Beater or Sleeper? COTW! [Closed]

  • Thread starter Obelisk
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Well, that's the last time I trust a sketchy car dealer! :irked: The Buick broke down on the way back to my home base today so I got stuck for 12 hours.

In other words...oops, I lost track of time. Well, it's still Thursday where I am so that counts as being on time, right?

That aside, let's assess the Buick and see what the damage is! It has a 3:1 Sleeper vote. Nicely done, but I find it interesting that we had one very confident Beater vote. This is why I love running this thread, it's a nice way to feel out how everyone interfaces with Horizon and its cars. 👀


As for this week's car...

@Vic Reign93 had a really interesting reason for selecting this car, which ties back into his very first appearance in any COTW (the GT6 thread). I'll let him share the whole story about that. It goes all the way back to when our dear friend @McClarenDesign was running the thread for Gran Turismo 6, which was my first exposure to the concept and thread format. Man, that takes me back.

Remember the time we did the Auto Union, Vic? That was a glorious cluster.

Nostalgia aside, the snow has returned to Mexico and with it, a new car choice by Vic. Let's pull the tarp off, and pray to your deity that the car is rustproof. It's the...

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1973 Alpine A110 1600s!

This retro machine is special. If you're not already in the know about what makes the A110 a legend, allow me to educate you...
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These are all of its wins in the WRC. I can't find much else on it, but six WRX victories in a single year of competition is insane. The car proved so popular that Renault re-introduced it as...the A110. But in 2017, not 1963. Yeah. Not a lot of creative naming convention to differentiate the generations. At least call it the A110-2 or something.

At the request of Vic, our next test track for the A110 (C 550) is the Barranca Trail, a four mile dash to the top of Copper Canyon followed by a series of dirt switchbacks.

And since I'm feeling nostalgic, I found this little excerpt from McClarenDesign about Vic that was posted...goodness, seven years ago?! I've been on this site too long. :odd:

McClarenDesign
(...)how many kittens Vic has/has not kicked this week(...)

Anyways, let's get things rolling. As usual, warm up your engines and tires and don't forget to pack a bit of luxury French food for the journey around Copper Canyon!
 
SPD Writes Car Of The Week: Week 11 - Alpine A110 1600s


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A featherweight champ, and a dirty little dog.

It's your boy the ahl-peehn! A classic RWD dirt racing champ has arrived. Time to bag in this easy Sleeper, and go home. Right?

Nah. Just like what this car did, I won't be taking shortcuts. Let's go deeper in the mud to see what's what with this maestro of mud. I gotta back up this Sleeper declaration, not only to y'all, but hopefully also to myself.

If I take this car out of the context of rallying champ, the A110 is just one super light car, not powerful or luxurious, but iconic. If I take this context in, this would be one of the very cars that took rallying to the next level, during the age before AWD took it. I wondered what would happen to Alpine if they ever decided to take on Group B. Definitely food for thought, but not quite important.

Anyways, if the A110 got revived as an amazing, lightweight modern sports car, would it mean the original is just as good? I'm willing to bet it's better. The newer A110 is definitely more relatable, so my preference between these two lies there. But I'd be lying if I said old A110 is any way bad. And lightweight cars back then were real light. I mean, it's 715 kilos. That's like, umm.. 8 and a bit of me. In GT Sport, it can go down to 7 of me.. okay, I shouldn't become a factor for weight measurement.

On to the numbers: the car, for something with a puny boxer engine, sits in the center of C-class, with 550 PI. We sure are hanging around this middle bit of C-class quite a lot, huh? From the NC MX-5, the Rambo Lambo, to the recent GNX. From what I see, it sounds like I might bring the Starion back for another round. Hah, I kid. But this sounds like another opportunity for this kind of comparison. Funny how that RWD Mitsubishi's not taking a break.

And for car acquisition: we're lucky. Unlike in the UK, the car comes in available to purchase at 98,000 credits. It's probably cheaper on the you-know-where, but I refuse to go there. If I ever hear the key words 'AT37 for sale', I might not be back anytime soon..


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As with these kinds of cars, we head to these kinds of tracks. A rallying legend deserves recognition at a rally stage, and Barranca Trail is the path we take.


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Aside from being paved up, the road to Barranca Trail usually hasn't gotten civilized.

It's a speedy uphill race, with the latter half being the complete opposite: a technical dirt portion.

This track is the definition of why some dirt trails are just hated: it consists of way too much tarmac. However, the only dirt segment in this course is actually a good example for them rally stages and the like. These are nice, wide but tight angled hairpins.

It's definitely not about how this is looking so far. Getting on the track might alleviate this issue. Who knows? It could actually work well for a small rally trail.

Unlike what I did with the Starion, I'm going to get one analysis set instead of 2, due to the track's mixed surface. I better kill 2 birds with one stone.

But how well does this classic rallying monarch weigh in?

- I'm confused on what's with these Rivals ghosts starting lower and behind. Is it something they fixed but didn't bother to reset the Rivals listing? I dunno.

- Here's a part I didn't do in a long while: interior. I won't score this one high. I'm not claustrophobic or anything, but I have a deep dark feeling it's really cramped in there.

- The track's quote mentions 'Make sure your brakes are in good working order!'. So, if that's the glaring point of interest, I guess that's where we'll begin. The Alpine, being super light, has great braking. And to top it off: hard or engine braking will have the car lock up at the rear very very hard. Like the Starion a month back: this works very well in off-road. If you brake like me, there's going to be trouble on the road.

- More on the braking: this track wants you to brake quite early going down the dirt portion. Sort of key if you decide to slide it or grip it. While I've been running initially with sliding, I feel having it properly take the corner is much more beneficial, because RWD.

- For something not high in power, it's got great performance going uphill. It's lighter than a joke regarding the female paternal figure, so I shouldn't be surprised. That little boxer can push. This power also means another thing: the launch is fairly stable, and I don't see a reason to throttle control. 7100 RPM is my point to shift.

- Since I drive this thing quite often in GT Sport, I was expecting a lot of the rear just trying to break free of being grippy in general. Here in fictional Mexico, it doesn't do that in droves for some reason. It's nice in the corners, rear jutting out a little bit in long sweeps, and I often find myself not braking when it might need it. Maybe a game specific issue, or is the handling truly this nice?

- For a RWD car, the dirt grip is excellent. I'm sure we all know why.. yes I see you nodding over there with lightweight in your head. The only real issue on dirt is the lack of power, really. Often when I slide the car through the hairpins, I just lose momentum because of this. Learning from this, the only way to slide with the car is to not slide in too deep. This is an issue because this is how the car likes to turn in the dirt.

- Then again: if you take a more modern machine, the experience off-road should be better. The flaws here are glaring, but not in any way hurting. I like what we have here this week.

Much fun as it was overall, it's not the perfect combo. Long tracks always ask for much higher classes. What matters more however is how this little Alpine definitely showed me why it was the king of rally back then. Did you know much it mattered?

It happened again! No, not the fact that I lost control that darned MINI to some unknown Playa powered ephemeral force. It's that I felt a great sense of zen in this combo. Even though I pretty much perfected (sorta) that uphill run, I had to redo those downhill stints again and again, and even after every Barry R appointment, it made me feel to want to have another go.

That's zen number 3 now. Looks like I'm counting this now as the weeks progress. Consider it a seal of hot lapping approval, unsure if it should affect the entire final rating. Let's wait for a Beater to pop up with this.

But I guess it's time to see what's the best I could get with it.


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And that would be a solid.. 3:05.996.

My aim this week is to have it close to 3:05, so maybe a 3:06 would make me feel satisfied for my growth. But I pushed it past 3:06 in such a small but meaningful way for me. I don't care if it's bad, because I really grinded away that Alpine and felt sort of rewarded about it.


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Since we've gotten a good chunk of C-class entries in this range, how about a small segment of them going around Barranca Trail. Consider it a rally competition with the Alpine. I won't take long, so I'll just post the times, and a quick blurb on the experience.

But I better set some expectations. Maybe the Starion and the NC MX-5 inch close to 3:06.000, and the ones to try beat that goes down to Rambo Lambo and the Regal GNX.

Any ghost hunters would have to come out disappointed though, because I will be purposely making these laps dirty (I do this by having a Rewind used at 0%) so the Alpine time can remain.



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Obviously my first run would be with my still current top Sleeper: the Mitsubishi Starion ESI-R. As a rally inspired sports car, I have high hopes, and those hopes were set in stone, backed with its best time of 3:06.063.

First car in, and it already set the pace I do want to see. On the uphill segment, it was neck to neck with my Alpine ghost. The monster torque allows it to start off strong, but the Alpine had the advantage by the latter half, having better handling to handle that left sweeper clean, and with acceleration later on: something to note for later. By the time we reach the dirt segment, they were super close, performing super similarly, even though the Starion had twice to carry. The last road segment was straight up car movie dramatic levels of close: it all came down to the Alpine's much better late gear acceleration to have it inch by a bit. Not bad for only 1 PI difference. I didn't expect less from my top Sleeper: if I could give more good points to the Starion, here's a bucketload of them.


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Next up is the Mazda MX-5 NC. It clocked a best of 3:13.172. Yep, 7 seconds behind is not a typo.

Well, having top of the line handling isn't going to cut it here, because the car struggled to get going in the uphill segment, losing maybe 3-4 seconds. Going downhill also wasn't so nice, because the car's acceleration isn't enough for the dirt turn exits, but this is probably the best part of the run. The damage has been done, however. I even retried, now going cheeky with Rewinds. It's just not the kind of track for the car. A 1 PI difference, and the Alpine has trumped it in just about every way, maybe except stability and small track performance. Okay, I'll give points to the current track car combo being not as dismal if the NC was this week's car. This is the big surprise of this small segment.


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We've all let the LM002: good old Rambo Lambo down with an unanimous Beater vote, but I'm giving it another round. This time, it landed a best of 3:06.385.

Talk about disappointing. The culprit was due to the Alpine, which is about 13 PI down, outpacing it, even from launch. Like the MX-5 NC, this luxurious thing really suffered in the uphill road portion, because no stock Countach engine can carry that much heft up those roads at 90 MPH, not to mention the long gears. It did show its solid off-roading prowess, when the LM002 gave me a very easy, satisfying gentle downhill jam. But understeery truck handling is still a thing, so I didn't quite enjoy the trip down.


