by renman3000 » Tue Jul 05, 2005 1:18 pm
Not long now - Brisbane is prepared!! The last minute details of the RCCQ Renault Sport & Alpine Expo are being taken care of and the NZ ers have started arriving!!
The southern states' contingent of Dieppe cars will be on their way soon. One of them told me of his oneday dream to travel over our snowy Alps in his A110. He probably won't but it will still be an arduous drive from Melbourne in such a car. Built with one purpose - to win rallies! He says 5th gear is like a normal 3rd and the car is extremely noisy. He's a real stalwart to say the least and he's been importing Alpines into Aus for 20 odd years!
Have just driven my GTA turbo tonight and I'm beginning to understand it a bit more. Tomorrow new wheels and tyres, so its abilities will change. Probably good to drive it with dodgy tyres though as its shown me the basic traits. Generally in the dry its a matter of turn the wheel and it goes around the corner (same as my Laguna V6 with good tyres).
But the FEELING is so different. You are so low in a very low car and the steering is not p/a and it gives your arms a bit of a tug here through a bend, or maybe goes a bit light if the surface falls off through a tight one.
It tells you what is going on and expects you to understand it.
It is not prone to any nasty behaviour, at least in the dry and even with old hard tyres. And the way it drives is so different. The gearchange just progresses so easily. The ratios are great. The clutch is smooth.
At first I thought that boost comes in abruptly and the show is over - then I started to appreciate the rest of the rev range above 3000rpm - especially in the higher gears. There's a huge amount of urge at speed. Obviously light weight, reasonable power and that extremely low cd - one of the most slippery cars around - make for a grand routier!! A 155 mph car.
I've been a very surprised passenger in AlpinePete's GTA being driven in his natural (mountain) habitat and you can beleive me when I say these cars are something different! Pete chatting away as my throat tightened - still accellerating through this (tight) bend at ***kph.
I was wondering who was going to run our business on Monday as we'd probably still be in the process of being pulled out of the trees at that point along with a mess of splintered plastic! No way!! Pete and the GTA knew their stuff and we swept on to even greater horrors at subsequent bends!
a feast is more than enough
