On 18 September, the Carborg Project team held a test and track day at the M-Ring asphalt racetrack in Hungary. The stakes were high: two of our converted cars, i.e. Meggie and GOSH, competed against each other. With both cars pushing to the limit, the battle between the red Queen of Speed and the first Carborg was simply epic. The odds were not quite even, but the results spoke for themselves.
It all started from our participation in a quite interesting project a few years ago: we were given the opportunity to build a rally Mini with an “unlimited” budget. We only used the best parts in the car, to the best of our knowledge. Meggie (the name comes from the license plate MEG-794) was a roaring success for our team at the time. We bought a professional race engine built by Richard Longman and his team for the Mini Se7en championship, converted it to the rally car and fitted the best gearbox, suspension and brake systems that were allowed by the regulations. Driving Meggie is a dream. And she is fast, very fast, I can tell you!
Some members of my team are petrolheads rather than amp maniacs, so they kept saying let’s put Meggie to the test to see if she can defend her resounding title of “Queen of Speed”. That’s how GOSH, our first Carborg, came into play. We planned and organised the duel, brought the two cars to the racetrack and gave them the opportunity to race against each other.
Brief details of the two opponents
Meggie
- FIA Historic Rally car
- 1970 Mini 1000
- Engine: 998 Longman mini se7en based race engine, up to 8500 rpm, 93 HP at 7250.
- Manual gearbox: straight rack and pinion gearbox with straight spur gear set, reinforced cross-axle differential with semi-helical gearkit, 4.56 final drive ratio.
- Suspension: fully adjustable suspension, special hard rubber pads, Kayaba adjustable shock absorbers.
- Brakes: servo 7.5″ disc at the front with green/purple EBC brake pads and drums at the rear
- Weight: (hey, she’s a lady, we’re not talking about this!) under 700 kg
- Driver: Zoltán Papp, Mini owner for 15 years, racing driver
GOSH
- Morris Mini 850 1965
- Drive: 3-phase electric motor, 148 V. Peak power: 80 HP at 4800 rpm.
- Manual gearbox: 3-syncro “magic wand” gear lever with Clubman-type straight rack and pinion transmission, Torsen limited slip differential from MED, 4.3 final drive ratio.
- Suspension: fully adjustable suspension, adjustable yellow Koni shock absorbers, rubber pads for race cars.
- Brakes: electrically assisted front axle, cooled factory drums, racing brake pads, adjustable double cylinder from Wilwood
- Weight: 650 kg.
- Driver: Ákos Horváth, Nissan Micra owner and racing driver
Peak power, body rigidity (roll cage) and the driver’s experience were in Meggie’s favour. Weight was the only important factor where GOSH seemed to be better.
A new champion is born
Before we left the pit, I told the drivers to drive the cars with caution, but TO THE LIMITS. May the faster car win the trophy!
As you may already know if you follow the GOSH Facebook group, our Meggie vs GOSH house race ended with GOSH winning. And not only was GOSH simply faster, he also raced much better on the track. He especially was faster in the corner exits, and racers agree that this is the most important factor. Meggie was more powerful (93 HP compared to 80 HP), she had a more massive chassis, a wider wheel track and a more experienced driver. However, it turned out that the more precise and flexible GOSH was simply the better car on the racetrack!
As always, the devil was in the details:
- GOSH is lighter (by about 50kg): this is because its batteries were not designed for long distance driving, plus Meggie is also heavier with the roll cage,
- GOSH has a lower centre of gravity and therefore better weight distribution,
- GOSH can be steered more precisely on the track (Meggie is still a rally car),
- on this racetrack you didn’t have to shift gears with GOSH, his acceleration out of the corner was better, whereas with Meggie you had to shift between gears 2 and 3, and it’s difficult to keep such a well-tuned engine at top revs all the time,
- GOSH doesn’t have a torque curve, but rather a “torque line”, meaning he can deliver maximum torque in all conditions and at all revs.
Race summary
Would you like my opinion? GOSH won the trophy because he has a better distributed weight and delivers its power better. GOSH simply has better natural qualities on the track.
As I keep saying, you would never say that an electric car is “better” than a petrol car. They are two completely different creatures. With petrol cars, speed and quick responsiveness are important factors in the driving experience. That’s exactly why most people thought Meggie would win, as she gives a faster “driving experience”. But as we saw, that wasn’t the case: GOSH was clearly faster on the track. So is it a “better” car? I am not sure. But if the aim is to race around a track as fast as possible, GOSH is the winner.
Future developments
We still have some ideas for GOSH. The new suspension works much better than the previous one. There is still room for improvement. For example, we would like to try a front anti-roll bar and/or stiffer rubber pads to reduce body tilting. If we have time, we will also try to move the battery next to the driver to achieve a more even weight distribution.
More power? Although the car is already flying, it’s always tempting to achieve even more. Power = current x voltage. You only need to calculate this much. The limits are in the gearbox, not in the engine or in the control unit. If we increase the voltage, the power will increase proportionally. We now operate the system at 150 V, but by rearranging the batteries we can achieve 200 V, which corresponds to a 33% increase in power. We will make this change at some point, but we have to find time for it as we have so much else to do…