**CAR OF THE WEEK! Friday 7/09/12**

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McClarenDesign

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Announcing the 31st installment of the Car of the Week series.

A chance for everyone on GTPlanet to get behind the wheel of the same car and give it a thorough going over. The aim is to get people driving what they wouldn't usually drive, or cars that may have been overlooked. They may be great, they may be terrible, but as part of GT5 they deserve discussion right here.

People can show off their amazing photos, trade tuning tips, race one another and review that weeks nominated car. Lap times can be posted, top speeds and acceleration times compared and tips on handling discussed.

We are starting to develop a brilliant bunch of regular contributors but I very much encourage everyone to get involved and have their say. Every week (almost!) a poster will be picked for their contribution in that weeks thread to pick the star car for the following week. Ask anyone that has so far been chosen to pick and I am sure they will tell you what an honor it is! So get involved and it could be you!

Car of the Week - What do YOU think of the car?

So, without further ado, this weeks star car of the week...

Last week's lucky winner hasn't yet contacted me with their selection for this week's Car of the Week. Drastic times call for drastic measures, and since time is a commodity that I don't have, I'm forced to make the call this week and save the winner's choice for next week. The winner from this week will receive a TOP SECRET prize, to be revealed at the introduction of next week's car.

Got that?

This week's car is the most economical sports car you could buy.

vw_karmann_ghia_poster.jpg

Image Source​

1968 Volkswagen Karmann Ghia Coupe (Type-1)

Hey, don't look at me! I check my PMs.

​
 
Yet to drive the Clix I selected last week ( :( ) but will be doing that and this one tomorrow :)
 
One of the best looking cars ever. A friend of mine had a '63 Coupe a few years ago - it was an off-white with red interior. Stunning car. Not sure it's so much of a 'sports' car though.:lol:

Luckily I've been scooping them up from the UCD. 👍

Karmann_Cran_Sarthe_8.jpg
 
Oh man, I needed that this morning... I laughed pretty hard when I watched the ad you put up. Classic!

I can't remember which GTP member that loved this car so much, but thanks to him I took mine out before, and will again this week. It's no speed monster, but it does handle pretty nice... enough to appreciate the car and give it another go. Nice pick as per usual people!

Have a good one :cheers:
 
Whoa I guess there's a Kharmann Ghia Coupe frenzy or something?
We just raced this car on Wednesday. And We're using it this week in online racing.

It's BEAUTIFUL.

And it's a real hoot on a twisty Eifel Kart track. And it's fantastic to race on Motegi East. 👍

It's one of the most underrated fun cars in the game. :D

I put it right up there with the Honda s800, Toyota Sports 800, and the Autozam... in low powered but highly fun cars. 👍
 
So straight out of the garage I did an oil change & the BHP at this point was 45BHP @ 1493cc, making it the 1500 model here, although 1BHP over. Surprisingly, the weight in game vs. reality is the same (840kg). I really wanted to find out the full real specs for this car to do a "real" tune and found this but it doesn't provide suspension specifics so I used the GT5 default suspension specifications. I left the tyres as CM, based on the era of the car. I also left the transmission as default although the ratios & top speed aren't the same (give me a 4 speed custom trans PD?!)

I am taking the car around ARM at the moment so I will edit this when I am done ;)

On cold tyres (Rolling start + 1 lap, which I will base all testing to keep it comparable) and keeping 2 wheels on the track at all times I managed a 0:55.623. The car, considering it's very low BHP, is quite loose in the rear with stock suspension. Time to modify i so I bought the FC suspension!

