Xr6t Around Eastern Creek

[Mals BA XR6T]

It was a drive day yesterday... high 20 degree's, it was a gorgeous day.

The track was warm, only about 10 cars out there, and two groups.

I have a couple of GTR & GTS mates who I go out with. It was the first time they saw the XR6T and was very impressed. Oh, and not knowing much about Turbo's (coming from a V8) they say, wow, that is one hell of a Turbo. So I guess that's good!

Anyway, this is what you really want to know. First off let me say the highest I rev'ed the car was about 5000-5500, and no hard breaking, I actually took it fairly easy all day.

first off, I WAS IMPRESSED! This cars goes very hard on the track. It handles like nothing I have ever driven, and sticks to the road. The tires, as standard, are great. And didn't really start to go off until about 5-6 laps into it.

This car pulled as hard as a mod'ed GTS (165kw at the wheels) and handles better. This was coming from the guys themselves, not me!

The SSS is a great choice on the track. I was basically driving 2nd and 3rd gear, and slipped it into 4th on the straight.

Ok the straight ... I know you want to know... I can sense it.. Sorry guys I was not there to break any land speed records... so at 1/4 way down the straight I hit 180km/h and lifted my foot. The way this thing was pulling I can say with all confidence that it would have hit at least 200km/h. Anyway I was there for the corners, take off out the corners, and breaking into the corners...

Now the corners. The XR6T is very well balanced. Forget the AU XR8, with it's understeer into the corners, and oversteer out off the corners, the XR6T comes in smooth, and leaves smooth. Yeah sure, come in too quick and you get understeer, and leave too aggressive and you'll get oversteer, but this thing tends to slide on or fours, rather than oversteer. It's very reassuring, and gave me plenty of confidence to hit it harder. As a comparison, my mate in his ~230kw GTR (Computer blown up so that's why its only 230kw), with a few mod's was just in front of me, while we were going at the same speed he slid out and keep on sliding straight into the dirt, the ol XR6T didn't even think about sliding.

Over all the package is pretty good. BUT

And this is a big BUT. The breaks are CRAP! and I mean it, CRAP! After 3 corners the breaks were stuffed. Not soft, but WARPED!!! As once these piece of sh*t breaks are hot they warp straight away. Now I was NOT breaking hard, I mean NOT at all breaking hard, and they had sh*t them selves. The old AU XR8 breaks never ever shuddered like this. by 3 laps it felt like ABS (obviously I was not locking the wheels up) Once they cooled down everything was fine. These are a big problem, as people have discovered, but the biggest worry is, if you are traveling down a steep hill, with a few bends, I would take it very, very slow. My dealer will hear from me today, and they will be replaced!

The other small gripe was power loss on one of the laps. nothing huge, and I think this was ambient temperature related. It just seemed not to pull as hard. I think if you were going to drive these things hard, and often, and with track temps about 30'C I think a bigger intercooler would be one of the first things on my list of things to buy/upgrade

Anyway, other than that, it was a great day, and I recommend it to anyone. I think you will be surprised how the XR6T handles.

Oh, almost forgot Stopwatched fastest time in the AU XR8 was 2:13 (not flogging the daylights out it), but the XR6T, without breaking into corners, just using gears, pulled a 2:10. I know there could be a few seconds error, but had I had the XR8 breaks I'd be sure to see 2:07, or less!

And just to leave on a positive note, a great guy, and owner of a business call Bogan special , who is a mechanic, and loves working on Fords, and does a damn good job too (made the XR8 go hard for me) was there on the day. He hadn't yet had the pleasure of being in an XR6T, so I thought, jump in and then you can tell me your thoughts. Well I thought he was going to blow his load all over my dash. This guys loves his V8's, but could barely contain himself about the performance of this car. This guys has driven heaps of fast cars, has his cam licence, and know the track.... the XR6T got the thumbs up, big time (however he did say get rid of those breaks... no surprise there!)

I'll post a few pic's

[Mals BA XR6T]

These are not great, but you'll get the picture (no pun intended)

[Mals BA XR6T]

Another one, sorry for the quality again, but taking a picture at the end of the straight at 180km/h is very hard...just ask my wife

[Mals BA XR6T]

At bend 1 (180km/h)

[Mals BA XR6T]

One more

[rjs]

Great story mate, disappointing to hear about your brakes.

Edited 14/03/03 04:01 AM by richdave

[Guest JESMAL]

Congrats Mal...not for having a good time driving the T, or for buying a wonderful vehicle...but having a wife that gets involved with your track days!!!!!! :D

Mine gives me the sh*ts when she hears the whoosh sound.....

[HellionXR6T]

Congrats Mal...not for having a good time driving the T, or for buying a wonderful vehicle...but having a wife that gets involved with your track days!!!!!! :D

Mine gives me the sh*ts when she hears the whoosh sound.....

Bwahahahahaha, I know how you feel. But when they want to get in and "`Ave a Hoon" then it's "OK"???. Damned if you do...............Damned if you don't.

:auto:

[BlueXR6T]

What brakes are you running?

Std or premium

[Mals BA XR6T]

Standard Brakes