Ruminations on the guilty pleasures of being a petrol head

Aweh fellow Ruminants & Groupies in day 349 of Re-Modified Lock Down Now Level 1.

Remaining Life at Sasol: 19 days

My name is Bruce and I am a petrolhead.  A petrolhead is a car fanatic and specifically petrol internal combustion engines. I am not a dieselhead or even worse an electrichead. Those of you who are hemp Birkenstock wearing vegetarians (bearded in the case of males and the gender confused) should preferably skip this week’s submission.

I have had petrol performance cars since1980 when I was 19 and my father gave me a 1973 Alfa 2 litre GTV. I kept that car until 1995.

When this car was launched in South Africa it was the fastest production car in the country apart from exotic imports. The 2 litre double overhead cam engine with twin Dellorto carburettors developed 98 kW @ 5500 RPM and 182 NM of torque and accelerated from 0 to 100 km/hr in 9.0 seconds and had a top speed of 195 km/hr. This would not be considered a performance car in 2021. I can contrast this with my 20 year old son’s 2019 Mazda 2 which has a 1.5 litre engine which accelerates to 100 km/hr in 9.7 seconds and has a top speed of 183 km/hr. Nobody thinks of this as a performance car. In the 1970’s a car was considered fast if it could reach 160 km/hr.

In 1991 when I joined Sasol I got a Golf II GTI which had similar performance figures to my Alfa with a slightly faster acceleration of 8.9 seconds to 100 km/hr. In 1995 I got a Golf VR6 (which cost R109 000 brand new) which had a 2.8 litre V6 engine and accelerated to 100 km/hr in 7.6 seconds. I kept this car until 2013 after 350 000 km when the engine caught alight and burnt out the wiring harness.  It was capable of 225 km/hr.

In 2005 I bought a manual 2003 Audi S4 which had a 4.2 litre 32 valve V8 developing 250 kW @ 7000 RPM and 400 nm of torque. That V8 engine was a marvellous engine and was smooth, free revving and powerful. The clutch was a beast and I stalled it regularly as well having to replace the clutch twice which involved removing the engine. This car accelerated to 100 km/hr in 5.6 seconds and its top speed was electronically governed to 250 km/hr. Every petrolhead needs to own at least one V8.

I sold the Audi in 2019 to get my current car a 2018 8 speed automatic BMW 340i which has the turbocharged 3 litre straight six B58 engine. This engine has won the Ward’s best engine award a record 4 times and even Toyota decided to use it in the new Toyota Supra. Having lived with this car for nearly two years it is not hard to see why. The engine develops 240 kW and 450 nm of torque. Although this is somewhat similar to the S4 V8 the BMW is significantly more powerful and faster. In the old days the manual was always faster and more efficient than the automatic. Not anymore. The 8 speed computer controlled ZF gearbox responds quicker and smoother than any human can. The turbocharged engine develops huge torque at low revs and doesn’t lose power at altitude. This car is effortlessly scary fast. In order to achieve acceleration in the Audi it required conscious effort, getting the revs up and working the manual gearbox. I was not scared of my Audi. The BMW scares me. Brutal acceleration is just a prod of the gas pedal away.

To contextualise this consider an iconic supercar of the 80’s and early 90’s the Lamborghini Countach which had a 5 litre V12 engine with a 6 speed manual gearbox. This car accelerated to 100 km/hr in 5.4 seconds. With no traction control and the manual gearbox considerable skill and conscious effort is required to achieve this acceleration. With the BMW you press the sport button and stomp on the accelerator and get to 100 km/hr in 5.0 seconds. The traction control light will flicker and take care of unwanted wheel spin. It is in practical reality considerably faster than the Lamborghini.

Now of course in the performance car stakes a 2018 BMW 340i is nowhere near the top of the pile. There is the faster 2020 BMW M340i  and then the M3 and M5 as well as the Audi and Mercedes equivalents which are faster still. These cars are beyond scary. They are frightening. They have supercar performance

Of course it is well known that electric cars are even faster and it is quite comical to watch this. The Rimac electric car just obliterates a Lamborghini Huracan which is an insane supercar. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWrUl3uemb4.  Somehow I don’t see an electric performance car in my future. That’s for the next generation. It’s not for me.

Is any of this necessary?         Of course not but it’s fun.

Is this safe?                           Of course not but it’s fun.

Can this ever be safe?          Of course not buts it’s fun.

If you put utility, safety and reliability first then you cannot fault a Toyota Corolla. Maybe as the safety culture evolves and dominates the electric equivalent of the Toyota Corolla will be legislated into existence and the performance car will be considered an unsafe historical aberration. I hope I don’t live that long.

It would be interesting to turn the traction control off on the BMW and see how fast it could go in the Sasol Place parking lot on my last day. Just kidding – that would give the security guards a heart attack and I don’t want that.

Thank you very much for the many helpful suggestions and input which I’m researching and please keep the submission ideas flowing.

Regards

Bruce