Automotive

One of the most consistent recurring themes in the follow up discussions to my recent spate of Quick Looks click here for blog links to individual quick looks at: Bugatti Veyron; Ferrari FF; Porsche 991; Chevy Corvette 427 CE; Bentley GT V8; Audi S8: Clic...  

They had less or even no driver aids so you drove using the feel through the seat of your pants. Modern power steering is often too light so you lose the feel of what the front wheels are doing and suspension with adjustable settings often means there is ... 

Hi, Graham, Interesting observation you made, one that is not obvious - the more driver seat "adjustadable" (maybe "selectable" is a more apt term?) suspension settings a car has, the likelihood the more "dead" and artificial the "feel" of the car. hmmm..... 

and I have never driven any of the cars in your list of quick looks, but from my probably very unusual perspective: Outside of the usual "means of transport" that I have to drive from time to time, the only cars I have driven recently are the Lotus Elise ...  

drive well (ah, those fun days in Las Vegas and the karting session! Thanks, Chopard!) much appreciated. "Elise - the driver is not only in control, but does the controlling in detail. Maserati - the driver directs, but lets the automation in the vehicle ... 

The most enjoyable car I've driven in the last 6 months was a '34 MG. No synchro, tiny clutch travel, Very direct steering, cable brakes, cammy engine, super skinny tyres on lovely wire wheels.... just braking and dropping a gear required finesse...so muc... 

Thomas, I think optimum "feel" does involve some filtering by the engineers and good mechanical condition of the specific vehicle you are driving, but also as stated by the other posters, a minimum of weight and a maximum of connection between the driver ...  

Hi, Mike, To a certain extent, it is about preferences, which of course has a lot to do with what we cut our teeth on. Two frequently repeated statements say as much - "I seem to keep getting cars that were, or similar to, the cars of my youth." "My girlf... 

Last year i could try an Elise like Don's ... me and a friend just had a blast in the Clio Rs and a minute later i could take the steering wheel of his Elise ... The first minutes were difficult .... very very difficult, no powersteering made me realize m...  

Most frightening drive of my life was probably being your passenger on that bend when the wheel met the wheel arch. I think i would have more fun in mr b's vintage mini than in any car that i would actually buy to live with on a daily basis. Stripped out,... 

...and I say this as I have torn down the motor on my Renault Caravelle and completely going through the rear end suspension. Just love the tactile experience with being able to tweak and modify these simple mechanicals to perform better.

I replaced the upper control arms on my erstwhile Giulia to convert it to positive camber...which got wound up for track days and hill-climbs. Plus adding an LSD off a 2000...polyurethane bushes....reinforcing the rear trailing arms...fiddling with roll b... 

why positive camber ? I thought a bit more negative camber would suit the track better to give a bigger contact tyre contact patch on bitumen when car corners at speed. Having said that I am totally against the insane over 1.5 degree ( 1 degree negative i... 

"a track mod'ed" S2000 recently. It drove like a dream, up to the limit - very well planted, balanced. But it lost traction at much lower speeds, and felt light at the limits, than I would have expected given how it handled just below those limits, as wel... 

I typed it wrong. And the screen on my phone meant my proof reading went awry. :-) Should have read 'convert *from* positive camber'. I used to run about 1.5 on the road. And more on the track. These were 185/65 tyres, the high profile could take it. Not ... 

for clarifying. You are right , the amount of negative camber can be greater for higher aspect ratio tyres ( more rounded shoulders ). Interesting information about auto unions having positive camber to balance out oversteer from rear. The notorious rear ... 

Other old open wheelers did it, too. Next time you see one, have a look at how upright or splayed the fronts are. I should have added that the Alfa standard camber was something like +0.5 which sounds wrong, but was probably a consequence of eve. narrower... 

Getting on a bit now, so my dream garage pretty much all comes from the 70's :-) I am lucky enough to have a Giulia GTV 2000 from 1972. No gizmos of any description and just so wonderful to drive. The greatest thing about older cars is the lack of extreme...