Just got back from two days of examining and driving Hershal's RF and thought I'd share my observations for those still considering which car to buy.
Appearance and Construction
Visually the RF looks correct. From the outside or sitting in the cockpit, nothing screams "replica" or "kit car". The fiberglass is high quality and the photos I saw of the new glass look good enough to leave as is, with out filling or painting. Basically the body work is as accurate and high quality as you could ask.
The only external clues that this is a replica are the 17" wheels (Hershal has 16", and you could fit 15"), the latches (which look fine), and the 3rd brake light (which IMHO you would be a fool to drive without).
Even under the bonnets the car looks solid and well made. Yes it is a clad space frame, but so what, it is still gorgeous. Strut mounts, linkages, component placements, all seem well thought out. RF has continued to improve their car over the years and it shows.
Road Manners
To be honest, I was expecting the RF to be loud, hot, uncomfortable, and rattle - basically everything you would expect from a real race car on the street. Well, it wasn't.
The seats were very comfortable, with the top bolster making a perfect headrest for my 5'9" frame. The sound level in the car was ideal - not too loud to talk over or cause undue fatigue, but loud enough to remind you why you were here. The steering tracked true over bumps and jolts and was easy to keep in a straight line on the road, and there were NO rattles! Hershal's car has over 50,000 miles of abuse and we were ridding on rough bumpy Arizona roads, but there wasn't a squeak or a rattle to be heard!
The other big surprise was the ride quality. My old factory GP race bike would rattle the filings out of your teeth at anything less than full tilt race pace and wouldn't handle unless you threw it into a turn at full bore. Not the RF - while not a Cadi, or even my M3, it was quite comfortable to cruse around in and drive at legal, sedate speeds.
Oh, and the AC was wonderful! Even in the hot Arizona heat we were nice and comfy. Hershal never installed the pop out window vents, so without the AC we would have been miserable to say the least.
Performance
OK, this is why we buy a GT40. Every GT40 (even the real ones) is a little different in its setup, so I should start with a overview of Hershal's 40:
302 bored to 306
Motronic EFI
Audi 016 with LSD
ceramic clutch
"stock" RF shocks
208R16 Front (Dunlop)
255R16 Rear (Dunlop)
44 psi (was set for good gas mileage on recent road trip)
ceramic "racing" brake pads (don't recal brand)
alignment specs unknown
For an ideal performance test, we would have had the RF tuned Koni's, stickier rubber at a lower pressure, and either been on a race course or used organic pads that didn't require being kept hot for optimum performance. But hey, whose complaining?
The easiest place to start was straight line acceleration. First gear in the Audi 016 is a little short - great for massive burnouts (which Hershal did demonstrate - I didn't even have to ask!) but can be safely skipped most of the time. Punching the throttle in 2nd yields strong acceleration, until the tack reaches about about 4 grand, then it feels like a Saturn rocket! It keeps pushing you back hard into your seat way into the "loose your license and go to jail" speeds. I'm sure it stops pulling so hard at some insane speed, but you'll need the Bonneville salt flats to find it.
Next test was hard straight line braking. Due to the brake pads not staying hot and the high tire pressures, braking suffered. The car would stop fast, but not throw you through the windscreen fast. Hershal seemed to recall a measured distance by RF of 120 ft or so for 60-0 mph. This was disappointing as my E36 M3 was 113ft with 50% more weight!
We did notice a leak in one of Hershal's brake lines and made a quick repair, but did not have time to remove all the air from the system, so performance never reached full potential. Still, I see no reason why this car could not achieve "throw you through the windscreen" braking performance. It might take a little tweaking, but vastly improved braking should be possible.
We searched the local roads and parking lots for a safe place to test lateral adhesion and handling characteristics, but found precious little. The few turns, crests, and nasty pavement transitions we did find reviled nothing bad about the car and showed lots of potential. Still, I wanted to find a safe place to brake it loose. I just couldn't accept that those 208's up front were going to yield a balanced car with the type of lateral G's I was looking for.
