Motor Mag BFYB

[Roy]

Just reading the latest issue of Motor Magazine, interesting to see the lap times Rick Bates was screwing out of the test vehicles around Wakefield Raceway in NSW.

With exhaust/filter/cooler and some susp work i can lap in the 1:13s. A time i was pretty happy with until i read;

Lotus Elise 111S - 1:10.44

WRX STI - 1:11.53

HSV GTS Coupe - 1:11.81

Boxster S - 1:11.81

350Z - 1:11.97

M3 SMG - 1:12.00

Z4 - 1:12.09

RX-8 - 1:12.68

WRX - 1:12.84

Commodore SV8 - 1:13.22

... i dont have any probs with these cars lapping quicker, or as quick. Im actually proud the 20K 11year old car can kind of keep pace.

But what about;

Renault Clio Sport - 1:14.27

Ford Focus ST170 1:15.78

Astra SRi Turbo - 1:14.44

Corolla Sportivo - 1:16.75

Little FWD 4 bangers are starting to get seriously quick:(

Oh and as a Hodlen sympathiser i was happy to see the Fords being shown the pitlane, hows

FPV Falcon GT - 1:13.6

Falcon XR8 - 1:13.93

Falcon XR6 Turbo - 1:14.38

Falcon XT V8 - 1:15.68

Thats slower then me and the base model V8 Holden.

[Duncan]

heh, those clios do well, don't they!

I've got to be honest, I'm really surprised that they didn't get better times out of Elise and the M3. Wakefield is very tight for the big v8s but I thought the other guys may go sub 1.10s.

Rick races a sirion, so maybe he was not as comfortable in the rwd cars.

[benm]

Yeah its crazy how quick cars are getting these days.

Afew years back (2000ish) you'd buy a skyline, whack on about $3k of mods and nobody could touch you.

Then car makers decided to bolt on turbo's as a factory mod and then the big 300kw v8's came out.

Now its pretty much driver ability.

Still though i'll take my $25k 8yr old car over a $65k brand new v8 ute any day for the price.

[Roy]

The thing i cant understand is the whole fuel economy / power thing.

Manufacturers are spending all this money meeting emmissions, increasing engine preformance (How many millions R&D) yet the cars continue to get heavier???

Surely the biggest enemy to fuel economy is weight yet the Sportivo Corolla weighs more then my R32. I suppose thats the price we pay for ABS/air bags, improved crash safety.

As for the Lotus going quicker, id like to know what rubber they come with factory, surely the M3 has better factory rubber then the 350Z?

Duncan, i bags some tuition next track day, i cant look friends in th eye knowing that a stock Commodore Exec with a Gen III can be punted around Wakefield quicker then me.

[Duncan]

Yeah, swapping the factory rubber for something better would probably help heaps, specially round wakefield....

actually, that 1.11 for the 350z is pretty good, goes to show it must be a well suspended car. better get me one

[benm]

Can I have ur blue whale when u get a Z duncan? I need a ded track car

[Timmy G]

back when the HSV GTS300 came out they were all like "this is the BMW M5 and M-B E55 killer", they compared all 3 in Motor mag.

I am a big fan of the M5 and E55, and i'm happy that the new E55 has 350+kw (0-100 in 4.7s) and kills the GTS300. and the new E60 M5 will be coming out which i'm sure will be comparable to the E55 in performance.

[Roy]

They all cost serious money, but the GTS is 100k, thats half the price of the BMW and Merc!

... and they were able to punt the GTS Monaro around Wakefield quicker then the M3, which is recognised as being quicker then the M5, on a handling circuit like Wakefield.

[Duncan]

Originally posted by benm

Can I have ur blue whale when u get a Z duncan? I need a ded track car

Sorry, Z is replacing the saab (and not til Nov). The whale is for sale tho

[fatz]

m3 was a semi auto

which r renowned for being shit house

i almost bought a used one thank god it auctioned to high for me

the semi auto is just shit

sticks in gear won engage on time

just crap

doesnt inspire confidence

maybe that is why the lap times r slow

pete