we all have to start somewhere, and ive had many track cars that would give your mk2 a run for its money. gvk respect where respect is due, and from what ive heard your prob the best driver one here. *mumbles to himself "hmhrmhmrthis time next year ill have yahmrmrmmhhmh* Edited by: lathamescortmk2
I'm only joking, one of my first cars was a carbon copy of your mk2, only it was cosmos blue BJL 211V pity it got crashed into a dyke after I set the rear Spax too hard and did a 150ish yard tank slapper after a 90 left down a local B road Ran out of talent Edited by: G_V_K
at this whole thread. I believe its the driver. What i dont understand about the whole power thing, is say your car makes 300bhp FLAT OUT. When you are controlling it with the throttle, you are doing so to limit the power. So your 300bhp engine is quite capable of putting 200bhp through the front wheels if you know how to drive it. This would mean IF the "magic" number was 200bhp for fwd, the car would be driveable no matter what its peak power output - if the driver had the skill to hold it at 200bhp where needed and apply more power as soon as it was safe. As for GVK and his tank slapper - well I believe anyone who hasnt lost it through "over exuberance" cant possibly claim to be a good driver - if you've never been at or past the limit how do you know when youre getting close?
Exactly Jeff, Pentti Arrikala always said that unless a rally driver rolls every now and then, he's not driving hard enough
I was just lucky with mine, I had numerous incidents where I didnt hit anything (because I have never tried anything risky where theres something solid to hit, basically) But people seem to like running into me when I'm waiting in traffic! Its like someone upstairs is saying "thought you got away with it didnt you, you smug fatherless child"
as day to day driving doesnt let me show off my rally drivng skill, the scort gets taken on a field every now and then just so i know that i still got it (said in a bo selecta mel b voice). i was a much better compared to what i am now, when i was 14 and doing oval track racing. mind you wouldnt take me long to get back into the swing of things
mine will be running about 400bhp at the moment it must be about 300ish and all is well with FWD and help from my quaife had a race with a porsche 996 turbo on the M4....he smiled at me as i over took him in the outside lane.....had two hands on the wheel and a my face pulled back by the acceleration
My Mk1 with about 183bhp is completely drivable. I think if I had a better box (020 2Y or similar), then it would be quite mad. Easy round the corners and full on through the straights is also my tactic. I think 2wd is fine for N/A cars with the usual diff and suspension mods, but for balls out turbo power and the way turbo cars make power, 4WD is definately the way forward.
my ITR has about 190bhp, and its easily driveable, i know of one with a turbo conversion, with over 250bhp, and i know that mine is a hoot to drive, and being FWD just makes it more fun. 200bhp rear wheel drive isnt really enough. each cars different, like 200bhp in a mini, might be an animal, but in a new mk5 golf, it'll feel completely different...........
Hmmm, coming back to this old chestnut, seeing as it has raised its head again.... Having been driving my Bora through the manky winter months, I had for a week or two a problem with the Haldex ECU, causing it to drop into 2wd every so often. Now its a heavy car with 200bhp, and when in 2wd mode the bad weather meant careful acceleration only, otherwise wheelspin buggered everything up. Consequently the ability to corner hard was compromised, as I could no longer use the power as a modulating factor mid corner. Back with the Haldex working properly, I can virtually side step the clutch with lots of revs on a freezing, wet leaf covered road, and it just wriggles a bit and goes. Come to some evil slippy corners and I have back my options- I can run round it hard with the car balanced, just as before, but mash the throttle into the carpet and I can leave the corner with a spot of opposite lock and a good half a gear higher exit speed than my best efforts with 2wd. There's no upper limit for controllability, as that all comes down to the driver, but on the scientific side there must be a calculable amount of torque that a given tyre on a given car can sustain without slipping. Going significantly beyond that doesn't make much sense IMO.
i wouldnt know if someone swapped my polo's srivetrain out for RWD 4x4 or whatever, hasnt got enough power to breach traction
One reason lower spec cars can be much fun. As the long as the chassis is balanced you just wind 'em up and concentrate on preserving momentum Mind you, I did end up running out oomph in a mk2 Golf Match coming the interesting way back from Worcester..ended up going faster on a & b roads than I did on the m25
My mk2 has got 340ish bhp and in the dry!!! with no lsd 1st gear is a waist of time i just use it it move the car around upto about 15mph then staight to 2nd and in the dry again its just awesome wheel spin's alittle but not much! 3nd is the best it really pushies you into the seat! Not saying that it doesn't spin but you could easy go though a set of tyres in a few gear changes In the wet, its a totally differant matter lots of spinning when it comes in on boost 1st,2nd,3th 4th is very good.. you can drive it in the wet if you disconect the boost controler so it only running 7psi could be 230bhp then maybe, not sure, lot easyer to drive then!
so by that statement can we conclude that more than 230bhp in an un quaifed mk2 is a waste in the wet my fiat coupe has 220bhp, and fwd and is totally drivable in the wet, with little wheelspin, but it does have a visco limited diff
