Spectre
The Deported
- Joined
- Feb 1, 2007
- Messages
- 36,832
- Location
- Dallas, Texas
- Car(s)
- 00 4Runner | 02 919 | 87 XJ6 | 86 CB700SC
Actually, for the era they were pretty good. It's just that by today's standards the handling and traction is pretty bad.
If you do the labor yourself, "modernizing" an E-Type or XJ (which is essentially a sedan built with the E-Type's tech and suspensions) doesn't take all that much money or time. The only "modernization" that's needed is the fitment of modern tire and wheel packages, replacing all the front suspension bushings with polyurethane or Delrin, and then (optionally) doing a rear alignment with a couple of degrees negative camber.
Currently, the Series 1.5 E-Type with these modernizations is #101 out of 149 on the TopGear Power Board (aka leaderboard) at 1:32.8 - as Jeremy says, "As fast as makes no difference as an Audi TT" at 1:32.7. IIRC, that E-Type did *not* have any of the power-adder modifications and only had the suspension, ignition, and reliability upgrades - which means it had, at best 265hp SAE gross, and more likely had about 180-200hp Net.
Even still, it was faster than these cars, among others. Not bad for a forty year old car with $2000 worth of tweaks:
# 1:32.9 ? SEAT Le?n Cupra R
# 1:32.9 ? Mercedes-Benz SLK350
# 1:33.0 ? Vauxhall Astra VXR
# 1:33.3 ? Volkswagen Golf Mk.IV R32
# 1:33.5 ? Honda Civic Type-R (FN2-2007)
# 1:33.7 ? MG ZT 260
# 1:33.7 ? Volkswagen Golf Mk.V GTI
# 1:33.8 ? Clio Renault Sport 182
# 1:34.0 ? Renault M?gane 225
# 1:34.2 ? MINI Cooper S Works
# 1:34.5 ? Ford Mondeo ST220
# 1:35.0 ? Volvo S60 R
# 1:35.3 ? Vauxhall Vectra VXR
I don't think that many of its contemporaries would do that well even with similar modernization. You have to get into more radical rebuilds to do that, because E-Types' contemporaries tend to be of much worse design. You have to remember, the E-Type is the product of *50's* era design and first appeared in 1961. Yet with a few tweaks, they still hang in there with modern cars - and with a power boost, they can do even better.
If you do the labor yourself, "modernizing" an E-Type or XJ (which is essentially a sedan built with the E-Type's tech and suspensions) doesn't take all that much money or time. The only "modernization" that's needed is the fitment of modern tire and wheel packages, replacing all the front suspension bushings with polyurethane or Delrin, and then (optionally) doing a rear alignment with a couple of degrees negative camber.
Currently, the Series 1.5 E-Type with these modernizations is #101 out of 149 on the TopGear Power Board (aka leaderboard) at 1:32.8 - as Jeremy says, "As fast as makes no difference as an Audi TT" at 1:32.7. IIRC, that E-Type did *not* have any of the power-adder modifications and only had the suspension, ignition, and reliability upgrades - which means it had, at best 265hp SAE gross, and more likely had about 180-200hp Net.
Even still, it was faster than these cars, among others. Not bad for a forty year old car with $2000 worth of tweaks:
# 1:32.9 ? SEAT Le?n Cupra R
# 1:32.9 ? Mercedes-Benz SLK350
# 1:33.0 ? Vauxhall Astra VXR
# 1:33.3 ? Volkswagen Golf Mk.IV R32
# 1:33.5 ? Honda Civic Type-R (FN2-2007)
# 1:33.7 ? MG ZT 260
# 1:33.7 ? Volkswagen Golf Mk.V GTI
# 1:33.8 ? Clio Renault Sport 182
# 1:34.0 ? Renault M?gane 225
# 1:34.2 ? MINI Cooper S Works
# 1:34.5 ? Ford Mondeo ST220
# 1:35.0 ? Volvo S60 R
# 1:35.3 ? Vauxhall Vectra VXR
I don't think that many of its contemporaries would do that well even with similar modernization. You have to get into more radical rebuilds to do that, because E-Types' contemporaries tend to be of much worse design. You have to remember, the E-Type is the product of *50's* era design and first appeared in 1961. Yet with a few tweaks, they still hang in there with modern cars - and with a power boost, they can do even better.
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