Nürburgring Nordschleife 1974 Fiat X1/9

Rupunzell

Rupunzell

Bernice Loui
Does anyone know the driver/owner of this x1/9?

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMs3DBEcYrc"]YouTube - Nürburgring Nordschleife 1974 Fiat X1/9[/ame]

Then, we have Sabine:
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQMvsfg2G8U"]YouTube - Sabine Schmitz's Nurburgring Van challenge part 1 Top Gear BBC[/ame]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0H5an9H_48&feature=related"]YouTube - Sabine Schmitz's Nurburgring Van challenge part 2 Top Gear BBC[/ame]
 
That's awesome...

About 7 minutes in, on the very long and fast downhill switchbacks, I saw an "aww, dang it!" as he lifted and braked for what appeared to be a tight turn but was really just another kink... Very cool.

Car sounded great.


-M
 
i think this is the car. I saw it on the Live webcam shot a few nights ago....

webcam.jpg
 
Love the sound....

It's got to be at least twin 40's on that thing, very deep sound. Sounds like a carb'd 308 F car, and very similar to my own 79 with twin 40's.
 
Ulix is running a 1600cc Tipo/Tempra variant SOHC

With his old set of dual DCNF carburetors. He had a PBS exhaust header on it, but I think switched to a factory style 4-2-1 setup because the PBS header has a sizable torque hole in the output range. Who knows what sort of cam he is running - he did about the most extensive cam survey ever, and no doubt chose something nice for himself.

Ciao,
 
Long course

I drove a lap on that track about 14 years ago, in a rental car. One of those things where we were just checking it out on a Sunday and for 17 marks you could take a lap. There were two of us and we each bought a lap and the one riding shotgun was the navigator. They would call out "sweeper to the right" or "left-right chicane" to give the driver some heads up. The track is 14 miles long for the North section and 5 miles long for the South section. It would take a lot of driving to memorize. Had a ball!
Lafayette Bruce
 
Very nice!

I loved it when he outcornered the lancer, and was suprised at the elises ability to walk away! Very cool vid!
 
You guys weren't supposed to find that! :)

Hi,

yes, I drove the 'ring for the first time in ernest this week on Monday.
It was a trackday with about 200 cars, divided into 2 groups that go out for about 3 laps (about 45 minutes) and then the other group gets their turn. I drove 13 laps or about 160 miles at speed!
Believe me, when you don't know the track all that well, 3 laps is plenty. In the last stint, we got to drive 4 laps, me following Ralf in his mint green X (he knows the track well) and we were both fairly exhausted when we parked the cars.

The video is from about the middle of the day, when I had the track almost to myself. My lines really suck in a lot of the turns (that's why you weren't supposed to see it :). I got a little better towards the end of the day, but my camera was full.

There are a lot of places where I brake and downshift, or lift, where you can just stay on the gas when you know the course. Still, the difference in lap time was smaller than I expected, I had a 9:58 minutes, and a 9:47 when I followed Ralf (though his car is a little slower than mine). These times are bridge-to-bridge, not to be confused with official times.

Overall, the course and the whole experience was less intimidating than I expected. But then again, I drive a slow car. A fast car in the hands of an inexperienced (on the 'ring) driver, would be much more critical. Still, in some of the downhill sections, you take turns at over 100 mph and there are no runoff areas.

The car performed great! Especially the R-compund tires (Hankook Z211 185/60) really worked great once warm. While my suspension is way soft for flat courses, it felt ok on the much bumpier Nordschleife (lowering springs, adj. shocks and ADDCO bar). It was so much fun! :)

The engine is as describe here http://www.mirafiori.com/~ulix/x19/my74/1600.html except that I currently run a stock 1974 exhaust system, so top end power is probably down. I still need to build an exhaust for the IAP header that I got. I still run the PBS S2 cam, it is perfect for midrange torque and driveability. I would like a bit more bite at high rpm though.

And yes, passing that Lancer felt really good. :grin:
 
HA! Looks like there is no...

... where to hide from the prying eyes of X-Heads... worldwide!

Congrats on your "good day" Ulix... good to heard from you too!
 
Thanks Ulix..

For sharing the experience. This has got me wondering "what if Sabine" got to drive your X at Nurburgring and what would the lap time be?
 
Sabine is great fun, great driver. I really like her.

The FORD transit episode illustrates just how much difference a highly skilled drive makes in any vehicle. During production of that episode, the normal camera car drive could not keep up with Sabine in that FORD transit, so the had to put the Jaguar test drive in the Jaguar camera car to stay with Sabine...she is that good.

There is a recent episode of Top Gear where Jeremy, Sabine, Tiff and the "STIG" go for a little race at Nurburgring..

PaulieNoodlesX19 said:
a thrill to watch. What a driver and what a sense of humor!

Thanks for posting, Bernice!
Click to expand...
 
Ulix, I have three words for you...

PS3 and GT4! I guarantee you that this is the least expensive, most effective way to reduce your lap times at the 'Ring! Not as fun obviously as the real thing, but in terms of learning the track, you can do it so much faster that it's not even funny...not to mention saving the wear and tear on the car. While the game's inventory of cars doesn't include an X, there is a Lotus Europa which should give a rough approximation of the X's dynamics. Highly recommended! :thumbsup:
Watching the vid, I kept saying to myself, "Why is he downshifting there", "Get on it man", and "Better take him before the straight"! :doh:
How cool to be able to stroll down to your neighborhood world-class track, pay a few bucks, and drive like Hell!! I am insanely jealous.
 
:)

Hi Dave,

good point. I had thought about it, now after getting to know the track in real life, to take that to the virtual track.
I do have two steering wheels, but my PS2 died when lightning hit the house.
I may have to check into PS3 prices... :)

The downshifting and braking also has to do with the feeling of "Sh*t, I'm gonna die!" having been strangely more real than in the PS3 version. :)
 
Death and Dismemberment....

Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha.....Yes, laughing in the face of danger really isn't a laughing matter in real life is it? :eek:
I also find that it's much easier, faster, and less expensive to repair the cars in GT4 than it is in real life.
I've never been on a high-speed track like the 'Ring that is surrounded by forest. The closest thing I have is the tree-lined back straight at Pacific Raceways near Seattle where speeds really aren't what they would be on the Nurburgring.
I wasn't on the track but my wife and I made a trip recently that took us on about 130km of little-used two-lane road. I mean we're talking 130km between towns-desolate with straights that can be more than a mile long.
Whenever we're on one of these roads (and we have a couple around here), I always try to find an excuse to crack at least 160kph (in our A6, not the X). Usually I'll pass a slower car and just keep my foot in it until my wife starts laughing nevously and reminds me that we'll orphan a little girl if anything happens to us. So a couple of weeks ago we're on one of these roads. I'm cruising along at 120kph: 300m ahead there's a truck doing probably 100kph while 1km ahead is a corner marked for no passing. Not wanting to get stuck behind the truck in the no passing zone, I boot it and in no time we're doing 160 and flying past the truck. Well this is pretty fun so I figure, "Why not go for 200?"; the corner ahead is not that sharp so no worries....
Until I get to the corner and am reminded that gravity is indeed a weak force; especially when compared to to the centrifigul force acting on a 2000kg object at 200kph!! :dunce:
Anyway, still lots of fun and proof that there's no substitute for the real thing!
 
Looks like great fun Ulix.

How did the brakes hold up? Didn't look like it would be all that hard on them but the X has such *tiny* brakes...

///Mike
 
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