Motor Mag July: XR8 Sprint vs XR6 Sprint vs SSV Redline vs Mustang GT

[Angeldust]

Adding weight to your car? haha .. New law: If at anytime you are at a dragstrip and about to run a commodore, then the driver of the ford must accept the spare tyre from the boot of the commodore for all fairness sake.

[208260]

Originally Posted by Angeldust

Adding weight to your car? haha .. New law: If at anytime you are at a dragstrip and about to run a commodore, then the driver of the ford must accept the spare tyre from the boot of the commodore for all fairness sake.

No rear spare tyre for the commodore?
But wont that missing moment of a force and the missing leverage over its' back axles more than likely make the commodore's rear tyres go up in a cloud of smoke? LOL

[2242100]

Originally Posted by Angeldust

Adding weight to your car? haha .. New law: If at anytime you are at a dragstrip and about to run a commodore, then the driver of the ford must accept the spare tyre from the boot of the commodore for all fairness sake.

No, sorry I'm having none of that.

When they meet in real world conditions on the road with quite a lot more weight than a 1/4 tank, in all fairness they both have to shed weight and the Ford isn't allowed to run at the high grip Calder Dragstrip where it can look good.

But seriously as I indicated, it's to the Commodores credit that it handled the low grip conditions and the Ford couldn't, simple as that.

But I'm thinking it would be good if Motor also acceleration tested cars with passengers on board, readers would get a better overall picture.

[Mercury Bullet]

Originally Posted by arronm

Moral of the story. Only race with a full tank and fresh tyres. All other times pretend to be tuning the radio. Oh and definitely make sure overboost is working. We don't want to have to come up with 3 excuses

This.

It is all about tyres, these are media cars and are flogged mercilessly.
You can guarantee Fords inept marketing dept would never fit a new set for every drag, the motor mags certainly won't.

The same F1 car can be 5 seconds faster or slower around a track depending on tyre condition alone.

I can't get wheelspin on my XR8 when the tyres are new. I can't stop wheelspinning once the tyres are worn, let alone utterly shagged.
It's not rocket science.

[Wretched]

ok so put in the order for the next comparo:

• Cars must race at Calder
• cars must have more than 1/4 tank of fuel
• runs must have a passenger
• tyres cannot be too worn
• temperature must be below 20 degrees ambient
• both must have same transmission

Anything else?

What would be the excuse if the results are consistent with those happening now?

[Mercury Bullet]

Where did I say anything about your 5 other points?

[Wretched]

Originally Posted by Mercury Bullet

Where did I say anything about your 5 other points?

Not directed at you, in general.

[arronm]

Originally Posted by Wretched

ok so put in the order for the next comparo:

• Cars must race at Calder
• cars must have more than 1/4 tank of fuel
• runs must have a passenger
• tyres cannot be too worn
• temperature must be below 20 degrees ambient
• both must have same transmission

Anything else?

What would be the excuse if the results are consistent with those happening now?

Nothing , there would be silence....

[JDSOTI]

Guys you missed the most obvious. All the colours must be the same!

[Big_Damo]

Originally Posted by JDSOTI

Guys you missed the most obvious. All the colours must be the same!

Of course if Ford released a red Sprint it wold have to be quicker

[Mercury Bullet]

OK so being realistic, what would people like to see?

I would want...

Both cars on new OEM tyres.
Whatever transmission is fastest be it auto or manual for respective manufacturers.
Traction Controls on.
Not a dragstrip. (for real world performance)
*IF* there is any run-in protection it's expired.
Fuel loads, pax, luggage etc should be a given.

[2242100]

Originally Posted by Wretched

Not directed at you, in general.

I guess I might likely have been included, but my main point is that if the cars are tested both light and heavy, which covers more real world situations, then readers get a better overall picture.

Do we want to see the most accurate picture, or do we just want to see one particular car win?

We all view some things differently, but I think that's hard to argue with.

[mick74GT]

Originally Posted by 2242100

I guess I might likely have been included, but my main point is that if the cars are tested both light and heavy, which covers more real world situations, then readers get a better overall picture.

We all see things differently but I think that's hard to argue with.

I've seen manual v auto. Wet conditions or dry conditions. Roll on and stop start. The result is always the same.

Who cares anyway.

[208260]

Originally Posted by Mercury Bullet

OK so being realistic, what would people like to see?

I would want...

Both cars on new OEM tyres.
Whatever transmission is fastest be it auto or manual for respective manufacturers.
Traction Controls on.
Not a dragstrip. (for real world performance)
*IF* there is any run-in protection it's expired.
Fuel loads, pax, luggage etc should be a given.

