Excuse me for not elaborating. I had my doom and gloom hat on. I meant in time for the (very significant) slow down of the current boom (bubble) in specialist cars. 'Now' feels quite different to the early 90's, but history has a habit of repeating itself. Just more units these days.
I would imagine the difference between the new hypercars and the Caparo becomes evident once you drive home from the track..
D ?? At the Ring the Caparo didn't even complete one full lap on it's Record attempt. It's Evo video shows it flying by several cars on it's inglorious half lap. Unlike the other drivers the Caparo driver didn't know what a yellow flag means. There's a bit of a difference between a car that can run 150+ 6:51 NS laps over 24 and one that can't run one.
Personally if it looks anything like the Turbine concept car, that's a hit for me. Sounds like it'll have a Lancia Delta S4 engine in it hahaha
Basically that's a carbon tub two-seater with a detuned Formula 1 car strapped on it. When Plato drove it he said that it is insufferable on the road and it is purely a track day special. Not a very sorted one for that matter.
It does look like the Turbine Concept and later editions may even have trubine motors. It also has very interesting alloy/carbon fiber melded body panels which are VERY light. With O's signing the 50mpg CAFE rules V12's are over and out.
it's still bad-ass though, aside from the Mclaren F1 GTR and some other bits and bobs it's the quickest thing I've driven 'alongside' on track!
If my memory serves me right, when EVO attempted to do a single lap time of the ring in an Enzo, its suspension malfunctioned. So i guess relating that to what you said about the Caparo, Ferrari are unable to build a car that is able to finish a lap of the Ring also?
Well, an F3 car is just as good for 1/5th of the cost. They are basically both rubbish on the the road, so why bother? I like the Caparo but the truth is that it is not a real car; it's a two seater racer.
It still managed to post an impressive lap time (faster than the comparable CGT which was developped at the ring..) and that Enzo was already 5 years old at the time so who knows the real reason of the malfunction. The Caparo had a lot of potential but after reading almost all test drives by mostly UK press mags, the impression i got was that it's an unfinished product. I hope they eventually get it right.
There are Ferrari road cars than can and have including the F40 for example. Even though the Enzo's suspension overheated it still did a 7:25 on the NS. A 599xx did fine with a one lap 6:58. Ferrari race cars have finished the 24 at the Ring, FB's 458 GTE in 2011, which even though it's suspention failed and had to be replaced during a long pit stop did pretty well. The Caparo didn't finish one lap so I think the statement that it would beat an F70 on a track is silly and another example of bench racing.
Another P, then, or a dreaded replica maybe. Or just a dream. Hard to sort these things out. I do know I was there with my Alfa, though, so some aspect of the visit was real. I think.
... and using the worst sport tire in the market (potenza RE050A Scuderia) ... if only that Enzo was using the same Pzero Corsa of the MC12 with correct wheel alignment ....
That was my point, just because 1 Enzo's suspension system did not withstand a lap at the ring, does not mean that the same thing would happen with ever Enzo. I'm not trying to say that a T1 would on the whole be as reliable or as complete a car as the F70 especially on the road, but its a little unfair to judge them all due to one event. Being someone that owns and funds the building of prototype performance/race cars, i would expect that you more then anyone Jim would understand how fickle extreme performing cars can be when every aspect of the there design and engineering is pushed to the edge while still trying to maintain a budget. I have been on track alongside two Caparo's at two different track days, both times in a Caterham Superlight R500, and the Caparo's were blisteringly fast, they ran rings around everything, even the race prepared stuff like radicals and 997 RSR's. My opinion that the F70 will not be at the same level as a T1 on track is purely based on seeing how the T1's perform in person, knowing there claimed data, and knowing what has been said by Ferrari so far about its proposed power and weight targets for its new hypercar. I think the F70 with its Kers, batterys and V12 will be lucky if it has much more then half of the T1's 1223 hp per tonne.
The issue is not one of levels, but of concept and execution. Supercars aren't really made to push the boundaries of what is possible; they're made rather to fill out certain types of boundaries in a few particular ways. The basic idea is this: I like X about a car, X about a car, and X: How can I build one that best exemplifies all three (or however many) characteristics? The new Enzo will be fast, for a road car. It will handle well, for a road car. It will (hopefully) look cool and crazy, for a road car. It will also perform well on a track, but as a road car. The Caparo isn't really a road car. It's a street legal race car (this is why it falls apart all the time). To compare the Enzo or new Enzo to the Caparo is really apples to oranges, and no one is really worried about it because the cars represent two completely different automotive ideals. If I were buying a new Enzo, I wouldn't really care how fast it was next to a Caparo. The concept and design of this car aren't as single minded as that. Cheers.
I agree 100%. But another poster asked the question how the f70 would get on in terms track performance against a T1.
That's pretty much my experience as I mentioned earlier, genuinely seemed in a different league to pretty much everything I've witnessed inc race spec cars c/w very talented drivers. I wanted to chat to the owner whilst in the pits about reliability and on-road performance but he seemed fairly pre-occupied with other things.
Caterham Superlight R500: 265hp 515kg (1,135 lbs)(?) 997 RSR: 455hp 1220kg(2689.6 lbs) Caparo T1: 575hp 470kg(1,000 lbs) And everyone using slicks I guess Not a surprise it is faster... Are you for real. Comparing a track car vs a road car.
It would happen with every Enzo at the Ring. It's a design flaw. P 4/5 C KERS weighs 2950lb (with required ballast) and makes 535HP (Petrol) 35HP (KERS). It can run 6:51 NS laps all day long. It has a much less HP per pound than a T1. There's a LOT more to making a car fast at the Ring that power to weight.
This website is claiming the F70 will have 2 electric motors with a 800 na hp engine which will reslut in over 1000 hp. http://www.magellanjets.com/blog/bid/108810/Ferrari-s-and-Private-Jets-are-Going-Green