0:54.632 with the custom suspension set up. Settings for now are:
RH -8/-5
SR - 4.6/4.2
DE - 5/7
DC - 6/7
ARB - 2/3
Camber: 0.9/0.6
Toe: -0.04/+0.21

EDIT: Be back tomorrow with further updates, have some other things to do tonight :( Maybe GVE rather then ARM for track, but will have a play around :)

EDIT2: With the transmission upgraded to a 5 speed, and I have yet to adjust the brakes, I managed a 0:54.885. Time to play with the transmission settings. It's the same setup for everything else but have added a Hi Turbo so now I have 68BHP rather than 45; Time for CS tyres too. Additionally, I have now succumbed to adjusting my brakes to 4/6.

On CS (with Suspension tuned as stated above, transmission yet to be setup properly), I was able to get my time down to 0:51.269. The tune still feels rough though, and drinks became the issue with lap timesso had to call it a night :p

Maybe today I will take her around Tsukuba like Mustang has. I tend to agree with his determination though, it is a bit of a let down overall.
 
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1968 VW Karmann Ghia Coupe type-1​

TsukubaCircuit_6.jpg


She arrived in an ugly yellow color with 41hp/256pp, after an oil change she showed 43hp/261pp. With my mild tune we had 59hp/294pp and in a desperate attempt to get some speed out of her I bolted on a stage 2 turbo giving her all of 83hp/333pp.

Yes Virginia...you can spin out at 40mph :)
TsukubaCircuit_7.jpg


Her numbers at the test track:

.............stock / tuned / turbo

1/4 mi...21.935 / 19.322 / 17.512
1.0 mi...56.493 / 50.638 / 47.622
0 - 60...19.158 / 13.019 / 09.768
to 100...N/A*****yawn****N/A
max G....00.410 / 00.490 / 00.700
max spd..092.80 / 092.70 / 093.50
* The three versions of this car I tested are at the bottom of the time sheets of the nearly 100 cars I have run at the test track so far, being the only ones tested that couldn't break 100mph. Slower even than the stock Mini-Cooper at 103.4mph.

Looking good in shiny new grey paint & wheels!
TsukubaCircuit_8.jpg


Stock she was dog plain and simple. The trans was ill suited for the track as were the CM tires. With my usual mild tune: s/h tires, close ratio trans, intake, exhaust and drivetrain, she was still a dog. A good looking dog, but still a dog. I did manage to knock about ten seconds off my lap times though, so she was starting to perk up a bit. Seeing this I decided to bolt on a stage two turbo and rh rubber and see what happened. I chipped away at my lap times a further 7.5 seconds and she handled well enough with the turbo and tires allowing her to maintain some speed through and coming out of the corners.

TsukubaCircuit_9.jpg


I suppose she might be fun on a small circuit with similiar powered cars, but overall, just not enough speed or power for me to have much fun with.

TsukubaCircuit_10.jpg


My best of ten laps (ok, I could only stay awake for 5 or 6 at a time) at Tsukuba:

...stock.. / ..tuned.. /.. turbo
1:26.406 / 1:16.975 / 1:09.580

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Looking for some competition I chose the old A-Spec challenge #6, a three lap event for 400pp cars at Grand Valley east.

GrandValleyEast_16.jpg


GrandValleyEast_17.jpg


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Even giving up nearly 70pp, I finished P5 with a best lap of 1:28.656. She handled very nice at the track, able to take most anyone in the corners. Her downfall was that long front straight, she just didn't have the power or speed. More than once I was passed by a car that I had made a late lap pass on forcing me to re-pass them through the corners in sector 1. I think with enough laps here (5 -10) I may have been able to scratch and claw my way onto the podium, but doubt I could have chased down the front runners. Overall, I hate to say it, but I found her boring. Her peformance or lack there of, was no match for her good looks.
 
A beautiful car. I have 4 i think. Will try this and post last weeks photos when i get home from Monza. ;-)
 
Well I gave the "Clueless" tune a go with the exception of not doing the engine rebuild, and it got me 88 hp. So I took a drive down to Cote d'Azur and entered a race there. Not being a huge fan of this track (even as scenic as it is), I did manage to pull off a win with a best lap time of 2:00.05 due to ignoring my brake pedal for 90% of the race. :cool:

I think with a few more practice sessions, I should be able to break that time barrier... I'm sure in more capable hands, this car would do so quite easily.

