First-gen TT: absolute design classic.
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It has aged way, waaay better than anything on the same platform, yes!
… to drive, though, eeehhhhh… it’s a Golf, after all.
The Tigra was the Megane Coupe to the Clio, only that the french version was more sexy than ze amerikan/teutonic interpretation. AND the Megane, albeit having a similar wheelbase, was actually an successor to the crappy R19, hence a bit wider than the Clio. The Ford Puma was the respective american rival to ze Megane and Tigra that somehow survived as a Tiny SUV till now, whereas the Megane outgrew the Clio’esque dimensions, and became a bit fatass-lazy (like the 308, Cit C4) or ridiculous OP Sportscary with too much powaaaa… kind of like the Civics of yore were elegant hatches, a shame, really.
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I’m just such a sucker for the Mk IV Golf! Remember when the 20th anniversary edition came out and had the rabbit badge on the back?
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this is such a cute car, and a delectable looking color
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There’s more VW action tonight! The other one make race at Volkswagen is for New Beetles! At various points in my life I’ve had various feelings about the New Beetle. The original Beetle has always been one of my favorite cars ever since I was a kid.
The New Beetle seemed kind of lame to me when it came out. It’s not really mechanically interesting. It’s not air cooled. The engine isn’t in the back driving the back wheels. It’s just another body that sits on the Mk IV Golf chassis. That makes what? The A3, the TT, the Golf, and the Beetle? Are there any other cars that share this chassis? Probably.
But look at it! It’s such a slick looking piece of design! They managed to incorporate the classic Beetle look into a modern shell. Somehow I’m into this car! I’d still rather have a 20th anniversary GTI, but I can dig this! It’s probably one hundred times better than the original on a long road trip. The engine probably doesn’t get hotter than the surface of the sun. It can probably climb hills without struggling.
I think enough time has passed that the image part of this car has all but faded away. We would be so lucky to have a new cute and affordable two door small car introduced in the modern automotive hellscape. Everything new is so fuckin’ angry and aggressive.
We pick one up in Batikblau Perleffekt. We name it Ashley. The 1.8 turbo is not present here, so we settle for the 2.0 naturally aspirated version.
The Beetle Challenge’s normal style one make race is hosted at Seattle Circuit Full. The description wasn’t lying! This car turns in better than the Golf! Better than the TT even! It’s as good to drive as it is to look at! We take first place.
There is a 500,000 credit special racing Beetle at the VW dealer, but we’re going to stick with Ashley and just go with a racing modification. The goofy spoiler looks so tacked on. At least the white with the purple logos looks cool.
In stock drivetrain form with the race mod, we get fourth place at Seattle Short in the racing style one make race. As Ashley is a base model Beetle, I didn’t expect much. We head straight to the tuning shop and fit a stage 1 turbo. I wonder how much boost that stock 2.0 block can handle. I’m sure someone has found out in the real world.
Boosted Ashley wins first at Clubman Stage Route 5. I preferred normal style Ashely, but this still drives very well considering we didn’t even buy new tires.
I guess I am a fan of the New Beetle. It only took a decade or two for me to come around. Next time we’ll head to Mini and MG!
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Beetles jumping happily, approving of the fondness expressed two decades later!
(And absolutely agree, too many angry cars out there!
Don’t worry, be happy, folks…)
Noooooooo, someone stole its lunch, now it is angry, toooooo
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On the one hand, the New Beetles had an issue with their electrical system that would occasionally cause them to catch fire that was, off the top of my head, corrected with a recall. On the other, they didn’t randomly throw/cut their own fuel lines the way the old Beetles had a tendency to.
Also, yeah, having creature comforts like air conditioning and the ability to survive a moderate accident thanks to being more than paper-thin sheet metal and having decent seatbelts are nice as well.
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Tonight we will race Minis. I was never aware of the Mini’s existence as a kid. They either didn’t sell them in the U.S., or they were very rare. I believe my Mini nostalgia factor would be much like my Beetle nostalgia factor had they been as ubiquitous when I was young and impressionable. I think my first introduction to the Mini was seeing that goofy little car Mr. Bean drives like it was a big joke.
