Tuesday 5th September 2017

It's a racing car for the road! PH Blog

Those that live up to the claim... and those that don't

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Go on, admit it. Somewhere in your automotive past there lurks an example of you trying to add a bit of 'because racecar' flavour to your daily driver. The adult equivalent of a bit of cardboard in your spokes, it's a little feel-good embellishment to kid yourself you're a call-up away from a career as a racing driver.

Now THIS is a Track Mode

In my case it was some homemade 'tow' arrows on the bumpers of my old Impreza WRX. This was before a strap or anodised hook became the essential bolt-on accessory for every High Street Herbert in a hot hatch so I like to think I was ahead of the curve on this one, thereby granting me rights to scoff dismissively any time I see it now. Something like this, a Sparco pad on your seatbelt or a K&N sticker on your bootlid are, I think, pretty innocent pleasures. Ripping out your interior to install a faux roll cage, putting stickers with your name and blood group on the windows or adding a DIY plywood diffuser? I think someone may need to have a word.

Manufacturers aren't innocent in this game either. Prime example? Has to be the BMW M3, the first of which was arguably a race car for the road. Or, speaking accurately, a road car to enable the E30 3 Series to go racing. The four generations of M3 since (and now the M4) have traded heavily on this 30-year motorsport heritage while lacking any meaningful link to racing cars, the stripped and caged GTS models taking this idea into pure parody.

Racing driver with a racing car (for the road)

So, when has it worked? I was interested to read the initial reviews of the Ford GT and hear some moans that it was, y'know, too much like being in a racing car. Which makes me laugh, given supercar buyers have for years craved pseudo motorsport trimmings as proof of their virility, be that through carbon trim, fire extinguishers in the passenger footwell, uncomfortable fixed bucket seats or inconvenient harnesses. But it takes more than Alcantara and racing stripes to turn your supercar into race car for the road, the complaints about the GT being too cramped, noisy and uncomfortable an amusing reminder to be careful what you wish for.

Because having sat through a fascinating 45-minute geek-out on the GT with Ford Performance engineering boss Jamal Hameedi I'm reassured to understand quite how close Le Mans winner and road car actually are. The details are fascinating (and too complex to detail this time around) but the necessities of building a competitive car capable of winning Le Mans on its first outing and also delivering customer street cars before the year was out to satisfy the homologation rules meant there was no choice but to run the programmes in parallel. It's there in the fundamental architecture of the 'keel' hull and narrow cabin, respectively optimised to improve underbody downforce and frontal area. It's there in the choice of a highly evolved Ecoboost V6. It's there in the FIA spec roll cage integrated into the structure. It's there in the fact the switchable 70mm Track ride height is to within millimetres of what the LM GTE car runs. And after a tantalisingly brief go with it I can confirm it's there in the way it drives. If you don't believe me then ask Olivier Pla, factory Ford driver who was there on the day and hadn't actually driven the street GT before - he seemed honestly surprised at how close they are in feel.

Loud, cramped, hard work? It's meant to be!

There's the reality though. Racing cars are noisy, uncomfortable and built for one thing - racing. By necessity that compromises their suitability as road cars, something you may or may not be willing to put up with in the name of reflected glory while pootling about town. These are the true race or rally cars for the roads, demanding of a level of commitment from their drivers. And then there are the wannabes. Time to name and shame - I'll open the bidding with Ford GT as the former and any M3 with more than four cylinders* the latter. Over to you...

Dan

One flyer in the Ford GT.

*Bonus point if you can name the honourable exceptions!

 

 

 

 

[snuffy]

I had a Noble M12 for a number of years and I reckon that was pretty much a race car for the road.

[r11co]

Are we including rallying? In which case the Peugeot 205/106 Rallye (and their Talbot Samba predecessor) count without being exotic IMO.

[cuda]

I thought my 997.1 GT3 was a bit of a road racer - but then I went in a 997 Cup Car around Spa...

[joshleb]

Will this result in unsatisfied customers then?

Looks amazing, can't wait to see one in the flesh!

[Polrules]

Race car for the road you say, imagine these would make the GT seem a bit of a half-hearted effort....