Finally Hershal suggested we drive over to Bob Bondurant's track and see if we could use the autocross course - so we did. Unfortunately, a class was in session, and paying customers come first (as they rightfully should). However, one of the instructors and an accomplished professional driver (who shall remain nameless), offered to drive the car while I rode shotgun. How could I say no! Even better than driving I could let a professional drive, freeing me observe the car's handling.
We made multiple runs through the slalom course. He would wait until a student (driving a Mustang) was over half way through the course and then gun it. By the end of the run we would be braking for the student - every time. His placement of the car was perfect - missing the cones by millimeters. As our runs got faster and faster and the adhesion limits were exceeded, the car remained balanced. It did not plow and did not step out - but slid perfectly. There was some body roll, but nothing objectionable.
Through with running over students in the slalom, we went to the skid pad. Again, as the tires squealed in agony, nothing bad happened. We didn't plow and didn't spin. I can't say what our G load was, but it was respectable, esp considering our high tire pressures.
The next bit was truly impressive. While at max G's on the pad, the driver lifted completely and kept the car at its G limit. All that happened was we turned sharper. I thought certainly we would have swapped ends, but we didn't. We repeated this again with the same result. Even our driver was impressed.
Overall he had several comments about the car:
1. The steering ratio was too slow, with very little happening in the first 60 deg of wheel movement. (Note: RF does offer an optional fast turn rack)
2. Handling was very good, much better than a Cobra
3. He felt the only things he didn't like could be adjusted out.
4. He was curious what he could get out of the car once he started tweaking the setup.
Conclusion
Any car is a compromise. You will always be forced to make trade offs. What do you want the car to do - ultimate race car? Forget about street driving. Luxury car? Performance will suffer.
Any GT40 replica must deal with comfort vs performance, but must also trade off authenticity vs 40 years of engineering improvements. What do you want? A museum replica? A state of the art race car? Or a "Ferrari" Supper car?
Roaring Forties makes a very authentic looking car that takes advantage of improved technology where possible. It performs better than most drivers are capable while offering an improved level of comfort. It is also a very complete kit - including everything but the motor, transaxle, and tires.
The question isn't who makes best replica. The question is who makes the best replica for you. I can't answer that, but I can't imagine any GT40 fan being disappointed with a RF GT40.
-Mark
Appearance and Construction
Visually the RF looks correct. From the outside or sitting in the cockpit, nothing screams "replica" or "kit car". The fiberglass is high quality and the photos I saw of the new glass look good enough to leave as is, with out filling or painting. Basically the body work is as accurate and high quality as you could ask.
The only external clues that this is a replica are the 17" wheels (Hershal has 16", and you could fit 15"), the latches (which look fine), and the 3rd brake light (which IMHO you would be a fool to drive without).
Even under the bonnets the car looks solid and well made. Yes it is a clad space frame, but so what, it is still gorgeous. Strut mounts, linkages, component placements, all seem well thought out. RF has continued to improve their car over the years and it shows.
Road Manners
To be honest, I was expecting the RF to be loud, hot, uncomfortable, and rattle - basically everything you would expect from a real race car on the street. Well, it wasn't.
The seats were very comfortable, with the top bolster making a perfect headrest for my 5'9" frame. The sound level in the car was ideal - not too loud to talk over or cause undue fatigue, but loud enough to remind you why you were here. The steering tracked true over bumps and jolts and was easy to keep in a straight line on the road, and there were NO rattles! Hershal's car has over 50,000 miles of abuse and we were ridding on rough bumpy Arizona roads, but there wasn't a squeak or a rattle to be heard!
The other big surprise was the ride quality. My old factory GP race bike would rattle the filings out of your teeth at anything less than full tilt race pace and wouldn't handle unless you threw it into a turn at full bore. Not the RF - while not a Cadi, or even my M3, it was quite comfortable to cruse around in and drive at legal, sedate speeds.
Oh, and the AC was wonderful! Even in the hot Arizona heat we were nice and comfy. Hershal never installed the pop out window vents, so without the AC we would have been miserable to say the least.