It’s small, cute, and perhaps a bit comical, but the engineering was pretty incredible for a car from 1959. I had no idea it basically created the mass market FF platform. I had no idea it used a pushrod engine and was still being sold in 1999. What modern car has a pushrod? The Corvette? Anything else?
This car joins the original VW Beetle and the Fiat 500 as affordable cars for the people. And it seats four!
We pick up a Mini 1.3 between the choice of that or a Mini 1.3i. I have no idea what the difference is, but the 1.3 is a few hundred credits cheaper, has a bit more power, the same weight, and appears to lack the fog lights and two-tone paint jobs of the 1.3i. We don’t need fog lights! We do need Surf Blue Metallic. There are so many shades of blue, but this one is my favorite! We call the car Morris.
We head to the Mini Challege normal style at Deep Forest Raceway. I’m not sure what year this Mini is, but the 0-60 takes about 20 seconds. Hills cause deceleration even at full throttle. But the car changes directions like a UFO! I feel like an analog controller doesn’t over the kind of precision needed to drive this car well. That’s a compliment! We win first in a pack of colorful competition.
This car has a nice mechanical honesty to it. What’s superfluous here? It feels like nothing is. There’s a dignity to it that I never considered before.
Anyway, it’s time to get Morris race prepped! Much like the Fiat 500, this seems to involve pulling the fenders, slapping some tape over the headlights, and a new paint job 
The red just grabbed me for some reason.
The first attempt in the racing style Mini Challenge goes about how I would expect. The pack breaks away at Clubman Stage Route 5, and we have no prayer of catching up. They are too souped up for us.
So we take Morris to the tuning shop and slap on a stage 2 turbo kit. I forget to take a screenshot, but the power gets bumped up to 115hp. That’s extremely high for a car this small and light.
Seattle Circuit Full hosts our second attempt. It’s a chance to really get this car out and throw it into some corners and chicanes. The power bump makes us competitive, but we aren’t dominant for the entire race. We finish first. The dark blue 1.3i with its fancy fog lights gives us hell!
Next time we’ll buy an MGF!
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that paintjob, on Seattle, absolutely reminds me of the Viper GTS-R from GT3, no idea why…
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The other one make race at Mini and MG is the MGF Challenge. The MGF was never sold in the US. I may have seen a few tiny MGBs and Fiats Spyders when I was a kid. They all kind of blend together for me. I guess those cars along with the Lotus Elan were what made Mazda realize the Miata might be a hit over here.
But the MGF… this is a strange little thing with an MR layout. I’m sure it’s a riot to drive with that power to weight ratio! We pick one up in Volcano and name it Betty. I’m not sold on the looks. It reminds me of the jelly bean Fords of the mid 90s. It looks like a shrunken Taurus with a snooty moustache. But hey, I bet those ducts on the sides are actually functional!
We take Betty to the MGF Challenge normal style race at Rome Short. Driving impressions are a bit tough to take away here as this course doesn’t offer too many challenging turns. The other cars keep very close as we finish first.
A pack of jack-o’-lanterns.
At least Betty looks happy!
We keep our orange scheme as we get our racing modification.
The MGF Challenge racing style race will take place at Autumn Ring. This is probably my favorite track next to Tahiti Road for driving small momentum cars!
We end up winning first here. It takes a few questionable tactics to get there as the lead car seems to be a bit faster than everyone else. But we get it done!
They look even more like baby Tauruses when the top matches the body color
I’ve never had the pleasure of driving an MR car in real life. I would imagine I would prefer to drive something small and not insanely powerful like Betty. There was never any unpredictability in this chassis, but I could see it becoming a handful with a power bump.
Next time we’ll head to Opel. It looks like I have to buy another Tigra! I wonder if Jason could have passed for an Opel? Oh well! That car is sold!
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the MG F has somehow disappeared completely from the road over here, and i wasn’t aware since you mentioned it now, huh. I usually see the odd MR S (nee last-gen MR2), which, packaging wise, looks somewhat similar to the MG F, but seemingly was more robust (or rather, in Toyota Fashion, more bullet proof) than the F.