[big_rob_sydney]

I think there have been any number of Mitsubishi and Subaru group N rally cars that are close to this.

Then look at the various group A touring cars.

And these days there are a number of GT3 cars that are pretty close too.

Not sure I get the point, unless its a click bait article (and yeah, you got me).

[GTCSL]

M3 CSL.

[Ares]

I ran an Exige as a daily driver for 2 years, 40,000 miles. Felt like a racecar on the commute.


Also ran a Bike-Engined Caterham on the road which actually was also my race car, didn't often commute in it though.

[kentviking]

snuffy said:

I had a Noble M12 for a number of years and I reckon that was pretty much a race car for the road.

Have to agree with snuffy...I too had a Mk 1 M12 GTO for a few years...fastest A to B road car on the country lanes I have ever owned and both looked and felt like a racing car. Only thing i have test driven that was more like a racing car on the road was an Ultima...a little too raw an experience for the road IMHO....but a great experience.

[rodericb]

Could one throw the Alfa Romeo 4C into this lot - although there's not really a sanctioned racing class for it? Noisy, cramped and with suspension and steering tuned for billiard table-smooth roads as you'd find on a race track?

[WCZ]

the ultima is the closest imo
things like the megane trophy-r are a million miles away

[mwstewart]

GTCSL said:

M3 CSL.

Absolutely not even close, though still a great road car.

[Major Fallout]

I supose mine counts, but its a bit old and I dont drive it every day.

[Tickle]

Group B Cars to like this lot...

[Krikkit]

Polrules said:

Race car for the road you say, imagine these would make the GT seem a bit of a half-hearted effort....

To be honest the GT is in exactly the same vein as these two, although less extreme it's not a massive difference - as noted in the article the tubs etc are all the same as used in the racer.

[EpsomJames]

kentviking said:

snuffy said:

I had a Noble M12 for a number of years and I reckon that was pretty much a race car for the road.

Have to agree with snuffy...I too had a Mk 1 M12 GTO for a few years...fastest A to B road car on the country lanes I have ever owned and both looked and felt like a racing car. Only thing i have test driven that was more like a racing car on the road was an Ultima...a little too raw an experience for the road IMHO....but a great experience.

Afraid I disagree. I too had a M12 GTO and thought it was relatively comfortable road car being fairly quiet inside, the ride was firm but not jarring and had air conditioning + power steering.

I've owned far more compromised road cars, which TBH haven't been very pleasant to use on the road, but even these are still nothing like a racing car.

[RenesisEvo]

rodericb said:

Could one throw the Alfa Romeo 4C into this lot - although there's not really a sanctioned racing class for it? Noisy, cramped and with suspension and steering tuned for billiard table-smooth roads as you'd find on a race track?

Compared to a Caterham I think a 4C would feel luxurious.

Ginetta G40R is a genuine racing car for the road.

[Yipper]

Lambo Gallardo Superleggera Mk2 was roughly 70% of the Super Trofeo race car, circa 2010 to 2014. Carbon fibre, ceramic, titanium, etc.

[Skater12]

I'd suggest any of the cars below would fall into the category of "race car for the road" and deliver on that.
Oh, and they're all British built !

[DiscoColin]

GTCSL said:

M3 CSL.

Erm - the factory racing version of the E46 had a 4 litre V8 with rather more extrovert bodywork. IIRC they made 10 or fewer examples of the road homologation E46 M3 GTR, but those would certainly count. However the CSL - that is just a great road car. Even for track use most owners found that they had to put 6 pot APs on them straight off the bat...

As far as its contemporary rivals go though, the Porsche 996 GT3 RS was actually not a million miles away from the equivalent racing variant (which was the last Cup with an H pattern 'box in it) but subsequent GT3s have much less in common with the racing cars (mostly just the shell and the core of the engine). Earlier Porsche RS models (from the '73 2.7 to the 993) were a lot closer to the racers and conversely up until the end of the air cooled years it was eminently viable to make the Cup and RSR racers into road legal cars (which has been done with the 996 as well, but nothing like as often).