I got a bit depressed on Saturday

[Ubernoober]

Returning from a very pleasant cross-Wiltshire/Somerset/Dorset hoon with SWMBO, I got chased away from a roundabout by a new Audi TT. Childishly responding to this non-verbalised challenge I accelerated away with gusto but much to my chagrin I only manage to pull away by, oh, all of 3 feet by the time we were upto 120 leptons

Now feeling considerably miffed, muttering words like 'blower' and 'be taken by a bloody diesel next' I have been in a bit of a moody - or rather was until I checked the performance figures for said Audi - quite the rapid little beast it is! More bhp but less torque than my 400. Don't feel quite so performance-challenged now!

Brit 1 , German 0

[shadowninja]

Whether you win by an inch or a mile, winning is winning. Apparently.

[Don]

What was huge power back in the late nineties is now simply "quite quick". The mass market has a wide range of surprisingly grunty cars, these days. Many of which can easily take on the performance of an older TVR.

[Zippee]

Don said:

What was huge power back in the late nineties is now simply "quite quick". The mass market has a wide range of surprisingly grunty cars, these days. Many of which can easily take on the performance of an older TVR.

You wait till you come across the sport version of the Toyota avensis

As you mention the 400 is no longer a fast car - merely average by most of todays standards.

[450Nick]

Best give these guys a call... www.sc-power.co.uk - It'll cheer you right up! (After you recover from the bill!)

Just fired mine up for the first time yesterday and my god I can't wait to get it on the road

[Pau1]

And very likely that the TT was remapped to an easy 280BHP. Theres no shame there.

[slideways]

Its not all about the winning its about how good you look getting there, if you want to be a boy racer and rise to the bate then best go and get one of those jap scubydoby thingamagigs,
you will find even if you get beet buy anything less than a bugatti vayron when you pull up at the next set of lights passers by will stop and comment on how good your car looks and ignore the other driver as if he doest even exist,
if this is not enough do like the others have said and get a blower

[im]

Ubernoober said:

I only manage to pull away by, oh, all of 3 feet by the time we were upto 120 leptons

I was going to say that I could understand it up to say 30 to 50 but not 120 leptons!

Blower required

[mak]

Zippee said:

Don said:

What was huge power back in the late nineties is now simply "quite quick". The mass market has a wide range of surprisingly grunty cars, these days. Many of which can easily take on the performance of an older TVR.

You wait till you come across the sport version of the Toyota avensis

.....

[mak]

It is a sad fact that big grunt cars have taken a bashing over the up and coming years but hey! At least we have badly fitting windows, roofs that leak and rotting rails amongst other things like rosting to death on a hot day to keep us happy so next time you get blown off by a modern machine just spark up a fag and think to your self " at least i have my health"

[Ubernoober]

im said:

Ubernoober said:

I only manage to pull away by, oh, all of 3 feet by the time we were upto 120 leptons

I was going to say that I could understand it up to say 30 to 50 but not 120 leptons!

Blower required

My thoughts have been straying in that direction, I've already prepared the ground with an "engine's not working right, dear, think I may need to have some work done on it" kind of approach.

Just need to balance the 'do I pay the tax man now or leave it till January and have the blower instead' conundrum!

Plus my very nice and very 'clever' accountant would probably have a fit if I told him what I'm thinking of doing!

[im]

Ubernoober said:

My thoughts have been straying in that direction, I've already prepared the ground with an "engine's not working right, dear, think I may need to have some work done on it" kind of approach.

Just need to balance the 'do I pay the tax man now or leave it till January and have the blower instead' conundrum!

Trust me on this - it wont be close after 50 leptons and will widen as you go up the scale...

[Ubernoober]

im said:

Ubernoober said:

My thoughts have been straying in that direction, I've already prepared the ground with an "engine's not working right, dear, think I may need to have some work done on it" kind of approach.

Just need to balance the 'do I pay the tax man now or leave it till January and have the blower instead' conundrum!

Trust me on this - it wont be close after 50 leptons and will widen as you go up the scale...

