Sports cars of today are all-round masters.
Improving on that is a true challenge.
Accepting this challenge are the premium tuners Cargraphic and BF-Performance.
They aim to enhance on perfect cars.
Base vehicles are the Porsche Turbo with 480 PS (353 kW)
and the Lamborghini Gallardo with 560 PS (412 kW).
Shiiit.
Duel of the tuning monsters.
First up is the Lamborghini Gallardo from BF-Performance.
The Swiss tuner focuses primarily on looks and improved aerodynamics.
Aggressive Reventón style front spoiler, side skirts, rear spoiler and diffuser all made from carbon fiber.
The 5.2 L center mounted engine gains 40 PS over stock configuration thanks to a new exhaust system,
giving it 600 PS (441 kW) and 575 n*M (424 lb-ft) of torque.
The bull sprints from 0-100 kph in 3.4 seconds; top speed 325 kph (202 mph).
BF-Performance follows the mantra “less is more”.
Most parts remain stock.
Consistent tuning this is not.
At least the optimized exhaust provides the appropriate soundtrack.
When the exhaust flaps open the car announces its joie de vivre for everyone to hear, near or far.
It's got a naturally aspirated V10 engine that revs to over 8000 rpm, 8200 rpm to be more precise.
Due to modern engine design with variable valve timing etc., there's decent power at lower rpm,
but the real power band is between 6000-8000 rpm.
If you stay in that rev range, the car really flies.
However, Tim doesn't buy into the claimed extra 40 PS.
You don’t notice any additional power at all.
Disappointing;
the drive train is standard and transmission unchanged despite the €20000 premium.
Gear shifts happen through steering wheel mounted flappy paddles without a clutch pedal.
You can bang through the gears as you please.
The right paddle is for up-shifts, the left paddle for down-shifts.
In Corsa mode, aka race mode, which also allows ESP to be deactivated,
it shifts so fast that I felt sorry for the mechanical components and lifted the throttle on up-shifts.
Gear ratios, transmission and shifter are all stock, no brownie points for the tuner.
It has a distinctive sound when shifting down, as the transmission auto-blips the throttle.
The throttle blips enable Tim to get back on the power earlier after down-shifting.
The AWD system controls the front-rear power split ratio arbitrarily.
Tim can't get the hang of this driving experience.
Unfortunately BF hasn't modified this either.
While the Gallardo is extremely dynamic and stable car,
the variable AWD unsettles it when driving at the limit.
The cars handling seems somewhat deceptive.
It's all perfectly fine going rapidly down a B road,
but on the race track, with the electronic safety net switched off, it becomes challenging.
In some situations the tail turns loose right away; in others it stays completely put.
It's simply...woah!
Ultimately you never know how the car will react
as the AWD shifts the power back and forth at the very last second.
That's hard to deal with and the reason I spun out twice or so today.
It starts to go a little sideways, so you decide to drift and get on the throttle some more;
suddenly you find yourself facing backwards.
That's hard to comprehend.
The AWD system constantly varies the power distribution between front and rear
according to speed and wheel angle.
A challenge BF hasn't taken on.
If you were out to modify the way the Gallardo's behaves,
with all the AWD components, it'd entail a thousand changes; AWD, MR layout, etc.
It's not easy and probably the reason why the suspension stayed untouched.
This car makes it especially complex.
In conclusion, BF-Performance neglected many areas of the Gallardo;
the extra power is unnoticeable and minor weaknesses persist.
Tim expected more.
However, there's some consolation.
It sounds great.
Now the BF Lamborghini Gallardo has to prove it's capable of more than just sounding great
on a fast lap around the Sachsenring.
An ideal start for the Italian, thanks to launch control.
You can't see into the first corner after turning in as it declines.
The corner exit can only be guessed due to the grade.
Tim is basically driving blind.
The problem is the constantly shifting power distribution of the Gallardo's AWD system.
Despite Tim's knowledge of track and car,
again and again he has to adjust spontaneously and can hardly concentrate on the perfect line.
Late, late, late, then brake and turn in for a blind crest.
Because of road works only half the track is open to Tim.
An advantage for the Lamborghini as the Porsche is hard to control on the tight corners.
1:00:381, will Cargraphic be able to counter with the tuned Porsche Turbo?
Porsche Turbo and Lamborghini Gallardo,
the tuners of Cargraphic and BF-Performance claim to have improved on these cars.
BF only changed the looks of the Gallardo and left the rest of the car in stock condition, regrettably.