Have a good one :cheers:
 
Been a while since I've posted on one of these, but anyway:

This is my tune for the Karmann.

I am, or at least was, a real sucker for classic Veedubs and this is no exception. This one provides some good style. I especially like the tiny little grill slots on the front. You can see why Ghia are so well established here.
 
Baron Blitz Red
Well I gave the "Clueless" tune a go with the exception of not doing the engine rebuild, and it got me 88 hp. So I took a drive down to Cote d'Azur and entered a race there. Not being a huge fan of this track (even as scenic as it is), I did manage to pull off a win with a best lap time of 2:00.05 due to ignoring my brake pedal for 90% of the race. :cool:

I think with a few more practice sessions, I should be able to break that time barrier... I'm sure in more capable hands, this car would do so quite easily.

Have a good one :cheers:
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Very good to hear. It was not tested in that track, but it should feel okay there :nervous:.

Glad you liked it... maybe I should see what I can do with it there as well :sly:.
 
Cote d'Azur huh? I have never been a big fan of most street circuits, but maybe this little car could be fun there. If I have some time after work today I will give it a shot as well.
 
A quick question for ya krenkme...

Did you add some weight to your Ghia? I noticed mine listed at 840kg and yours at 940. Just curious...

Have a good one
 
Baron Blitz Red
A quick question for ya krenkme...

Did you add some weight to your Ghia? I noticed mine listed at 840kg and yours at 940. Just curious...

Have a good one
Click to expand...

I'm not sure. I should be able to check in a couple of days and I'll let you know. I do know that there is no weight reduction. Maybe that's it :dopey:
 
I rarely do the permanent upgrades for my cars (weight reduction and engine upgrades) as I prefer the "bolt on" parts for the majority of my cars. I checked my Ghia, and I don't have the weight reduction applied mainly because it's light enough as it is lol.

Like I said before, I was just curious.

Have a good one
 
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Cote D' Azur​

CtedAzur_2-1.jpg


A couple of days ago I decided to see if I could break that two minute barrier at Cote D' Azur. I came close, but not quite there: two runs gave me best laps of 2:02.959 and 2:02.896.

CtedAzur_3-1.jpg


I did notice that I spent most of the lap in the upper rpm range of the motor which got me to thinking, what if I exchanged the mid range turbo for a high rpm unit? Last night I gave it a shot...

CtedAzur_4-1.jpg


This gave the car ratings of 88hp/337pp, my first run took over a second off my previous best at 2:01.753 moving me ever closer to that elusive two minute barrier. My second run finally gave me success, resulting in a best lap of 1:59.246!

2012-09-13_20-01-03_984.jpg
 
Nice! I knew it could be done with this car. I'm not the slowest driver out there, but there's always somebody faster. I actually liked this car/track combo even though the Ghia made that first incline seem like a hill climb. :sly:

Have a good one
 
1968 VW Karmann Ghia Coupe


Karmann_Cran_Sarthe_2-1.jpg



It's an oft' heard cliche about Italians and style, but there's no doubt that Ghia came up with a stunning design for this classic VW 'Type 14'. Handbuilt by German coachbuilder Karmann using the Type 1 (Beetle) as a basis, it was in production for two decades, ending in 1974. The GT5 Ghia has 1500cc of VW's famous and venerable air-cooled flat four hanging over the rear axle. After rebuilds the first Kirschrot (cherry red) beauty gives us 45BHP, 840KG, 267pp.

I tried Trial Mountain and Grand Valley East with the stock car on Comfort Softs. Progress is 'steady' and the revs slowly rise and fall as you stir through the wide four speed 'box. You must try to keep momentum through the corners and luckily the handling is pretty sharp, but there is, of course, the ever-present spectre of the pendulous back-end always ready to break away and sap your precious time. However being wider and lower than the Beetle it alway feels stable.

