What could "possibly" be cooler than a Lotus?

[Moto44]

And now evomind...

[slaughtr]

It's not a gang, it's a club.

[apk919]

Originally Posted by ItsThaMonsta

Am I missing something? Thats the "old original" GT40. Call me new school school but I like the styling of the "new" ones 10x better. Even though it built practically the same aside from panel changes.

Yes, you are missing something. The original Ford GT-40 (based on a Lola) was built to compete against Ferrari at The 24 Hours of Le Mans. It was not a street car, and there aren't many left. Mike's car is a Superformance GT-40 (correct?), which is a replica of the original, with more modern technology (but very true to the original design). The current Ford GT is also based on the original Ford GT-40, but is larger, and has many styling/design changes to make it a more practical street car.

The Ford GT is a pretty capable car on the track, but it wouldn't be able to touch a real GT-40 for performance. For example, the original weighed 2000lbs., the Ford GT weighs 3400lbs.

[Moto44]

Well put, Andy. My simple observation:
Ford GT = sports car
GT40 = race car

[ItsThaMonsta]

Originally Posted by apk919

Yes, you are missing something. The original Ford GT-40 (based on a Lola) was built to compete against Ferrari at The 24 Hours of Le Mans. It was not a street car, and there aren't many left. Mike's car is a Superperformance GT-40 (correct?), which is a replica of the original, with more modern technology (but very true to the original design). The current Ford GT is also based on the original Ford GT-40, but is larger, and has many styling/design changes to make it a more practical street car.

The Ford GT is a pretty capable car on the track, but it wouldn't be able to touch a real GT-40 for performance. For example, the original weighed 2000lbs., the Ford GT weighs 3400lbs.

Ummm... I actually knew EVERYTHING that you just said aside from that being a replica. I know a lot about the ford gt and it is on my short list of cars to get. And you cant forget to mention that the original gt-40s did beat the ferraris at le mans.

[apk919]

Originally Posted by ItsThaMonsta

Ummm... I actually knew EVERYTHING that you just said aside from that being a replica. I know a lot about the ford gt and it is on my short list of cars to get. And you cant forget to mention that the original gt-40s did beat the ferraris at le mans.

Ah, well... in that case what you were missing was that some people prefer the raw performance of the original over the updated styling and creature comforts of the new...

[ItsThaMonsta]

Originally Posted by apk919

Ah, well... in that case what you were missing was that some people prefer the raw performance of the original over the updated styling and creature comforts of the new...

Yeah Im always within the group of people who prefer the newer look of things. I wouldnt care too much if it wasnt super comfortable or anything like that... I meaaaannnn... I do own a Lotus

[evomind]

thanks todd for taking such nice pictures of my car. youre awesome.
todd, the folks might be interested to hear your impressions of your brief ride and drive.

btw....what can be cooler than a lotus?
the guy in these pics is pretty damn cool....

[slaughtr]

Originally Posted by evomind

thanks todd for taking such nice pictures of my car. youre awesome.
todd, the folks might be interested to hear your impressions of your brief ride and drive.

btw....what can be cooler than a lotus?
the guy in these pics is pretty damn cool....

He even has a matching shirt.

[Moto44]

Originally Posted by evomind

todd, the folks might be interested to hear your impressions of your brief ride and drive.

Something about the GT40 reminds Mike of the Elise. But from my perspective, only the relatively small cabin reminded me of the Elise. The GT40 doesn't feel ANYTHING like a street car. It feels like pure race.

The power was simply off the charts. We were pulling sustained g-forces during acceleration like nothing I've ever experienced. In fact, at 140mph (the country roads around my house are great for this) we were still pinned to the back of our seats.

Then, of course, there is the sound. I really don't have the words to describe.

The Lotus is a great car and excels in areas. However, the power and sound quality of the GT40 are about as superior to the Lotus as the Lotus is superior to a Honda Civic.

Thank you, Mike!!!

[Moto44]

Originally Posted by slaughtr

He even has a matching shirt.

I thought we all coordinate our wardrobes to match the cars we drive.
I'm reminded of the Krypton Green clothing both Mick Opalak and evomind would wear.

[slaughtr]

Mike, what's the drivetrain setup? Dyno?

[Randy Chase]

I followed in for 5 miles and then parked across from one at this weekend's Cars and Coffee.

What was really cool, was seeing how similar a lot of the car was with the Noble/Rossion. You can tell they are all made in the same place.

