humbling experience tonight

[peanut]

sat at the Thornfalcon traffic lights tonight on the way home. I'm in the fast lane and hoping that I can beat the hatches on the inside to 60mph where the two lanes channel into a single lane. Its very dark, its chucking it down and I'm concious that my rear tyres need replacing. They have been spinning and sliding all day.

Sat in front of me is a very small hatch and I'm hoping he is not going to hold me up too much and leave me stuck in the fast lane with nowhere to go.

The lights change I select first ,determined not to rocket off with the engine screaming and the tyres burning. Its so undignified and I hate it.
green and the car in front of me suddenly dissapears off into the blackness as everything else is left on the line. I press the pedal a bit more and change up to second. still pulling hard I'm not gaining ?

Pedal to the metal... flat to the carpet ,revs now hit 4000rmp and suddenly all hell lets loose as I'm rocked forward at reassuring warp speed and finally start hauling in the little car in front of me . 55mph 60mph the little car moves over in acknowledgement as my pod lights suddenly fill his car with light but we have run out of road and as the two lanes melt into one I have to settle for second place.

its 8 miles before I get a chance to see the logo on the back of the little car in front of me............... Fiat Panda multifuel.!.....?wtf?

Multifuel ? it must be running on methanol . []

 

[bigkeeko]

Not sure how to take that []. Sometimes i wonder if older non modified Porsches really have any kind of performance at all..I`m pretty sure I`m going to buy one as speed isn`t everything to me to be honest. I like the way they look.
I remember this summer going up to the Mountain Bike world Cup at Fort William with my mate in his 968 Sport. I hadn`t been a proper journey in before and he was `keen` to show me how quick it was. On a stretch of twisty A road after Glasgow we got totally took to the cleaners by a Honda Accord type R. I mean, totally walloped and we were pushing on.Kinda brought him to down to earth a bit and the rest of the journey was pretty sedate.
I wasn`t bothered as it meant getting there in one piece []

 

[Scorpio.72]

....awwww, peanut, thats bad!

Don't think of losing to a fiat panda, think of it more as beating the milkfloat sat behind yer!!! lol []

 

[Suffolk944]

Such is a life without Boooost [][]

 

[944 LIL]

Dont get too upset - I think I've seen that one too - its not a normal FIAT - its the Flipping Incredible Accelerating Torpedo - an awesome machine

 

[peanut]

don't misunderstand I had him beat by a county mile but he took me by surprise. The point I was making is I am constantly surprised by the speed of some of the small modern cars .I'm well out of touch. For the record my car has a 3ltr engine is promax chipped ,uprated ignition with adj race struts all round. It is seriously quick [] but I should have been able to have blown him away on cruise .
The gap is narrowing[&o]

 

[Black_JPN]

ORIGINAL: Suffolk944

Such is a life without Boooost [][]

Sort of what I was thinking.. Hee Hee...

 

[peanut]

ORIGINAL: Black_JPN

ORIGINAL: Suffolk944

Such is a life without Boooost [][]

Sort of what I was thinking.. Hee Hee...

I'll take your turbo on .On the stretch of road I'm talking about I doubt you'd gain anything much on my S2 [][]

 

[Neil Haughey]

ORIGINAL: peanut

ORIGINAL: Black_JPN

ORIGINAL: Suffolk944

Such is a life without Boooost [][]

Sort of what I was thinking.. Hee Hee...

I'll take your turbo on .On the stretch of road I'm talking about I doubt you'd gain anything much on my S2 [][]

9/10 times you would do better in the S2. Instant power control via the right foot makes it much easier to get a good launch. However to get a 6 second flat 0-60 in an S2 takes a dry road, fresh tyres and lots of experience in getting a fast launch allied to complete understanding of the surface. Without that 0-60 in 7 seconds is easy and repeatable without killing the car but still requires 6K rpm and hard shifts from 1st to 2nd and 2nd to 3rd so is still pretty abusive really. A non abusive launch is more like 7.5 to 8 seconds. Anyone who doubts these facts can slap a Gtech pro on the windscreen and try for themselves as I did, its a humbling experience.

Basically an S2 or 220 turbo will only beat the current crop of hot hatches of the light if the driver of the hot hatch isn't trying or can't drive or you get lucky and boss a perfect launch. Forget ever trying to out drag a scooby or evo though, unless its a scooby and he blows his engine or trans []

IMHO the one thing in a 250 turbo that will make it much better in this regard is the LSD. In my S2 it was lack of traction even with R spec tyres that made a fast launch a problem not lack of power, the car will even spin the tyres a little on the 2 gears shifts required and one can feel the whole chassis twist up leaving you in no doubt about how much stress is being put on the car. If your not careful even in an S2 in the dry a full bore shift into 2nd will leave the rear tyres spinning up for a second or so.

 

[pauly]

ORIGINAL: peanut

ORIGINAL: Black_JPN

ORIGINAL: Suffolk944

Such is a life without Boooost [][]

Sort of what I was thinking.. Hee Hee...

I'll take your turbo on .On the stretch of road I'm talking about I doubt you'd gain anything much on my S2 [][]

There's loads of cars a turbo won't leave far behind, but get it on boost exiting a corner and it feels much faster than a S2 would.