Performance
OK, this is why we buy a GT40. Every GT40 (even the real ones) is a little different in its setup, so I should start with a overview of Hershal's 40:
302 bored to 306
Motronic EFI
Audi 016 with LSD
ceramic clutch
"stock" RF shocks
208R16 Front (Dunlop)
255R16 Rear (Dunlop)
44 psi (was set for good gas mileage on recent road trip)
ceramic "racing" brake pads (don't recal brand)
alignment specs unknown
For an ideal performance test, we would have had the RF tuned Koni's, stickier rubber at a lower pressure, and either been on a race course or used organic pads that didn't require being kept hot for optimum performance. But hey, whose complaining?
The easiest place to start was straight line acceleration. First gear in the Audi 016 is a little short - great for massive burnouts (which Hershal did demonstrate - I didn't even have to ask!) but can be safely skipped most of the time. Punching the throttle in 2nd yields strong acceleration, until the tack reaches about about 4 grand, then it feels like a Saturn rocket! It keeps pushing you back hard into your seat way into the "loose your license and go to jail" speeds. I'm sure it stops pulling so hard at some insane speed, but you'll need the Bonneville salt flats to find it.
Next test was hard straight line braking. Due to the brake pads not staying hot and the high tire pressures, braking suffered. The car would stop fast, but not throw you through the windscreen fast. Hershal seemed to recall a measured distance by RF of 120 ft or so for 60-0 mph. This was disappointing as my E36 M3 was 113ft with 50% more weight!
We did notice a leak in one of Hershal's brake lines and made a quick repair, but did not have time to remove all the air from the system, so performance never reached full potential. Still, I see no reason why this car could not achieve "throw you through the windscreen" braking performance. It might take a little tweaking, but vastly improved braking should be possible.
We searched the local roads and parking lots for a safe place to test lateral adhesion and handling characteristics, but found precious little. The few turns, crests, and nasty pavement transitions we did find reviled nothing bad about the car and showed lots of potential. Still, I wanted to find a safe place to brake it loose. I just couldn't accept that those 208's up front were going to yield a balanced car with the type of lateral G's I was looking for.
Finally Hershal suggested we drive over to Bob Bondurant's track and see if we could use the autocross course - so we did. Unfortunately, a class was in session, and paying customers come first (as they rightfully should). However, one of the instructors and an accomplished professional driver (who shall remain nameless), offered to drive the car while I rode shotgun. How could I say no! Even better than driving I could let a professional drive, freeing me observe the car's handling.
We made multiple runs through the slalom course. He would wait until a student (driving a Mustang) was over half way through the course and then gun it. By the end of the run we would be braking for the student - every time. His placement of the car was perfect - missing the cones by millimeters. As our runs got faster and faster and the adhesion limits were exceeded, the car remained balanced. It did not plow and did not step out - but slid perfectly. There was some body roll, but nothing objectionable.
Through with running over students in the slalom, we went to the skid pad. Again, as the tires squealed in agony, nothing bad happened. We didn't plow and didn't spin. I can't say what our G load was, but it was respectable, esp considering our high tire pressures.
The next bit was truly impressive. While at max G's on the pad, the driver lifted completely and kept the car at its G limit. All that happened was we turned sharper. I thought certainly we would have swapped ends, but we didn't. We repeated this again with the same result. Even our driver was impressed.
Overall he had several comments about the car:
1. The steering ratio was too slow, with very little happening in the first 60 deg of wheel movement. (Note: RF does offer an optional fast turn rack)
2. Handling was very good, much better than a Cobra
3. He felt the only things he didn't like could be adjusted out.
4. He was curious what he could get out of the car once he started tweaking the setup.
Conclusion
Any car is a compromise. You will always be forced to make trade offs. What do you want the car to do - ultimate race car? Forget about street driving. Luxury car? Performance will suffer.
Any GT40 replica must deal with comfort vs performance, but must also trade off authenticity vs 40 years of engineering improvements. What do you want? A museum replica? A state of the art race car? Or a "Ferrari" Supper car?
Roaring Forties makes a very authentic looking car that takes advantage of improved technology where possible. It performs better than most drivers are capable while offering an improved level of comfort. It is also a very complete kit - including everything but the motor, transaxle, and tires.
The question isn't who makes best replica. The question is who makes the best replica for you. I can't answer that, but I can't imagine any GT40 fan being disappointed with a RF GT40.
-Mark