And the added 1 or 2 passengers for each car, must sit in identical seating positions in both cars, and be the same weight, hopefully around 80 kgs each.
If one of the passengers is too skinny and happens to weigh as little as a race horse jockey, quickly add weight to his belt and pockets as ballast to even things up! LOL

[Express]

The only real world testing in my opinion is when I'm behind the wheel.

Tell the journos to bring them all around to my place and I'll give each a fang and that way I won't misinterpret what's going on.

[mik]

Originally Posted by arronm

Skill comes from experience. Usually the more you do something the better you become at it. It takes along time to learn to be able to drive or ride fast well. Most people think they can, but it's the first split second decision that seperates the two

true up to a point, but not always , if you look at figures supplied over the years on various well known cars by some of these highly skilled car journo`s , often they seem all over the place .

[mik]

Originally Posted by mcnews

I know a few of the car journos, as I am a bike journo. And I can tell you any of those guys with the experience they have are probably in the top 1 percentile of driver skill, and of course when it comes to experience, well it is even more exclusive.

If any of you blokes think these guys are hopeless then get your hand off it.

I have done a few FPV drive days (the occasion when I myself bought my 3 new FPVs) when new FPV owners hit the track for the first time, and to be honest the skill level is borderline frightening. I am generally agog at how crap most of the buyers of our cars are at driving.

So sorry, when I see, the abuse car journos get from people that have NFI, I say question yourself first. I reckon the worst car journo in existence would run rings around 99 per cent of the people on this forum, in any test, on any track, in any conditions. Well from what I have seen from FPV drive days that's my two cents.

No doubt there will be some very good and some not so good regardless of experience , when you look at the performance figures of these cars over the years , at times you have to wonder what the hell is going on ,
why is it a stocker non turbo 200 kw xr6 can get down the quarter in high to mid 14`s and a super charged v8 they have trouble getting into low 13`s in a car that has a huge advantage in torque and power and when its all said and done is only a little bit heavier when power to weight is taken into consideration.
plenty of owners seem to manage to get stockers down the strip in better times , and this isnt just a one off , its been more the trend it seems .

[roddy1960]

G'day...Bottom line is....and I did read the article...that all four cars are pretty good jiggers..there's not a lot between them all and in every day driving that all four will spend the vast majority of their lives doing. They'll all be great to own..
Regardless of which car came out on top , by any measure other than the Stang they won't be around to buy for much longer so enjoy them when and while you can..Cheers Rod..

[208260]

Originally Posted by mik

No doubt there will be some very good and some not so good regardless of experience , when you look at the performance figures of these cars over the years , at times you have to wonder what the hell is going on ,
why is it a stocker non turbo 200 kw xr6 can get down the quarter in high to mid 14`s and a super charged v8 they have trouble getting into low 13`s in a car that has a huge advantage in torque and power and when its all said and done is only a little bit heavier when power to weight is taken into consideration.
plenty of owners seem to manage to get stockers down the strip in better times , and this isnt just a one off , its been more the trend it seems .

A stock Fakcon is unlikely to waste any power in wheelspin. I had a stock 302 windsor powered falcon. If i revved it up and dumped the clutch it would spin 1st, 2nd and chirp into third. Quarter mile time would then be 16.6 seconds! If I modulated the clutch and fed the power in, it would not continue to spin anywhere near as much in the other gears. Result: 15.1 second! That's 1.5 seconds faster! Bottom line is you can waste even up to almost 2 seconds in wheelspin. So It's all about getting all the power to the ground effeciently!
Stock falcons do it very well, especially when They are 6 speed ZF auotmatics!

[mik]

Originally Posted by 208260

A stock Fakcon is unlikely to waste any power in wheelspin. I had a stock 302 windsor powered falcon. If i revved it up and dumped the clutch it would spin 1st, 2nd and chirp into third. Quarter mile time would then be 16.6 seconds! If I modulated the clutch and fed the power in, it would not continue to spin anywhere near as much in the other gears. Result: 15.1 second! That's 1.5 seconds faster! Bottom line is you can waste even up to almost 2 seconds in wheelspin. So It's all about getting all the power to the ground effeciently!
Stock falcons do it very well, especially when They are 6 speed ZF auotmatics!

yeah i get that , but this is not 1970 , all these modern cars have traction control , decent size tyres , and have buttery smooth efficient transmissions ,and some have launch control .

[Big_Damo]

Well just picked up a copy of the mag
Looking forward to reading it so please no spoilers