- 1,410
- Canberra
- Unwired-Eddie
V8 VALUE
It has been almost 2 months since I posted my last big road test, but I have managed to keep myself busy working through ideas and seeing what other comparisons have been posted by GTP members. This will be the first in a series of tune-up challenges I intend to bring you over the next few weeks.
Today we let two V8 sports cars loose on some twisty tarmac and see if we can get the cheaper of the pair faster than the other for the same price.
The Contenders
Lotus Esprit Sport 350 00
Cost: CR 126,240
Power: 349 HP
Torque: 400.03 Nm
Weight: 1300 kg
Lotus Esprit V8 02
Cost: CR 116,520
Power: 350 HP
Torque: 399.64 Nm
Weight: 1380 kg
Method
Both vehicles were bought from the showroom with 0 km on the odometer. As the most expensive car, the Sport 350 will be test driven by B-Spec Brett at three seperate locations and the times recorded. B-Spec Brett will then try to beat these times using the cheaper car. Total cost of car and tuning may not exceed the cost of the Sport 350. TCS and ASM must be set to 0 and B-Spec will be set to 3.
Tracks
Deep Forest
Autumn Ring
Trial Mountain
Results
Firstly the Sport 350 hits the track. Nothing too exciting here and 10 laps later the timing marshall hands down the news. 130.770 around Deep Forest, 128.822 for Autumn Ring, and Trial Mountain gives up a 141.366.
As the Sport 350 gets pushed away to the garage, a shining blue V8 02 rolls up to the line. It is time to set down some study laps and B-Spec Brett roars away to see what this beauty will do untuned. Deep Forest is first up and, to my suprise, the 02 has already beaten the 00 by about 0.2 seconds - and that was on the first lap (130.579). Eager to save fuel and tyres, the team leaves it at that and heads off to the Autumn Ring.
The Autumn Ring throws us our first challenge with the 02 off the pace by 2.5 seconds (131.372). Trial Mountain was a little kinder and a smooth lap sees us only 1.5 seconds behind the earlier model (142.775). Straight to the workshop we go and grab some go-fast bits to bolt in. Race exhaust, race chip, stage 1 weight reduction, stage 1 clutch uprgrade, and an oil change boosts the power up to 412 HP and we hit the track again, confident that we should blitz the earlier model Lotus.
We go back to Trial Mountain first to knock over the smaller of the two challenges. A 140.139 lap puts us 1.2 seconds in front and still under budget by CR 470. Rolling up to Autumn Ring we were pretty sure of ourselves and waiting to see the lap record tumble. Our smiles disappear fast when the 02 manages only a 129.286, leaving us 0.4 seconds slower. Back to the workshop and the clutch is returned to stock so that a sports intercooler can be fitted. The slight loss in gear change speed should be offset easily by the power increase, now up to 429 HP.
Back on the track and the news is not good. The power increase has brought us closer to the mark (128.968) but the car is now out of shape more often, especially at turn 1. It is so bad that B-Spec Brett is now going off track every second lap. A change of tuning is next on the cards, and the sports exhaust is removed so a stage 1 turbo can be fitted. It was about now I got the feeling the 350 Sport might not be beaten today - the time came back as 129.125.
Scratching my head, I returned to the workshop to see if there were any other parts I might have missed. I was right - I had forgotten how cheap the flywheel upgrades were. To keep under budget I was forced to remove the intercooler but this allowed me to put the clutch pack back in. The car nows changes gears noticably faster. The car screams around the track in 129.219 - the power loss is hurting it but I have run out of options.
Knowing that the day was done, I decided to put the exhaust system back on in exchange for the turbo, just so I had run every combination. Out on the track the car started lapping consitantly at 129.1xx, so I walked away and began cleaning up my pace notes and coffee cups before remembering to turn B-Spec off. As I reached for the controller I saw the current split was on target for a 129.xxx but was showing as 0.7 seconds slower than the fastest. A quick check of the replay shows the fastest lap was 128.216, more than 0.6 seconds faster than the Sport 350.
Conclusion
Whilst there are a number of different paths you can take to tune these two Esprits, it was shown that a V8 02 can be tuned to go faster then the Sport 350 00 keeping under the budget of the more expensive car.
Final figures for the Lotus Esprit V8 02
Cost: CR 126,220 (CR 20 less than the Sport 350 00)
Power: 412 HP
Torque: 466.28 Nm
Weight: 1255 kg
Tuning parts:
racing exhaust
racing chip
stage 1 weight reduction
stage 1 clutch
stage 1 flywheel
oil change
It has been almost 2 months since I posted my last big road test, but I have managed to keep myself busy working through ideas and seeing what other comparisons have been posted by GTP members. This will be the first in a series of tune-up challenges I intend to bring you over the next few weeks.
