Top performer .... in the wet ..
Discussion
I have a couple of friends with alternative 'sports cars' as most of us do and we enjoy some lighted hearted banter concerning the feasibility of these vehicles as 'hairdresser' transport. It is not often you can put them to the test ... but ....
1st Lotus day at North Weald and it rains in the afternoon, made it even more enjoyable. But it also meant the braking exercise and circuit were done in the wet.
Braking exercise....
Get up to 70mph and when you get to the white cone, apply brakes to stop in the shortest distance possible. With some trepadation after witnessing the instructor doing this without hiccup of I set. Griffith performed impecably and the brakes arrested the speed well before the next cone (cliff edge- metaphorically) chuffed !
Next up was Craig's Honda S2000, with ABS, and it went past the Griffiths mark by 2m's. So better than ABS in the wet.
Next went Skinners 111s Elise. This was the most startling. The Elise managed to sail clean off the cliff and had it been Dover, would have landed somewhere near Calais !
Next in the queue was Pauls 400se. It did the TVR thing and stopped at the same mark as the Griffith at worst ...
So after much ribbing from the gang about the poor handling etc etc of the Griffith it was rewarding to see that the braking if not anything else was the best in wet braking. An area you would not necessarilly associate with TVR.
For those who will question individual driver ability .... These marks were achieved by the same driver. The instructor, who also got his own Elise out and attempted it with that (Nitrons and 195 fronts) and that couldn't get anywhere near the TVR's.
The difference was anywhere between 10 - 20m's TVR v Elise's !!
As for the the circuit session at the end, in the wet ..... The Griffith was the quickest. A right handful I may add, but the quickest !
1st Lotus day at North Weald and it rains in the afternoon, made it even more enjoyable. But it also meant the braking exercise and circuit were done in the wet.
Braking exercise....
Get up to 70mph and when you get to the white cone, apply brakes to stop in the shortest distance possible. With some trepadation after witnessing the instructor doing this without hiccup of I set. Griffith performed impecably and the brakes arrested the speed well before the next cone (cliff edge- metaphorically) chuffed !
Next up was Craig's Honda S2000, with ABS, and it went past the Griffiths mark by 2m's. So better than ABS in the wet.
Next went Skinners 111s Elise. This was the most startling. The Elise managed to sail clean off the cliff and had it been Dover, would have landed somewhere near Calais !
Next in the queue was Pauls 400se. It did the TVR thing and stopped at the same mark as the Griffith at worst ...
So after much ribbing from the gang about the poor handling etc etc of the Griffith it was rewarding to see that the braking if not anything else was the best in wet braking. An area you would not necessarilly associate with TVR.
For those who will question individual driver ability .... These marks were achieved by the same driver. The instructor, who also got his own Elise out and attempted it with that (Nitrons and 195 fronts) and that couldn't get anywhere near the TVR's.
The difference was anywhere between 10 - 20m's TVR v Elise's !!
As for the the circuit session at the end, in the wet ..... The Griffith was the quickest. A right handful I may add, but the quickest !
Ballistic Banana said:
Very interesting to see that Mark.
Good to hear that the other TVR done well also.
Imo it was a shanme it wasnt a cliff as the two most Beautiful ones would have stayed on.
Are your Brakes/Discs standard, sure you may of told me before
BB
ps.Would be interested in an Ice Test Too
Totally standard until after the weekend when some hotter pads with 5.1 and braided hoses will be added in time for Donington next week
I once was a passenger in my own Griffith who was being driven by a police driving instructor (not on duty..).
Must say scared the sh*t out of me, i now know that the Griffith is far more capable then people think. If you know what you are doing you can be very quick with the Griffith. This is offcourse in the hands of a trained driver (not me!).
Fred
Must say scared the sh*t out of me, i now know that the Griffith is far more capable then people think. If you know what you are doing you can be very quick with the Griffith. This is offcourse in the hands of a trained driver (not me!).
Fred
For a truely scary experience, try booking a test drive with the nutter who works at the TVR centre in Barnet. The bloke only works weekends for them but took me out for a demo and put the car to it's limits. Truely scary experience, loved it. I was just glad I hadn't paid for the tyres.
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