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General Panda down the 1/4 mile!?

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General Panda down the 1/4 mile!?

RetroPanda

RetroPanda

Blast from the past
Parked in the garage
Joined
Feb 23, 2012
Messages
102
Points
43
Location
North Yorkshire
Hi all, long time no post!

You'll all be pleased to know, despite my adsence from the forum (and dabbling in Japenese cars), the Panda is still my absolute favourite. (y)

As some of you may know, it was the retro show at Santa Pod raceway the other weekend; I thought I'd go and see what the old girl could do down the 1/4 mile.

She performed flawlessly and got a fair bit of attention from others at the show. :cool:

I did even manage to beat a Fiat Uno 1.4 Turbo and give a 150hp Mini a run for its money...





Did 4 runs, times and speeds as follows:

1: 16.57 seconds, 81.68mph
2: 16.59 seconds, 81.26mph
3: 16.45 seconds, 80.80mph
4: 17.12 seconds, 80.65mph (missed a gear :mad:)

BA6E0217.JPG
BA6E0594.JPG
BA6E0978.JPG
BA6E0979.JPG

Was brilliant fun, I fear it's addictive though, I now feel compelled to buy some sticky tyres and head to my local strip to shave hundreths off my time...
 
RetroPanda said:
Hi all, long time no post!

You'll all be pleased to know, despite my adsence from the forum (and dabbling in Japenese cars), the Panda is still my absolute favourite. (y)

As some of you may know, it was the retro show at Santa Pod raceway the other weekend; I thought I'd go and see what the old girl could do down the 1/4 mile.

She performed flawlessly and got a fair bit of attention from others at the show. :cool:

I did even manage to beat a Fiat Uno 1.4 Turbo and give a 150hp Mini a run for its money...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQ-t235-Qb8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9U2N7WDHig

Did 4 runs, times and speeds as follows:

1: 16.57 seconds, 81.68mph
2: 16.59 seconds, 81.26mph
3: 16.45 seconds, 80.80mph
4: 17.12 seconds, 80.65mph (missed a gear :mad:)

View attachment 156810
View attachment 156811
View attachment 156812
View attachment 156813

Was brilliant fun, I fear it's addictive though, I now feel compelled to buy some sticky tyres and head to my local strip to shave hundreths off my time...
Click to expand...

Excellent - looks great. I guess mine would be similar - knew it was quick, but wouldn't expect to take on an Uno Turbo!

Did you stay in 3rd at that speed, or try 4th?
 
Stayed in third, not long to go before the limiter at that speed as I'm sure you know. I considered trying an early shift into 4th to see if there was any time to be gained from using that low down torque but I doubt it would be faster to be honest. If I had more runs and the queues weren't so big then I think I would've tried out a few different things...
 
pandamonius_maximus said:
Nice one, looks like it is going well. Is it really only the 1.2??? The times are similar to my Marbella with the Y10 turbo lump in it!

Well done anyway, good to see more Panda PR going on :devil:
Click to expand...

Can you believe it was 5 years ago we were last at Shakespeare County Raceway in our Pandas? I was running 15.4s.

Surely that Uno turbo in the video wasn't at full tilt? Got to stick up for the Unos!
 
RetroPanda said:
Stayed in third, not long to go before the limiter at that speed as I'm sure you know. I considered trying an early shift into 4th to see if there was any time to be gained from using that low down torque but I doubt it would be faster to be honest. If I had more runs and the queues weren't so big then I think I would've tried out a few different things...
Click to expand...

(y)

Interesting, I was wondering whether there was this mythical rev limiter! I drove a mk1 Punto Sporting (hard) for 5 years from new and never found it. Not found it on Panto yet either. I have no rev counter so am working from ear and experience - I've had 85 on the clock in 3rd, and thought that was enough! Most people change gear just as the 16v is getting going - about 4500rpm I reckon - you have to convince them there's plenty more!!

Good to see the Panda's standing up for themselves anyway. Bet there were a few sarcastic comments & general sniffiness until they saw how it goes. :slayer:
 
[/QUOTE][/QUOTE]
lewey said:
Surely that Uno turbo in the video wasn't at full tilt? Got to stick up for the Unos!
Click to expand...

He didn't have the best start, spun the wheels a fair bit I think and was then playing catch up all the way to the finish line.

There were quite a few Unos there, I'm surprised there's nothing about it on their section of the forum that I could see...
 
Palio said:
(y)

Interesting, I was wondering whether there was this mythical rev limiter! I drove a mk1 Punto Sporting (hard) for 5 years from new and never found it. Not found it on Panto yet either. I have no rev counter so am working from ear and experience - I've had 85 on the clock in 3rd, and thought that was enough! Most people change gear just as the 16v is getting going - about 4500rpm I reckon - you have to convince them there's plenty more!!

Good to see the Panda's standing up for themselves anyway. Bet there were a few sarcastic comments & general sniffiness until they saw how it goes. :slayer:
Click to expand...

I think I've only ever hit it in 1st but it's definitely there, haha. I have no Rev counter either, but I do have shift lights which light up sequentially then flash just before the limit (although these have been set up by ear for the time being). My clock was reading just under 85 as I crossed the line each time and it felt like the limiter was imminent (the lights had just started flashing); I don't take it that far in normal driving so I'm just not sure how much lee-way I've got there to be honest...
 
RetroPanda said:
I think I've only ever hit it in 1st but it's definitely there, haha. I have no Rev counter either, but I do have shift lights which light up sequentially then flash just before the limit (although these have been set up by ear for the time being). My clock was reading just under 85 as I crossed the line each time and it felt like the limiter was imminent (the lights had just started flashing); I don't take it that far in normal driving so I'm just not sure how much lee-way I've got there to be honest...
Click to expand...

It's comforting that a) there's a rev limiter, and b) it's been set by an Italian so that you don't hit it, unless you're being a massive idiot!!

I've taken it to 85 on the speedo a couple of times testing it, but in normal lunatic driving you're well past the overtakees and in other gears, long before you get there. (y)
 
lewey said:
Can you believe it was 5 years ago we were last at Shakespeare County Raceway in our Pandas? I was running 15.4s.

Surely that Uno turbo in the video wasn't at full tilt? Got to stick up for the Unos!
Click to expand...

Maybe I need to retest mine...I've lost weight now...you can totally tell! :D

5 years though...crazy. That's a lot of Panda miles...
 
Limiter in Km for each gearImageUploadedByFIAT Forum1436771232.392676.jpg


Sent from my iPhone using FIAT Forum
 
38 Km/h in reverse ???


Sent from my iPhone using FIAT Forum
 
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