown

(well, I wasn't driving, the cars were being evaluated by touring car professionals)

My car was a Lotus Exige with a 270bhp supercharger upgrade (340bhp/tonne). Well short of the bhp/tonne that some of the cars had, but with plenty of downforce (and a roof )

Here it is at Anglesey





[Edited by DavidBrown - 4/13/2002 7:52:00 PM]

johnfelstead

hahahaha

you finaly bit.

I am having a laugh with you, as i thought you realised. LOL

I dont read CCC anymore, i used to be a regular reader for at least 15 years but it's pretty max power these days. If i were aware i would have entered.

I have done a couple of days at anglesey and could match an R500 driven by a racedriver who knew the track like the back of his hand, i wouldnt have any issues on performance. Or rather the car wouldnt as it was down to other drivers you say.

I wont be at the EVO mag day for two reasons, one is that i havent entered because i dont read Evo very often. The main reason is because my car is a pile of junk in the corner of my garage. I had a big shunt in it last week on the road and it's not looking too promising that it will be repared.

It was fun having the chance to take the **** anyway.

As to the exige and its downforce, i have never understood why i can wipe the floor with exiges, even in the corners, in my westie. Is it that the owners cant drive or is it that there is a problem with the chassis because they seem very slow to me. Genuine question!

DavidBrown

You reckon I bit ? When I originally posted, I wondered how long it would take for you to raise your head

The reason you wipe the floor with Exiges ? Everyone knows it's because you are an utter driving god, in the most wonderful car in the world !

I hope you weren't hurt in your shunt, and I hope to see your car pounding the tracks (and overtaking the slower Exiges) very soon !

[Edited by DavidBrown - 4/13/2002 9:10:27 PM]

johnfelstead

that will be it then. LOL

It was a serious question though, they never seem to be quick on track, i dont get that?

DavidBrown

Seriously though, the standard Exiges are woefully lacking in straight line speed, and like driving go-karts you really need to keep your momentum otherwise you're going to bog down.

The other thing is that while Exiges have enormous cornering/handling abilities. It takes a brave and experienced man to grab one by the scruff of the neck and exploit it, to the levels way beyond that of conventional cars (that most of us are used to)

I've been driven around in my car by professionals and have been astonished at what they've done with it.. I simply don't have the skill/***** to do that.

I suspect those you've overtaken haven't found the limits of their car either.

CraigH

Shame I didn't know about this at the time.

Would've been nice to have had a Scoob there that not only had the appropriate suspension/brake/tyres combos, but also a decent engine so it had a bit more guts.

Also a shame the test wasn't at somewhere like Bedford - a 50sec circuit is a little short really

johnfelstead

thats what i thought. They do seem VERY slow though, much slower than even an unskilled driver would cause. It's as though they dont give much feedback so the guy driving never gets to feel at home in the car.

I would like a spin in yours some time David to have a feel of it from the inside, it should be balistic, even with relatively little power. Yours should be very good!

johnfelstead

Craig, Angelsey is a cracking circuit. You should go have a drive there, it's got some very challenging corners and lots of elevation changes.

It looks pretty mikey mouse on paper but when you drive it, it's fantastic, not a second to rest in a quick car and the main straight is pretty fast being a steep downhill section, the bottom corner is pretty fantastic if you push it.

CraigH

We will do when the Westie is done John.

Would just be interested to see what the lap times woulda been round Bedford.

Would guess the Reyaland car would be 10secs faster than he Scoobysport, at least and the R500/Westie type woulda been 8ish secs faster than the Reyland.

Still - shame I wasn't there - sure mine woulda got a better time....

DavidBrown

I guess.. but you can't please everyone I suppose.

If you picked a circuit with long straights, those big engined cars would have an advantage over the small engined cars.

Even if it's short, it is still a good technical circuit.

Some have commented that it's too small for cars like Scoobies, but I had a hoot in the Skyline (which is a barge by comparison).

Another reason I suspect is that it was probably more affordable for CCC than most other venues !

I think ScoobySports 250bhp Scooby wasn't a bad car to choose, given it had plenty of poke (if not extreme levels) more than a std. UK car, and had suspension mods.

martin_reyland

dingy, you sure the scooby won?

CraigH

Fair point David,

But as it was supposed to be "Ultimate track car", moddified, all the others had massive spec bar the SS one. Still, saying that it shows it's a balanced package to put up such a good show - would just be nice to see one of these hi spec Scoobs at these events - strangely all these "400hp" never seem to be around when these events pop up. Including mine before anyone says anything - when was it? "cough""

After having driven an Exige round Bedford, think you would probably repeat the results of this year. They're great fun round there.

John,

I think it's cos most owners can't drive them.

DavidBrown

Not true.

The Pug 205 was very mildly modified.

The Quaife Elise wasn't running major power, the main modification being the sequential box.

The TT190 Elise wasn't running major power either (compared to the TT260 Exige)

I think the Porker was pretty much standard.

Dingy, when you said: "I'd like to see you beat Martin" were you referring to Martin Reyland ?

It was a right swine that his gearbox went bang, because it looked a right hoot. I think his 'scort is more suited to a longer circuit (e.g Donington) where it can stay on boost for longer. The article mentioned that no sooner had the turbo spooled up, was it time to slow down again I think the Datron guys had it timed at 53 seconds (to the Exiges 49s)

[Edited by DavidBrown - 4/16/2002 9:22:52 AM]

Pete Croney

Guys, its just another test and another set of figures.

It wasn't at Bedford, as EVO used that for their test. No point replicating another mags article.

I thought Anglesea was a great circuit. Certainly not an ideal Scooby circuit in the dry as it suits something small and light. But in the wet, it was a scream and very suited to an Impreza.

At the end of the day though, tests are someone's opinion. Phil Bennet and Dave Walker loved my car, thought it was spot on and huge fun. Mark Hales didn't. Mark Hales wrote the article. But then again, Hales didn't really like any of the 4WD machines. I'm not bothered because my car is the same machine that shone in EVO's test at Bedford.

Also what wasn't mentioned is that 50% of the test was done in the rain. David's Exige seemed quite good in the rain (stunning in the dry), but the Pug was absolutely lethal, falling off the circuit, backwards, everywhere, and that's in the hands of professional racing drivers. Does it not rain at trackdays?

And as for understeer, its seems Hales made every car on the test understeer. Its easy to totally eliminate understeer from an Impreza and a lot of fun they are to drive when so set up. Its quite another thing to actually try and drive that car on the road... where you may have to lift off mid bend. You would be driving at 70% of a reasonable pace, scared witless.

I think Schuey's Ferrari should have won

GP

what did the guys who went to the test think of the Westfield then ? - was no one impressed with the fact it could almost match an R500 on lap time with a 1.6 engine and 60bhp less ?

DavidBrown

hehe, probably unimpressed that it's head gasket went though.

I think they liked it, in fact it was voted the top 7-type car IIRC, but no roof and lots of rain/icy wind kinda marked it down.