You are a naughty, naughty person Ian

Just out of interest, purely casual you understand, does yours sound any different now you have the blower?

[im]

Ubernoober said:

im said:

Ubernoober said:

My thoughts have been straying in that direction, I've already prepared the ground with an "engine's not working right, dear, think I may need to have some work done on it" kind of approach.

Just need to balance the 'do I pay the tax man now or leave it till January and have the blower instead' conundrum!

Trust me on this - it wont be close after 50 leptons and will widen as you go up the scale...

You are a naughty, naughty person Ian

Just out of interest, purely casual you understand, does yours sound any different now you have the blower?

Well, there is the supercharger...whats the word..."whine" as it "spins up" but:

1. After a while you tune-it-out as its not all-pervading and if you don't
2. It's quite a "cool" sound anyway.

Lets put it another way, I've had the Pre-Cats removed and straight-through pipes fitted and that IS loud so I had to point out which lesser sound was the SC unit to my son when he was a passenger as he couldn't hear it.

There isn't the usual SC psssst noise (you know - kinda like that noise that an arctic truck makes as its brakes) as it dumps the excess air due to the fact that the excess air isn't dumped out into the atmosphere - it's re-circulated back into the SC system.

Er...this is the noise you WONT really get: http://www.sunamiturbo.com/sunami.wav

So in a nutshell:

1. You will get the "spin-up" sound
2. You wont get the "dumping" sound
3. If you've moded your exhaust you probably wont notice the spin-up sound anyway
4. If you haven't moded your exhaust you probably will notice it but its not a horrible noise anyway IMHO.
5. Its possible that the SC noise is more noticable if your kerb side as the car approaches and goes past but I've never been in that position

If you ever want to chat about it PM me and I'll give you my home number.

Edited by im on Monday 22 September 20:02

[V8 Animal]

spark up a fag and think to your self " at least i have my health"
Quote of the week award goes to mak
V8 Animal

[mak]

V8 Animal said:

spark up a fag and think to your self " at least i have my health"
Quote of the week award goes to mak
V8 Animal

...
I suppose you could allways go out for a five mile jog and then pretend you still have your health, but while being in denial about owning a fast car my out look is to have a beer and smoke a fag while summing up the days humiliation and lying to myself about being healthy . I have to say though with big engine cars its all about 100 onwards that weeds out the small boys from the big boys and most pocket rockets can hold a good fight up to the ton.

[900T-R]

Zippee said:

As you mention the 400 is no longer a fast car - merely average by most of todays standards.

Um, what is the cheapest car on the market today that gets to 60 from a standstill in 5-ish seconds? If that's the price of an 'average' car... I'll have an 'average' salary, yes please!

[quattrophenia]

Winning isn't everything. The only reason people want to race half the time is because they are jealous, that and the fact they can't resist the sound of the V8, but then who can.
Tiv's will never be boring, plentiful or undesirable so in that respect you already have won.

[hiltonig]

450Nick said:

Best give these guys a call... www.sc-power.co.uk - It'll cheer you right up! (After you recover from the bill!)

Just fired mine up for the first time yesterday and my god I can't wait to get it on the road

Hope you have thought about traction control !!!! just fitted the racelogic one !!, ill think ill need it, let me know how you get on

Edited by hiltonig on Tuesday 23 September 19:38

[450Nick]

hiltonig said:

450Nick said:

Best give these guys a call... www.sc-power.co.uk - It'll cheer you right up! (After you recover from the bill!)

Just fired mine up for the first time yesterday and my god I can't wait to get it on the road

Hope you have thought about traction control !!!! just fitted the racelogic one !!, ill think ill need it, let me know how you get on

Edited by hiltonig on Tuesday 23 September 19:38

I've thought about it, but quickly decided not to! Much prefer to use my right foot instead I will probably invest in a rollbar, but mainly so I can fit proper harnesses and get a bit of extra chassis stiffness rather than for any extra safety it may provide. The car's nearly ready for mapping, I just need to fit the new fuel pump and mk2 of the new ACT manifold and a couple of new gauges and I'll be ready to have some fun!