GRpA 90 review

[Neil Swanson <75377.3445@compuserve.com>]

Listers,

I went to the Bristol auto-x on sunday to meet up with Alex and his GrpA
90.  To watch it in flight and then get a ride in the afternoon dollar runs
was worth the ride up there.

The car has a variation on the Audi Sport paint scheme using blue and
silver in place of the expected red/grey livery.  The OZ wheels are typical
of a car in forest spec as are the bright orange "elephant ear" mud gaurds.
 

Some of the specs are pretty hot.  The 275hp 20V engine idled with the kind
of rasp that only a cammed 12.5:1 engine on race fuel can provide.  The
throttle repsonse was very quick.  When Alex changed the beat Kumho tires
back to the forest tires I held in my hand a Titanium lug nut.  Damn thing
must have weighed grams if anything.  Amazing.  The wheels are very light
magnisium OZ race wheels.  With the wheels off the AP discs, 297mm and Audi
Sport 4 pots could be seen, as could the magnisium strut assemblies.  The 
fabricated gaurds to keep the rocks off the brake lines were a neat touch.

Inside were the expected exposed relays and fuses, race seats etc.  The
neat little black button on the shifter operates the clutch if you like for
downshifts while left foot braking.

Out on the track except for the lack of any wastegate popping if you closed
your eyes you'd swear you ere watching a video of the good old group B
days.  The sound was fantastic.  The car goes through the gears very
quickly. The gearbox is a works 6 speed and the diffs are 4.86:1 so you can
imagine that he grabs for the next gear often.

For my ride I strapped into the very low and set back co-drivers seat.  The
whole car buzzes and rattles due to the solid mounts for the engine and
trans.  

Alex works hard to drive this beast.  Down the first straight towards the
first 90 left he ran up through 4 gears and then began the dance to get
this thing to turn.  The car has gravel spec suspension, a high ride
height, cold worn tarmac tires and a locked center diff.  Good for 
Alex is that he can boot the back out with power too.  The initial turn in
was met with alot of reluctance, then the power brought it around,
sometimes too much.  Once aimed for the next cones the car exploded with
acceleration, more gear changes and a fantastic sound.  Very hard on the
brakes again, set it up, fight the turn and blast out again.  The brakes
were very impressive and welcome 'cause this things just friggin launches
from turn to turn.

Cool ride for my dollar.  

He goes to Ski Sawmill in a couple of weeks, then will run AppleHill for
more seat time and then off to STPR.

Try to catch the car at one of these events.

Neil