Volvo 240 Badass

I remember quite well my first attempts to run the hillclimb track. It was the time when flexbody meshes were not yet implemented and sub-mesh cars were the kings of the roads in the ROR world. I really liked taking the Volvo 245 on small trips up and down the mountain. The car was very controllable due to low power, however was a great challenge because of RWD. Before ROR 0.36 version it was the ultimate drift machine. Absolutely no lateral grip on the rear axle resulted in long tail-slides in almost every corner. Currently the car is very slow making about 2.00+ minutes on the hill climb, however its younger, slightly insane brother - Volvo 240 Badass - is surely a great pretender to tighten up the competition on lap chart board.

The car has body of standard Volvo 240, however noticeably greater engine and higher suspension surely adds to fun factor. High center of gravity is not as big problem as I suspected, however the car rolls over quite easily so drivers should avoid braking when going sideways (and they will surely do that in V240BA quite often).  The springs are actually making the car run very comfortable. Lots of bumps on the road are almost unnoticeable from the in-car view. When sitting in the car, the first thing you notice is a big compressor emerging from the hood, ready to squeeze some air into the cyliners. It is the most characteristic part of the body, that actually gives some promises about the car's performance ...

...which is actually acceptable, however adding 30% more power would not be a bad idea. The car looses traction on each of four driven wheels quite easily with the torque provided, however drops revs significantly when trying to powerslide through the corner. The car likes to be swinged aroung, however it should not be let drift too much if quick lap time is a target. 

Car's traction differs quite a lot from other 4WD cars way of driving. In most cars throttle can be used to pull the car out of an oversteer situation. Volvo, however, tends to loose too much lateral traction during cornering with throttle in the floor. Throttle-work is of no use when going too fast into the corner - adding some power will only widen the car's path through the turn. On the other side, the car is very neutral and responsive when off-throttle.

Volvo should be thrown into the turn with full-gas initiating the turn. Realising the throttle and corrections with the steering wheel should let the car pass the apex smoothly. When slipangle is low enough, the gas should be re-applied to launch from the exit of the turn. 

The car has quite low corner speed in slow ones so braking is necessary before turns 5, 11 and 15. High speed corners, on the other hand, are no challenge for the Volvo. This is the first car, in which I had so much control in high-speed corner number 14.

The fastest lap time, I achieved is 1'35.96.

Perfect lap time is 1'34.742.

Section Time

1 13.677

2 22.109

3 18.993

4 11.828

5 28.135

Sum 94.742