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Lastly, another top sleeper of mine: the black Darth boy Buick GNX managed a best run of 3:03.644.

It didn't launch just as well, but those impressive power figures really shone in the road portion, even though the beautiful cruiser handling has it suffer in that sweeping left turn. It still didn't stop it from being paces ahead of the Alpine by the end of the road portion. Off-road, however, and it starts to feel like a whole different ride. The rear likes to lose grip, and the car went from easy cruiser to volatile cruise missile, wheelspin included. The cruiser handling actually worked on this terrain, and the front brakes locking up did help with the braking quite a bit, allowing me to brake a little bit later. I'm not surprised by the time: that isn't exactly a super small PI difference from the Alpine.

Bringing back older COTW nominees for a second run looks to be something I tend to do, huh? The reason for this is.. well, I still don't have the words for it. We really do have a lot of cars nominated in this middling C-class range.


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Another lightweight classic ticked off for this iteration of Horizon.

I think I'm good now to wipe the car up for the next adventure.

So..

What is the Alpine A110 1600s? It is..

The ultra lightweight sports car that set the standard for a racing discipline at the time, as well as a big name for modern day French performance

Well, alright. After this running, this testing, this comparing, I am fully convinced it is a Sleeper. But barely, because I still am unsure to expect this kind of nice driving from a car I usually have fun controlling it's backside. Still it's a fun one, also sort of responsive, but it's when it's on the dirt is where it really opened up to me about it. It's so nice and disciplined, I often forget it's RWD.

Though, another highlight this week did is make the Starion shine even more. Seriously that 1v1 time with the Alpine was out of a movie. That opening scene of that live action Speed Racer, perhaps?
 
Ah, yes. Another week of racing, another COTW. Let's take a look at the retro A110, then.

This classic blue legend is definitely a noteworthy rally car that's eclipsed by the newer, more popular monsters such as the Stratos (which launched the same year as this particular A110 was produced), and the later 80s and 90s AWD monsters. And as we found out with the Starion, anything that got eclipsed by later models should be a sleeper. Right?

I decided to drive to the start point of Barranca Trail rather than going through the Online Menu or fast travelling. Always good to get a few minutes of warm-up with the car before wringing it to its upper limits, yeah?

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This one certainly matches the sky today.

Initial impressions of this car over the 3 mile jog to the starting point? I like it. Thanks to the relatively low power and solid handling, I can cruise along the winding road leading up to the event location mostly flat-out...and that's a thrilling thing for me. The top speed for this thing in final gear is 136 MPH.

Speaking of the gears, can we all just appreciate that the factory gear set-up is super clean and evenly spaced out?
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Anyways, here we are. Let's go for broke.

And for convenience's sake, I've got SPD's time here. Sorry, dude :lol:
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Chugging away at those seconds.

I honestly don't have much to say other than "This car is excellent for what it is!", since it does what it was meant to do and does an excellent job at it. The brakes in particular are really powerful with ABS off, and you can get deep in the braking zone with the right line. Uphill acceleration is sort of sluggish, which is a given with a low-power car, but it's properly quick down the switchbacks. You can be a little wild with the car if your car control is good, and that helps with being able to go to town on the dirt. On the tarmac, it's basically a Beetle on steroids, with all the benefits of an RR platform.

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I like mine on the dirty side, thank you very much.

After about five tries or so and feeling out the car more, I've finally logged a time I can be happy with.
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Watch as Vic comes out of nowhere with a time in the 3:03s or even a sub-3. Wouldn't surprise me.

Anyways, this thing is really good, but a few adjustments need to be made: a lower tire PSI, more power, and stronger brakes. Let's send the mechanics in.
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And for reference, the offroad tires default to roughly 14-17 PSI. I'll lower those as part of my tuning.

Note: 15.0 on front tires, 18.0 on rear tires. Using factory tires, default PSIs were 24 and 27 respectively. That might have contributed to some of the loss of grip I was experiencing.

Long story short, this was my first run.
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The unlucky fella that I used was in a pretty power-heavy Impala build and despite destroying me uphill and for about 2/3rds of the rally switchbacks, he just completely lost it on the dash to the finish.
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And a commendable time globally, too.

The A110 might be more effective as an RWD B-Class rally/road car, or even up to A class...though, I imagine an AWD swap is warranted for an off-road set-up given how much power is going to be inside the tiny thing.

My verdict is probably going to be obvious here, so I'll just cut to the chase.

Sleeper. And a good one at that, too.

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Hey, I didn't mean off-road this literally!
 
I was silently looking forward to all manner of depravity to break loose this week here in FH5's COTW and the resulting... creative writing, especially because @Obelisk himself loathed the car as much as I did* over in GTS' COTW. Seems like the A110 is a peach to drive on Mexican roads! Must be the cacti.

*totally not a shameless self plug I swear :lol:
 
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I was silently looking forward to all manner of depravity to break loose this week here in FH5's COTW and the resulting... creative writing, especially because @Obelisk himself loathed the car as much as I did* over in GTS' COTW. Seems like the A110 is a peach to drive on Mexican roads! Must be the cacti.

*totally not a shameless self plug I swear :lol:
I think your link is busted.
 
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Think you ever so slightly underestimated the time difference I’d do @Obelisk :lol:

Was kinda your fault too, I used your tuned Alpine’s time to chase and I do seem to go faster chasing someone. ;)

So… the 73’ A110 and by proxy, my COTW beginning’s.

Back in Early 2014 (Feels like a lifetime ago :crazy:),I was browsing GTP and occasionally talking about the best or worst moments in GT5/6 online racing when I stumbled across a thread called Car Of The Week.

It caught my attention as the car being tested that week was the Buick GNX and my first ever interaction with the club that I’d be well associated with for the next 8 years.

After a few comments and answering a few questions in the thread, I made my first actual contribution, An action shot of my Tuned GNX catching air at Flugplatz.

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And the man who liked that post? he was the guy running COTW at the time. :cheers:

They ran the BMW 507 the next week, but the week after that we got this weeks pick, the Alpine A110 1600s. 👍

And that was the car I’d drive for my official COTW debut, so when I was asked to pick this weeks car just after the Buick, it could only have been this. :cool:

You never forget where you started, so in COTW lore (if there was one) I’m rather nostalgic of the GNX and the A110 without even considering their real world fan followings. :P

Was the A110 capable for me in Mexico as it was for me back in GT6 all those years ago or in GT Sport in 2020?

Oh Hell Yes. :D

Throwing it in to that long tarmac left early on with only a downshift needed, leaving the braking late and still making the turns properly.

Gearing is also nicely set for the 123hp 1.6 engine and its sub 1600lb curb weight makes even that modest output feel potent.

Btw @SomePlayaDude The Auction buy out prices on the A110 pretty much tell me you’re better off buying from the Autoshow as people are selling them (and getting bought) for 168k buyouts on average. :odd:

On the whole the A110, like the GNX has the performance to reach out and grab the gold from the established front runners of their respective eras. :cheers:

Verdict: Sleeper ;)👍
 
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Seriously, where I stand, you all are like magicians when it's off-road. I definitely wanna level up this for sure, especially when the time (probably) comes when the X-RAID Countryman or the DeBerti Wrangler is the week's nominee.

The Auction buy out prices on the A110 pretty much tell me you’re better off buying from the Autoshow as people are selling them (and getting bought) for 168k buyouts on average. :odd:
I don't think I went to the Auction House to look for another spare Alpine this week. I was looking for spare AT37s, disappointingly, but that's besides the point.

Man, I don't even wanna talk about how people make credits like this. Unless it's converted to all hell, sure, but..
 
One of my historic rally favorites this one, a legend. Just sad how turn10/pg has missed on it`s
upgrades. Max tirewidth 215? What this car needs is a widebody-kit. The car was raced in group 4 since 1970,
it`s 1800cc engine was turboed up to +/-350hp and the car looked like this:

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The ingame car can still be raced but not anyway near it`s real world capacity. My best attempt so far is this
rwd no wing 6sp road & rally tune: 158 677 884
 
The Alpine A110, on the road section is perfectly balanced and only loses grip in extreme situations, due to its narrow tyres, and the motor has a really nice note. However, the car really comes alive in the dirt switchbacks and is really fun to drift, either by power sliding or a touch of hand brake. I posted a rather pedestrian time in the Rivals (3:14.011) but I don't care, the car was so much fun. Not only is a Sleeper, it's a FH Superstar!
 
Definetly driveable as is from the factory but hand it over to a good autoshop and get it
set up for racing. B-class "road & rally", RWD no wings: 158 677 884
 
Sorry about being late to the party once again! I had a sudden, ah...I adopted another rabbit off the cuff and had to scramble to get their space set up. Not gonna make any excuses, I did a dumb thing and ate my entire day as a result.

Anyways, let's see if we were hopping mad or happy with the car this week.

The A110 scored a Sleeper majority vote! Impressive!

Now let's see what our next car is. Unfortunately, the car requested is technically a secret car, so I've given the winner a chance to enter a different car for next week! In that case, I have to intervene and offer us all a new car. It's the...
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1994 Ford Supervan 3!

...Yeah. I went there. It's a bit of a hard sell in the Autoshow (Half a million cr!) and I'm a little afraid to check the Auction House to check the second hand prices...yes, I said the cursed words. Sorry, SPD.

The Supervan 3 is a rebuilt version of the Supervan 2, which in itself was essentially just a Ford C100 with a Transit shell on it. It was used in the public from 1994 to 2001, and there was a suggestion in 2007 that the chassis would be built back into a C100 for historic car racing but I don't have the time to confirm if that actually happened or not.

For something that was once a Group C car, it's only fitting that we give it the most circuit-like setting. We will be taking this crazy van (S1 820) around the Horizon Mexico Circuit!

As always, don't forget the motto: Rev up your engines, warm up your tires and most importantly...Let's decide if this Supervan is an example of beauty in Transit.
 
Sir, you're under suspicion of smuggling rabbits in that Supervan of yours. Open up.
No rabbits here, sir. The van is not equipped to transport anything other than a lone driver, a bunch of petrol, and a whole lot of adrenaline.


So, let's take a shot at the Supervan. No fancy intro, no nothing.

