95 Octane Fuel

I dragged a 2003 m3 2 weeks before i got mapped,all pre arranged on the motorway to enfield,slowed down to 3250rpm in 3rd gear,gave the signal and away we went.....
started to pull away ever so slightly ,up the fouth gear and the same amount of distance pulling away,for some strange reason got to about 5250rpm and the changed gear,into fifth and thought i had blownit,not at all,still pulled away all the way to 180kph and a bit.
So from 3rdgear@3250rpm to fifth gear @180 +kph there was about 2 car lenghts in it to my advantage.
in saying that he was very surprised when talking to him later,he reconed he has left quite alot of WRXs/STIs in the back mirrors.
The figures and BHP for the M3 are very impressive on paper,but dont be fooled,
Alan
 
A couple of irrelevant points :)

Alan aka tractorman's STI would leave most cars for
dead and that was before the mapp :)

I had such an encounter on the Belfast/ Dublin motorway
although there was a strong smell of avaiation fuel from his enginge
i was left like a sitting duck.

Lucas should be stored upright always, once the seal is broken
for your half bottle to a tank. the remainder will seep out if left on it's
side.

Niall.
 
I think Alan(tractorman) has come across an imnpreza before that left him for dust on the m50 taking off from 3rd gear to about 130ish mph. he doesnt like talking about it much so i shouldnt really have mentioned this :D :D :nana:
 
thats the time i posted in technical Q&A,I was stuck in get home mode and a 95 subaru curry van past me,didnt want to burst his bubble,i'm sure he went home with a smile on his face :D
I think you know him George?
the poor fooker pushed the curry van so hard the engine blew up,silly billy.
ALAN
 
we might aswell add my thoughts to the free for all

i traded a 2002 m3 in for my sti.

the sti does feel somehow quicker but i just put that down to the kick from the turbo. spinning to 7,500 revs the m3 is strong throughout the range, unlike the sti which seems to really kick on above 4,000rpm

i was always disappointed with the m3's overtaking ability. for a card with nearly 350bhp, the peak torque of 269lbft isn't alot, especially in a car wighing in at a tonne and a half

i really would expect my prodrive sti (when finished!!!!! and running on higher octane) to be quicker and alot quicker through the gears.

thing is with the m3 (e46 is the only one iv'e driven) is that it feels a little lazy once your accelerating through the gear above third. it was really noticeable on some of the uphill sections of the ring

the sti, for me anyway, is alot more driver accommodating, easier on the limit whereas the m3 would lull you into a fall sense of security and make me look a fool!!!! whether it is quicker across county i don't know, i'll leave that to the better drivers to comment on, but for me i can drive an unmodified sti quicker from a to b than my old m3
 
Andy Forrest told me that low octane affects torque much more than BHP. If yo ulook at the figures his WRX 03 was putting out on the td04h it always put out more torque than bhp.

I've driven the 343 bhp M3 and I have to say in a straight line only an impreza with similar bhp figures is going to keep with it. The acceleration is absolutely linear and there's no tailing off of power. You just hit the limiter and change up! On the bends, especially if its damp, a standard wrx will have little difficulty keeping up and a modified one will simply blow it away.

THe EVO Fq 340 is quick but Litchfields IMpreza Type 20 is quicker still especially through the gears (35 ib/ft torque advantage and quite a bit lighter than the EVO). One has been breathed upon by Ralliart the other by Litchfield so its a level playing field. One thing I noticed is that the M3 is quicker from 30 to 70 mph (4.1 secs) than the EVO VII Extreme (4.5 secs) (339 bhp and 350 ib/ft torque) so I cant see there being much between them in terms of straight line performance.

Frawls
 
30-70 times are always about gearing so I wouldn't pay a huge amount of attention. In any event, my point is how the cars feel from the seat, and that is all about torque. It is the torque that accounts for the shove in the back, horsepower is a measure of how long that shove lasts.

In terms of torque to weight ratio, the M3 is surpassed by our scoobishi turbo delivery, in terms of linear straight to the redline delivery, the M3 wins.

Don't forget horsepower is merely torque x RPM / 5250. You only increase HP by increasing revs or torque at higher revs. Max HP only exists at max engine speeds. Max torque however will always happen lower down, where it is usable.

The issue then becomes how sustained the torque is as engine speeds increase. I prefer the shove lower down. Sure, it is nice for it to be sustained, that's why I moved away from the TD04 in my RB, but at the end of the day I am more interested in how a car feels at 4000 RPM than 7500 RPM, seeing as I spend more time down there. Just my own personal view.
 
30 - 70 is an important measure of a cars overtaking ability regardless of gearing. The same could be said of all in gear times but people will always quote them anyway. I agree torque is where the party's. Just drive any modern big cube american V8. The New Mustang GT is a torquey beast with a soundtrack to die for but in bhp terms its average at 300 bhp from a 4.8 V8. To drive it though is a pleasure as there's power everywhere.

In terms of useable power you have to take other factors into consideration such as pour crap roads, weather conditions and the level of speed enforcement. I drove the new 2.0 audi TT last week. It is 69% aluminium with the steel used at the back to balance the car. It only weighs 1,260 kg and has 200 ps. The direct injection turbo hits full torque at 1,500 rpms and holds it all the way to 5,000. It will accelerate from 1,500 rpms in 6th with no lag or hint of stalling. It is a lag free zone so I wonder what the S3 is like? If Audi make a 2.5 version of this engine as is rumoured in the TT RS then it will be one seriously quick car. If the rumour millis to believed (Autocar and Auto Express) it will make around 400 bhp but with a torque curve as flat as Kate Moss's chest!

Frawls
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top