Trial Mountain 2:13.285
Grand Valley East 2:39.xxx

Stock
KarmannGhia_red_GVE_1.jpg



I aready had another I'd painted Deep Cranberry Pearl with some new wheels, so I tried Krenkme's tune (mostly - some of the transmission numbers didn't quite work). This gave 92BHP, 840Kg and 342(?)pp. This is quite a nice setup - handling is improved but still forgiving and the spacing of the five gears gives good access to the revs. I stayed with Comfort Softs to compare with the stock:

Trial Mountain 2:00.3XX

Krenkme
KarmannGhia_cran_TM_2.jpg



Finally onto another I'd been dabbling with: now in Matte Black I've done a track setup and given it everything bar stage 3 weight reduction and the rigidity (luckily you can't put a spoiler on the Ghia. Yes, I tried), and went for Sports Hard tyres. The result is 125BHP, 762Kg, 398pp. At first I had it almost slammed and quite firm but this proved to be a bit skittish on Trial Mountain and I was fighting the rear-end too much, so I raised and softened it a bit. This was reasonably quick and handled well enough, but countersteer snap-back was now something to watch out for.

Trial Mountain on SH 1:51.xxx,

Full-on
KarmannGhia_blk_TM_1.jpg



While the Karmann Ghia is a very desirable classic in the real world, on the virtual tracks of GT5 it is perhaps a bit underwhelming (OK it's slow), certainly I expect that the stock car will hold little interest for most players. However a bit of tuning should keep the interest of those doing historic or low pp racing, while a fully loaded Ghia can be good fun and possibly a 400pp contender.


Karmann_Cran_Sarthe_6.jpg
 
Baron Blitz Red
Nice! I knew it could be done with this car. I'm not the slowest driver out there, but there's always somebody faster. I actually liked this car/track combo even though the Ghia made that first incline seem like a hill climb. :sly:

Have a good one
Click to expand...

Oh yes, I have found this track just too tight for most high powered cars, the Ghia worked very well in the tight sections. You are right about that incline, I did find a good technique there however. Coming down the front stretch in 5th gear I would brake way late going in, downshift quickly from 5th to 3rd and jump on the gas immediately after corner exit and pop it quickly back into 4th. When I got it right I had to upshift to 5th by the top of the hill. The trick seemed to be in cutting the corner very close, it seemed that you could cut it much closer than it looked as long as you didn't bounce off the rail...which I did plenty of trying to get it right. She did roll through the hairpin very nicely flat out in 2nd, better than most cars I have run at this track as well. The chcane is another spot I was able to make up some time...when I got it right. You can make it through relatively quick by cutting the corners close, but you can also bounce off the armco like me a few times while trying to get it just right :)
 
Sounds like you and I had simillar approaches on this track, and you're right, if you do your cuts just so, you could make up some time. Just like you had said, I did some bouncing myself when I tried too tight of an attack lol. All in all, I was kind of impressed with the cornering ability of the Ghia. I'll take your approach on the incline and see if I can shave off some more time. I was oh so close, but now with your explanation, I might be able to do the sub 2 minute laps...

Thanks and have a good one
 
I did about 5 laps around Monaco in my tuned matte black car. Couldn't do better than 2:03.xxx with 2 red laps for clouting the barriers. I could see me making small savings over a few laps not a big slice in one go. Good going MustangManiac.

Worth a couple of pics though:

KarmannGhia_blk_CtedAzur_2.jpg



KarmannGhia_blk_CtedAzur_3.jpg



KarmannGhia_blk_CtedAzur_4.jpg
 
I thought black would look good on mine too, but the shots above will put mine to shame!

A leisurely 2:39.953 round Cote d'azur with a fair bit of sliding around on the stock CMs, good fun though and one of the best looking cars out there.

 

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