Absolutely no rabbits, either. I'm not that insane.
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This thing definitely isn't street legal. Why is it in an open world game taking place on public roads?

One of the true oddballs of the Horizon Franchise, the Supervan 3's the last crazy Ford Transit before the more humdrum Transit SSV that we already know and wrestle with in the Horizon franchise. Being one of the crazy ones means it has some really interesting stats. Such as this giant brick of a vehicle barely registering on the scale at 1967 lbs, just under a ton and pushing out almost 300 horsepower! :eek: That 300 HP engine is mated to a five speed transmission. While cruising around, I found that the Supervan 3 has a practical top speed of about 140 to 150 MPH, and an absolute maximum speed of 167 MPH. Yes, I eventually ended up just throwing it off the volcano to find that one out. Not a promising start to the test if I have to throw it off the volcano to find out how long the last gear is.

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The face of a man who spent way too long trying to find out the maximum speed in 5th gear.

Anyways, off to Horizon Mexico Circuit to see how it holds up there. I'm going to be chasing Sutuki's ghost just because it's up in the top 10,000 and it'll be a good baseline.

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Incredible grip, not a lot of speed.
After a fair bit of effort, I landed a 1:06.657...Which I forgot to take a screenshot of. :dunce:

What I've noticed about this thing so far is that it's honestly an incredible driving machine. It has very little fuss when stomping on the gas out of a turn. It accelerates reasonably quickly, and it corners like it's on rails. It's a lot of fun...

...but that's where the issue starts. See, remember how I mentioned it only produces about 300 HP and gets to 150 MPH? Yeah. Those things, along with the car being 820 PI, means that it is extremely underpowered by S1 standards, and even A class standards. Upper end cars in A class tend to sit at 160, 170 MPH comfortably and are often making close to 400 HP. So what we have here is a very sticky and grippy car that can't get out of its own way fast enough for S1 standards.

But what if...We sent the mechanics in?
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Obviously, the priority was horsepower to offset a lot of the issues it had. A boost to the 0-60 doesn't hurt either. Let's see how it goes now. The game...crashed while I was trying to set up a livery on the car. Go figure.
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Looking sharp, but is it just as sharp as it looks?

With the updated set-up, I took to the circuit again to see how much of a difference it has. The end result?
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Remarkably impressive.

That said, let me get to my verdict because this might be a bit surprising...

The Supervan 3 is a very good car, and I can't deny that in the slightest. It's a momentum-based car that demands a good understanding of the game and racing lines to really wring to its upper limits. Unfortunately...It's not quite enough to carry it all the way to the top in a tier where everything else is a hypercar, super car or some kind of unholy abomination with an LFA engine swapped in. It's a great addition to any collection and will definitely be a valuable asset in a Trial, but...It's not winning the leaderboards anytime soon. Neutral.
 
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SPD Writes Car Of The Week: Week 12 - Ford Transit Supervan 3


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That one transit that defines how big things comes in small packages.

I've been considering getting a Ford Transit for real life excursions. Though, this would be a reminder for me in.. maybe 5 years time. I'll probably not remember, but the Transit idea probably never would leave. I just like the thing, and in this universe, the name's more than just your domestic big van brand.

What's the first time I've seen this? There was this one show Jezza once did for like, top 100 cars or something in the early 2000s, don't remember. The skit involved Jeremy driving a Cobra (can't recall if it was a Shelby or an AC), and getting overtaken by the newest Transit at the time. Then he showed the skit with this car, at full Cossie V6 unfurling. It was a sight.

While I wait for the Wuling Hongguang S to come around, I better settle with this for the fastest van in the game, even though it's classified as a Track Toy. It's also quite the popular canvas for just about anyone who wishes to express their artistic side. And odd enough: it's has a strong presence in online racing, going back to Horizon 4, notably for S1 road AWD grip, I think. Maybe I'll find out myself if I want to keep driving it.

Not to be confused with the Reliant Supervan III, the Ford Supervan 3 sits at early S1, more precisely at 820 PI. This puts it at a PI level close to many big names. Things like the CLK GTR, the Murcielago SV, and most notably the McLaren F1. If I were to make a direct comparison, the Supervan has around half the power to bring around 300 kilos less than what everyone calls the most absolute of all supercars. I would say all the racing parts do their.. part, for sure, but it's the sort of comparison to take to the track.

Interestingly in my case is that this is my 2nd last unique Ford, behind the RTR Stage 5. And I got the van after claiming the Ford GT40 Mk 1.

To add, the car costs half a million Credits. Bank is not hard to gather in this game, so I'm sort of glad for this week we get to try something with some value. I already have 1 ready, stock, so that's the one I will be using. By now, it's probably tradition for me every week to mention in game economy and Isaiah Mustafa the Auction House. Yes, I'm still using the Auction House to find AT37s (still empty here, maybe by Season 4?), and with earlier mention of how good it is for racing and how competitive of an artist's canvas it is I expect pricing of this Supervan to be super high.


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And I am wrong. Looks like someone's selling it for 468k, and further down are some more for 440k.


Well, okay, it's not as bad as Horizon 4. At these prices, I bought another one, with plans to downgrade to A. The stock car will weigh in as the deciding factor if I plan to use it.


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This week's rumble on the road has us head to the Horizon Mexico Circuit, and it's about darned time we do.


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A blazing hot day in the desert: perfect track conditions? I fear it might be too dry.


I've been using this track in my early days to test run cars so it can be a satisfying drive for cruising, or that ocassional online race. Though I confess: I haven't touched Horizon Open yet, that place I hear is filled with that one HotWheels car, and I'm not trading away my sanity for dealing with it.

Unfortunately, that means I also use it for hotlapping in Rivals, so I do have car times set on the leaderboard. I haven't updated this for a long while, actually. But the point is that I won't be able to give the usual weekly screenshot of the time that I got through the Rivals leaderboard, so bear with me and my word on this. The track definitely is a perfect test track for your speed and handling cars, with fast turns, minor elevation, and a few tight turns to go around.

To say I'm not familiar to this track is to also say I am an avid hater of SpongeBob Squarepants, so I'm sort of ready to bring out the best of this van racecar identity crisis thing.


- Car view from the inside? Not great, oddly. I also expected it to be significantly louder, because Cosworth V6. Maybe it's just my game volume, not the car itself.

- Given it only has that much power on slicks, you are so welcome to not bother with throttle control. To me, this is both a pro and a con. Pro being.. this car isn't a difficult drive at all to get good, fast, consistent times. Con being.. I guess I get bored too easily. Oh, and my shifting is at 7000 RPM.

- Since it's a racecar, it'll have to be treated like one. And due to it not being very old or powerful, it's safe. It won't go past 130 MPH, and it handles nothing like your usual transport van. So being selective on certain scenarios is important for a car like this. For my liking.. nah, I can't bring it around the game world for a cruise. Just doesn't feel right without the speed.

- At stock form, the car takes that inclined hairpin quite nicely, which is unusual for most of my RWD tuned cars having either parts of the springs too stiff, or traction going wild. So I can easily conclude that the car is both a great starting point for artists and racers alike.

- It's not slow, but if you're like a good portion of the casual Forza experience, you might not like the bit that mentions how terrible it is for speedier parts of the game. Say.. drag racing or going on the highway. But just about every engine swap available for the thing is decent at worst.

- As is the usual racecar staples, you have race parts everywhere. So it's hard to find something to make fun of. The brakes are great, won't lock up easy. The gearbox is a little long overall but not poorly divided, or heavy feeling. The turning is great, little bits of understeer that gates it from being super great, but most definitely serviceable for racing needs. The only issue I have is power, pacing even lower than topped out A-class cars. So what we have here is mostly a tuner's base to work with.

- The real impressive thing is how I've pushed it all the way on the last corner, no brakes required. It's the big giveaway of how slow this thing is on the whole with how much cornering ability it got. My many runs exploit engine braking and trail braking quite a lot, because they work wonders.

- Just like the MX-5 NC, the best piece of advice is to get your inputs right. You don't have much power, and your handling's going to interfere with that forward momentum going if you go too far or too erratic.


Nothing like a.. sort of basic analysis, because it's a not-so-old racecar, and these things are usually nice to drive as is, and thus without much in terms of character. Very unlike, say.. those old Le Mans machines.. anyone willing to get one of those on here? I'll say no.

It didn't quite get that sort of hotlapping zen like the VUHL earlier on, but I did push this van thing to the limit with the provided locale of choice. To what extent? After 25 laps..



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1:05.194 would be that time, of course, limited to the best of my ability.

I expected the Supervan to sort of impress me, but even after those 25 laps in one sitting, it didn't quite hit that mark. It was way too handling focused, and even there it's not top of the line. No wonder it shines when maxed out in S1: you have all that PI to fill in, and power does wondrous things to handling cars.


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Quick post Rivals Wheelspin snapshot. Appropriate.


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Well, it wasn't the best thing to run, but it really got me interested in how I can construct the downgraded A-class build. The gist of it is just slapping on them lower grip tires, mess with them adjustable parts, and we shall see how this goes.


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Of course I have to differentiate the 2, right? And I found just the ridiculous meta livery for it.


My aim for this is to reach 1:05, not necessarily beating the stock Supervan time. And since I've been doing this for weeks, this is also the time to bring back another Horizon 5 COTW alumni. This week, it's going to be competing with one car: Pinky.

Right, so this car has a name. These days, that hardly happens. What is Pinky?


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Here is Pinky!

Pinky is my downgraded Corvette Stingray C8 from week 1. The one that somehow got a slower time down a nice downhill to uphill road than a regular stock C8. To add on this: the car also has a strong competitive presence in S1 just like the Supervan 3.

But the real reason I'm not throwing any other car is because these cars are downgraded. I'd say they're both American, but that's not exactly the case for the Supervan. So, how do they do in A-class?


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Supervan 3.A trades off all that semi slick grip for some more power. It showed better pacing on the straights, but definitely suffers in the corners. How far back? Well.. as far as about 1:07.002 for a best time. I'm still baffled how it lost 2 seconds. It really lives as a handling car, and by taking even the slightest of that away, it actually performs worse. To make things even more bad for this Supervan, Pinky actually gotten around this track under 1:07, and that was back in November 2021. Let's hop to see how 2022 Pinky goes around the track, hmm?


