Went for a spirited drive yestersday

[lovecolt]

Had my car for 1.5 month now. Kept stopping myself to go hard on her until yestersday. Suddenly had a urge to do a spirited drive. Ended up at Sydney South's Royal National Park. The roads over there are rather bumpy at times. Corners are really tight at times too. As everyone knows, RColt has quite abit of bodyroll, hence initially i tend to back off abit more than needed. However, after a while, i learnt to trust my blackie and went harder and harder. Not much understeer at all, but then again i didn't turn off the ASC :p

I must say, the feeling you got from driving on normal street is really a understatement of what the car can actually do. Starting to love more and more of this car. But damn it needs a sway bar :p

*Add on: Due to the lack of boost at high rev zone and heavy when off boost, i find a stock RColt is very suited for touge drive.

[GucciPiggy]

I agree with you in that everyday driving does not reveal what these cars are capable of. Having said that though I also think it is a bonus to have a car that can be comfortably driven sedately everyday. I am keen to see how the car feels with ASC turned of but as yet haven't had the chance to test.

On the topic of rear anti-roll bars, doesn't the torsion beam suspension design negate the need for one?

How did your tyres fair after your blast? Much sign of wear yet?

[lovecolt]

How did your tyres fair after your blast? Much sign of wear yet?

After the blast, the tyres looks virtually untouched. Only abit scratched or rubbed.

[tingtw]

I agree with you in that everyday driving does not reveal what these cars are capable of. Having said that though I also think it is a bonus to have a car that can be comfortably driven sedately everyday. I am keen to see how the car feels with ASC turned of but as yet haven't had the chance to test.

On the topic of rear anti-roll bars, doesn't the torsion beam suspension design negate the need for one?

How did your tyres fair after your blast? Much sign of wear yet?

Yes, the torsion beam acted as the rear anti-roll bar. To help against body roll, we need a thicker anti-roll bar for the front.

[lovecolt]

On the topic of rear anti-roll bars, doesn't the torsion beam suspension design negate the need for one?

Had a read on torsion beam suspension, it is said to act like a anti-roll bars on a less demand car. Hence it might not be enough if you want to do hard cornering with the RColt.


Yes, the torsion beam acted as the rear anti-roll bar. To help against body roll, we need a thicker anti-roll bar for the front.

But a thicker front anti-roll bar will induce more understeer....

hence can we add a rear sway bar to a torsion beam rear suspension?? Looks hard, but its doable. http://www.autotech.com/catalog/swaybars.htm for their VW Golf example....

[GucciPiggy]

Ok sweet. Good to know that it is possible to add one to the rear. I have previously owned a fwd car with an uprated front sway bar and the increase in understeer was very noticeable. Not sure if I want to risk it with the colt but a rear one would be great. If I remember correctly the best way to balance a car is to offset the front swaybar with a rear strut brace and vice versa.

[Philip Lee]

alternatively maybe you can run the rear harder to help reduce the bodyroll and understeer?!

[Raymond6]

As I said in one of my previous replies a long run when my little Urchin was just over 1200k old did wonders for it not to mention the fun I had on the twisty bits.
It made it rev more freely and the engine transmission and tyres quietened down markably.
There was marked improvement in overall preformance and as a bonus fuel economy improved.:)
Now at 2250kms it's still getting better it's actully becoming fun to blow of V8 commodores and none suspecting hotted up cars at the lights.
The look on there faces is priceless as they can see it's stock, But a colt with that goes something must be wrong here.:confused:
Yep something is wrong you forgot to look at the bootlid badge (Ralliart!) Hee Hee Ha:D

[Raymond6]

As I said in one of my previous replies a long run when my little Urchin was just over 1200k old did wonders for it not to mention the fun I had on the twisty bits.
It made it rev more freely and the engine transmission and tyres quietened down markably.
There was marked improvement in overall preformance and as a bonus fuel economy improved.:)
Now at 2250kms it's still getting better it's actully becoming fun to blow of V8 commodores and none suspecting hotted up cars at the lights.
The look on there faces is priceless as they can see it's stock, But a colt with that goes something must be wrong here.:confused:
Yep something is wrong you forgot to look at the bootlid badge (Ralliart!) Hee Hee Ha:D

26/01 Took My little Urchin and Lady for drive down the M5 then trough Picton and onto Thirlmere Lakes today an 165K round trip.

The Rcolt just loves the M5 and at 110Kph it just wants to go quicker and today being double demerit points I had to deny my little Urchin is onward faster lust for a while. It feel absolutely rock solid at 100+ kmph and interior noise is acceptable (you can still have a pleasant conversation or listen to Mozart? (ACDC please).

Turned of the M5 onto sealed back roads to be precise the old Hume Hwy it has more bumps and potholes than a 16 year olds face. I could easily cruise along in 5th gear at speeds between 60 & 100kmph without having to depress the go peddle more than 25%.

Then turned of to Thirlmere the road becomes narrower and bumper and begins to get twisty (FUN TIME!) at speeds that my girlfriend was screaming at me to slow down my little Urchin just hugged the road, even if the corner had a few corrugations just a slight correction or at the worst a slight lift of the GO peddle was all that it required to fly around these bends.

Then onto the Dirt and sandstone track to Thirlmere Lakes this track is only as wide as a Ford Falcon and is pot holed and ruts everywhere so on the way down to the lakes I stayed in 1st and 2nd gears at no more than 30kmph. You defiantly feel those large bums but the Recaro's don't make it a bone jarring ride.

On the way back up to the main road after a swim I decided to find out about the Rcolt's rally heritage my thinking was maybe faster better.
(Now as lovecolt knows I drive like an old snail)

But from the start I was right into again and guess what everyone, not a squeak or rattle in the car and it was nearly always pointed in the right direction if not it was a matter once again of just a little flick on the steering and a fraction of a second off the GO Peddle. It just flew across everything except a 6 inch sandstone washout this had to be negotiated at 3kmph go slow time there.

Got back onto the sealed stuff again and followed it back through the Razorback Mountains had a lot of fun here a Nissan Exa with a HUGE pop of valve and garbage bin muffler that would wake the dead on Mars decided that he would attempt to blow me off up hill on a divided section of the old Hwy.

Now not wanting to disappoint him my first reaction was to drop it from 5th to 3rd and press the Go peddle as hard as I could strange thing then happened as my little Urchins heart screamed and at just over 5600rpm next gear please the Exa just kept on going backwards. I saw him later at the BP in Campelltown he wanted to know what Id done to this Colt as he could not believe that he’d been flogged by a Rcolt. My answer was just go to your nearest Mitz dealer and you can have one too.
From Campbelltown it was back onto the M5 for the sprint back into Sydney overall I used 8.37L per 100km’s that was with 50ks of that being city driving.