What was that car?

[Graeme4130]

the good old days in my sapphire Cosworth, 911 killer....when i was young....and foolish
now i'm just old and stupid !!

Good choice, I had a sapphire cosworth with a 2.4 conversion and around 440bhp in 96 back when I was 20. Was a monstrous car and although couldn't corner or brake for toffee was an absolute beast in a straight line.
FWIW, my 1.6 Cvh engined XR2 track car I had at the time running around 150bhp was faster around castle combe

I miss that car, and still have a itch to buy an escort cosworth to keep in garage and just look at. Even though I now know they're slot and relatively crap

[22B]

Back in the 80's I used to have a modified Talbot Lotus Sunbeam. It was one of the extremely rare Avon models painted in a very subtle two tone blue, unlike the 'normal' Lotus sunbeams which were very distinctive in blue/silver or black/sliver. In its day the Lotus sunbeam was a very fast car, easily blowing away 'opposition' like 323i BMWs, 2.8 injection Capris, Rs Fords etc. I did lots to mine including Bilstein suspension all round, lowered and stiffened springs, bigger rubber, uprated brakes, LSD and a modified engine it really was the ultimate Q car. It didn't quite look like a bucket of <beep> but it was very discrete, no-one knew what it was. Seeing the looks on folks faces as you blew them into the weeds in this little blue box was priceless! I never lost a chase with anything including 944 turbos, 911's, Cosworths etc. Probably the most fun car I've ever owned but sadly most now are just piles of brown dust...

[brn7y]

In my A5 tdi I was behind a rather tired looking wine 5dr corsa, as we left the 40 zone into the 60 I put the foot down to pass and he just took off, left me there.

After a few asks around the boy racers in town, found out it was a farmer lad who had dropped in a 2.0 16v Calibra engine which was tuned and putting out about 250bhp!

[wrekka]

This is one reason why i do like my friends tuned gtr (circa 600bhp) as it does not really matter what he comes up against on the roads "normally" whether it's been tuned or not he still smokes them!

[sakimano]

This is one reason why i do like my friends tuned gtr (circa 600bhp) as it does not really matter what he comes up against on the roads "normally" whether it's been tuned or not he still smokes them!

not only does it make hp...but it puts an INCREDIBLE amount of that hp to the wheels...and the AWD ensures it will be then adequately used with nearly unmatched traction. Those are the best cars in the world by the money for sure...and they're probably top 10 money no object.

[PJC]

Back in the 80's I used to have a modified Talbot Lotus Sunbeam. It was one of the extremely rare Avon models painted in a very subtle two tone blue, unlike the 'normal' Lotus sunbeams which were very distinctive in blue/silver or black/sliver. In its day the Lotus sunbeam was a very fast car, easily blowing away 'opposition' like 323i BMWs, 2.8 injection Capris, Rs Fords etc. I did lots to mine including Bilstein suspension all round, lowered and stiffened springs, bigger rubber, uprated brakes, LSD and a modified engine it really was the ultimate Q car. It didn't quite look like a bucket of <beep> but it was very discrete, no-one knew what it was. Seeing the looks on folks faces as you blew them into the weeds in this little blue box was priceless! I never lost a chase with anything including 944 turbos, 911's, Cosworths etc. Probably the most fun car I've ever owned but sadly most now are just piles of brown dust...

I always wanted a Talbot Sunbeam Lotus when they came out but was only 14 at the time.

[Graeme4130]

This is one reason why i do like my friends tuned gtr (circa 600bhp) as it does not really matter what he comes up against on the roads "normally" whether it's been tuned or not he still smokes them!

not only does it make hp...but it puts an INCREDIBLE amount of that hp to the wheels...and the AWD ensures it will be then adequately used with nearly unmatched traction. Those are the best cars in the world by the money for sure...and they're probably top 10 money no object.

Mmmm, not so sure
I dont think I want one and I've done a fair few miles in one too
I feel that can of worms opening up......

[mac911rs4]

never did try a vauxhall lotus carlton, they were quick against the cosworths from what i recall....mainly that dated met dark green colour !

