Ya know, the ultimate little race car would have certain features. I've been enjoying the Ford Fiesta turbo, the ST, and that's nice in the driving simulator. I like it enough I'd get one if I had the money. I've also driven the Hyundai Veloster Turbo, which is similarly powered.
One of the things I like about both cars is the turbocharger. It's low pressure so has almost no delay between stomping the throttle and the power kicking in. Very different from the normal turbo chargers in older cars which usually kick in after 4-10 seconds and often at the worst possible physical place, like somewhere after the apex of the turn or right where you meant to start braking for the next one. That surge of power when you didn't need it tried to kill you. It was a complaint by widows of old Porsche Turbo drivers in the 1980s. And anyone who has driven the BMW 2002 Turbo from 1973 (in the simulator again, the real ones are collectors items). The new F1 engines have an electric turbo that's kept spun up all the time to remove the issues with Turbo Lag, yet retain high pressure advantage. I think that an electrically spun turbo should be a standard feature.
I really like the sound of a 12 cylinder engine with a turbocharger. Its got this impressive whine, and revs high because its properly balanced. A sign of good engineering. I find V8's to be an annoying roar, and their fuel economy is crap. Presumably a V12 is even worse fuel economy, but there are ways around this. First, make them small. You could probably use the cylinders from a motorcycle for this, since they're balanced and can rev high. Multi-cylinder engines can be made to have the ability to turn off certain cylinders and shut off their fuel supply with the valves open so they aren't wasting fuel and allow the other cylinders to carry the load. Thus you only use all cylinders when you need to. Modern engines can compensate for this on-off business too. You might not even realize you're not firing on all cylinders they're so good.
I've driven the Subaru STI in the simulator and the engine noise rumble annoys me. It shouldn't. It is meant to be a good car, but the other thing that annoys me is its so powerful and its tires suck so bad that it tends to shift lanes due to tire spin, like a swing in the breeze. That's the sort of thing that would kill you, hurling you into oncoming traffic because while it feels planted, it isn't. Very annoying. I'd like to find an all wheel drive as serious as a Subaru, but loads lighter weight and meant for mountain road cornering. Something as small and light as a Fiesta, basically. I've gotten used to digging out of corners with the Fiesta's power, but I suspect in the real world, that would be head on with a tree or off in the ditch a bit too fast to survive.
A good car should have all independent suspension, so double wishbones and disc brakes all around. Anti-roll bars and horizontally linked suspension are a good idea too. Keeps the car level around corners.
For body style, take a hot hatch, cut down the boxy back end so it slopes towards the real wheels and tail pipes. cut the body in so the rear wheels are in a risen-flared arch like an old corvette rather than a big flat ugly rear, keep the window present so you can see out, but remove the weight of the rear seat and any rear doors other than the hatch itself. May as well build something to fit. I haven't found the right body style for this yet, but I'll post it when I do. Keep the overall weight around 2500 pounds, less if you can manage it, and its height reasonably low so it can avoid all that wind drag. I have to admire the hot-rodders who keep experimenting with finishing cars the way they were meant to be finished, not the way the engineers specified them for economical production. Most hot rodders turn how to be men who can't stand crap and want to fix it. And the usually do, at a terrific financial loss, but they are quite proud, and deservedly so, for having corrected the fit, finish, reliability, and power of these various American cars. Sometimes British cars, since Prince Of Darkness, Lucas Electrics, ruined many British cars. Now that cars are international, and some of the best ones are made to Japanese Specifications in American factories by Japanese trained workers rather than American Union laziness (as soon as lawyers get involved in mass production, things are ruined), you get neat things like an Acura RS or Honda Civic RS (same car, different badge), which is a front wheel drive that does a surprisingly effective rendition of sports car, being low, fast, and able to corner. In the old days of heavy engines, you needed to put it in the back or middle to balance the car weight, but in modern times, aluminum engine blocks and active engine suspensions (Porsche, Audi), vehicles become less and less dependent on engine placement, at least as far as weight.
Its a pity that the Toyota MR2 was stopped in production. Same with the Celica. Both were good cars. The MR2 needed a better rear suspension, because it tended to break loose at a turn apex and then try and kill you, and the Celicas mostly ended up wrecked because they had too much power and weight and not enough brakes. I liked the Noble M400, not the 600 which was utter madness, but the 400. A fun car, like the Lotus Elise, or the Mazda Miata with sticky tires. I've found myself really disliking Front Engine, Rear Wheel Drive cars when the engine is heavy and the rear wheels too narrow. Those try to kill you, backwards off the corner that a front wheel drive would have sneered at in the rear view mirror as it churned away. The MR2 and Celica might come back one day. There's been rumors and articles. I hope they're true. I'd love to see Chevy build a SMALL corvette again instead of all that supersized crap. A small one would be fun instead of huge and never being able to park anywhere because you can't fit in a space AND open the doors. Small cars are light and therefore fun because light means better power to weight ratio. Big vehicles have their place, but they aren't fun.
I think I'll fiddle with the MR2 in my simulator some more and see if I can't make it more enjoyable.
UPDATE:
No comments:
Post a Comment