It's hard to predict how the car will react.
Second contender is the Cargraphic Porsche Turbo.
The tuners got an additional 144 PS (106 kW) from the boxer engine.
Dude! This is insane.
Holy moly
Tim is impressed.
There are some cars that keep me far too busy to talk.
Not surprising with the 624 PS (459 kW) an 826 n*M (609 lb-ft) of torque
from the rear mounted turbo engine.
Cargraphic dressed the Turbo in GT2 clothes, including a roll bar.
In addition to that a carbon fiber rear lid, doors and fenders are used to save weight.
This car won the 2008 Tuning GP for the tuners from Swabia.
Tim wasn't able to find any major difference over the stock model in the tuned Gallardo.
Cargraphic on the other hand have made massive changes to the base Turbo.
The biggest and most noticeable difference is the increased tire width at the front.
The front tires are very wide; normally the Turbo has 295 or so in the rear and 235 in the front.
This car has 315 in the back, which are slightly bigger but close to stock and 265 in the front.
This gives it very different turn in characteristics.
The wide front tires provide more grip.
The Porsche eagerly follows every little wheel movement and scores points for Cargraphic.
You have to be careful during the turn in phase, especially so if you are still on the brake.
Turn in carefully or the tail will step out.
You have to be aware that you can make it go sideways at will, all the time,
if you got a good flat rate deal with your tire dealer.
Understeer simply doesn't exist.
The steering lets you feel the AWD system shifting power sometimes,
but all the time you can feel unbelievable, unbelievable turn in.
Really unbelievable,
you have to pay constant attention to the tail and control the 626 PS at corner exits too.
That's very...my cerebellum hurts.
I think I met my match in this car.
Tim's cerebellum seems to have been damaged; his match only has 624 PS.
Above all, it's so much fun.
Just go like this at corner entry and the tail comes around.
Sideways through the Omega without a problem.
I have to process these impressions first. Boy, oh boy.
No time for a breather, Tim has to learn to properly cope with the power of the Turbo.
It's frightening what modern turbo engines are capable of.
There's a tiny delay after getting on the throttle followed by apocalyptic power of evil.
The acoustics on the inside are menacing with the turbo whine and all.
I'm almost standing at attention; it's so daunting.
0-100 kph in 3.3 seconds by means of new headers, a sport air filter and increased boost pressure.
Steeping on it in 3rd gear at 4000 rpm and 100 kph is the most imposing display of sheer force.
Unreal.
By the time you floored the pedal it's time to shift up from 1st due to the low gear ratio.
Doing the same in a higher gear, with more time to process,
you feel a stupendous kick to your back at ~3500 rpm and it launches forward.
Such brutal acceleration requires good brakes.
The stock calipers remain unchanged, courageous by Cargraphic.
The brakes are brutal too, typical Porsche.
With the engine in the back, you have a lot of mass there.
Weight shifts to the front when you brake hard,
having this much mass in the back however means a lot of weight remains on the back.
That's why Porsches have abnormal braking capability, which of course also applies to this car.
Getting on the brakes for the left turn after the long downhill straight will tear at your face.
It really is very entertaining.
Cargraphic surprisingly only changed the brake discs
and didn't opt for the higher performing carbon ceramic brake.
Tim concludes this isn't an easy car to drive.
Looking back at the day, I don't know how it worked; I only know it somehow did.
Cargraphic invested a lot of work and know-how into the Turbo.
Where BF-Performance surrendered to complex technology,
Cargraphic managed to successfully improve on it.
Tim's preliminary conclusion is obvious.
As sure as night follows day the Cargraphic car is 2 orders of magnitude faster than that car.
A fast lap will settle it once for all.
The BF Lamborghini has set a 1:00:381 pace.
The Turbo looses a few 1/10ths due to wheelspin at the starting line.
Then it goes into a long left hander;
I never know what line to take there, but it always works out in the end.
The Porsche requires all of Tim's talent.
He constantly needs to keep the tail in check and avoid time consuming drifts.
You think the corner radius increases but then actually decreases,
this gives you a lot to do with a loose tail as in the Porsche.
Only a few meters left to the final decision.
0:57:274, the Porsche wins with a 3 second margin to spare on the 2 km run.
BF-Performance focused primarily on visual changes.
I wasn't able to really feel the claimed power gain.
In stark contrast to that is the Cargraphic Porsche.
The car has been completely reworked with new suspension, different rim/tire combination, etc.
The handling and driving experience is like an entirely new car; the engine is a true berserker.