Recently at work, I had a brief debate with a co-worker regarding the
saving graces of British 2 seat roadsters.
I tried to explain that it was somewhat generally excepted that, what the
spitfire lacks in a smooth elegent ride and wheel-peeling g-force
inducing power, it made up for in it's ability to corner and tame the the
winding country roads. To punctuate my discussion, I provided for him a
list of contemporary "sports cars" and their relative road holding index
(as aquired from Edmunds.com).
My argument was wasted on his deaf ears. He still calls my car "the
shi?fire"
Although not side-by-side imperical evidence (and G-ratings tend to vary
slightly), here's the break-down of the road holding index ratings of
several 2000 model year "sports cars" and "convertible compacts" along
with that of the Spitfire. (The percentage of 1g-force that the car can
generate before losing traction in a turn).
'00 Porsche Boxter S .91
'00 Honda S2000 .91
'00 BMW Z3 .89
'00 Mazda Miata MX-5 .89
<bold>'73 Spitfire Mark IV .87
</bold>'99 Mitsubishi Eclipse Syder .86
'00 Mercedes Benz SLK230 .85
'00 Pontiac Firebird TransAm .85
'00 Ford Mustang GT Conv. .85
'00 Volkswagon Carbrio GL .81
'00 Chevy Camero Coupe .81
'00 Saab 9-3 SE HOT .80
'00 Chevy Cavalier Z24 .74
'00 Pontiac Sunfire GT .74
Note that the Spitfire rating was taken 27 years ago, on tires that are
probably not
as "advanced" or wide as what you might be running today.
As a printed advertisement from 1973 that hangs on my wall boldy states:
".87g's for only about 3G's*." (*$3,295)
"This performance puts the Spitfire in the same league as the $5,000
Datsun Z-series, the $6,300 Alpha Romeo 2000 GTV, even the $10,000
Porsche 911. And the Spitfire gives you .87g's while getting 23 miles per
g... Gee."
Terry L. Thompson
'76 Spit 1500
|