Category: Drive Time

…from yesterday’s post about driving around the Virginia International Raceway:

Group A:  2009 Wiesmann Roadster

Are you kidding me?  A German V10 in a custom-built luxury sports car?  Vroom, vroom.

Group B:  1995 Aston Martin DB7

Never driven an A-M… time to do so.

Group C:  1985 Lancia Delta S4

Better than the Stratos?  I’d need to judge for myself…

Group D: 1975 BMW 3.0 CSL
Not even close.  One of the best cars BMW ever made.

Group E:   1967 Iso Grifo 350 GL
American engine, Italian styling.  Also, not even close.

Group F: 1955 Fiat 8V Zagato
Let’s see:  four-time winner of the Euro Sports Car championship, a snarling 2-liter V8 engine… what was the question, again?

Next Sunday will feature yet another series of difficult choices.  I rather like this game.

You have been given a free day to drive the Virginia International Raceway (long track).  For those unfamiliar, here it is (click to embiggen):

You have been given a whole Fall day to drive a half-dozen cars of your choice, from the list below, from dawn till dusk (about 7.30pm) around this 3.5-mile track, and you’ll have the place all to yourself.  The weather forecast is for clear and sunny skies, with perhaps a brief shower at midday, clearing after about an hour.  Temperatures will be in the mid-50s (11C to15C, for those of the Celsius persuasion).

You will be limited to up to twenty (20) laps for each car;  three warm-up laps (no faster than 50mph) to get the oil temperatures up and for familiarization, and the rest at whatever speed you wish.  Individual lap times can be kept for comparative purposes.

Mechanical service will be available at any time (so assume no breakdowns), and fresh tires will be provided as needed.

The cars from which you must make your choices are from the following list, and *note well* you may pick only one car from each group:

Group A (“Roaring 20s”)

Car #1:  2009 Wiesmann GT MF5 Roadster (go here if you’re unfamiliar)

Car #2:  2015 Maserati GT:

Car #3:  2015 Corvette Z06

Car #4:  2015 Ferrari California T

Everyone made their (one) choice?  then on to

Group B (“Naughty Nineties”)

Car #1:  1995 BMW 840i

Car #2:  1995 Honda/Acura NSX

Car #3:  1995 Ford Mustang SVT Cobra R

Car #4:  1995 Aston Martin DB7

Now for the next choice, from

 Group C (“Aching Eighties”)

Car #1:  1985 Lotus Esprit Turbo

Car #2:  1985 De Tomaso Pantera GT5-S

Car #3:  1987 Buick Grand National GNX

Car #4:  1985 Lancia Delta S4 Group B

Next, it’s time for

Group D (“Savage Seventies”)

Car #1:  1975 Jensen Interceptor III

Car #2:  1975 Ferrari 365 Berlinetta Boxer

Car #3:  1975 BMW 3.0 CSL (E9)

Car #4:  1978 Ford Mustang Cobra

All done?  Move on to

Group E (“Sexy Sixties”)

Car #1:  1965 Alfa Romeo TZ2 Zagato

Car #2:  1967 Bizzarrini P538

Car #3:  1961 Ferrari 250 GTI Lusso

Car #4:  1967 Iso Grifo 350 GL

And your final choice comes from

Group F (“Fabulous Fifties”)

Car #1: 1955 Ford T-bird

Car #2:  1955 Maserati 450 S

Car #3:  1956 Porsche 356 A

Car #4:  1955 Fiat 8V Zagato

There you have it:  six cars from six different decades.

Enjoy the drive.

…asks Reader Brad:

“You talk about VWs, Lancia, etc., all the time, but don’t seem to make much mention of what the Frogs created.”

..and then points me to this list.

Speaking frankly [sic],  the Frog cars are a classic case of where Gummint stuck its greedy fingers where they didn’t belong, i.e. by levying a tax on horsepower — the lowest tax being on engines generating (from memory) less than 15hp.  This meant that most passenger cars were perennially underpowered, despite the technological superiority that French car manufacturers had over most others in the world.  Now add the recent development of adding yet another layer to the puissance fiscale  (PF, or “power tax”) by incorporating a carbon dioxide emission multiplier:

PF = (CO₂/45) + (P/40)^1.6

where P is horsepower, and Frog cars are still underpowered except where they’re not, i.e. in rally-style cars or hot (and expensive) hatchbacks.  The giant Citroën DS’s engine, for example, never generated more than 100hp so despite the DS having the smoothest ride of any car (before and since), it was a lumbering beast whose 0-60mph time was measured by calendar rather than stopwatch.

For the most part, too, outside the luxury cars like the DS, French fit and finish have always been crappy, and the non-use of vulcanized steel meant that in a country which has wet, damp weather much of the time, you can hear the car rusting when you turn off the engine.  [some hyperbole there]

This does not mean that the French make lousy cars.  When they are allowed to, they make absolute monsters, such as the Peugot Le Mans sports cars which were Audi’s only serious competitors at that race during the mid-2000s:

…or the Matra-Simca race cars which so dominated sports car races in the early 1970s:

…or for that matter, the Renault F1 factory cars of the early 1980s:

…with their engines winning several drivers’ championshops for Williams (Nigel Mansell, Alain Prost etc.) in the early 1990s.

So what about the passenger cars?  Looking at the list above, there’s probably only one I’d take, the Venturi Atlantique 400 GT:

…because of its wonderful 1980s styling.  (Reader Brad lusts after the 1930s Delahaye 135MS, even though that long bonnet hides a 3.3-liter engine which produces only 110hp, i.e. <10 PF units):

However, my favorite French car of all time is the wonderfully old-fashioned Citroën Traction Avant:

Because if I’m going to drive around in an underpowered Frog passenger car (1900cc, 56hp, <4 CF units), I’ll take style and comfort as the benefits, thank you.  And put up with the  water leaking into the passenger compartment every time it rains — in true Gallic fashion, Citroën never fixed that problem, after making the TA for nearly a quarter of a century.

This car, by the way, is still the hands-down favorite choice in France as a bridal car.

I was having a long email exchange with Reader Chaz from Britishland, and we were talking about Ferraris and guns and what have you, and on the subject of cars, I actually surprised myself by saying this:

For a toy car, I would certainly choose a Caterham over any Ferrari made today, and not just because of the price, either.

Here’s the subject car under discussion:

 

…and I have to confess I was very influenced by this episode of Harry’s Garage, where at about the 13-minute mark Harry Metcalfe talks about how the increasing performance and sophistication of modern cars is making them heavier and less fun to drive — “too much power” (harking back to something I’ve said often with regard to Dodge Whatevers with 500hp engines), complexity following from stupid shit like emission controls and electrification, too many driver options (such as “sport mode”, “memory seats”) and so on.

Increasingly, in my sunset years, I want simplicity in a car:  get in, turn the thing on, and drive off.  (It’s one reason why I love driving New Wife’s Fiat 500 Sputum:  stick shift, nothing to touch in the car — yes, it has a Sport mode button, but on a non-turbo 1400cc engine, it is to laugh and I’ve never used it — and driving it is an absolute pleasure.  Forty-odd miles to the gallon doesn’t hurt, either.)

If I were in the market for a truck, I’d get a base model Toyota Tacoma with a stick shift.  As I’m planning to keep the Tiguan forever, the car issue is moot — but if it was totaled or otherwise became unroadworthy, I’d probably pick a base model VW Jetta with a stick shift.

Or a Caterham with a 2-liter Ford Duratec engine, if the insurance gods were feeling really generous.