Poseidon

I don't doubt the leaf springs lateral capability, it's the decompression that I think could suffer. A vertical sing has much more direct push against the road and has much more predictable handling charictaristics. I believe chevy to have gotten around many of the preconceptions that suround leaf springs, but in then end it still just sounds bad to most people. Try explaining an F1 car's horizontal front spring design to someone who "knows" about cars.( You know, those people that swear that thier stock dodge truck could beat a riced out rocket from japan. Or those people that put a huge 200 shot of nos on a stock sentra and say they'll kill any v8 any day. Yea, those people.) And they'll be like "isn't that dangerous. It doesn't seem like it would be very strong." And you just simply reply, they're the best handling machines in the world, wanna argue with that?



So you see my point. Just because ford builds crappy 4 doors doesn't mean the ford GT sucks. And just because the vette using leaf springs doesn't mean it's an outdated peice of machinery. It means the chevy engineers found a way to make old tech work against newage ideas. It's actually quite impressive imo.



Oh, just one question... does the new C6 pull 1G on stock tires? Just curious... time to go look up some tests on it....

inanimate_object

Except it wasn't a Shelby it was an AC - and there's more to a good handling car than lateral g-forces



And what is so complicated about the suspension on an f1 car? Double wishbones and pushrods is as simple as it gets.



Mark

GarageBoy

Good points, now I wanna see lap times =D

Poseidon

I find it amazing how many people don't understand the horizontal coilover idea behind the front suspension of a F1 car.



But mechanically, simplicity is usually the best way to go. The less moving parts the better... usually...

Bluemeaniews6

Alright, so it must be obvious by my lack of standing up for even MY car that I haven't read this thread in awhile, or been on the board for that matter, but work women and wine come first.

To start out I would like to say the fastest Late Model F-Body is a Twin Turbo Firebird that is on a stock block and is pulling 8's. There is another guy out here pulling 7.95 with a drag prepped body and an N/A big block LS1. So yes GM engines can hold massive power. That being said GM also just released a new Big Block crate motor to compete with Fords new 514. It is 540 c.i. and is over 600 horsepower out of the box, which would propell pretty much any CAR into the 10s any truck into the 11/12 and any rice into orbit. There was no animosity toward you poseidon, I respect most of what you said. That being said, I HATE when people compare the EVO and the STI to RWD sports cars. Regularly in the best of Japan Tuners championship RX-7's clean up because 4WD PLOWS INTO CORNERS! Awd is great for rally and I think the idea of a rwd rally car is insanity, but awd isn't ultimate for track performance, they have limited top end because of the extra moving parts, they have sever understeer issues even with severly modified susepension and for anyone that has ever driven one they are numb compared to even the most dainty rwd sportscar. Now, I am not saying that I altogether hate STIs just the damn EVO. Ever since they brought it over everyone thinks that is the be all and the end all of performance in every category. But I'll stop now because I am getting ahead of myself.

And to whomever said that GM should try not ripping off other peoples ideas, YOU ARE A MORON. GM owns Opel, SAAB, Holden, Subaru, etc. so when they design their cars, it is a GM design! The new Pontiac Solstice is going to be a turbo charged ecotec 4 and should be an awesome car with a great design. And for the record I am not a huge fan of the GTO's looks but they are growing on me, and Bob Lutz at GM is making the nessecary changes so slowly but surely it will be a force to be reckoned with.

Poseidon

well... GM did pretty much design the first year camaro closely to the deign of the mustang, but look at how fast GM made the camaro it's own car. I hold GM engineers highly for the camaros quick evolution into it's own car.



Now, i TOTALLY see you're point about AWD cars bluemeanie. I see where you're coming from, but you should look at the fact that almost every year the handling on the EVO and STI are getting better and better due to always improving computers that do a great job at handling the power and also do a great job of accepting performance mods.



True, the understeer like a mad man. But look at the evo 3 vs the evo 4. Then look at the evo 4 vs the evo 5. And so on and so on. They're becoming more and more the sports car for the future in japan. It's true that top speed is limited but a evo with some extra power can get over 140 with ease. And on most tracks don't let you get that high to begin with. So top speed is more of a bragging right to begin with.



I personally think it's unfair to compare the vette and the evo, they're two totally different goals and destinations. I'm just simply backing that the evo is an exelant car.



If anyone out there want to learn tons about the new evo 8 I highly recomend buying this DVD. It's awsome.



http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?id...63&type=product



If you enjoy that one dvd buy many more from them. It's like having a japanesse caranddriver in a DVD format. It's awsome....Very awsome....



The really cool part about bestmotoring is that thier driver are known as some of the best in all japan. And many of japan's greatest have studied under these drivers. I can't say so much for road and track testers...



Anyhoo, i'm glad we're on the same page bluemeanie. They hype that the evo gets isn't fair becuase they're a fairly imcomplete sprots car and even still shouldn't go up against FR FF RR or MR cars. It's becoming more and more common for AWD cars to form thier own classes in racing leagues and thus being baned from other classes. I totally find this fair.