Why is the UK so far behind???

[Jim 2]

on a side note....i've had the pleasure of driving a couple of Skylines...amazing car.....however the main reason Nissan does not export the car to the U.S market is the Skyline DOES NOT stand a chance

 

The main reason is emissions and homologation issues! Its nothing to do with performance! If that was the case, then why would Subaru 'bother' selling the Impreza in the USA?

 

Do some research man!

[H8RRA 0]

as far as engineering goes we are streets ahead. i remember a guy telling me about british aerospace. a top yank company sent to them what was claimed to be the smallest drill bit in the world. the brits sent it back with a hole straight through the middle

 

thats a story i was telling 15 years ago - the story was that Honda sent "the smallest drill in the world" to Rolls Royce/BAE, basically selling themselves up as the leading engineering force. There were press releases in industry magazines etc.

 

Rollsy Royce returned the drill with a hole all the way through the middle with a Rolls Royce compliments slip and nothing else.

 

No fuss, no drama, no publicity. I was actually on a course at Rolls Royce Filton in Bristol at the time so it was sort of from the horses mouth.....

[H8RRA 0]

........and another thing.......

 

the reason all top performance teams aren't british but brits run/develop are in charge of such organisations worldwide is lack of investment in our own talents and skills........................

 

then we have to import the bloody goods back in for our use at higher cost!!!!

[dutch 0]

Jim,...emissions??? are you saying Nissan does not import the Skyline due to emissions issue?

[Neil VR6 0]

dinkus...i disagree...a Vette or Viper would walk an EVO on any road ....the age old argument that American sports cars don't handle as well as their European or Japanese counterparts is long over....maybe back in the 80's that argument would work but not nowadays

 

This is a lively thread which I am enjoying immensely.

 

That quote, however, is just wrong. :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

For a start the Viper can barely puts it's power down. The Evo has 300ish ponies, 4WD, a fancy centre diffs in which witchcraft occurs, and a rock solid chassis. The "lack" or power is more than made up for through it's prowess in the twisties. Just have a look at the Top Gear Stig lap times. The only thing which keeps American cars up there is brute force (horsepower rather than military). The Evo FQ 400 was 2 seconds exactly quicker than a Vette and nearly 4 secs quicker than the Viper SRT 10. The M3 CSL was half a second quicker than the SRT 10!

[chrishill 0]

Vette or Viper would walk an EVO on any road

 

I wouldnt be so sure

 

top gear track times for both cars, both driven by the stig...

 

Dodge Viper SRT-10 - 1.28.5

Mitsubishi Evo VIII - 1.28.9

 

.4 of a seconds difference, which is next to nothing.

[Neil VR6 0]

http://www.topgear.com/content/tgonbbc2 ... s/thestig/

[chrishill 0]

ah ok, so the http://www.bbc.co.uk/topgear site is woefully out of date!! :lol:

[dutch 0]

ok...hold on!!!! you can NOT compare a modded car to a factory one!! an M3 CSL is a light weight edtion of the M3...i can give you stats of modded Vettes and Vipers and would leave ANY of those cars a long way back....and on another note.....i do like Top Gear but I find they have a bias towards anything that comes from America.....

[Neil VR6 0]

None of those cars are modded. They're all stock cars from the factory. Granted, an Enzo is hardly "stock" but no cars on that list have had aftermarket mods.

[dutch 0]

chrishill........ .4 secs in the car world IS quite a difference....may not seem like that much but that's at least 2 car lengths...

[dutch 0]

i'm liking this thread!!! :D

[Andi 2,147,483,647]

Surely it depends on how fast you're going :-P

[Neil VR6 0]

My mate's got an F150 Lightning and it rocks, all 450bhp of it. However, only using the car at weekends still results in a £200 petrol bill each month and it costs £85 to fill up. He's the Chancellor's best friend!

[Jim 2]

Jim,...emissions??? are you saying Nissan does not import the Skyline due to emissions issue?

 

Yep - that and the fact they'd have had to start producing it in LHD form.

 

As I say - Google for it - the information is out there mate.

[Andi 2,147,483,647]

Yeah, least we drive on the correct side of the road.

 

Stupid Yanks and Europeans! :)

 

lol

[dinkus 10]

It has to be said, Top Gear do have a bias against anything American because generally speaking, they're cheap and show it, have appauling build quality, ghastly ride on anthing remotely bendy or bumpy, drink petrol like nothing else on earth and look ugly.

 

But hey, why are you defending them - you're Canadian, you're supposed to dislike them as much as we do! :lol:

 

 

 

And don't take anything I say too seriously... ;)

[chrishill 0]

chrishill........ .4 secs in the car world IS quite a difference....may not seem like that much but that's at least 2 car lengths...

 

well ok, fair enough... but my figures were wrong, the FQ400 evo was actually a few seconds quicker than the viper as neil g60 pointed out.

 

I wouldnt class the M3 CSL as a modded car either, it came out of the factory like that ;)

[Lippy 0]

gentleman, please refer to the evo car of the year (ecoty) in this months magazine.

 

The real world test includes 350z, M3 CS (not the full blown CSL), Corvette and a Roush Mustang (the standard would have been monstered in the company of the test), impreza wrx, forester sti and a clio 182 (there are more but can't remember)

 

basically the Corvette struggled with the roads around scotland, ie fast and curvy. It was insanely fast, however it couldn't handle the nuances (great word) of the Brit A/B roads therefore was much slower than lower HP rivals. Something which the Clio 182 proved by winning the test.

 

The Corvette was launched as a rival for a 911 :lol:

 

I have nothing against American cars, I would love a Corvette Stingray and I am sure they have come on leaps and bounds. But they are useless compared to a 4wd, trick diffed motor or even a well sorted RWD like a 350z.

 

Only thing they can do it drive up alley ways and knock over cardboard boxes ;)

[dinkus 10]

I must say, until about a year ago, I did think that everything that came out of the USA since about '67 (mmm '67 (Shelby) Mustang...) was utter cack.

 

However, some of the new Dodge stuff doesn't look too bad. Still wouldn't buy one, but at least their designers seem to have graduated from crayon to pencil :lol:

[dutch 0]

you guys are great!!!

dinkus....i'm not the biggest fan of the americans but i thought this would be an interesting thread to start... 8)

chrishill....when i say modded i mean a car that has been modified to increase performance from it's standard form....so you can't compare a CSL or FQ400 to a factory vette or viper....

[dutch 0]

dinkus....seems like a well engineered car to me??

 

http://www.fast-autos.net/chevrolet/chevroletc6z06.html

[Lippy 0]

oh and BF goodrich tyres are the coolest thing ever!

[Lippy 0]

dutch, it beats working!

[dutch 0]

lol lol....lippy.....it's one of those days at work.....