DLancer7676@cs.com wrote:
> << While were making
> useless comparisons, I think your 1275 would be BEHIND my
> 69 e-type! ;> >>
>
> Trevor: Not on an autocross course, the type of turns where these cars are
> meant to run. Methinks the E would be smoked.
If the autocross course was EXTREMELY tight, possibly. However
in any of the autox courses that are competed in this area,
no chance. Not even the same league. I own both cars, call
this an unbiased opinion, no chance for the spridget.
Let's face it, the E-type isn't a lumbering giant, it's
only a couple of feet longer than a spridget, and still
a fairly light car. With over 4 times the power of a
spridget, limited slip differential as stock, four
wheel discs as stock, inboard rears as stock, etc
etc etc. It gets the job done!
Maybe the spridget might be able to take the TIGHTEST
corners a little faster, but I can brake later and power
out harder in the E, I'll get through it faster. (unless the
course was designed by spreading three dozen pylons
around a basketball court!)
If I conducted a series with myself where I raced my
Spridget versus my E on every type of commonly contested
course, the only course the spridget would have a chance
is on an INSANELY tight autox course.
At anything normal autox or above (road course, Le
Mans route, superspeedway, farmer's field with rocks for
apexes) it's not even worth rolling the spridget up to the
gate.
I'm feeling the realism slip away again.
Only a few spridget owners really beleive their cars
are fast 0-60. Maybe a lot did when they bought the car,
but after getting left for dead by a dozen minivans with
cellphone soccer moms, the point was driven home.
The more common self-delusion is that "well, ok,
those cars are faster on straights, but I'll sure
catch them in the twisties!".
From my experience, very few of the people saying
the above have actually autoxed, and of those a
lot of them have not autoxed in mixed environments
with modern cars.
Some have, and if that's you I'd love to hear
results, there are some fast spridgets out there
competing. But realistically, not many, and for
most people reading this message: not yours.
To insist the a spridget is the master of all
roads with corners is basically to deny that any
advances have been made in automotive handling
since the 1960s, and that the handling of the
spridget is so magically perfect that it can
happily give away 3:1 in horsepower against
most cars and still somehow win.
In the modern day grocery getter, you can't hear
the engine, and the suspension is comfy, so maybe
the sensation of speed isn't there. However, the
clock doesn't lie and it's a sad fact that most
of the new cars on the road that even PRETEND to
have sporting pretensions could lick our spridgets
on the autox course as well as the drag strip.
Again, as much as I love the E-type and my spridget,
if it came down to one autox race for my life, there's
a good chance I'd take my daily driver 1992 Celica
GT with 160,000km.
It doesn't FEEL as fast because of the sound
proof interior, the idiot-proof clutch, the CD
changer, and so on... but the clock doesn't lie, and
frankly that car handles incredibly well. (although
it's a little underpowered for it's weight. Sound
familiar?)
I'd be very interested to hear from people who compete
in open autox events using spridgets against modern
machinery.
--
Trevor Boicey, P. Eng.
Ottawa, Canada, tboicey@brit.ca
ICQ #17432933 http://www.brit.ca/~tboicey/
"What am I, Julie from the Love Boat?" - Julie, from the Love Boat
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