August 19, 2007 - The first session took place in a light rain.
Great, just the way I like to test out a car for the first time. Other than about 200 road miles, the car was completely fresh.
On this first session, the car was a handful. It would understeer on corner entry then light up the rear wheels and oversteer on the exit. It didn't help that I had brand new RA-1s on the car that hadn't been heat-cycled yet and I never got around to installing sway bars! It was a bit of a challenge.
The one thing that did stand out, however, was the engine. It's a hero. Sharp throttle response, lots of torque from deep down and a killer top end. I thought there was something wrong with the tach - I use that to judge my speeds on this track because I know it so well. And in a couple of places, I was pulling almost as many rpm as I do in the Seven - a car that weighs 1300 lbs!
It's cool seeing the action shots of the car, partly to see how the stripes work. This picture was taken in light rain, but the blinding white and the orange-red colors jump out just the way they're supposed to. Excellent. The headlights are up because I forgot to put them down, no other reason.
tags: testing, Martini |
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