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As mentioned on week 1, Pinky is a C8 Stingray with rally tires and unfortunately still carries those horrendous rear locking brakes, and an odd case of locking up there should I ever shift down twice. This flaw would carry on in my hot laps of this car. The car would give me a best lap of 1:06.892, hardly an improvement from my original run last year, and as solid as that looks, I need to see if Pinky would ever stay an A-class C8 Corvette, because it didn't feel right.

As fun as it looks, I'm still unsure on this idea of downgrading cars. I guess it works depending on the car. These two didn't really work, but I'm glad I gave it a go.


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You can say it's a delivery van.. delivering thrills and speed. Plus.. this shot makes me wonder how drift cars would tackle COTW?

There's no better time to end. And that time is when I am done. And boy am I done.

So..

What is the Ford Transit Supervan 3? It is..

A classic racecar, born as a bold flex from Cosworth engineering, disguised as a commercial vehicle

It's a van, but if we take that quality away, I find it not too impressive. It's got no interesting character in the drive. And it paces poorly on speedier roads. But it's not that bad, as proven by the hordes of this car getting results in the top of S1. And if I have to do the math: not impressive, but still salvageable (this case being extreme to the point it's a meta car) would mean Neutral.

How about I get 3.2 as a top S1 dirt machine? Sounds like an idea, sure! But to truly close it off..


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Like seriously more PI than this monster of engineering. A car with a top speed of literally twice than your own! Just very hard to believe.
 
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1:05.966

The 3rd version of a project which started out like some other well known one-offs have.

Promotional purposes. :D

Starting with the Mk1 Transit, they dropped a Mk1 body on to a GT40 chassis with the GT40’s 400+hp V8 in the middle which allowed it to hit 150 mph and have a theoretical top speed of 168 mph in 1971.

The Mk2 Transit had the shortest promotional lifespan, but was still rapid with both the chassis and engine this time, coming from Ford’s C100 Group C Racer.

That meant a 590hp 3.9 Cossie V8 and a top speed of 176mph at Silverstone.

And now we get to the Mk3 Transit Supervan, which was used to promote the new model of Transit and was originally powered by a 3.5 F1 Cosworth V8 which was good for 630 to 700hp depending on what trim of performance they wanted.

After being retired in 2001 due to the highly strung engine making it expensive to keep bringing it out to events, it was restored in 2004 with a Supercharged 3.0 Cosworth V6 making just under 300hp.

Not only was it cheaper & easier to maintain, but was more user friendly to VIP’s and Journo’s wanting to drive it.

And that’s the version we have this week. ;)

Let’s start with the handling, considering it was built with much more power than it currently has, it’s got grip for days from its vintage looking semi slicks(same grip as the Horizon semi slicks.).

But if pure grip is what you want, then DON’T pick the normal slicks as the Supervan has a trick which very few cars have in Forza.

Vintage Race Slicks. :drool:

These are the real deal, even more grippy than normal slicks and the only other two cars that come to mind that have them are the Chevy Monte Carlo SS and the Alfa 155 Q4.

But Alfa sadly ain’t here (yet).:rolleyes:

As for power and PI, it’s in the lower part of S1 and under 300hp in a car set up for double that power means straight line speed isn’t too hot, but the engine swap options are a nice mix.

If you want old school Supervan vibes, the 7.0 GT40 V8 is there, the Racing V12 is there if you want something resembling this cars original glory, the Racing 7.2 V8 and the HooniTruck’s 3.5 Racing V6 TT.

If I had sum up to the MK3 Supervan, I’d say it’s a desirable Neutral, brilliant through the turns and under braking, but not great on the straights.

In S1 set it up for the twisty tracks and go nuts with it in S2.

And don’t forget, there is an achievement tied to this vehicle and a certain Danger Sign so completionists will have to get one at some point. :)

Which could explain how I got a second from Auction for 149k. :sly:

Verdict: Neutral(But do pick one up 👍)
 
So... 1:07:401 after ten laps or so. Very stable, nothing dramatic, and maybe that's what's lacking because a racing van should have some whimsy. A Neutral ranking seems fair, considering that I plucked 500,000 for just this event and I will not drive it often, unless compelled by the weekly playlist. Now if we could get the Renault Espace F1...
 
Special week this week! I'm early for once.

Let's review how the flying brick did and then we'll unveil the most ambitious (but possibly rubbish) COTW week I've hosted. And across the board, we have Neutral! This outcome was kind of guaranteed with this car, huh? But hey, it's still a great choice. I wish it had the C100 engine in it, though.

And with that, the seasons change and summer returns to Horizon. And you know how people are - in the summer, the convertibles come out in force. Our maestro this week, @unfairlane had a rather fun idea that I decided to run away a little with.

Featuring our very first (and possibly only) Triple Feature week, we have the...


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1953 Chevrolet Corvette!
1960 Chevrolet Corvette!

1953 Chevrolet Corvette FE!

Yup. We're going full send with the first generation of the Corvette. The main focus of this week is the 1953 Corvette, the progenitor of the sports car line that we all know, love and adore on this thread. Now, I want to point something out - this is the first week where we're featuring a Manufacturer Bonus car. The 1960 Corvette is the reward for completing the Chevrolet Manufacturer affinity bonus, and if I'm not mistaken basically everyone has most, if not all, of the Chevrolet cars on offer in this game. The only tough one would be the Corvette from the 1 million point combo Accolade, but I imagine the Auction House has those in droves.

We will be testing all three cars at the Llanuras Sprint, a high speed cruise from the highway up to Guanajuato. While high speed tracks and low tier cars tend not to mix (looking at you, NC MX-5), the Corvette was originally meant for these long-distance cruises as a convertible sports car.

As for why all three are being tested on the same course? They're all different classes!
The standard 1953 Corvette is D 366.
The 1960 Corvette is C 541.
And finally, the FE Corvette is A 800.

Let's get these cars warmed up and let's go for a lovely summer cruise to decide whether or not the C1 Corvettes deserve to be recognized as sleepers, or if they're better off remembered as summer cars.
 
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The 1960 Corvette is for some reason one of the wery few cars you can not actually equip with an LS3 engine.
Is it just a trophy to place then on the shelf or is it still capable to win races?

A bit of a challenge this car. No engine-options, just the old LS1. Not even a turbo-option.




Leningrad Cowboys La Carrera painjob: 977 799 690


 
Going from American classic to American classic is always fun, because we sure did have an interesting range of cars since their inception in the 1880s, 1890s as well as Henry Ford commodifying them in the 1900s.

This one is no less interesting.
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Beautiful lines. Honestly, why didn't Chevy make an updated re-release of these? I'd buy one.

The 1953 Corvette is the one that started it all. I don't think they expected it to take off the way it did, but...69nice years later, the Corvette is still standing, and evolved from a simple car to a budget supercar killer. Strange how the world works. So let's take a look at the original.

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The mesh covers on the headlights were quite an interesting design decision, but I'm not complaining.

This initial Corvette is as humble as they come, equipped with a Blue Flame straight 6 (yes, a straight 6!) generating 160 HP and 223 ft-lbs of torque mated to a 2 speed transmission. Yes, only two gears. This will be interesting. My initial impressions of test driving it are neutral. It drives like you'd expect a 1950s sports couple would.

Let's take it to the track and see how it fares.

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Off the bat, I can say that this thing...definitely has a bit of an issue. The car doesn't seem to have enough oomph to dig in at launch, so it bogs down and then clumsily gets up to speed.

Speaking of speed, 2nd gear maxes out at 104 MPH. The car very clearly has a lot more to give in terms of straight line speed, so this gearing choice is confusing. Though, with that said, the car is pretty eager and willing to sit at that absolute maximum RPM which is an excellent thing all the way down in D class. I imagine with more gears it could get to 130, 140 if it tried?

Handling is also what you'd expect from a car like this. It's a bit soggy due to the soft suspension, but the car maintains a lot of grip over less than ideal terrain such as roads with a lot of elevation changes or bumps. You might even be able to use the factory suspension in a D class rally build, though that's with an asterisk as I've never dabbled with RWD rally that far down.

One odd little thing to note: Because of the sheer torque that small engine cranks out, I actually regained a huge amount of time from the ghost I was chasing during the huge uphill segment at the end of the sprint. Which means...
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Sorry, SLP. :lol: That was my first run, too. I'm taking another shot at it because it was honestly kind of messy.

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This is a bone stock Corvette against a D500 car. Not bad at all. Let's send the mechanics in!
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Since the handling and grip are already pretty good, I just made small improvements to those (including upping rear tire width for better power delivery) and got a proper gearbox in it. How does this thing do now, I wonder?
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It...can't beat a Peel Trident driven by @Vic Reign93 that's for sure :odd: Instant beater- nah, joking. The Peels are anomalies.
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I still did really well with this. And this is still on the white-wall tyres, by the way. This C1 could reasonably be tuned up to A class and still excel, and it does have some charming cosmetic options that reference the racing spec Corvette from that generation.

All in, I'd say this first gen Corvette is a low end Sleeper. It has build flexibility and decent out-of-box performance with its Achilles' heel being the 2 speed gearbox...which is a really easy fix. Just slap the first transmission option on it for a very low PI cost upgrade to address its acceleration and top speed.


From Corvette to Corvette, our next option is the 1953 C1 FE.

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Back in maroon and gold and with a whole lot of rage.

Off the bat, the FE is gorgeous. It also isn't a slouch in the power department, sitting at an impressive 450 HP and 500 ft lbs of torque, which is mated to a 5speed gearbox of all things. :odd: It weighs just a bit over at a ton, at a rather light 2,200 lbs. I think it has a 7.4 liter V8, but without being able to see the hard information in the brief overview the car has, it's hard to tell.

Anyways, enough screwing around with the stats. Since this is at A800 to begin with, I am basically butting heads with the top of the leaderboards with my practice run.

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Maroon motion, gold guidance. This car is flamboyant and doesn't hide it.

