Grace had a visit from her younger sister

[KiwiBirkin]

I had a visit from a guy called Don the week before I went to Aussie, he was interested in buying a 2010 Birkin with a 2.0L Duratec in it that was in Christchurch and had 600km on the clock, Don wanted to try a Birkin on for size before he went to look at the car and also to find out what I knew about them and the car he was going to look at, anyhow after spending a couple of hours with me and going over my car and finding that he would fit in the 2010 Birkin was purchased through a deal with McGregors and it was in to get a new ECU and tune up as the Emerald ECU it had in was a pain in the arse to tune due to softwear issues.

 

Don got the car back and came out for a visit, it was intresting to see the 2 cars together with nearly 10 years of development between them, Dons car is a the IRS version, Birkins rear IRS was designed and developed by Arrow race cars in the UK and is really really nice (Just as Mark from McGregors what he thinks) the car has the widetrack front end introduced in 2001 and also the new center console, longer passenger footwell and a few other bits of steel tube added in to the frame, other than that the cars are identical in chassis and panels, rollbar and dash, the bonnets can be change from one car to the other they are that identical.

 

http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/uu326/Hotdognz/bits%20and%20pieces/Lotus%20Cars/Birkinfriends4.jpg

 

http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/uu326/Hotdognz/bits%20and%20pieces/Lotus%20Cars/Birkinfriends1.jpg

 

http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/uu326/Hotdognz/bits%20and%20pieces/Lotus%20Cars/Birkinfriends7.jpg

 

http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/uu326/Hotdognz/bits%20and%20pieces/Lotus%20Cars/Birkinfriends2.jpg

[KiwiBirkin]

The only issue the car has is its sits too low the ref height for a Birkin to be set up at the rear is 160mm under the chassie by the rear wheel arch, Dons car was at 130mm and sits way too low in the picture. (I have a question in the tech section about this)

 

http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/uu326/Hotdognz/bits%20and%20pieces/Lotus%20Cars/Birkinfriends6.jpg

 

The car has been dynoed at 225hp and 184hp at the rear wheels, I took the car for a drive and have to say I was very impressed by the torque of the Duratec and how quick it was to pull away through the gears, the IRS gave a lovley ride over the bumpy roads around by me and was much nicer than the live axel is over the same roads, I like the wide track too and felt the turn into corners was a bit quicker. I was very impressed with the whole 2010 car and really like the new center consol and the room it gave in the cockpit which was more then my car, plan for me now is to one day upgrade to a IRS Birkin and have a Duratec motor in it.

[Croc]

I agree Kiwi. I drove a 2009 Birkin with the widetrack and IRS and I thought it was a very accomplished car. The only thing I am disappointed to see on the 2010 car is those horrible Birkin seats - they really need a new supplier.

[KiwiBirkin]

Aye the seats were crap but there an easy fix, I will definatly be getting a IRS Birkin at some stage of my Seven ownership as its was such a nice ride and I loved the Duratec.