Quote:
Originally Posted by l4wr3nc3
I find this hilarious. You chastise someone for complaining about the vent tubing in the engine bay and say its justifiable because this is a "race car", yet you then complain about the interior of a Lotus and say how the interior quality Alfa is far better. Or how much better the alfa MPG is versus the lotus, or even how hard it is to get in a lotus. But I thought this was a race car? Who cares about interior quality, vent tubing, or MPG right?
You can try to justify the car all you want, but this is far from a race car.
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First of all, you should ask yourself why F1 is going back to low displacement (1.6 L) turbocharged engines in 2014... then you will realize that the Alfa 4C already has a low displacement (1750cc) turbocharged engine.
Then, you can go even further and take the oportunity to watch the 24H of Le Mans this weekend and try to understand why the overall & LMP1 class winner, which most probably will be the Audi e-tron quattro, not only uses a diesel engine but combines it with hybrid-power delivered to the front wheels by an electric motor... then you will realize that MPG is crucial for an endurance race.
Finally, if you try to find two aspects common to the cars in each of these two race categories that represent the very pinnacles of car racing... then you will realize that both cars use carbon fiber monocoques, for the ultimate rigidity and lightweight chassis, AND that both cars have rear mid-engine layout.
Needless to say that the Alfa 4C has both a carbon fiber monocoque and a rear mid-engine as well, also the Alfa 4C has such low weight and weight to power ratio that it is capable of generating 0-62mph acceleration time of 4.5 seconds, 1.1 of lateral g on corners and 1.25 g of maximum braking deceleration all on street tires, add to that a non-power assisted steering of any kind and it's undeniably that we are in the presence of a race car.
As for the interior plastics, well... they are only needed to bring all that race DNA from the track to the street and make it livable on a daily basis - getting in and out of the car in an easy way is only a necessary part of that experience, engine 'vent tubing' appearance is not.
Lotus is an example of a brand that always pursued that goal throughout the years... that's its great legacy even when they don't succeed: