Beater or Sleeper? FH4 COTW! - Week 34: Third GT's the charm!

[Obelisk]

Good work, Vic!

This week, I've made sure to see that my track is accessible to the public. By the looks of it, it should be shared. NOTIFY ME RIGHT AWAY IF IT ISN'T SO THAT I CAN LOOK INTO IT.


That aside, our car this week is the...

Austin Healey Sprite!

The classic Bugeye certainly has a charming little smile on its face, does it not? You'll have a smile on your face when you send it flying over the dirt on our mixed-surface track at the Derwent Reservoir Sprint starting point!

 

[Vic Reign93]

The Austin Sprite, the original happy faced two seater.

With a 0.9 litre 45hp 4 cylinder upfront and only 664kgs to shift, it’s not one for outright speed, but it is one for those who like carrying speed through turns.

While I think it’s got the wrong engine sound coutesy of it’s bigger brother the 3000 MKIII, it oddly fits well with the Sprite

It can also be quite power dense if built right, IIRC my B Class version still has under 1 litre of displacement, but thanks to some boost makes over 200hp which gives it over 200hp per litre.

Handles decently considering the old tyres and lack of a differential, but it’s lack of power means conserving momentum is king for the best time. 👍

It’s a Sleeper, how could it not be with such a happy face?

Verdict: Sleeper 👍

 

[Obelisk]

It's such a happy little charmer, isn't it? Quite easy to drive and has some serious straight line grunt when upgraded.

Sleeper.

Vic's won the TT again, congrats!

This week's car is a trademark of the United Kingdom and especially London. It's the...

Austin FX4 Taxi!

This week's TT will have two options - You can run the Austin bone stock or in an A class build! This car has a lot of potential upgrade-wise, so it'd be a shame to leave that unexplored.

The course will be starting at Whitewater Falls Cross Country!

 

[Vic Reign93]

Let’s get it this out the way, Unless you’re driving this only around Edinburgh, give the Taxi the parts it wants, Hell PG knows you’ll not keep it stock and tempts you with 2 bodykit options, a chopped roof and a chopped roof with a wide body kit.

Couple with the fact that aside from the Taxi Horizon Story, Wheelspins or the auction house are the only other ways to get it.

So in stock form, I’m tempted to call it a Beater. 👎

Tuned however...

As someone who’s lucky to have 4 Taxis at the moment, I settled on what was my C class drift taxi and turned it into my A class rally taxi, complete with the Turbo Rally engine.

It now has the fun to go with the rare status.

Of course there’s a Taxi that’s got more potential for fun, the ultra rare auction only HS edition.

The upgrades you see on the Taxi in the Horizon Story are all usable on the HS edition, Racing V12? yep, Bodykit option to allow huge off-road and drag tyres? yes sir, The same 1750hp engine found in the Funco Motorsports F9 Buggy? It’s all there.

The stock taxi is the quirky canvas for the player to build their vision of a Hot Rod Taxi.

A Class Taxi Verdict: Sleeper 👍

 

[Obelisk]

Yeah, it's a bit useless in stock form. What's fun about these cars is that you can really read where their limits are and thread the needle there - the thing digs in more offroad than I was expecting it to - quite impressive, really. I have to give it a neutral rating in stock form because of that.

As for the A class build...

I went with an AWD swap, the V8 from the Corvette, the widebody kit and all the works in suspension and braking. And Forza Aero - yes, it works for dirt roads.
The upgraded Austin Taxi is a sleeper because it can get ridiculously fast.

I guess that means I've got Vic on both counts this week! Hooray for me! now watch as he destroys me this week

This week's car is on the opposite end of the spectrum - powerful off the bat, even better upgraded.

It's the...

Chevrolet Corvette C6 ZR1!

From meager taxi to American powerhouse, Forza shows us just how diverse the car library is. This week's choice is a beast of a car and one of the fastest Corvettes ever developed.

This week's TT is returning to the Broadway Village Scramble starting point.

 

[Vic Reign93]

Back in around the time the C6 ZR1 was released, It was thrown in right against the Nissan GT-R as a supercar performer, but not costing supercar money.

100k was not much for 205mph, mid 3 second runs to 60mph and 638hp from the LS9 6.2 Supercharged V8.

