Hmmm...I wonder how that would do in OSP...can you up the boost much?
=P
-Carl
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Thana, Peter {High~Palo Alto} [mailto:PETER.THANA@Roche.COM]
> Sent: Wednesday, August 09, 2000 10:55 AM
> To: 'Anthony Tabacco'; ba-autox@autox.team.net
> Subject: RE: report from Europe
>
>
> Tony wrote...
> ... Most impressive though, was the Smart. check out their site;
> This is a perfectly
> > adapted urban "designed object". Wish I could import one.
> >
> Yeah, I rented a Smart when I was in Munich this past March. I
> figured I might as well try something that I'd never be able
> to drive in the
> States. It was really hard to reserve one from here, because
> all the Avis
> reps refuse to admit that the car class the Smart is in even
> exists. Having
> gone through all the trouble though, I'd have to say I highly
> recommend the
> experience to anyone travelling to Europe.
>
> For anyone who doesn't know about the Smart, it's a
> small city car
> made by MCC, originally a joint venture between Daimler Benz
> and Swatch
> (yes, *that* Swatch). It's about as long as a normal car is
> wide, and so
> can be parallel parked head in. It weighs about 1500lbs I
> think, and is
> powered by a turbocharged 3 cylinder engine driving through a 6-speed
> sequential semi-automatic gearbox. No, it's not a tiptronic style
> manumatic, and no I'm not kidding either! It has a high
> strength steel
> safety cage, and Mercedes claims that it's as safe in lab
> tests as an E
> Class sedan. Not sure how well it does in the real world,
> rolling end over
> end. Attached to the cage are plastic body panels which can
> be removed and
> exchanged for different colors by the owner.
>
> Granted, the Smart is not everything to everyone, but I
> did have fun
> driving it. On paper, it is a genuinely slow car. Something
> like 22 sec.
> 0-60. In the real world though, it *feels* really quick.
> This is probably
> due to the fact that it has a top speed of around 85mph, yet
> it has 6 gears.
> As a result, trundling through town at 30 mph means you've
> already redlined
> it in 3 gears!
>
> It really makes you think about how relative power is.
> I mean, do
> we really need big, 400hp cars when you can have so much fun
> in something
> small and slow? Ok, maybe we do...
>
> Here are some pics of the car:
>
> http://albums.photopoint.com/j/AlbumIndex?u=443076&a=3421258
>
> Peter Thana
> '99 BMW Z3 2.8 Coupe
> SFR AS-Street Tire
>
>
>
>
>
|