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- Unwired-Eddie
I was just looking through some of the Euro cars to find a nice family cup FF racer when I came across the Alfa Romeo section. I noticed that the GTA '02 and the GT '04 were very similar and I thought I'd see what the differences were.
The GTA has a 10BHP advantage but carries 13kg more weight, while both produce 299.87Nm of torque. So, off to the test tracks we go...
Running them with stock driving aids the GT pulled a 0-400m of 15.467 and a 0-1000m of 27.139. The GTA hit back with 15.294 and 26.895 respectively, so the extra power seems to overcome the extra weight no problem. The gearing might also help so a track with plenty of speed changes is needed to really compare the difference.
This leads us to Trial Mountain and B-Spec Bob jumps in to take the two beasts on a number of flying laps. The GT beat the GTA 1'50.088 to 1'50.897 so there is still not a lot in it. Both cars look equally stable on the road but they are changing gears at different times.
I next tried them at Tokyo. The GT took a firm lead here with a 2'08.067 compared with the GTA's 2'09.543. The handling difference was still next to nothing but the gearing seemed to be seperating them on the constant radius turn 4.
Last test was to be performed at Nurburgring - the track that sorts the men from the boys. The GT's road handling was far superior to the GTA's, with the latter often left searching for grip. The change of road heights really played in to the GT's hands but the GTA was still posting similar splits on the flatter sections. With so little between the two cars on paper the suspension set up is the only reasonable explaination for the grip differences. At the line it was the GT with a 8'35.656 leaving the older GTA for dead with its 8'41.653 coming a sorry second.
It just goes to show that although the cars were near identical, the '04 model is the better package despite the small loss of power.
The GTA has a 10BHP advantage but carries 13kg more weight, while both produce 299.87Nm of torque. So, off to the test tracks we go...
Running them with stock driving aids the GT pulled a 0-400m of 15.467 and a 0-1000m of 27.139. The GTA hit back with 15.294 and 26.895 respectively, so the extra power seems to overcome the extra weight no problem. The gearing might also help so a track with plenty of speed changes is needed to really compare the difference.
This leads us to Trial Mountain and B-Spec Bob jumps in to take the two beasts on a number of flying laps. The GT beat the GTA 1'50.088 to 1'50.897 so there is still not a lot in it. Both cars look equally stable on the road but they are changing gears at different times.
I next tried them at Tokyo. The GT took a firm lead here with a 2'08.067 compared with the GTA's 2'09.543. The handling difference was still next to nothing but the gearing seemed to be seperating them on the constant radius turn 4.
Last test was to be performed at Nurburgring - the track that sorts the men from the boys. The GT's road handling was far superior to the GTA's, with the latter often left searching for grip. The change of road heights really played in to the GT's hands but the GTA was still posting similar splits on the flatter sections. With so little between the two cars on paper the suspension set up is the only reasonable explaination for the grip differences. At the line it was the GT with a 8'35.656 leaving the older GTA for dead with its 8'41.653 coming a sorry second.
It just goes to show that although the cars were near identical, the '04 model is the better package despite the small loss of power.