Cool how it shoots flames out the rear pipes

[Sweet Adrenaline]

What a Beaut! Actually saw one this weekend at Cars and Coffee in Irvine..Silver...Raw and Sexy...Matchs my favorite car in world...Silver Noble M400 (its sister or cousin or close relative, right?)! I will upload picts when I get home...

[Sweet Adrenaline]

Originally Posted by Randy Chase

I followed in for 5 miles and then parked across from one at this weekend's Cars and Coffee.

What was really cool, was seeing how similar a lot of the car was with the Noble/Rossion. You can tell they are all made in the same place.

Cool how it shoots flames out the rear pipes

Beat me to it!

[evomind]

Originally Posted by Moto44

Something about the GT40 reminds Mike of the Elise. But from my perspective, only the relatively small cabin reminded me of the Elise. The GT40 doesn't feel ANYTHING like a street car. It feels like pure race.

The power was simply off the charts. We were pulling sustained g-forces during acceleration like nothing I've ever experienced. In fact, at 140mph we were still pinned to the back of our seats.

Then, of course, there is the sound. I really don't have the words to describe.

The Lotus is a great car and excels in areas. However, the power and sound quality of the GT40 are about as superior to the Lotus as the Lotus is superior to a Honda Civic.

Thank you, Mike!!!

ha, that was the "something."
actually the drivers seat in my 40 is wider than the passenger seat. so the driver is comfortable and unless the passenger is my son, they are UNcomfortable. )
todd, post the pic of max next to the car.. he will like seeing himself on the computer...
the 40 is similar to the elise in that you "hear" everything. you hear a pebble rattle around the bottom of the car, you hear the trans, the engine, etc...
they are both minimilist cars.
other than that, they are very different in how they feel and go about business. actually the 40 doesnt have all the "nannies" the elise does. no PS, no PB, and sector 111 doesnt even make cupholders for it.

what todd didnt get a chance to experience is how smooth the car is at low rpms. the car is very docile and can just be cruised around all night if ya want. the car cruises nice and smooth at 1500 rpms. the car really comes alive at 4k though.
we actually have more tuning to do. we have zero timing advance in it and were over 525hp and tq at the wheels now. we have another 40-50hp/tq in it while still being very conservative with the tune....not to mention what we can do on race gas.
the car will rev to 7100rpms till it hits fuel shutoff. that said, todd we hit abt 6k tops.

the engine is a ford 351 aluminum small block bored and stroked to a 427.
the trans is a zfq (quaiffe) 5 speed. we took our time putting everything together. we checked every nut and bolt and adjusted the whole suspension and checked every tolerance. we insulated the cabin as best we could against heat. we have a custom baffled oil pan that holds 10+ quarts and a dual filtration setup. the large capacity oil pan will hold more oil, thus keeping engine temps down because the oil will be cooler. you can see a beautiful oil cooler in the pics. i havent seen coolant temps rise above 175 degrees, even in stop and go traffic. same with the oil temp. havent seen that creep up either even under hard driving, though havent had it on a race track yet.
were running an 8 stack fuel injection system with short runners. throttle response is sport bikish. driveability is almost factory and the a/c works just good enough.
the car weighed in at 2440lbs with half a tank of gas.
i still have a few bugs to work out, but all in all the car came out quite well.

[evomind]

Originally Posted by Randy Chase

I followed in for 5 miles and then parked across from one at this weekend's Cars and Coffee.

What was really cool, was seeing how similar a lot of the car was with the Noble/Rossion. You can tell they are all made in the same place.

Cool how it shoots flames out the rear pipes

thats actually tuned in to do that.....my guy asked me if i wanted it to shoot flames like that and i said no....haha....
ive got enough troubles....)

[evomind]

Originally Posted by Randy Chase

I followed in for 5 miles and then parked across from one at this weekend's Cars and Coffee.

What was really cool, was seeing how similar a lot of the car was with the Noble/Rossion. You can tell they are all made in the same place.

Cool how it shoots flames out the rear pipes

yeah, its cool they both come out of SA.
i can tell you the 40 feels very different from the noble though. just a totally different driving experience.

[Moto44]

Originally Posted by evomind

todd, post the pic of max next to the car..

And Mike's son, Max, likes the car, too!

[evomind]

Originally Posted by Moto44

I thought we all coordinate our wardrobes to match the cars we drive.
I'm reminded of the Krypton Green clothing both Mick Opalak and evomind would wear.

I don't recall that.