Drivers Republic: Caterham R500 vs Atom vs Lotus 211

[MoPho]

Check out the new Drivers Republic Webzine, put together by Chris Harris of Autocar and Jethro Bovington and Richard Meaden of Evo mag. It's really good. Sign up and there is a 27 page article and 5 part video comparing the Caterham R500 vs Atom vs Lotus 211

 

http://www.drivers-republic.com

[Boxologist]

and the r500 does it on street tyres...

[Alaskossie]

Where is part 2 of the 3-way drive test? I couldn't locate it...so I don't know which is quickest.

 

Tom Meacham

[MoPho]

Part 1 : http://www.drivers-republic.com/videos/index10.cfm#videos

 

Part 2 http://www.drivers-republic.com/videos/index15.cfm#videos

 

R500 in car: http://www.drivers-republic.com/videos/index12.cfm#videos

 

Atom in car: http://www.drivers-republic.com/videos/index13.cfm#videos

 

211 in car: http://www.drivers-republic.com/videos/index14.cfm#videos

[slngsht]

looks like the aero of the 211 more than made up for its lower power/weight ratio.

 

These cars (atom and seven) need some downforce at high speed to help with the grip. I guess 7evin can tell us all about how much of an advantage the wing provided.

[7evin]

Wow that is pretty cool. They are really doing the R500 a disservice the way it is being driven.

If you listen you can hear him jabbing the throttle on and off, every time he does this it unloads the front and rear of the car.

His lap time would be much faster if he would just squeeze the throttle... Of course I do the same thing.... Nice to see someone

else making the same mistakes.

 

Secondly, throwing the rear end out and doing power slides looks great on video, but it is not fast around the track....

Good example of this is my 3rd place finish at the BMW track. I put on a great show but I was slow.

 

Wings, I don't have a way to measure that yet.... But I can tell you that they change the behavior of the car quite drastically at high speeds.

WAAYYYY..... more stable and planted.

 

Cheers

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