Someone ought to put a no smoking sign over the whole place if that's what they come up with !

There is some sports electric car knocking about somewhere that has a 0-60 time of about 3.2s, I would imagine it is capable of producing a reasonably burnout, the video was a drag race against a Ferrari, the static torque application provided by the electric motor makes for relentless acceleration.

Pretty cool if you ask me, but while it can make you fill your pants, it'll never make the hairs on your neck stand up.

Price-Elasticity of demand is the technical term for how much your demand changes as you vary the price, LFS looks to be fairly price-inelastic, I don't think if it was £5 more expensive we would have many less racers at all, it's a niche market, realistic racing, one for people who have enough money to enjoy car things, generally speaking.

I think it is a good point, but the best racing is with a completely level playing field, and as such all the cars should be, in main, exactly the same...

If you compare the rpm per second increase at maximum throttle on the XFG and the XFR you will see the difference in flywheel weights between the cars, race cars having light flywheels for maximum horsepower, as they spend a lot of time high up the rpm range...

so in some sense, it is already implemented.

but I appreciate what you are saying, I want a lighter flywheel for my Mazda 323f, know any suppliers?

I'm certain enough to put down my deposit, I'm happy with the cheque thing also, so if I receive someone to name it in, and somewhere to send it, I'll do just that.

I intend to be driving from BoxHill to SH, I will happily do pick ups and drop off, even quite a bit off route if it means more people to race with, but I will warn you I have a car with alloy wheels that did not come from the people who made the car... I understand that may cause some people to throw up on sight and such makes transportation difficult....

It is an early 2001 model, just before the facelift came in. This banner from another forum I frequent shows the model shapes for the years:



1.5L GXI 16v, and it really is 89hp - they even did a 1.3 8v... I'd tell you how many horsepower, except, no-one cares.

The US designation for the car is the Protege5, they do a saloon in America also. I really did want atleast the 1.8, preferably the one you are talking about, 2.0 sporting model, but this was too much of a bargain to pass up, even if it is crap. I'm hoping to scrounge atleast 1.1g of cornering force out of it somehow!

I would recommend the car generally, handling is relatively good, although its still a big hatchback, but the suspension makes a big difference compared to the focus/astra. The build quality seems good and it appears to be unfailingly reliable according to everyone else, just, a bit boring!

Last edited by z3r0c00l, Tue, 6 Mar 2007 01:23.

I'm angry anyone who was granted the miricle that would be being allowed to drive such a beautiful, and technologically boundry stretching car could be so careless as to drive it in a manner that creates a disproportionate risk to result in a crash on a public road.

:irked:

I'd dearly love to rip everything out that isn't structual, and whack in a bucket seat, but sadly I've got to commute 80 miles a day in this thing... insurance quotes dictate only a single car.

Also, if I want to enter the 2008 Lombard Rally, the internal trim must be intact aside from the rollcage fitment, so I guess I'll just have to live with it being deeply slow while I need it for commuting.


Guess I'll just have to buy a caterham superlight once I cash in this degree crap for a job.

@angry_angel; It is very high, young male and high risk unfortunately. Most companies will do third party only, but you have to ask for it specifically.

@Bawbag - yeah I've seen the newer facelift sport models, look markedly better, go a damn sight better too! Shame its now bent!!!!

@jayhawk - I have had a look underneath, anti-roll bars are nice and solid, once I've got the front and rear strut braces in it should be pretty much sorted. I was going to bring the suspension down by about 35mm to sharpen it up a bit, but the standard shocks are the weak point, so I'm currently saving for a set of adjustable coil-overs. May well have to have them imported from the US, america has more performance kit for the "Protege" than I can find from the UK. BlackDiamond drilled and grooved discs and serious pads to match for example...

Thanks - I quite like them, but I'm not really bothered about how they look. They are from "Wheelmania", I saw them advertised on eBay, these are "Team Dynamics" wheels, their Motorsport models in white, although they are no-where near as light (or as expensive) as a proper set of OZ touring car racing wheels. Personally, I'd never trust halfrauds with anything.

As for the wheels? it makes a substantial difference, these ones are 3kg lighter all in per wheel, and the rubber contact patch is larger, allowing me to obtain higher lateral g, resulting in increased corner speed, and more importantly corner exit speed, meaning I may well be a car ahead at the end of the follow straight than I would otherwise be.

If you've ever been to the UK I don't think you would sniff too hard at 89hp, the insurance for my age group is £2600 fully comp, and £1300 third party only, that isn't even fire and theft. I have however been to Austria, and I absolutely loved it, if I lived there I would drive down to Italy on a daily basis just because of the road that joins the two over the mountains is THE BEST DRIVING EXPERIENCE I have ever had.

The cost of re-registering it is £38 plus tax £110, and MOT, £50 if it goes through ok...

speaking of the MOT that's why I've stuck the ricer rims on it, they were £350 with new tyres all round, I'm willing to pay an extra £130 on top of the cost of the 4 tyres I would've bought anyway for alloys over the standard wheels, which btw I've kept and will be getting a set of Conway mud tyres wrapped round them at some point.

@Forbin - you're right, it's slower, heavier and uglier, I'm dreaming, but I'm going through university, and when this came up so cheap I threw buying my cousins bmw 325i out the window, just too cheap to say no, especially with current petrol prices!

yep - some guy leaving the country who couldn't be bothered to re-register it in the UK in order to sell it, so I bought it for about 1/3rd of what I believe I could get for it, 58thou on the clock...

edit : typo in the title, how sophisticated.

Ok so it isn't really an XFG, but it looks quite similar!!

I've just bought myself a car for track days & rallies etc.

£500, 1.5l-16v DOHC Mazda 323f GXI
89bhp (lol)

I can't quite believe a car with such little power comes with Traction Control.

I think you need a higher resolution image.

Another stunningly professional, and thoroughly entertaining watch.

Picky request:

I'd like to see the "guidance/corner name" track lap and commentry done in the safety car.

I'd be inclined to go with Kyalami, because camber and elevation are interesting, and I've never played GPL before (although I am really looking forward to it), so not having to rember more than a few corners braking points in a shortish time would be an advantage to trying to get up to speed!

Although naturally, I'm happy with anything

Tada!!

You think that's bad, this gets played on radio stations in the UK atm, I'm ashamed to be from England once I'd heard this played out loud:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v ... ;mode=related&search=

Reminds me of the chemical fueled nineties, chemicals became cool.

All at once we got change colour t-shirts, and Gack, and silly putty, and change colour bath foam...

Most of which are industrial by-products... go human race!

mmm..... racing.....



Check out 5lbs of silly putty...

Those are a stunning level a slow motion quality, I especially like the dragster exhausts, you can see the individual cylinders firing and being exhausted and then the tyre being all but destroyed.

The best feeling?

When you go at a corner far too hot, but come out the other side on line and a gear higher than usual, sweating and wondering how you held it on the edge of the traction circle considering the pace....

Followed by jumping up 30 places in the "fastest lap club" due to the 4 tenths you saved on that corner, and signing that form at the end that means your name goes up on the wall.

Launches are boring, and besides, there is only one launch per race, and a great many corners.

that horrible new landrover concept?

I've found this out and about, and with my first sportscar hopefully on the horizon, I figured it's a good idea.

Free trial... wooo....

*5 minutes later*

That wasn't worth the electrical energy required to light up the forcefeedback LED on my wheel.

Thanks for your replies everyone, I'll keep all this in mind, although I am of course perfectly aware that braking points etc arn't to be learnt from a video game, I was thinking more a long the lines of pace notes style learning then indoctrinated hotlapping skills!