Took the Bora out for a vigorous drive today...

Congratulations!

Well done, great to see someone enjoying his Bora the way it was meant to be driven.
I wish you much pleasure on track! Maserati worked very hard on the Bora to give it good predictable handling which is not easy with a mid engine configuration but it was miles ahead of the competition for that.

I am just readng Paul Frère's biography, the late leading automobile journaist of the 20th century (also interviewed in my book) and he rated the Bora in terms of handling but also many other aspects as being superior to Ferrari and Lamborghini offerings of that era. Of course he actually helped develop the handling characteristics for the Bora and Merak.

best regards,

Marc

 

Marc,

The Bora is indeed a great car with a very good road holding. Assure yourself when bringing it to the limits that you have the right and good tires on, preferably the Michelin's XWX's of relatively new DOT date. The Michelin's are very forgiving. Not only on Bora's!
The Bora can be very naughty when pushed to the limits: she goes and goes and goes but then at a not so predictable moment she breaks out and is difficult to master! Certainly more difficult under these circumstances as her front engined family members!

Ciao,

Bart

 

Gosh I've had the exact opposite experience with XWX tires and have stayed away from them for that reason since the late 1980s. They were know back then for being very unforgiving and would break away all at once. That's why so many of use switched to the later style Michelin XGTs and Goodyear Gatorbacks at that time. They transformed everyone's car's handling. So your more recent experience is interesting because it's one of the few tires left now.

Do you think they've re-engineered this tire with better compounds to eliminate it's nasty original traits?

I used to track my Bora for several years and finally put a set of the competition Goodrich Comp TA R1s on it. Wow did that do great things for that car. I could actually drift the car and not worry about a spin.

The car IS setup to understeer a LOT and could probably benefit with some heavier sway bars because it leans a LOT in turns. It's not really a terrific track day car but you can have some fun.

 

Where are people sourcing vintage sized/rated tires?

I've been looking everywhere (or so I thought, obviously not) for 225/70VR15 XWX or similar for a Quattroporte III.

From what I can tell, Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptors used the same size for some years, but I haven't been able to find the proper size and speed rating anywhere. I would think a number of cars from this era has similar if not identical tires - Ferrari 400, Khamsin, Bora, etc.

(yes, I know this is a Bora thread. But while we're on the subject of tires I thought I'd ask. And where's the video of the vigorous drive? ;-)

Cheers!

 

The XWX of today are much better than those from the 80s as they use better rubber- and compound technology. I had older once on my Khamsin and newer tires on my Lamborghini LP400. The LP400 handled perfectly although I advise to be still careful with the XWX in the wet....

 

There's lots to discuss on this topic. We've been doing just that on VLG recently but if you really want to start a discussion about this I suggest you do it in the Technical Q&A section as there are a lot more eyes on that section.

The long and the short of it is mostly they're bloody expensive and harder to get.

 

Yes but that was on the track with competition tires on it. 235/60-ZR-15 F and 255/60-ZR15 R. Those tires were specially constructed with a stiff sidewall on only one side. Weird but they worked well on the car. So that may have something to do with it.

I never tried anything like that on the road but I spun it once half way around when I first got the car. That was with the XWXs of 198? I don't remember how old they were at the time.

Be very careful at The Glen as it's not worth it to bang up such a lovely car.
I'm not sure that Limerock will be all that much fun in that car but I never tried it with my Bora?

 

It's not just a dream. Take it to Nevada. There are plenty of roads there you can have fun on. I did it many times. The car was built for those roads. You can run for an hour at 120-130 mph if you want to.

Back here on the east coast it's rather hopeless though.

The Glen is a beautiful and fun track. Just don't let yourself get snookered into trying to keep up with the faster cars which is just about all of them these days ...

Pocono is a great place to try out that car at full tilt. Unless you drive like a mad man it's a lot harder to damage your car there.