Cars can be fun!

Originally Posted by specialone

A guy who did some welding for me on a escort van of mine in 2006 had transplanted 2 litre turbo cosworth engines out of the sierras into MK2 shells on a few occasions, apparently, they went quite well

Yeah I've seen one of those before, they sure do shift. Although nothing beats that sound of an NA Pinto you always hear in the MK2's

Back in the early 90's my dad put a Ford Capri engine in his bright orange Escort Van. Shame it's no where to be seen these days...

[mister c]

Nice The power feels different to the acceleration of a bike for some reason.

I had a go in a 500bhp Skyline GTR once. Sat in the passenger seat trying to look as though I was used to speed (being a biker), but I wasn't prepared for the kick in the seat I got when he let it loose from a set of traffic lights. All I could say was "F*@k Me!"
I ended up buying a GTS with 260bhp, but it just wasn't the same

it looks the dogs danglers,but still wont keep up with a blade r1 or a zx10 with a capable rider,the only reason a what ever sports car beat the super bike on top gear was they did a 2nd take with a slower bike after the car came second

Remember the atom vs the BMW S1000rr?

Originally Posted by Reeder

Remember the atom vs the BMW S1000rr?

that might be the one they did the take two on,its a while ago and cant remember all the details,but do remember they used a slower bike so as to let the car win,i believe it was in the press about it

What bike would they have initially used then rather than the BMW?

Originally Posted by Reeder

What bike would they have initially used then rather than the BMW?

been looking on the net about it,all i could find was the track was bumpy and the bmw suspension kept bottoming out and topgear wouldnt let them upgrade the suspension,and wanted a bog standard bike, and the chap on the bike didnt know the track as well as tiff in the atom

found this





The much anticipated bike versus car showdown show on Top Gear on BBC2 last night left one important question unanswered… just how fast around the track was the BMW S1000RR?
MCN was there on the day of the filming back in October and we can confirm the BMW superbike was less than a second slower than the mental Ariel Atom V8; a time that makes the BMW the second fastest vehicle around the track ever.

• Read the BMW S1000RR review

Our inside view allowed us to see just what unfolded that day with rider Steve Brogan using a completely stock BMW against the Ariel which was driven for the fast sequences by ex-Top Gear presenter Tiff Needell, pretending to be James May.
That means a £13,310 bike in completely standard trim is just under a second slower than a 475bhp Ariel and faster than everything else ever put around the track by the famous Top Gear driver The Stig.
Cars beaten by the BMW, ridden by reigning British Superbike EVO class champion Steve Brogan include the Bugatti Veyron Super Sport, the world’s fastest production car which costs a staggering £1.7million.
There are lots of rumours about what happened on the day of filming with people suggesting the Top Gear crew made sure the car won. This isn’t true. Brogan was prevented from using his race bike because the rules state all times must be set by road legal vehicles.
In fact the times set by the car and the bike were less than a second apart with the bumpy nature of the track, the tight, twisty layout and Brogan’s lack of track knowledge all counting for the tiny difference.
This was the first time a full-on race has taken place on Top Gear and was filmed back in October on a dry and warm day and MCN was there to get photos and the lowdown on the filming.
The BMW S1000RR was completely standard which meant a 190bhp, 999cc inline four-cylinder superbike with ABS, traction control and anti-wheelie were all available.
Brogan opted to switch it all off. He told MCN: “The BMW electronics are great for most of the time but I want to be able to get some wheelspin to help me. I got a couple of laps from the front seat of a car to have a look at the track and then got on the bike to see what it was all about.
“The biggest issue around this track were the bumps. Not just on the brakes where the standard bike forks are bottoming out everywhere but also on the throttle where the back wheel is spinning up and bouncing around a lot.”
The car he raced was a 475bhp, 550kg Ariel Atom with a 3.0litre V8 built by American firm Hartley using two Suzuki Hayabusa heads and a bespoke bottom end which can rev to 10,500rpm.
The performance of the car is more than a match for the Bugatti Veyron, with 0-60mph in 2.3s and 0-100mph in 5.4s – one of the world’s fastest-accelerating cars. It costs £146,000 and the British firm is only making 25 – all but five of which have already been sold. Top speed is more than 170mph.
Motorcycles have only made a few, rare appearances on Top Gear in the past. A Honda FireBlade was put around a track but this was heavily criticised by bikers as it wasn’t a professional rider.
The only others have been a Vincent Black Shadow ridden by bike nut Richard Hammond and the Christmas Special where all three of the Top Gear presenters rode bikes across Vietnam.
Top Gear director Andy Wilman said: “We wanted this showdown to be as real and as close as possible so using a professional racer to ride the bike made perfect sense. People have criticised Top Gear in the past for the way we have included bikes but we hope this answers those concerns.”
SPEC PANELS:
BMW S1000RR
Price: £13,310
Claimed power/torque: 190.4bhp/82.7ft-lb
Kerb weight: ABS version 206.5kg
Power to weight ratio: 922bhp per ton
ENGINE: Water-cooled 16v DOHC 4-stroke in-line four-cylinder. 999cc
ARIEL ATOM 500 V8
Price £146,000
Claimed power/torque: 475bhp/267ftlb
Kerb weight: 550kg
Power to weight ratio: 863bhp per ton
ENGINE: Water-cooled, 32v DOHC 75-degree V8. 3000cc

Originally Posted by suzukigt380paul

it looks the dogs danglers,but still wont keep up with a blade r1 or a zx10 with a capable rider,the only reason a what ever sports car beat the super bike on top gear was they did a 2nd take with a slower bike after the car came second

Quite right but I'm not a capable rider nor do I have a litre sportsbike.
I'm a sh!t rider with a Gixer 600 Definitely easier to drive a car reasonably fast than a bike though, margin of error on a bike being smaller and all that.

Originally Posted by paiste

Quite right but I'm not a capable rider nor do I have a litre sportsbike.
I'm a sh!t rider with a Gixer 600 Definitely easier to drive a car reasonably fast than a bike though, margin of error on a bike being smaller and all that.

have driven fast cars(car) and still own a fast bike and i know on a nice dry road i can loose a fast car,the only trouble being all the other tw*ts on the road out there who are out to get you,and if you have ever been doing say a 130mph in a car when a hgv pulls out to over take something doing 1mph less then he is when you are only a 100+meters or so away from him that when you find out 1.7 tons and anti lock brakes on car dont seem to do any thing and your foot is deep in the shag pile carpet if you had it thats when you wish you were on a bike with brakes that work and not a car

[mister c]

Originally Posted by suzukigt380paul

have driven fast cars(car) and still own a fast bike and i know on a nice dry road i can loose a fast car,

Depends on who's driving it.
It has been proved that a bike is slower around corners compared to a car