Off the bat, it has a launch and acceleration that I can only describe as "meaty". Digs in and takes off out of 1st gear with enough wheelspin to torque the car to the side, but gets up to speed at a pace that'd make the AWD cars envious. Something I do notice when driving it is that the rear of the car feels a little skittish in the high speed sections of the track. I think that's because of the Forza Aero on the nose of the car making the balance of the car skewed in the wrong direction. Thing is, this sort of creates an interesting effect where it behaves in a way that feels more like an RR car. You have to keep weight on the rear tires to maximize performance in the corners, and give it plenty of room so that you can catch issues as they come up. Once you get the hang of its...rather specific handling characteristics, it's a pretty stinking quick car.
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Maybe not fast enough as it is, but there's always tuning it within the class and upgrading it up to S1. Speaking of...it's on the factory live axle. :odd: Let me swap that with a race diff and check the aero to see if anything happens with the A class run. Since basically everything else is already configured for A class, the only swap I needed was the race diff.

(Side note: I checked and this car has adjustable front aero, but no rear aero. I thought something seemed off...)

To quickly recap the changes I'm making here:
-Added race diff
-Lowered front downforce setting to lowest possible setting

It made a difference, but it took a bit of getting used to. The issue seems to be that the Corvette FE is quick to break its rear traction regardless of differentials. It's much more predictable now and lifting slightly actually seems to plant it to the ground. This has a huge effect on the latter half of the track, as the FE no longer wants to get turned around in the high speed sweepers, and I no longer feel the need to slow down there to accommodate the temperamental live axle.
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All in, I think I can call the FE Corvette a tentative Sleeper. It's tremendously fast, no doubt about it, but it requires some familiarity and a steady wrench to get the most out of it. It'll win races out of the box, but it's flawed.

And last but not least, the hidden Manufacturer Bonus, the 1960 Corvette.
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Gorgeous. Absolutely gorgeous.

So, how does our middle of the pack Corvette do against the leaderboards? And yes, I am getting exhausted from all the driving. This one is gonna be brief.

Excellent acceleration. Pretty easy to control, even if its handling is roughly similar to the 1953 Corvette. Healthy top-end speed and the 4 speed is spaced out nicely. The live axle does compromise it somewhat, especially when in a braking zone.
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Mechanics decided to leave the gearbox itself alone and work on everything around it. Powerbuild with some handling thrown in.
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Sleeper. This one is a must-have.
 
SPD Writes Car Of The Week: Week 13 - Chevrolet Corvette C1


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Though it looks like it's just one, but this week, THREE CARS ENTER! Okay, I shouldn't even be killing them off or something.

As a longtime fan of the Corvette (I mean, who isn't), I find myself at odds with the 1st generation, mainly because it was the C2 that introduced me to the name, and thus interest. You can probably guess from where. If you guessed the western release of Gran Turismo, then DING DING DING.. I don't think I have points to give, but I'll tell you to get yourself a pat on the back, and hope you have good fortunes at these troubling times.

Now, as much better the C2 onwards was in general for me (and just about most licensed racing games), the C1 isn't that bad a car. Personally, all the attention of this generation would go to the facelift model. It's such a beauty. I find it super appealing for a long time, and would like to see more of this car in many other games. Like, aside from Forza, this car I know appeared in Test Drive Unlimited, and it's the older facelift. Also not forgetting the Art Morrison variant in the PS3 era Gran Turismo games. At least I can use COTW to finally get some bearings to the Forza Edition car. It's.. just not remarkable enough for me.

In terms of getting the cars, it's not exactly buy from the Autoshow easy. The regular C1 is a barn find in this game, and lucky for me I haven't touched it. COTW gets me reasons to touch cars that have been getting this sort of treatment anyways. The original C1 sits at a reasonable 366 PI, just above average in your D-class affairs. I wonder if it'll work as a B-class racer?

And now we head to the 1960 Corvette, which from here on out I will present as the facelift. I hope that's the correct term for it.

This classic car is one I quite like very very much. Back when I was fiction writing, in the PS3 ages of Gran Turismo, one character.. the father to the main character that is, had this (the Art Morrison one) as his signature ride. He had the Corvette themed under him, so I chose what I liked the most, and there it is. So far, the only other car on COTW as of now that I have used in fiction writing would be the Lexus RC F, that oddly was also my nominee.. Forgive me if it sounded like me rambling, hah.

Unlike the original, this car is even more of an effort to own, requiring just about every base game Chevrolet in your garage. As mentioned, the real hurdle here is getting the ZR-1. But what ZR-1? Would I tell you.. not the C7? Yessir, I've done my research. And the results say the C7 will set you back about 1.1 million-ish if you're too lazy to get that skill score. That's not the real issue, as the wheelspin exclusive C3 ZR-1 will set you back at least 2 and a bit million, and so does facelift C1 if you ever need a spare. This apparently applies to me.


auctioning the facelift.jpg

For a car that's averaging at 2.3 million per buyout, I scored one worth just half of that. Talk about lucky!


If we compare the usual and the facelift, the latter goes up a notch and adds yet another to the COTW's collection of middling C-class competitors at 541 PI. Similar to the GNX a couple weeks ago, I don't feel this is the right PI for it.

Oddly enough for me, the Forza Edition came in droves. There was more, but in the garage is 3 with my name on it, 2 being stock spares just lying around. That not stock one right now is an S1 road maniac with an AWD conversion. Another one of them's coming in hot, and maybe I'll find a proper use for it after this.

And being a Forza Edition, the red racecar boy sits on top of somewhere, this one being A-class, and as a Classic Racer too. This does mean it's got good parts, puny aero, and maybe proper tuning. It does have the pretty but otherwise terrible classic racing tires. Even then it still has 1.7 Gs of handling. It should sort of be competitive, right?

After that disaster of a certain Unlimited Offroad Forza Edition those weeks back, I hope it can be, at least.


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To bring these classic sports cars to appropriate ship shape form, we first have to find us an aggressive, but also speedy route. Lucky enough, Llanuras Sprint would be right on the money for that sort of experience.


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There's a storm brewing... quite literally! Lucky for me, the Corvettes won't have to deal with this act of God.. and this is the right sort of MINI to handle these conditions.


Going around a small portion of the highway, this road has us pass by the Teotihuacan pyramid, then the Horizon stadium, then finally culminating at Guanajuato from the south. The road is speedy, but after the pyramid, we have a technical segment that lasts until we pass the Street Scene Outpost. The road after is then a high speed uphill race to the city.

Well, it looks like it's a test for your speed inclined cars, particularly the handling segment after the pyramid. Thankfully, this event is also not a Street race, meaning Barry R comes in to regulate one's racing line.

Now, with this 3 car onto 1 track layout, I think it's time to split this into 3. This does mean 3 sets of analyses, laptime and conclusion. Kind of odd that I don't find this all too exciting. Don't quite have the words for this phenomenon, but maybe a hands on experience should change that thought.

Obviously we start off with the original. Time to go on and bring the top down of one Penelope Pitstop (heh, more SPD innuendo)


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America's darling sports car in full force.


- Uhh, I don't have to mention the super sluggish launch. And also my RPM to shift is 4850. Don't mind me at my baffled feeling, because..

- I did not expect 2 gears. Yeah, that's it. I did not expect it. It's not a downside or anything fully negative. They're tall enough for an okay top speed, and the drive itself is stable without all that extra gearing. Unless you're daring me to make a 2 gear car better than the Porsche Taycan, it's got 2 freaking gears, and did I mention I did not expect it?

- On the winding turns, the car will understeer, more towards the rear. So don't think you can brake late. This is also more apparent when you somehow engine brake that single gear. But there isn't much to complain on the handling otherwise. The good? Well, if you let the car decelerate, it lets itself go to help with taking turns better. And to trail brake it is sort of a must do: it's real nice.

- Speaking of brakes: they're good. I wonder if the C8 Stingray's just the only outlier for the car having bad brakes.

- Interior review time! And the red accents really make the car stand out much. Aside from glaring safety issues from cars of this era, this is a great interior view. Though I find the speedometer's 140 MPH maximum reading a bit redundant when the stock car tops out at 105. Another strange thing is how having 2 gears and with no shifting animation. I'll just say it's my lack of knowledge of the car that has me strike this as unusual.

- For this car, the real issue of this run would come in the post Street Scene Outpost road, where it's all speedy and uphill. Without that power and all this hindering progress, I've always wondered how D-class racing would really find itself interesting at all. Maybe because it's not, or even close to 500 PI. Seeing how the game treats D-class, I don't think I want to build that, however.

- My overall thoughts for the car would be to at the very least get that gearbox changed. Because it's the only thing I feel is holding it back. You got a bad launch, and a low top end to take on this speedy route. Everything else is great.


C1 Vette.jpg

For my best run, the car cruised it's way all in second gear to a time of 3:39.202.


It's not the best I can do. While I do want to push for a much better run, there's no incentive for me to do so. Maybe I can probably cut another second or two. But I got 2 other variants of this car to go do.


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We put aside the unintentional ancestor of Pinky to hop in my second facelifted C1. Before I fall for its beauty like I always have, let's see some speed.


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As the day continues, so does the charm. I mean, this is a freaking beautiful car.


- And I have to admire this car's interior firstly. If I can have red leather in my own car, then I will. Like the original, that speedometer finds itself redundant when the car can only top out at 148, while not as badly. Do mind that tachometer's suggested shifting position (if that red portion is what I think it is) is kind of wrong. I can push it past 7000, all the way to 7500 RPM, and that edge is occasionally where I'll be shifting.

- From the original to the facelift, the car's muscle traits start to show. Beefy sound, wheelspin on launch and out of the corners, heavy on the rear kind of handling.. The brakes are solid here too, like the original C1, but it's not doing you any favors if you're not responsibly braking. It really locks the rear up.

- To talk about the launch and gearing.. it's what you'd expect with a car at this period and origin. Power is great for the 4 gears it has, though not super great with the speedy uphill road. And the launch is just pure muscle power. No need to control, just push it to the redline.

- Now even though we're still at the region where power won't overwhelm a car's experience, this car tries its best to be the exception. Feather your inputs during corner exits or you might just lose half a second there alone. I've lost clean runs because Barry R had to kiss my ass.. quite literally.

- For this car, the main track trouble is definitely past the Pyramid. It's where that muscle handling shows its inconsistencies in the tighter corners. But around the rest of the track, it drives like a dream.. for my part, that is.

- So, if you're going to try to get a competitive pace with this Corvette, you'll have to know the car having quite the learning curve. Playing with that slippery back is both tough and satisfying. If my ghost is still consistent with my pace as of writing, I find myself not braking until reaching the 90 degrees left hander by the Teotihuacan pyramid, and it's freaking satisfying.


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I pushed this facelifted C1 to a best time of 3:06.248..

And I feel pretty good about it. This car is really fun to push, and also rewarding because it's not exactly a refined sports car. And when I push, I also mean the time's 'not-Forza' dirty. So many tufts of grass had found themselves a taste of white walled power. I wondered if it did define muscle, because there are definitely times where you wish history was more clear in this regard.


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Now it's time to bring out the big guns. The gold trim is nice.. what would be nicer is if we can change trims in general.


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The idea of a Corvette on the race track isn't strange or alien. It actually works. But does Forza's take on it be cool or be cast out?


- I know it sounds corny, but I'd like to make a quick shout out to the race car drivers of old. This includes those who passed doing and showered in the glory of what they loved, or those who moved on in life so that racers of more current ages get to enjoy their craft better and safer than they did.

- While the interior still remains the same from the original car, I'd like to point out how the stock C1 Corvette seems to hold something against up to date speedometers. In this case, it's redundant in the sense that the maximum reading of 160 MPH can't hold a candle to this car topping out at 180.

- Now we finally have something to play launch with! Week 3 Lexus comes to mind when it comes to the right way to launch: minor levels of control. And also you gotta shift early on 1st, like around 6700 RPM? This'll rewards you with just a little thrust out (heh, more innuendo) than if you want to just floor it. While we're at launch, 7100 is the RPM for my shifts. You read right: it doesn't rev as much as the facelift.

- Just like the C8, we have some rear locking brakes. Now, since this is a classic car that's bound to kill anyone unprepared, I suppose it's sort of natural this kind of brakes are here. While it's okay to trail brake, engine braking is definitely something to try avoiding, like how Pinky got to explain to me about last week. Talk about sins of the father, amirite?

- Another issue I find is the springs setup. The car is placed low, and the suspension is overall soft. Oddly, even then, they're probably too stiff. A curb will REALLY unsettle the car, and around this sprint, there's plenty of that.

- Next up: the gearbox. Yes, small it might be, it's another issue. It's a wee bit too long. The car will top at 180, but the gearbox setting has the final gear put a bit too wide. Not to mention the 5th gear doesn't find itself any use, even in this place where there's 2 segments for speed.

- We're going ham with the car's issues, right? This part covers the differential. There's not much restriction on the deceleration. That means it's going to feel real loose around the rear. With the setting set to 20% on acceleration, the car has a great, not terribly chaotic response to corner exits, though the terrible tires would mean it still needs you to control it.

- This all seems like doom and gloom for this Forza Edition ride, but I haven't gotten to the good part yet. The drive is one. It's super challenging and super fun to fight back any sense of racing setback, just like the 911 Carrera RS in week 6. The handling overall is oversteer for days, and I don't think there's any form of understeer present unless I purposely do so.

- And I'm sure you can never understand my appeal for super difficult drives. To follow, the car's just such a pain for the driver if you want to be consistent with. I like a good challenge: part of my driver's personality that I made mention back in week 6.

- More pluses, that's what we want? Okay. Remember how the lesser C1 cars have a specific issue on a certain part of the track? Those issues were pretty much ironed out by how much the car has improved to be on top of A-class. Handling: tough but fair. Stability: difficult, but easy to control. It's not even lacking in the speed department either. It is a fine all-rounder, but with some trouble in the consistency department.


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A racecar of this stature is sure to try an impress. The finest impression would be at a 2:26.873.

Not much else to say after the analysis covered it enough, including the lack of consistency. Barry R had a busy day at the office, protecting the fields where it could. Then again, since it's stuck here for top A-class, I'm at a loss to figure out what it requires else to better it. I'll have to check if it can fit wider track, or slap on a race differential. Any boost for more control would be a boon, and my first thoughts turn to increasing deceleration values.


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Something is supposed to be here. Though, due to having 3 separate cars to toy around with means there is a catch..


That catch being that there won't be a feature SPD event this week, am afraid. Seriously, 3 fully analyzed cars is a bit much if the time frame's just a week. Goes to show how much time I put into getting these wheels (and my fingers) to work, because I like it when the results take at least a little effort.

I mean, was there to be one? Yes! For the Forza Edition. With it's position at the top of A, it was going to compete with the likes of Pinky, the facelifted C1 that I earned that's tuned up to A-class with no major conversions, and the week 3 RC F. Any more, and I'll throw in that passively recurring MINI Countryman.

So..

What is the Chevrolet Corvette (C1)? It is..

The slow but consistent, eventually high performance birth of a legendary American sports car.

I'm putting a Neutral on this one. It brings nothing to the table, and it's just so odd to drive. Not saying it's outright terrible, because I haven't fallen asleep driving anything in this game.. the most recent happening of that was me doing Hypercar races in The Crew 2. It hasn't come yet, but as of right now, I'm not convinced the majority of D-class cars have that je ne sais quoi to have them be named Sleepers for me. But if there would be at least one car that would convince me otherwise, I'd be so glad to be proven wrong. How will I really feel about that? It's still a mystery~~

Someone out there thinks it's a dare, and nominate in the Mazda MX-5 NA or the Lotus Cortina Mk1, I know it!


What is the facelifted Chevrolet Corvette (C1)? It is..

The turning point of the Corvette name to find itself as a staple of high performance muscle.

For this, I had a good chunk of fun. An absolute beauty she is, and also quite the Sleeper to how totally classic American it drives. It was going to barely be there, but with the newly muscle themed handling, the car proves to me that kind of thing can actually gives fast fun results, really pushing it ahead. It's also pretty, but that would be the recurring joke for this writeup, even though it's not exactly a joke.


What is the Chevrolet Corvette (C1) Forza Edition? It is..

The fusion of classic racing engineering with a hair blowing 50s sunset rider, made for today.

This one's a mix of the strange C1 with the unpredictable Forza twist. Lucky enough the twist here isn't a bad one. The car serves its Forza Edition name as one car that's simply fun and not requiring reflexes of someone after a good coffee. And since it's not for everyone, then you can easily tell apart of those who want to stay in their comfort zone, and those who want to express great driving freedom.. in the cockpit of a race converted classic sports car. You want to be that latter, and show you can do an impressive flex? Then go ahead and hop in. You're going to enjoy, and while you're at it, also feel free to bear witness its inner Sleeper.


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But well, if I had to pick which one is better, that facelift still takes the top spot, by a baby small margin. It's just stand out beautiful.
 
Can't say I've ever driven a C1 Corvette even in games, but now I wish I could because I just started watching Lucifer on Netflix, and a black C1 'Vette is the car of choice for the Devil himself, Lucifer :scared:

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Let’s start with the OG Vette.

Powered by the 3.9 Blue Flame Inline 6 making 160hp & driving the rear wheels via a 2 speed powerglide automatic, this first year C1 certainly was more of a cruiser than a sports car bruiser. :)

In fact it wasn’t until 2 years later in 1955 it got a 195hp 4.3 V8, but was stuck with the powerglide until later in the year when the V8 model got a 3 speed manual gearbox.

In terms of acceleration, it struggles to get off the line quickly and tops out at just over 100mph, in fact on the downhill run to the finish I actually clutched in and coasted and hit 107mph, faster than what it topped out at. :lol:

Handling was passable for a cruiser, but not if you’re going for a spirited drive on the twistys.

As a lazy, beautiful cruiser, it’s perfect, but not as much of a sports/super car Corvette’s are seen as today.

But it’s a Barn Find so it’s technically free (unless you paid to speed up the process.) so it’s saved from being a Beater, but not by much.

My advice? Throw on some Vintage Race Tyres, bolt on a Centrifugal Supercharger, punch the engine out to 4.5 litres and take it to top of B Class. :D

Verdict: Neutral

Now it’s Forza tuned counterpart however.

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Pre-tuned to the top of A Class, it’s got Gold trim, a cover over the passenger seat, a paintable front splitter, Firestone branded tyres and the 7.4 V8 from the Chevelle SS 454.

Like the previous FE car we drove, this one also has a class change compared to the normal C1 which is in the Classic Sports Cars class to the FE’s Classic Racers class.

Also like the previous FE Car, it has a quirk with its engine displacement, but instead of punching it out to 41 litres like in the Fairlady FE, this one goes from 7.4 litres…

DOWN to 6.1 litres and then 4.5 litres. :odd:

It’s got a 5 speed gearbox to get the most out of its extra power and has front aero from the front splitter.

Which can make at the limit driving a little tricky as there’s no rear aero.

It does however, grip up nicely from a launch, stops nicely and handles the lower speed stuff rather well.

As FE cars go, it’s a nice nod the classics and if i’m not mistaken, it’s the first time that a FE’s base car is also a barn find(Normal C1) so the OG Vettes are valued quite well in Mexico. :P

Verdict: Sleeper ;)👍

And on the subject of OG Vettes..

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This one’s from nearer the end of the C1 Vette’s run and with the C2 Stingray a few short years away.

With a 290hp 4.6 V8 sending power to the rear via a 4 speed gearbox, it still can be an open top cruiser, but now it’s got much more pick up when you do decide to be more rowdy with the throttle. :cool:

Revs out nicely too, well past 7 grand on the rev counter.

As mentioned by others, it can be squirrelly on corner exit if you’re a bit lead footed, but it’s brakes and handling are pretty solid even for it’s time.

Interestingly, despite being a solid engine swap candidate, it has no engine swap options and only a centrifugal supercharger as a boost option. :confused:

Clearly the 1960 Vette is cherished more than expected. :lol:

And unless you bought yours off the auction house, the only normal way to get one is by getting every other car under the Chevrolet banner and getting as a manufacturer bonus.

On the whole, it was quite a pleasant driving experience.

So to recap..

The Barn Find C1 is Neutral
The FE C1 is a Sleeper 👍
And the Manufacturer Bonus C1 is a Sleeper. ;)👍
 
With the summer season coming around and introducing a bunch of new stuff into the game including a car appropriately named the Sunshine (though if I'm not mistaken, PG misnamed the car by accident or on purpose. Unclear on that one!), it's time to take a cruise and reflect on the open-top Corvettes that started it all.

The 1953 C1 is...Neutral!
The 1953 C1 FE is...A Sleeper!
The 1960 C1 is...A Sleeper!

Fascinating. I was the outlier this week on one of the cars. :lol:

I'm going to tone it down this week with one standard car that we're all guaranteed to have. We'll see how things go when we take a look at the...
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1991 Jaguar Sport XJR-15!

Brought to us as a Barn Find here in Mexico, the XJR-15 is new to Forza Horizon and is a rather interesting historical set piece much like the Transit the other week.

The biggest thing we need to get out of the way: this car started life as an XJR-9.

Yes. The 1988 Le Mans winner.

I'm not joking. Look it up.

The XJR-15 was the brainchild of one Tom Walkinshaw who saw Jaguar's work with the XJ220 concept car in 1988 and was inspired to create a road-going race car. The XJR-9 chassis was worked up into the early R9R prototype and eventually into the production XJR-15 model. Only 53 were produced, making this car a true unicorn. It was also succeeded by the XJ220 production model shortly after, so it was a very small blip in the supercar world in the 1990s.

A car derived from a Le Mans monster deserves to be given a shot to show what it can do, and something with very nice lines ought to go to a scenic route.

I decided to take a compromise to hit both sides of the matter. We are taking the XJR-15 (S1 828) up the Volcan Sprint! A technical, lengthy climb up the volcano with plenty of corners of differing speeds and sizes, the Volcan Sprint should give us just enough to work with to really find out where the XJR stands.

As always, let's start those engines, warm up the tires, and find out if this obscure big cat is truly worthy of its Le mans lineage.
 
Interestingly enough, there was an even more powerful version of the XJR-15 called the XJR-15 LM.

Not much is known about it, even the Wiki section on it doesn’t have much on it, but here’s what i’ve found on it.

At least 5 cars were built, all owed (Still are?) by a Japanese Businessman.

They had a 7.4 V12 based off the 7.0 V12 from the XJR-12 and was good around 700hp (Wiki on the XJR-12 says 730hp.), revised front and rear aero and a large air intake on the roof to assist engine cooling.

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Hey @Vic Reign93, I see you sneaking around the A class leaderboards with that there Wuling brick and I only have one thing to say to you:

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DAYTONAAAAAAAAA!


Ahem. Goofiness aside, let's take a look at the XJR-15 and see how good it is.

Out of the gate, we've got some interesting numbers. The car has stats that'd be pretty close to the top of S1 to begin with, with a spread of 7 Speed, 8 handling, 6 accel, 6.3 launch, 6.8 braking...yup. This definitely smells of S1 stat spread. Though, those numbers would be more likely on a heavy, front-engine RWD at S1900 than on a light mid-engined car like this...basically it has potential.

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Brave opinion: this looks a lot nicer than the XJ220. And I absolutely adore the XJ20.

Those stats don't mean too much without hard numbers. The car starts at 450 HP, 420 ft-lbs of torque and a meager 2,315 lbs. Light car with solid power numbers. Already promising. And on the drive down to the track, it's already apparent just how much of the Le Mans lineage is left over in the car as it has a remarkable amount of grip and general responsiveness to input. This is going to be fun to wring.

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This is what happens when you twitch just a little too much trying to correct something!

So, Volcan Sprint. What's the raw experience like with this car?
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The stats don't lie. This thing's got some might to it. I have very little to say other than that...This car is pretty remarkable. I would not be surprised if this thing was one of the best supercars in the world at the time it was produced. Though, the McLaren was released around the same time, and even this thing would have to play second fiddle to it.

When all is said and done, I got a kind of messy 3 minute flat run.
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It's really good in stock form, but because it's so low down in S1, everything else just kind of overpowers it by sheer might. Let's even the playing field.

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9.1 handling seems overkill, but you'd be surprised how much of an advantage that confers over most S1 cars on a technical course like this. Being able to reliably score higher entry and exit speeds in a turn lets the car exploit its other key advantages. And let's be real, this used to be a Group C car. It's gotta drive like one.

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Let's put on the funky 90s beats and think back to a younger, more innocent time for this machine...

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I just want to note that this was my first run up this track with this tuned XJR-15. I absolutely could invest a lot more time and drive that time all the way down to a 42, 41 or even sub 40. This thing is a retro monster.

And since it's a retro monster, a barn find, and incredibly obscure to most people, I can only really go one way with it.

Sleeper.
 
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Well @Obelisk if the ‘Sunshine F1’ which only just gets to A800 on the stock motor might I add, can outrun a Daytona which did a semi decent lap time, maybe step up your game a bit. :lol:

It may or may not be the only event I’d let it loose on. :mischievous:

Anyways..

The XJR-15, the Jaguar Supercar that was overshadowed by another Jaguar Supercar.

With a 450hp 6.0 V12 hooked up to a 5 speed manual gearbox (a 6 speed unsynchronised manual was standard equipment.), The XJR-15 will haul its 2315lbs to over 200mph (191mph was the IRL top speed.) while revving out to over 7000rpm.

My impression on handling was quite a bit of initial understeer and some oversteer on low speed exits if you’re a little lead footed, but a decent level of throttle control will help with turning the car through the tighter turns, at least in my experience.

Personally, it just needs some more grippy tyres as the brakes and suspension are nicely suited for the event.

In a way, the XJR-15 is already a Sleeper, it’s always been overshadowed, rarely in any games that do it justice.

Considering it’s the first road car to be built entirely out of composites like Kevlar and Carbon Fibre and even had a 3 race series supporting F1 in 1991, it’s always the XJ220 that gets the credit as Jaguar’s 90’s Supercar.

And it’s a shame really, but at least it’s getting it’s day in the Mexico sun. 👍

Verdict: Sleeper 😉👍

Oh one last thing, know how I said it was a support series for F1 in 1991?



Enjoy 😎
 
SPD Writes Car Of The Week: Week 14 - Jaguar Sport XJR-15


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Don't mind the fact that there might be a few bits of your precious valaubles in the passenger seat.


And now: Jaguar. One of my favorite car brands of all time, maybe topping out the UK for my part. It's not well known around here that my introduction to supercars in general was because of one, that Jag being the legendary XJ220. But that isn't what's on the spotlight this week, no. We have a look at yet another Tom Walkinshaw produced monster under the Jaguar brand. Because they've been doing it for years.

But of course here would be the part where I would tell you my origins for the car in general, that is, if I ever had that sort of thing. This car has a yes, and it's mainly thanks to this old supercar book my dad bought me one time, of which I cannot find a picture of online. I recall even getting introduced to things like the Lister Storm, the Marcos Mantaray, the Shelby Cobra and the Lotus Carlton in there.

But to solidify this, we can also put in ye olde Need For Speed III: Hot Pursuit. And even there it's my preferred car of choice, with a dark green finish. If we hop back a game earlier, you can also deduce where that XJ220 origin story also paved itself in my mind. Before Horizon 5, the only game I know with both the XJR-15 and the XJ220 together would be Gran Turismo 2.

Oddly, even as a brand I do find myself very interested in, the history of these cars haven't been so clear to me, especially with one trick ponies such as this XJR-15. I only know that this car is intended as sort of the road version of the XJR-9, which was proper V12 mad to begin with, and also would be the predecessor to the Nissan R390: a much more obscure, yet much more popular unicorn of the 90s. I wonder how much is there in common between these two cars?

When it comes to performance, this is one of the best cats.. I mean, cars of S1. How do you make a racecar based supercar any good? By making it do the racing portion extremely well, and have blistering speed on the side as well. I haven't experienced it myself, but I'll be wary the next time someone rolls up with one of these kitties.

This particular Jaguar would one of the few cars in this marque that would be in S1, at 828 PI (strangely rated as 829 in certain places). It sits right there next to its NFS Hot Pursuit rival: the Mercedes-Benz AMG CLK GTR, only apart by 1 PI. Like last week and in week 6, this one's a barn find, meaning the one you have will be the only one for now.

But there was a week where this car would be the prize for completing a Horizon Super 7. So I have 2. One is brought up to the top of S1 (that dark green one)..


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..and the other is the stock one that I will use for this week's drive.


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To break out the Jag, we aren't headed for a track of any kind, but rather a challenging hillclimb in Volcan Sprint.


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Curse this fog! How it veils anything but these abundance of skidmarks.. which would mean there's possibly a drifter or two busy doing their thing.. or is it this MINI doing its thing?

While it's no Fortune Island Needle Run, this majestic climb up to the volcano would provide road racing cars a run to see if the drivers are boys or men. The difficulty of the track can be attributed to its uneven surfaces, tight roads, possibly maddening checkpoint coverage, no Barry R in most speedy segments, the length, and possibly more. Oddly I feel it should cover the entire paved road up, because it didn't.

The road however is better known as a very popular spot for drifters. I mean, there's an entire drift zone that covers most of the track in the freeroam. I've heard of people scoring up to a million with the likes of anything not made for this sport, thanks to how great the drift physics are here. But we're not here for that.


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How much XJR-9 can we find here? Or perhaps there's another glimmer of Jaguar racing that comes from this?


- Launch for an S1 car is respectable, and the wheelspin is manageable. And like a few cars with these: if you can feather a bit on 1st gear, you're going to be ahead of those who launch with full throttle. My method specifically is to go 100% until you reach 23 MPH, then you put a little less, till 56 MPH, then shift. It can go further, but I shift around 7000 RPM.

- To make that last bit of the first point feel extra nice, the car's tachometer tops out at 7000 RPM, and that works out when I do drive the thing in first person. Very precise. On to the car's interior: it's the interesting blend of racecar in a road car. That steering wheel is odd, but it apparently is so that you have space for your calves underneath. The windshield is nice and round, but has that wiper placed in front of you, which is a little bit annoying. The car's got a right side gearbox, placed tightly by the door. I wonder how that feels, right hand driver with a right hand shifter.

- Next up is the drive. I'll briefly touch upon the sound, and after watching a very old Top Gear skit on Tiff Needell taking it around Silverstone, it's actually got this beastly roar going around. But on to the experience: this car is very very well mannered. If you're going to make it do something else than pace, it's going to do it. I've made a quick look on the stock parts, and it's got that weaker-than-street compound but still handles super good, like the C1 Forza Edition last week. Other interesting parts include fully customizable springs and roll bars already on.

- The braking on this car is excellent. Being based off a race car does that to you. Funny enough, they aren't race brakes, and more impressive: I can't get them to lock on me in a bad way. And while we're still on handling: the car can turn quite well. Maybe tiny bits of understeer, but you won't even notice.

- As with the launch, the car's traction is very good. Volcan Sprint carries quite a lot of that unwanted elevation changes that'll usually unsettle these kinds of cars. Not this Jag, it won't, for the most part.

- Volcan Sprint has been interesting. There are definitely challenging bits, and the Jaguar just scoffs at them. Even that last 'straight' starting from 72%: the one usually I have occasionally had trouble weaving through the checkpoints.. the XJR-15 don't give a hoot and has every attempt through this segment just like going through the Maggotts at cruise control.

- A quick little complaint to the track: for an official Horizon Apex event, Barry R isn't going a good job making racing lines stay on the road. I find myself often cutting the road, with all 4 wheels on grass too! But thanks to that weaker-than-street compound, the car don't got much grip loss, meaning spinouts almost never happen.

- So the general rule of this racecar based supercar is to just drive. Simple like that? Aside being a bit lighter than usual for plowing through obstacles, the car has no distinct weaknesses, but has a few great characteristics in it that makes it drive excellent. No wonder it's a top tier king of S1 road: all the pieces are in place, and you have all that bonus 72 PI to fill in.


Have you ever thought you'd find the perfect car? That's never possible, but in many ways, this XJR-15 always gave me the sort of idea what is the perfect car. Not too drowned in technology, but still managing to give the drivers of today the kind of ride that just screams Jag.. I mean, wow! Anyways, it's quite a ride up, and if all this SPD soliloquy just going up like this means something, well, it does.

This car and track combo is just another.. uhh, SPD having a completely zen moment in Rivals. I'll highlight this in bold from here on out, maybe I'll call it the Mark of Zen this one being the fourth.

It's time to get that time! Yes, very corny. Let's bring up the leaderboards, and..

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The top time of this car with my name on it is 2:54.467.

My initial goal was just to reach 2:55, though I've felt the phenomenon of doing this climb again and again in full earnest, which led me to this 2:54 finish. The car's general characteristics has helped root that earnest idea very much. It's the closest thing to a racecar without being one.. well, after all: it's based on one Group C wedge coated in Silk Cut.


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So, here is the space for this week's SPD showcase. And this is going to be quite similar to the Alpine week: many rivals, though, with a tiny change.

Now for this week, we don't have much in the selection of past COTW entries. So I'll probably just throw in a few, also stock options that would fit the theme. So no throwing in random Lamborghinis or Toyotas, or whatever. Also: we're staying at that lower S1 half so things don't get that far out of hand.

Since the XJR-15's is a barn find, it's extremely limited in amount to players too, and maybe someone wants that kind of performance only at a more accessible form.

One more rule: let's not dwell on the top of S1, because this thing is all kinds of ridiculous there. And just like with the Alpine week, these ghost times are going to be flagged, so that the XJR-15's time will stay on. But let's begin with..


OBVIOUS RIVAL - Mercedes-Benz AMG CLK GTR


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While not really a real life rivalry, it's already been set up since their appearances as the top (non-fictional) machines of a classic Need For Speed, and it's been 2 decades due a grudge match. What is being offered here is very similar to the XJR-15. Good handling and sleek design. Having 1 PI ahead is just icing on the cake.

This Mercedes got a best time of 2:55.936.

These are very different cars. The CLK launches better, and has better acceleration out of the corners, but didn't quite keep up with the Jag if a bigger straight is present. It had better transmission, but also didn't like it when I did some transmission related handling techniques, like engine braking. But the main thing is: this car handles good, but feels floaty, and couldn't handle the fairly bumpy road just as well. So the XJR-15 had the advantage over the whole experience, hence the 1 and a half seconds better time.

Good job, XJR-15, you've proven to me you've always been better to me now and to 8 year old me.



MODERN BRITISH TRACK CAR - Lotus 3-Eleven


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And now for a sort of compromise. The XJR-15 is excellent in all areas. But I want to see it compare to a modern track car that adds on to the handling portion. This 3-Eleven would fit the bill nicely. Aside from having one of the best sounds in the game, the drive as well is just as nice. But it is much slower in the straights for a car with 11 more PI. So, all this is just to show how much Volcan Sprint leans towards speed or handling, and before this car takes this sprint, it's all just a coin toss to me.

My best effort with this Lotus is a 2:50.985. And when I mean effort, I mean it's my first and only run.

Well, that 11 PI advantage really oversold itself here. The car was just amazing, start to finish. I even did this best run through first person. Responsive, on-rails handling, just lacking that top end, but it did the job right and did it good. Also: this is most definitely a handling track, just with bits that require some speed.



MODERN SUPERCAR - McLaren 570S


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As with the XJR-15 being classed as a Retro Supercar, let's pit it against a Modern Supercar, and there's a 570S in my garage waiting to get out there. It might be 4 PI short, but can modern technology developments upstage this old school V12? It's a McLaren, so the drive has to be quite good.


But how good? The best time for this entry level supercar would be 2:59.332.

It's a road car, plain and simple. So there isn't any kind of racing handling, being understeery and kind of weighty. The other drawback comes from its tires: they're probably a much better compound than Street, so it has even less grip on the grass. The car's speedy features are great, however. Sort of backs up the track's handling preference; this car is probably the worst car to drive in this showcase, but it's not terrible at all!



THE OTHER JAG - Jaguar XJ220S TWR


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One thing owners of the car pass would benefit is access to 2 other high performance Jaguars. The one that will apply to this showcase is going to be the one with Tom Walkinshaw's name on it: the XJ220S. It does have a 20 PI advantage, so I've already prepared mentally that it will be ahead. But how far ahead is the car on my hands?

This Jag's best time clocks in at 2:52.861. The establishing of how the track caters to handling cars stands here. The XJ220S at stock is a car with a lot of straight line, and quite lacking on the handling parts, specifically upon corner exit. I'm not quite sure how the car is quite the monster in S1 road. Perhaps I'll find out after this.

I know you might be thinking why the R390 isn't on this list. As a successor of sorts, it is in many ways better than the XJR-15, and even in game by 31 PI. That kind of advantage isn't going to do anything for the XJR-15's overall verdict.. which is where we're going to now!


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After a whole day of climbing up, I figure it's time to let loose. At stock performance, it's actually quite manageable for a dirt racer. Let me buy barn finds off the Auction House!


So..

What is the Jaguar Sport XJR-15? It is..

Jaguar's classic race V12 transformed to an early 90's supercar, unfortunately doomed to obscurity by what comes after.

This is a car that's sort of relatable to the Transit Supervan 3, only that this package comes in with twice the valves, a drive that brings out a whole new bad boy attitude, and most importantly: street legality. That is the kind of car that I do want to have in S1, and to say it's not a Sleeper is to say it somehow let me down in one or more ways. And it sure hasn't.

Aside a closing picture, how about that classic Top Gear skit on this car.





full

If there's one thing: there isn't much of a place for high class here in Mexico. Kind of a letdown since these Jags were made for those sort of environments.
 
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In between appointments that basically bookend my day today, I've taken a trip to Mexico to discover the answer to an elusive question:
Just what is the Jaguar XJR-15?

And the voices from beyond white sands (and white screens) have whispered to me their answer: Sleeper. Excellent. This big cat still has fangs.

With that, it's time to welcome the snow back to the Mexican landscape and bring the next car (provided by our overlord @Vic Reign93) into the limelight.

Now before I say what the car is this week, I have to express a sentiment I've been...hey, who turned off the music?

Stop.
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Hammer time.

Yup. This week's car is the 1987 Mercedes-Benz AMG Hammer Coupe. Previously a unicorn in the last Horizon game, the AMG Hammer returns as a standard car and can be had in the Auto Show for a reasonable price. The reason for the week's name being what it is has to do with how Vic presented it to me:
Vic Reign93
8 cylinders, 6 litres, 4 gears, 2 wheel drive

This retro coupe comes packing horsepower somewhere deep in the 340 range if not past that, coming from a 6 liter V8 and paired to a four speed transmission going to the rear wheels.

We're going to be taking this retro German muscle car (B 681) down the Reservorio Sprint, a high speed sprint from the Festival to the edge of the reservoir to the southeast. Try not to drown the engine in the water by missing a turn.

And as always, let's start our engines, warm up our tires and burn some rubber to a retro V8 soundtrack!
 
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Quite the fun cruiser, easy to just cruise about in, but still got enough fire power and handling to dust a similarly vintage 911 Turbo.
Hell, Countach’s and Testarossa’s weren’t safe either as the AMG Hammer’s 6.0 V8 was good for 379hp.

Granted that’s a bit behind those two, but that didn’t stop the AMG Hammer from having a quoted top speed of 186mph(300kph) and 0-60 in 5 seconds flat, making it one of if not the quickest cars in its class back then. :eek:

In Game it’ll top out at nearly 196mph stock. :drool:

Notice how I haven’t said Coupe yet?

Because the AMG Hanmer could be had as a Coupe or a 4 door Saloon.

Not only that, technically speaking this is a Tuned car as AMG was an independent tuning company when this car was built, but in 1990 they signed a Co-Op Agreement with Mercedes Benz which meant they now worked with Mercedes on future AMG models.


In terms of options in game, it’s got a very subtle widebody option and rear wing option and the 3 engine swap options are the 5.2 V10, the 7.2 Racing V8 or the 6.9(nice:sly:) V12 from the CLK GTR.

If you’re wanting your W124 Mercedes fix, the AMG Hammer Coupe is the best (only) pick, but if GTP’s resident Forza Dataminer is to believed, it may eventually have some company in the form of a Mercedes Benz 500E from 1992. :D

I also realised while writing this review is that 1987 was a good year for black on black road cars, both the AMG Hammer Coupe and the Buick GNX are the same model year. :cool:

They both have 4 speed Automatics, both are well sought after machines, Both were capable of scarring cars way above their price brackets with the Buick out accelerating them at the 1/4 mile and the AMG Hammer keeping pace with them on the Autobahn.

Overall, a worthy Sleeper. 👍

Verdict: Sleeper 😉👍
 
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