 

[peanut]

[/quote]

There's loads of cars a turbo won't leave far behind, but get it on boost exiting a corner and it feels much faster than a S2 would.
[/quote]

maybe but the reality is it simply isn't much faster than a standard S2 and mine isn't standard anyway.
This time of the year I'm really glad I'm not driving a turbo around to work. The S2 is enough of a handful in the wet
I'm not sure the downside of a turbo is worth the upside myself for daily driving unless maybe you are racing it. I suppose it has a certain kudos to be able to say `my car is a turbo'![] Any 944 is brilliant in my book ,even the Lux but I wouldn't swop my S2 for a turbo

 

[Black_JPN]

Let's not drag this thread down another S2 versus Turbo path.... []

Although I will just say this. I had my S2 for 4 years and 30k miles plus. I've had my Turbo for 1 year and about 3k miles. I can honestly say the turbo has been 10 times as fun. I just love that boost. No substitute.

Ok, back on thread. Sorry to hear about the cheeky Fiat but in 10 years time his Fiat will be scrap and your 944 will still be going.

 

[peanut]

ORIGINAL: Neil Haughey

9/10 times you would do better in the S2. Instant power control via the right foot makes it much easier to get a good launch. However to get a 6 second flat 0-60 in an S2 takes a dry road, fresh tyres and lots of experience in getting a fast launch allied to complete understanding of the surface. Without that 0-60 in 7 seconds is easy and repeatable without killing the car but still requires 6K rpm and hard shifts from 1st to 2nd and 2nd to 3rd so is still pretty abusive really. A non abusive launch is more like 7.5 to 8 seconds. Anyone who doubts these facts can slap a Gtech pro on the windscreen and try for themselves as I did, its a humbling experience.

Basically an S2 or 220 turbo will only beat the current crop of hot hatches of the light if the driver of the hot hatch isn't trying or can't drive or you get lucky and boss a perfect launch. Forget ever trying to out drag a scooby or evo though, unless its a scooby and he blows his engine or trans []

IMHO the one thing in a 250 turbo that will make it much better in this regard is the LSD. In my S2 it was lack of traction even with R spec tyres that made a fast launch a problem not lack of power, the car will even spin the tyres a little on the 2 gears shifts required and one can feel the whole chassis twist up leaving you in no doubt about how much stress is being put on the car. If your not careful even in an S2 in the dry a full bore shift into 2nd will leave the rear tyres spinning up for a second or so.
[/quote]

yes I think you've hit the nail on the head really. Small light hatches have a lot less mass to accelerate from standstill. A 944 might look faster 0-60 on paper but the reality of a drag race off the lights is quite different.
I couldn't bear to treat my car like that anyway. I enjoy a spirited bit of overtaking occasionally but never ever sprint from standstill. The car is 20 years old and besides it wasn't really designed for that anyway.

 

[rd944]

reminds me of the time i got utterly owned by a clio..

it wasnt even a quick one (williams or 172 or whatever) I got the jump off the lights, but a split second later he just buggered off as the heavier car bogged down a bit (not my car.. wasnt going abuse the clutch) ok, I was gaining rapidly about 3 seconds later but by then it was back to one lane and i had to slot in behind ..

and that was in a 1987 911 targa 3.2 !

gutted.


small modern cars are very very nippy .. thats what they are built to do.

wouldnt want to drive one to the south of france though.

 

[Fen]

Your S2 really shouldn't be a handful. I had one that was, but geometry sorted it out.

 

[sawood12]

The Fiat guy was clearly prepared to do an undignified start. To get the performance from a standing start you need to spin the engine before engaging the clutch. He went off from the line quicker but as soon as you stretched your legs sounds like you had no trouble hauling him in. I wouldn't worry too much. A good S2 is easily as good off the line as a modern normally aspirated hot hatch - it certainly wouldn't embarrass itself.

 

[Guest]

My 944 is useless off the line - The weight is a problem - the turbo lag dosent help - no traction control, Maybe its me in fairness ...but .the positives far outweigh the negatives... You caught up and if it was the open road you would have smoked him. []

The best car I seen for the lights is one of them Starlet Turbos.... Because of the weight and gearing it takes off like an elastic band but its out of breath at 90. And they are horrible on a long run.[:'(]
Another car which was a rocket on take off was the Shitroen AX GT. I havent seen one now for about 8 years. They weighed as much as a fag packet and if you could get second gear they were very nippy. []

 

[peanut]

ORIGINAL: Black_JPN

Let's not drag this thread down another S2 versus Turbo path.... []

thats exactly what you have done [] glad you are enjoying your turbo.

You probably drive the same way the Fiat driver does......eyeballs out ,wheels spins at every traffic lights[]

 

[peanut]

ORIGINAL: Fen

Your S2 really shouldn't be a handful. I had one that was, but geometry sorted it out.

bald rear tyres and a filthy wet ,dark night on country roads are not a good combo for a geriatric driver like me. [] I'm just not prepared to risk wrecking the car to show off anymore. I lost my lovely Lux at 20mph on a roundabout .Written off after a nine year love affair.[X(]

 

[appletonn]

I think that Panda thing was a 'Multijet' as opposed to Multifuel, hence its a very advanced little diesel engine which produces loads of low down torque in a car that weighs about as much as a shoe....


If that makes you feel better at all.....[]