While the obvious complaints like the interior and rear panel being plastic are often pointed out, in terms of bang for your buck(or pyrotechnics for your pound.) it’s hard to ignore the ‘Blue Devil’.

Even in Forza it’s still a contender, 125k in game and the only cars cheaper that are also more powerful, are also newer than the C6 ZR1 (With the Double Down Ford hot rod being the exception.).

Only 8 road cars are cheaper and have more power, all of them are American.

Both Dodge Hellcats, SRT Viper, Both ZL1 Camaro’s, C7 Z06, Cadillac CTS-V Sedan and the Shelby GT500.

Half of those run the same 650hp 6.2 Supercharged V8(The CTS-V’s is slightly detuned.) and the Viper is the only one of those 8 to do it without the need for boost (640 to the ZR1’s 638).

The point? In terms of cheap horsepower there wasn’t much back then that wasn’t exotic that could rival the ZR1, but these days you’re spoilt for choice.

While the route wasn’t absolutely technical, The ZR1 was well planted on the high speed section and can set a hot time when you make it behave on the trickier routes.

The C6 ZR1 may be 10 years old, but it’s more than capable of hanging with the new kids of today.

Verdict: Sleeper 👍

 

[Obelisk]

Lovely, brutish American icon. Incredibly terrifying run through the festival. This thing is a sleeper, as counter-intuitive as that sounds.

QUICK HEADS UP - I RAN INTO CONNECTION ISSUES WHILE MAKING THE BLUEPRINTS. WILL HAVE THEM UP TOMORROW 4/21

As for this week normal car, we will be going back to the first track made for this thread - still at Broadway Village Scramble. Not to worry - we're amping it up this week with a car from the Barrett-Jackson DLC!

This week's normal car is the...

Radical RX5!

I don't know much about this thing - just that it's small, light, loud and fast. It'll run at the track listed above.

And this week's bonus car is the...

Plymouth Atomic Punk!

This bizarro beast is going to be running on a custom course at the Elmsdon on Sea Sprint.

 

[Vic Reign93]

So you don’t know much about Radical?

Radical is one of many small British companies that specialises in road legal track cars, but like Ariel, they are more known than most.

Early Radicals used motorbike engines and after building 1100 cars in 1999, they created a one make race series for them.

In 2005 they stepped up to the LMP2 class at Le Mans with the SR9, while only finishing 20th at the 24hr race, the 2 teams running the SR9 finished 3rd and 5th in class at the Nurburgring.

On that subject, 2009 saw the road legal car record at the ring get lowered to a 6:48 with the SR8LM which packed a 2.8 litre V8 and 455hp.

Said time has since been beat by Porsche and Lamborghini.

The RXC Turbo we have is powered by a 3.5 TT Ecoboost V6 and used a 7 speed gearbox.

If grip is want you want, you be hard pressed to find a solid alternative to a Radical.

Verdict: Sleeper 👍

And the Bubble Top..

Well it’s a classic hot rod, with a 3 speed gearbox, skinny front tyres and a big Hemi V8 upfront (6.4 litres) topped off with 8 carburettors.

That big Hemi makes 450hp and 501ft-lbs of torque and pushing 2700lbs along to speeds over 170mph down the motorway.

Handling is not even close to its strong suit, the classic rubber, skinny front tyres and not much in terms of braking means it’s more of a cruiser than a corner carving bruiser, but I have been hearing that it’s a potential rival in A class to the rather dominant Hot Wheels Boneshaker.

Stock for stock, it’s terrible to try and race seriously, but rather nice for cruising or drag racing.

Verdict: Neutral

 

[Obelisk]

I just got a G29.

Solid, terrifyingly fast and easy to push hard. Sleeper.

Gonna have to call it a beater as it's a slushy ride and the gearbox is kinda horrid.

24hr reminder to get times in!

 

[Obelisk]

!This week, we've got two takes on the same machine for our COTW.

It's the...

Ford Bronco!

And the...

Ford Bronco Barrett-Jackson!

Both of these Broncos will be running at a nice track stating at the Derwentwater Trail starting point!

 

[Vic Reign93]

The normal Bronco wasn’t much to write home about to drive, but wasn’t terrible either.

It’s one for off roaring or rock crawling, just like the BJ Bronco is built for.

Verdict: Neutral

Speaking of said Bronco..

Still retains a 3 speed gearbox for off roading, but is on much bigger off road tyres, suspension is uprated and the Ford V8 has been hopped up.

Take what I said about the stock Bronco, add some polish to it and include the fact it’s now better due to the modifications.

Add in the option of the BJ Bronco been able to have the Turbo Rally engine and 7.2 Racing V8 as engine swaps and it’s a open and shut verdict of Sleeper. 👍

Verdict: Sleeper 👍

 

[Obelisk]

I'd call this neutral, but it has a glaring issue with its 3rd gear being useless on the snowy bits - resulting in it being in 2nd gear for most of the run.
Beater, but with nasty Sleeper potential.

Inversely, the BJ edition of the Bronco is a beast that should not be overlooked. Sleeper.

For this week, we're focusing back down on a single car. And it's a special one hailing from Germany.

It's the...

BMW I8!

This week's TT starts at The Meadows Sprint. Have at it!

 

[HyperSpeeder]

At this point I think FM can keep the race cars... FH seems better for road cars.

The i8 drives great but you won't reach S1900 without that BMW V10.

(unlike the Roadster, oddly enough!)

 

[Vic Reign93]

At this point I think FM can keep the race cars... FH seems better for road cars.

The i8 drives great but you won't reach S1900 without that BMW V10.

(unlike the Roadster, oddly enough!)

My rally prepped I8 Coupe will disagree with that statement.

S1 900, 600hp 4wd and retains the original powerplants, albeit heavily upgraded obviously.

As for the stock I8, despite the fact the rear end looks like it had Porsche 911 crash into it, it was a solid hybrid performance car, but it’s 140k asking price puts it in against some proven powerhouses like the GT-R and the recently tested C6 ZR1, cars which bring more to the party for less pay.

The best way to sum it up is this, Is 140K too much for a eco friendly performance car?

Not this time it’s not. 👍

Verdict Neutral(but I do recommend getting one.)

 

[Obelisk]

It's quite a solid machine. Good bit of oomph when you press the go-louder pedal and handles quite nicely.

Neutral. Quite a good machine, but not quite sleeper.

From German eco-sports car to dirt-flinging machine, this week's car is the...

Penhall Cholla!

What makes this week special is that we are actually able to use a Rivals event to study this car! This week's TT is Race Discipline Rivals > Dirt Tracks > Mortimer Gardens Scramble.

 

[Vic Reign93]

The Cholla suited this track very well, nicely close gearing, solid brakes and plenty of suspension travel and softness to cope with any and all bumps and jumps.

Granted it can only be got via auction house or reaching level 14 in Cross Country, but it’s a worthy machine and that goes more so if you tune it up to A Class.

Verdict: Sleeper 👍

 

[Obelisk]

I agree with the above assessment. However, I'd like to note that it could afford somewhat fatter rear tires to keep the grip going through some of the more unorthodox corners and lines.

Sleeper on offroad conditions.

And for this week, we have another Forza Rivals event!

The car of choice is the...

Chevrolet Camaro Z/28!

This week's Rivals event is under Road Racing - it's at Lakehurst Copse Circuit!

Have at it!

 

[Vic Reign93]

(1:06.967)

I’ve always had a soft spot for this particular Z/28, retains the 505hp 7 litre LS7 from the C6 Z06, race derived suspension, huge sticky tyres at all 4 corners and tweaked aerodynamics.

Despite weighing around the same as a Nissan GT-R, it feels agile, yet compliant, even in the wet.

While these days the ZL1 1LE can clean house for the Camaro model, the Z/28 remains a enthusiasts track toy, heck you can likely find used ones for less than $40k these days which on a bang for your buck scale, is pretty good going. 👍

Plus if I’m right, it’s the same engine used in the Nova FE and that’s capable of over 1200hp fully tuned.

In summary, want a track focused pony car, but aren’t a Ford fan? Here you go.

Verdict: Sleeper 👍

 

[Obelisk]

Bit of a pain to drive on wheel, but bloody fast for what it is. I think I'll up the tires and have a proper go at this leaderboard.

Sleeper.

As for this week, we're going to be tackling the S2 Juggernaut Drag rivals with the...

Porsche GT3 RS!

For bonus points, run both stock and maxed out in S2, see what you get. iirc it barely slots into S2 at like 903/904 PI.

 

[Vic Reign93]

So having picked up a second GT3 RS for this I can say a drag strip(or a not so straight section of motorway.) isn’t the place for it in stock form.

It’s by no means slow as it was nearly touching 200mph, but you just know it’s craving sharper turns, switchbacks and heavy braking zones.

But that being said, it accelerates hard, gearing is nicely grouped to keep that 4.0 Flat 6 singing at over 9k Rpm and the rear wing keeps it planted in the super high speed corners.

And as a fyi, I didn’t immediately ditch it after testing, I detuned it to S1 by basically turning it into an RGT rally car.

Rally tyres, suspension, cage etc, still rear drive and is a blast to drive on the Gauntlet. 👍

Stock for stock, Sleeper. 👍

For tuned I kept it rear drive, but threw every part at the stock engine for a total of 931hp, 2,880lbs and speeds over 230 mph.

 

[Obelisk]

I dropped the 3.8 F6TT and an AWD swap into my GT3 RS. It's a beast when tuned.

As for stock...

The GT3's a beast, but it's not meant for a speed duel.

This week's car is the...

1960 Chevrolet Corvette!

This week's Rivals event is going to be taking place at Derwent Resevoir Sprint.

 

[Vic Reign93]

Before I do this quick review, some good news for Series 11(the next in game year).

Class Rivals is finally coming back!!

Which would likely mean the end of the Joker lap routes and simplifying the whole process.

So the C1 Vette, the first one to bring a 4.6 litre V8 to the party after the early C1’s ‘Blue Flame’ 3.9 litre In-line 6.

290hp, under 1400kgs, 4 forward speeds in its gearbox and a whole lot of style.

While the whitewall tyres don’t help the drum brakes with stopping, but it’s relatively stable through the turns.

Interestingly IIRC, unlike the other games you can’t swap the engine out, only add a Centrifugal Supercharger to it, but you still are looking at around 500hp at least.

So if the early C1 isn’t your speed, this later model C1 should do the trick.

Verdict: Sleeper 👍

 

[Obelisk]

-

Solid machine, that C1. It had a bit of slip angle to it which lends itself well to being more aggressive on the throttle.

I'd call it a sleeper in stock form.

Also --

Sorry about the delay, everyone! For this week, we've got a two-for-one deal!

For our mainland car, we are using the...

Honda Civic Type-R!

This week's time trial is at Princes Street Garden Circuit!

And for our friends this week who are more...constructively inclined, this week's DLC car is the...

LEGO Mini Cooper!

We will be running this blocky car around the Area 7052 Scramble rivals event! In addition, you can also test it at the top of S1 at this layout if you want to. Just make sure to note it when posting!

 

[Vic Reign93]

(0:58.559)

It’s everything you expect from a Type R, grippy, agile and responsive, plus the slightly mad rear wing.

Due to emission regulations, it now packs a turbocharger instead of being a rev happy NA, but it now packs over 300hp and much more low down torque.

Do I miss the rev happy engines of Civic’s past? A little.

Does this turbo 2.0 4 banger detract from the Type R Experience?

Not really.

Verdict: Sleeper 👍

And as for our bricky counterpart...

(0:52.553)

With 8 gears, 4wd and around 350hp, this Lego version of the classic Mini is no slouch.

Handles well, stops rather fast and is all round a good laugh to drive.

Just don’t expect a detailed interior.

Verdict: Bricky Sleeper 👍

 

[Obelisk]

Neutral. It's a Type R. We know they're fast.

As for the Lego Mini, Everything is Awesome. (Sleeper).


This week is the...

Ford RS200!

We're tackling the fearsome City Outskirts Cross Country rivals event. Can this legendary machine live up to its race reputation?

 

[Vic Reign93]

I set that time on the original Rivals event for that route, but if you select S Class for that route only 3 people have set times on it and they are all dirty times.

So run a clean attempt and hey presto, you are technically No1 on that global leaderboard.

So the RS200 Evo, a more hardcore version of a pretty hardcore machine of its time.

Standard RS200 had a 1.8 turbo Straight 4 and made around 250hp in road trim and as high as 450hp in rally spec, the Evolution took that engine and turned it up to 11.

Punched out to 2.1 litres, the engine power in game is just over 500hp, but varying sources throw out numbers anywhere from 550hp all the way up to 815hp depending on boost levels etc.

It joined later in the life of Group B rallying and had limited success, but the RS200 like the Delta S4 would be remembered for the wrong reasons as at the 1986 Portugal Rally, The RS200+ inexperienced local rally driver+ unreasonable behaving spectators led to 3 deaths of spectators and the first domino falling in the eventual ban of Group B.

After Group B, The RS200 saw action in European Rallycross and in the hands of ‘Mr Rallycross’ Martin Schanche, won the 1991 championship.

It also set and held the world record for the quickest accelerating road car for 12 years, the record being a 0-60 run of 3.07 seconds.

No road car has come close to holding the 0-60 record for as long as the RS200 did and with the high performance cars of today constantly running sub 2.5 second runs, it’ll likely never be beat either.

There’s a small drawback to the monster performance, well a couple in fact, but the main one was the engines lifespan.

It varied depending on boost levels, but I’ve seen and heard people say that you get around 80hrs of full throttle fun before the engine conks out, but with an engine throwing out around 240-300hp per litre that’s no surprise.

All of that could sum up what it’s like to drive, twitchy, terrifying, fast, fun and rowdy.

Verdict will depend entirely on your skill level to try and tame it, So Sleeper it is. 👍

 

[Obelisk]

This car is best left on the tarmac. Neutral.

This week, we've got the...

VW Touraeg R50!

We're running it at Bamburgh Pinewood Trail this week!

 

[Vic Reign93]

(2:53.607)

So the Touareg R50, The biggest vehicle that got VW’s R upgrade.

They applied that upgrade to the 5.0 V10 TDI engine which kicked power up to 346hp from 309 and torque up from 553 to 627ft-lbs of torque.

While the normal Touareg could also be had with a 6.0 litre W12 petrol engine, the V10 TDI was the standout engine for the VAG group, until they outdid themselves with the bonkers 6.0 litre V12 TDI in the Audi Q7.

So how’s it to drive? Well the sporty R upgrades have improved the handling, but it’s still a 2.6 ton SUV and a Diesel engine is quite a heavy thing so 54% of that weight is over the front axle.

Also driving a Diesel quickly means short shifting at the right point and keeping it on boost, but there’s quite the appeal to getting it right.

Plus seeing the big power and boost numbers when upgrading diesel engines doesn’t get old(over 100psi of boost on some of them.).

For what it is stock, it’s not great, but not terrible either.

Verdict: Neutral

 

[Obelisk]

I have to agree with the above verdict. It's not a compelling car, but not a terrible one either. Neutral

...I forgot to screencap it, but I ran a 2:55 in the Touraeg.

This week's a 2 for 1 track-wise!

We're running the...

SRT Demon!

And we'll be at the Colossus drag race and the Cotswold Super Sprint!

Also, just to make a note here: @Vic Reign93 Please be careful about the track limits! You were dangerously close to leaving the track on the very first turn of the Touraeg run. For the sake of transparency, I left the track a few times myself, so my time wouldn't have qualified anyways. Just make sure you keep two tires on the track surface, alright? That applies to me and everyone else who might be taking part in this behind the scene, too.

 

[Vic Reign93]

So the Dodge Challenger Demon, A factory built, street legal car that was built for one thing, demolishing the 1/4 mile sprint.

With an bigger supercharger and race fuel in the tank, it’ll make 840hp, but even on normal 91 octane fuel it’ll still make 808hp.

Now the normal Hellcat tended to have traction issues due to them being unable to have any wider tyres installed as it would involve redoing the entire rear end of the car.

Dodge’s solution? add a wide bodykit to it so the 315 width tyres can be installed at the front and back.

The tyres themselves are custom made road legal drag radials, first production car to come as standard with drag radials in fact.

Top speed is limited to 168mph normally to protect the tyres, but with tyres rated for higher speeds and the limiter removed, speeds of over 210mph have been recorded in top speed runs.

Now having said all that, it does still handle corners, but you can tell it doesn’t like it as the rear tends to step out quite often.

I’ll call it a Sleeper, simply because of the sheer madness of it all, it’s only a set up change and race fuel away from running sub 10 second 1/4 mile runs and even pulling the front wheels up a tad.

Sadly the Demon in reality is done and not returning, but many things it brought to the table are now being used on both of the normal Hellcats like the uprated power output to 797hp and the option to have the widebody kit to have wider tyres installed.

It may be gone, but it’s left quite the mark in it’s brief production.

Verdict: Sleeper. 👍