[sakimano]

This is one reason why i do like my friends tuned gtr (circa 600bhp) as it does not really matter what he comes up against on the roads "normally" whether it's been tuned or not he still smokes them!

not only does it make hp...but it puts an INCREDIBLE amount of that hp to the wheels...and the AWD ensures it will be then adequately used with nearly unmatched traction. Those are the best cars in the world by the money for sure...and they're probably top 10 money no object.

Mmmm, not so sure
I dont think I want one and I've done a fair few miles in one too
I feel that can of worms opening up......

no worms...my opinion is mine, and yours is yours. There are no absolutes in these situations.

Now...since the GTR isn't one of the 10 best cars available today money no object...I'd love to hear your list!

Veyron must be on it as it's most certainly 'best'...the engineering and capabilities are just stupendous. It loses lots of style points for the exterior...but its so far out front in just about everything else it's able to manage it.

[scaghead]

never did try a vauxhall lotus carlton, they were quick against the cosworths from what i recall....mainly that dated met dark green colour !

i had one of those for a short while form memory it was only done in the metallic green....serious quick car compared to the cossie..my astra gte 16 v gave a cossie a good run...the carlton was on a different level

[Graeme4130]

not only does it make hp...but it puts an INCREDIBLE amount of that hp to the wheels...and the AWD ensures it will be then adequately used with nearly unmatched traction. Those are the best cars in the world by the money for sure...and they're probably top 10 money no object.

Mmmm, not so sure
I dont think I want one and I've done a fair few miles in one too
I feel that can of worms opening up......

no worms...my opinion is mine, and yours is yours. There are no absolutes in these situations.

Now...since the GTR isn't one of the 10 best cars available today money no object...I'd love to hear your list!

Veyron must be on it as it's most certainly 'best'...the engineering and capabilities are just stupendous. It loses lots of style points for the exterior...but its so far out front in just about everything else it's able to manage it.

You're absolutely right, life would be boring if everyone had the same opinion
I enjoyed driving the GTR, I really did. However, it left me a bit cold and uninvolved and (in my eyes at least) was an ugly beast with no real nice angles. It was bloody quick though and it did a wonderful job of disguising its shear mass.
It was also unnervingly massive and parking it was a nightmare as the view out is shocking unless it's the straight ahead.
As a work of engineering, it's awe inspiring and it'll no doubt go down in history as one of the 'technical masterpieces' of the era
If I had to sum it up, it's just too in your face for me in everything it does

I think I'd struggle with listing 10 modern 'available cars' but from ones I've had experience in or with, any list would include these ;
Bugatti Veyron - I was lucky enough to get a passenger ride in one of these a couple of years ago at a tyre R&d centre. The shear thrust at 80mph when the throttle gets buried will stay with me forever (as however, will the tasteless bright orangey red leather interior fitted to that car)
Ferrari 458 - had a very brief blast in a friends one, and the way it moves the game on for cars is unbelievable. The steering feels broken, but when you're pressing on it feels like no other car and the noise inside is incredible too
Aston DBS - never driven one, but possibly (in my eyes) the best looking car there is available to buy now (although not for much longer),- sounds fantastic too
Porsche 997 turbo s - had a drive of one of the first 997tt's and it's ability to generate grip and speed still has me watching used prices in the classifieds regularly. In the next few years I'm going to try and buy one

I think I'd genuinely hard pushed to fill the other spots as there's so many 'nearly' cars out now that I just can't feel passionate about.
I'd love to love a pagani, but all that boutique crap about it with leather straps holding he glovebox etc would do my head in to be honest although the noise........ The noise !!!!!
Not only that, I never know what to believe in Evo as I always get the impression Harry m's write ups are biased towards pagani so that he can a) buoy the market for when he comes to sell his investment, and b) he seems to be crawling further up mr paganis arse as the cars sell mags and a scoop of a new pagani on the cover should sell shed loads of issues

Sorry, back to subject - two more reasons against a GTR - it's seemingly very expensive to run and it's small inside