Top Gear & 5th Gear Caparo T1 tests.

[reptilian_storm]

Top Gear test.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvwxnznXHbA

5th Gear Test

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBXsQwahRNo


Looks like it still needs a lot of work before it's sold to the public. I can see plenty of law suits if it sets on fire and burns it's drivers. :err:

[Meio]

Yup. Sounds like they need to spend a few months tuning the suspension too.

[anjroo11688]

Jesus Christ, it's seven seconds faster around the track Koenigsegg:ahhh:

[cobra_man]

Sweet
Too bad it was falling apart.

[MyBike]

Too bad American police won't be getting one. :boink:


http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2007/10/large_caparopolice.jpg

[Kumacho]

Wow! Looky there! It was 2 seconds quicker around the track than the Ultima and it was driven by The Stig.

Too bad they won't include that on their lap times because it's too low to the ground?!? :eek: :ahhh:

Anyway, sick car. Once they get the bugs worked out of it it's going to be a monster.

I'm not sure they can really work around the low speed understeer condition though. Since the car relies so heavily on aerodynamics to make it stick I'm afraid it will always be just like an F1 car and be very difficult to drive in slow speed corners.

But I would kill Meio to have one. It would rock to show up at a SCCA event with one of them.

[SyDias]

Aside from it's remarkable engineering, that car's a death trap.

[Meio]

Wow! Looky there! It was 2 seconds quicker around the track than the Ultima and it was driven by The Stig.

So was the Ultima... just check the gloves in both videos, that's a direct and unsubtle hint to the identity of the Ultima driver, more than likely a Stig.

But I would kill Meio, because he's a wanker. It would rock to show up at a SCCA event with one of them.

Fixed

Anyway I was telling you guys about how mental this car would be a year ago, but did you listen?

[reptilian_storm]

I'm not sure they can really work around the low speed understeer condition though. Since the car relies so heavily on aerodynamics to make it stick I'm afraid it will always be just like an F1 car and be very difficult to drive in slow speed corners.

Unlike F1 cars the Caparo doesn't have to stick to any rules apart from being street legal.

How about hydraulic or electric "twin tail planes" to adjust the angle of attack according to speed, conditions and tire temperature maybe? Same with a diffuser at the front though maybe harder to put into practice. It might be slightly heavier but i don't think it'd matter too much as you would probably make up the ground lost through the extra weight with the down force created?

It's not like they're short of money to experiment and i wouldn't see potential buyers complaining about extra weight and cost to the car if it stopped them from from crashing the damn thing.

[Meio]

Well nobody complained about the balance of the Atom which weighs about the same, similarly the dynamics of various 500kg Westfields, Radicals and Caterhams are not often doubted. Although the T1 has twice the horsepower of most of these, but still you imagine that with a decent suspension setup it could get round corners at Atoms speeds without needing to rely on aero or sliding all over the place.
I think most potential owners would be well pissed off if they started adding 10s of kilos of dynamic bullshit without tuning the suspension properly.

[Kumacho]

Unlike F1 cars the Caparo doesn't have to stick to any rules apart from being street legal.

How about hydraulic or electric "twin tail planes" to adjust the angle of attack according to speed, conditions and tire temperature maybe? Same with a diffuser at the front though maybe harder to put into practice. It might be slightly heavier but i don't think it'd matter too much as you would probably make up the ground lost through the extra weight with the down force created?

It's not like they're short of money to experiment and i wouldn't see potential buyers complaining about extra weight and cost to the car if it stopped them from from crashing the damn thing.

If the problem was that the car had a strong oversteer then making the rear wing adjustable from the cockpit would be a good solution. But the problem is understeer and when the drive attempts to correct the understeer situation by adding ample throttle it changes to oversteer.

Adding more downforce on the rear at lower speeds would only exaggerate the problem making the understeer even worse.

It looks like the tires would be the best solution to the problem. There is currently a huge stagger between the front and rears - Front: 250/640 R18 Rear: 290/680 R18 that equates to a 14% stagger. By dropping down to an 8% stagger they can reduce the understeer. Probably their best bet will be to increase the size of both front and rears along with reducing the stagger.

[DarkNick]

Boo, the Top Gear vid got removed because of copyright issues.