The mustache I cannot unsee now, thanks for ruining the front!
(which is why I would call it just Luigi now, because it looks so happy )
(n.b. the yellow MR2 with the wanna-be TOM’S bodykit has a child’s seat strapped in the passengers seat, which is kinda cool, tbh:
Imagine being driven in a MH legend before you even can properly say ‘car’, ‘mum’, ‘dad’ and ‘Midship-Rearwheel Drive-induced snap-oversteer’, what kids usually do (in that particular order, yupp))
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It’s Tigra time again! 
Opel is our destination tonight, and the only one make race here is the Tigra Cup. This is apparently a badge swapped Vauxhall Tigra. This car was kinda cool and fun, but I don’t really feel like going through a near-identical one make race again. So let’s do it!
We pick up one in the ugliest color we can find: Brokatgelb. We name it Josh.
We know the drill here. The normal one make Tigra Cup race shouldn’t be too difficult in stock form. It isn’t. We finish first at High Speed Ring.
Good deal! Let’s get that race mod that’s only available in white. Then the stage 2 turbo kit we needed in the Vauxhall Tigra race.
The racing style Tigra Cup race takes place on the test course. I guess we get to see the max speed of an Opel Tigra with a stage 2 turbo kit and stock transmission. It’s a hair under 150mph. The pack stays close behind as we take first.
I was not excited about racing the same car again. At least we should have some excitement for the next session! We’ll head to Lotus!
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ooh looking forward to lotus
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LOTUS - Lots Of Trouble Usually Serious
I’ve heard so many random things about this carmaker. I know Colin Chapman’s philosophy was to make cars fast by putting weight reduction above all else.
Things Colin Chapman may or may not have said that are probably not correct quotes:
-“Simplify and add lightness.”
-“Power makes you faster in a straight line. Lightness makes you faster everywhere.”
-“Not guilty.” (at his murder trial when a race driver died from one of his unsafe cars)
There’s a lot of lore around Chapman. I once read that he spray painted a piece of cardboard silver to trick race officials into thinking it was a metal firewall in a race car.
In any event, the Lotus vehicles reflect this obsession with lightness. The Elise in particular is very very quick while having fairly low sounding power figures. 135hp? 190hp? These don’t sound like power ratings for exotic cars. But when the cars weigh less than fifteen hundred pounds and have an MR layout, they end up being able to do things like accelerate to 62mph in 4.4 seconds.
We pick up an Elise 190. I’m assuming the number is there to indicate the horsepower. It is one of the more expensive Elises, but hopefully we won’t have to modify the engine at all to win the one make racing style later. We name the car Elise because there’s really no other option. We go with Deep Purple Metallic.
We head to the Elise Trophy for the normal style race at Seattle Short. The gearing is surprisingly tall in this car. We’re hitting 70mph in second gear! It becomes evident to me that this car is not for novices. The MR platform is known for being difficult to master in the first place, but this is different. Elise has extremely good braking and turn-in, but there is zero room for error. You have to commit to the turn at just the right moment or lose a lot of time making corrections. We finish first in a hard battle that involves several first, second, and third position changes.
These cars all have evil teeth!
Next up it’s race modification time. That gorgeous purple gets replaced with a gorgeous dark green. We leave everything else stock.
The racing style Elise Trophy one make race takes place at Special Stage Route 5. Having shed more pounds, the car is even more hard core. I’m once again surprised at how tall the gearing is. I’m also surprised at the 1-2 shift as it feels like you are dropped right outside of the power band when shifting to second from redline. Perhaps the idea is that you will not need first again during the race? I’m not sure.
In any event, the challenges of this chassis are even more pronounced now. My notes say “easy to upset the chassis”, “does not forgive mistakes”, and “pick the correct turn in point”. It’s not that this car is necessarily hard to drive, but it requires a certain level of mastery and familiarity. Losing speed to mistakes is simply not an option if you want to win. We do manage to win, but it’s another tough battle!
