quattro digest, Vol 1 #4009 - E-bay musings and lateral G's (mAC)

[Larry C Leung]

I would have to side with Brett here. On the latest Road and Track
handling test, the range of cars was from a low of 0.9 for the rather
excellent Mazda Protege MP3 to a high of 0.98 for the Vette Z06.
Note, the majority of the top cars clustered from 0.97 to 0.98 G.
Also, note this is on a SKIDPAD. There is a combination of
factors here. The Lotus Elise (euro version) that was tested here
couldn't top the skidpad rankings (did 0.97) because it lacked
the HP to turn-in and gain the higher numbers it obtained on the
track. As they stated (paraphrased), the Lotus can corner MUCH harder
than any of the other cars in the comparo. To wit, the Lotus, which had
the same basic skidpad values as the top ranked Ferrari 360 Modena,
could make the hairpin turn on the infield section of the Streets of
Willow
(Springs, CA) at 40.4 MPH at the apex. The Ferrari, around 34.1. However,
being a timed section the Ferrari was able to power out and clear the
section
faster than the 140 HP Lotus. I'd be willing to bet (anyone have an
accurate
map of Willow Springs Raceway) that, at speed, BOTH cars may have
exceeded 1.0 G in transition. Heck, on streets, I'd be willing to bet in
TRANSITION,
my GTi has even occasionally broken 1.0 G (so THAT's why my tires only
last about 20K miles!). The difference is steady state cornering is a
different
situation compared to PEAK lateral acceleration.

Steady state 1.0 G in ANY A4 (mAC) on street legal tires...NO WAY. The
same for
the 911 Turbo, 360 Modena, Evo VIII, etc. In transition, QUITE likely.

LL - NY


> Date: Fri, 27 Sep 2002 17:56:27 -0400
> To: Mike Veglia <msvphoto at pacbell.net>, quattro at audifans.com
> From: Brett Dikeman <brett at cloud9.net>
> Subject: Re: More Ebay amusement
>
> At 1:32 PM -0700 9/27/02, Mike Veglia wrote:
>
> >I admit, I haven't looked at said evilbay ad in question, but,
> stock 944s
> >broke the 1g barrier some 15+ years ago on tires that make much of
> today's
>
> The 944 turbo was between .8 and .9.  I couldn't find anything
> specific to the 944S.  Those figures were obtained using high
> performance tires.
>
>
> >Lateral 1g cornering should not be a difficult achievement for a
> >decent handling car running on modern sticky rubber.
>
> Think about it, folks.  What's 1G of cornering force?  That's
> basically the ENTIRE WEIGHT of the car trying to push it to the
> side.
> That is a LOT of force.
>
>
> >  I wouldn't be at all surprised if a well sorted Ur-Q or 4kq
> >could. I would *hope* an A4 could with good rubber and possibly
> some
> >shock/spring mods. 944s I have driven don't handle *that* much
> better than
> >other good handling cars after all (IMO). I would hazard a guess
> that we got
> >very close to 1 g in that ride I took around Watkins Glen with
> Derek Bell in
> >a new 2002 A4q 3.0 (on all season rubber) last year at the ACCNA
> National
> >event--sure felt like we must have anyway.
>
> Car and Driver's test of the '95 A4 yielded .76G, and Road and
> Track's test of the 2002 A4 3.0 yielded .84G(C&D, .82)
>
> Neon ACRs with race tires+SCCA prepping...1.02
>
> A very tweaked Miata set a Sport Compact Car Magazine record of
> 1.1G
>
> The 2001 Corvette... .94
>
> The Coupe GT scores .8G; couldn't (quickly) find anything else.
>
> I stand in full by my original comment.
>
> Brett
> --