Autocar 360 stats
Discussion
Autocar have insinuated on several occasions that the Road Test 360 was a 'ringer' - i.e. deliberately modified to go faster than normal. I think in this case it is indisputable.
Ferrari have a history of doing this, a couple of years ago they stated the Enzo was faster accelerating than the McLaren at certain speeds (cobblers), and more recently that the 430 was faster than the F40 (also cobblers). It is clear that Ferrari customer cars end up substantially slower than the road test equivalents.
Ferrari aren't the only company to do this. Autocar tested the original Skoda Octavia vRS 0-60 in ~6.6 seconds - and then hinted that it had the 225bhp lump, not the 180bhp one. I'm sure this kind of underhand 'ringing' goes on regularly with road test cars, unfortunately it is not widely reported, I suspect so as to not upset the manufacturers.
On the ford forum www.ffoc.co.uk/forum/, people are reporting that their Focus ST225's arent performing as well as reported in the press - and that they are also suffering from cronic heatsoak. Why was this not reported by the press? Was it perhaps because they were not the same cars?....
Ferrari have a history of doing this, a couple of years ago they stated the Enzo was faster accelerating than the McLaren at certain speeds (cobblers), and more recently that the 430 was faster than the F40 (also cobblers). It is clear that Ferrari customer cars end up substantially slower than the road test equivalents.
Ferrari aren't the only company to do this. Autocar tested the original Skoda Octavia vRS 0-60 in ~6.6 seconds - and then hinted that it had the 225bhp lump, not the 180bhp one. I'm sure this kind of underhand 'ringing' goes on regularly with road test cars, unfortunately it is not widely reported, I suspect so as to not upset the manufacturers.
On the ford forum www.ffoc.co.uk/forum/, people are reporting that their Focus ST225's arent performing as well as reported in the press - and that they are also suffering from cronic heatsoak. Why was this not reported by the press? Was it perhaps because they were not the same cars?....
sjn2004 said:
Ok, I knew the word "ringer" was going to come up. With turbo cars it dead easy. Mercedes had a SLR engined SL55 at the ring, and the VAG group BS no end. But how exactly do you "ring" a NA 360 engine?
There's plenty of enhancements you can make to an n/a engine to deliver the results you want. Different injectors, blueprinting, different cam, higher rev limit etc. etc. There's no way a customer stock 360 will hit 100mph <9 secs.
trackdemon said:
Ok, I knew the word "ringer" was going to come up. With turbo cars it dead easy. Mercedes had a SLR engined SL55 at the ring, and the VAG group BS no end. But how exactly do you "ring" a NA 360 engine?
There's plenty of enhancements you can make to an n/a engine to deliver the results you want. Different injectors, blueprinting, different cam, higher rev limit etc. etc. There's no way a customer stock 360 will hit 100mph <9 secs.
I agree, but even the tweaked engine of the Stradale only "apparently" gained 25hp.
sjn2004 said:
Ok, I knew the word "ringer" was going to come up. With turbo cars it dead easy. Mercedes had a SLR engined SL55 at the ring, and the VAG group BS no end. But how exactly do you "ring" a NA 360 engine?
There's plenty of enhancements you can make to an n/a engine to deliver the results you want. Different injectors, blueprinting, different cam, higher rev limit etc. etc. There's no way a customer stock 360 will hit 100mph <9 secs.
I agree, but even the tweaked engine of the Stradale only "apparently" gained 25hp.
But a press car doesn't need to meet production standards and cost restraints.
The Stradale still had to come within budget and be reliable.
sjn2004 said:
where are you seeing these numbers ? IIRC, Autocar don't have 360 roadtest in their archives...
If you look at the back of a copy of autocar, they have the main figures from car tests going back a few years.
I have an original copy if anyone wants the full fig's.
And yes, no other 360 produced such good numbers!!
Regards Mark.
markbe said:
where are you seeing these numbers ? IIRC, Autocar don't have 360 roadtest in their archives...
If you look at the back of a copy of autocar, they have the main figures from car tests going back a few years.
I have an original copy if anyone wants the full fig's.
And yes, no other 360 produced such good numbers!!
Regards Mark.
Could you possibly scan it for us please? Would love to read there general comments at the time, thanks.
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