I once had the opportunity to buy a Lotus Elise. There was a used one going for about twenty thousand dollars near me. It was in a similar gorgeous purple color to this one. I’m glad I stuck with my Miata. I’m not sure how much I would want to drive a car like this on the street. Don’t get me wrong, it’s an amazing car and an amazing chassis. I just don’t think I’m hardcore enough to drive one in real life.
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What’s more, it is always astonishing how tiny the elise is/looks like, think i have posted it in the generál voiture topic, but just for comparison’s sake,
the roof of the Elise is where the dash of my french boat tapers out, and when you compare the rim size, 18" on mine, not-so-significantly less on the Elise. The driving position must be brutal when compared to an SUV, because all you will be seeing is plastic-clad bumper, the exhaust blend and maybe a bit of the tire.
Apropos rims, recently saw it parked the other way round, and the left-side rims have been painted black, whereas the left are white(ish), so you can tell which side you’re looking at from a mile… why the owner would do that, no idea!
Also, the interior is no-bullshit-basics, there’s nothing you don’t need, aside from the radio maybe…not sure how tinny that’d sound tho.
In short, driving/owning one must feel like a blessing when you are into feeling the road, mechanical components etc, yet must be hell if you like being pandered by a comfy/forgiving ride&suspension. As such, I still wanna get a ride in the Alpine A110 to see how the french managed to interpret the legendary formula of the Elise…
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Damn! I found a picture of the exact car from 2010 when it was listed for sale! This is the generation that had the Toyota 2ZZ engine I believe. The body is like two pieces glued together so if you get in even a minor accident you can pretty much write it off.
Even getting into the Miata is annoying some days. You open the door and do a “controlled fall” into the car. It doesn’t help that I’ve lowered it a bit. But yeah, those Elises really are bare bones. I can’t imagine what it’s like trying to live with one.
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Apropos rims, recently saw it parked the other way round, and the left-side rims have been painted black, whereas the left are white(ish), so you can tell which side you’re looking at from a mile… why the owner would do that, no idea!
Given they’re aping a race livery, the reasoning for it for the livery would probably be to make sure that crew can tell at a glance which side of the car they’re looking at in a monitor or through binoculars, especially if the paintjob was otherwise symmetrical.
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that’s actually a good explanation/ reason, yeah!
(Since the owner has two names tacked onto the car, it seems that they really are taking it racing in anger)
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Today I finish up at Lotus. The next one make race is for the Elan. This is my kind of car! I’ve read that the Mazda Miata is essentially a Japanese copy of the dearly missed original Elan. It makes sense! The Elan is a lightweight roadster that is thrilling to drive at any speed.
We pick up a '71 Elan S4 Sprint and name it Colin. I pick black because I love the contrast with the three tone paint job.
There is a newer Elan from the 90s at the Lotus dealer as well, but that thing is much heavier and based on an FF platform. I’m sure it’s a neat car, but this type of car should always be FR!
Without hesitation we head to the Elan Trophy normal style race at Midfield Raceway. There are Elans from all the available generations here. Once I see what else is on the field, I decide I made the right choice! We win first in a car that is much less serious than the Elise. It’s got a playful chassis and easily correctable oversteer on demand.
The red 90 up front here doesn’t look nearly as cool as its ancestors behind it.
I wish the race would have taken place at night so we could see some popup headlights!
Next up we give Colin the race treatment and leave the engine and transmission alone. I go with this bright yellow paint job because it just really caught my eye.
The racing style Elan Trophy race is held at Autumn Ring. I’m relieved to see that as handling prowess is the most important thing on this track. And we are still making the stock 126hp. I see the other cars laying more rubber off the line, so they’ve clearly been upgraded more. We have to use every ounce of momentum in this race to win. We do manage to win by a small margin.
If racing isn’t fun, what’s the point! Look at all these smilers!
Nice.
This car is more fun to drive than the Elise. It’s even more fun to drive than the Miata! You can push it beyond its limits with very little stress. It just exudes happiness and joy! It’s a reminder to me that racing should be fun above all else. I’ve been selling most of the cars because I simply don’t have the room for them, but Colin has a permanent spot in the garage.
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