Today we let two V8 sports cars loose on some twisty tarmac and see if we can get the cheaper of the pair faster than the other for the same price.
The Contenders
Lotus Esprit Sport 350 00
Cost: CR 126,240
Power: 349 HP
Torque: 400.03 Nm
Weight: 1300 kg
Lotus Esprit V8 02
Cost: CR 116,520
Power: 350 HP
Torque: 399.64 Nm
Weight: 1380 kg
Method
Both vehicles were bought from the showroom with 0 km on the odometer. As the most expensive car, the Sport 350 will be test driven by B-Spec Brett at three seperate locations and the times recorded. B-Spec Brett will then try to beat these times using the cheaper car. Total cost of car and tuning may not exceed the cost of the Sport 350. TCS and ASM must be set to 0 and B-Spec will be set to 3.
Tracks
Deep Forest
Autumn Ring
Trial Mountain
Results
Firstly the Sport 350 hits the track. Nothing too exciting here and 10 laps later the timing marshall hands down the news. 130.770 around Deep Forest, 128.822 for Autumn Ring, and Trial Mountain gives up a 141.366.
As the Sport 350 gets pushed away to the garage, a shining blue V8 02 rolls up to the line. It is time to set down some study laps and B-Spec Brett roars away to see what this beauty will do untuned. Deep Forest is first up and, to my suprise, the 02 has already beaten the 00 by about 0.2 seconds - and that was on the first lap (130.579). Eager to save fuel and tyres, the team leaves it at that and heads off to the Autumn Ring.
The Autumn Ring throws us our first challenge with the 02 off the pace by 2.5 seconds (131.372). Trial Mountain was a little kinder and a smooth lap sees us only 1.5 seconds behind the earlier model (142.775). Straight to the workshop we go and grab some go-fast bits to bolt in. Race exhaust, race chip, stage 1 weight reduction, stage 1 clutch uprgrade, and an oil change boosts the power up to 412 HP and we hit the track again, confident that we should blitz the earlier model Lotus.
We go back to Trial Mountain first to knock over the smaller of the two challenges. A 140.139 lap puts us 1.2 seconds in front and still under budget by CR 470. Rolling up to Autumn Ring we were pretty sure of ourselves and waiting to see the lap record tumble. Our smiles disappear fast when the 02 manages only a 129.286, leaving us 0.4 seconds slower. Back to the workshop and the clutch is returned to stock so that a sports intercooler can be fitted. The slight loss in gear change speed should be offset easily by the power increase, now up to 429 HP.
Back on the track and the news is not good. The power increase has brought us closer to the mark (128.968) but the car is now out of shape more often, especially at turn 1. It is so bad that B-Spec Brett is now going off track every second lap. A change of tuning is next on the cards, and the sports exhaust is removed so a stage 1 turbo can be fitted. It was about now I got the feeling the 350 Sport might not be beaten today - the time came back as 129.125.
Scratching my head, I returned to the workshop to see if there were any other parts I might have missed. I was right - I had forgotten how cheap the flywheel upgrades were. To keep under budget I was forced to remove the intercooler but this allowed me to put the clutch pack back in. The car nows changes gears noticably faster. The car screams around the track in 129.219 - the power loss is hurting it but I have run out of options.
Knowing that the day was done, I decided to put the exhaust system back on in exchange for the turbo, just so I had run every combination. Out on the track the car started lapping consitantly at 129.1xx, so I walked away and began cleaning up my pace notes and coffee cups before remembering to turn B-Spec off. As I reached for the controller I saw the current split was on target for a 129.xxx but was showing as 0.7 seconds slower than the fastest. A quick check of the replay shows the fastest lap was 128.216, more than 0.6 seconds faster than the Sport 350.
Conclusion
Whilst there are a number of different paths you can take to tune these two Esprits, it was shown that a V8 02 can be tuned to go faster then the Sport 350 00 keeping under the budget of the more expensive car.
Final figures for the Lotus Esprit V8 02
Cost: CR 126,220 (CR 20 less than the Sport 350 00)
Power: 412 HP
Torque: 466.28 Nm
Weight: 1255 kg
Tuning parts:
racing exhaust
racing chip
stage 1 weight reduction
stage 1 clutch
stage 1 flywheel
oil change
...sucks that it's so much slower stock.
