Road & Track Printed My Email

[TODD L GRIFFITH]

But they edited it, those %%^$#! I can't believe they edited my short email in their "YOUR TURN" column about the ZO6 vs. the Lotus Elise in their Giant Killer article. I stated that the Lotus 0-100mph was 13.4 sec. that failed to get in their comparison with the ZO6 9.6 sec. 0-100, how the Lotus would lose ground on the track. The subsituted all that with one word, power. It made me sound like an ignorant a$$. Here is a copy of my email back to them. I was polite, but not happy.

First of all, I would like to thank you for printing my email, but was surprised that you didn't print the main point. It's not that it was too long, seeing you gave my neighbor Kenneth Cirillo plenty of print. I didn't realize you edited these emails. The post that you printed made me look ignorant and like a pompas arse. The Lotus Elise 0-100 time was found in the back of your magazine, but never made it into the article, which was the main reason to send the email in the first place. "Power", that was substituted sounds stupid, because of the power to weight ratio of the Elise. Don't worry about the subject title of this email, I just needed something to get your attention, due to the amount of emails you must receive. My father and I both have a subscription to Road & Track, and look forward to getting it each month. Do you edit all emails? Let me know.
Thank You,
Todd Griffith
Middleboro, Ma.

The title was: IS ROAD AND TRACK YELLOW?

 

[JBsC5]

What page? What month?


BTW..congrats no matter what!

 

[TODD L GRIFFITH]

Thanks JB, I'm at the office, but wanted to respond just the same. I will verify that info. for you when I get home, but it is the current issue I just received in the mail yesterday 10/14/04. That may make it the November issue with the 2005 cars, looking for a reader vote on the best new cars of 2005. The column is a reader response column called, "Your Turn" in the front of the issue. I'm right after the C6 Corvette test drive responses. I believe it's the first page of the column, but I will post here with more specific information when I get home with actual issue and page. Maybe if I was a BMW owner, I would have been treated better. I expect a Corvette hate mail response from Lotus lovers :L !

 

[Patrick]

Interesting, Todd. Let us know if you get a response back from Road & Track explaining why they edit emails. I kind of thought things like this were sort of like letters to the editor in the paper- they didn't get edited. I'll be curious to hear what they have to say.

-Patrick

 

[bossvette]

you know how those magazine fellows are if it isn't out of reach of the majority of their readers it isn't "worthy", what they don't say is how much it costs to repair one and how many miles are on the back of a trailer going to the shop.


I wonder what percentage of "super cars" will see the milage of a typical driven Vette?

 

[TODD L GRIFFITH]

If I do hear back from them, I will definitely without doubt, post it right here. The Lotus Elise is a $40k 2500 lb. car with a Toyota VVT 190hp motor. It does have great handling numbers. Motor Trend has it as 5.0 sec. to 60mph, and a 13.5 sec. quarter mile. The Road & Track article was called "Giant Killer" and mentioned the Corvette ZO6 and the Dodge Viper in comparison. Lotus had an Elise when I was a kid. It was fast for its time, I think 0-60 in 6.0 sec. in 1972 or 73'. The Corvette ZO6 currently has a 0-100 time of 9.6 sec. depending on what magazine you read. This car has a 13.4 sec. 0-100. That tells me alot of car lengths are put on it out of the corner and up the back straight. lol! That was the jist of my original email to them.

 

[TODD L GRIFFITH]

JB'SC5, It is the November 2004 issue on page 22. I'm over on the right of the page at the top.

 

[JBsC5]

Thanks! Congratulations..


Pretty cool you got in!

 

[TODD L GRIFFITH]

JBsC5,
Yes! Kinda cool not expecting it at all, then stumbling on it. What a surprise. The only funny part was when I started reading it, I didn't notice the signature at the bottom thinking it sounded sort of familiar at first. Seeing my name there and realizing my main point was gone, edited by someone was disappointing. Do you think my email back was justified? My wife was like, "What? It sounds ok." I thought it read sort of arrogant without containing the information that formed my conclusion.

 

[JBsC5]

I can understand what your feeling when your statements were changed a bit...possibly changing your original meaning a bit.


Magazines have a tendancy to do this...so enjoy the fact they printed something of yours. I think its pretty cool.

Enjoy

 

[MsSchroder]

I would be completely pis$ed if they changed my words around.

They are the arrogant ones, to change your words without your permission.

When you sent it to them, did you give any sort of permission for them to use it?
Tammy

 

[JBsC5]

I read it again. Todd I think what they printed basically said the Elise although a fine car is just not in the same league as the Z06...

I think you sounded cool even if they modified it a bit..

 

[TODD L GRIFFITH]

I would be completely pis$ed if they changed my words around.

They are the arrogant ones, to change your words without your permission.

When you sent it to them, did you give any sort of permission for them to use it?
Tammy

There wasn't any permission to use, but I figured the email if read, would debunk their article.

Thanks JBsC5,
You made me feel alot better

 

[JHL]

It's a pity they changed your words but not to get away from the subject and being a Brit i have to stick up for the Lotus :L

I am not sure it's a fair comparison but they are superb little cars. The original ones from the 60' were Elans, my friend has a 65 with an original Lotus Twin Cam motor now fitted with Cosworth cams and a few other tricky bits and i couldn't get past him in my Vette on a Sunday run out a while back

J.

 

[JBsC5]

J.


Fwiw..I think the lotus is an awesome sports car too...yet I believe its not exactly the giant killer Road and Track claimed it to be.

JMO

 

[bossvette]

there was a video a while back with a Lotus and a C-5 on a race track the two diced it out in the twisties then the vette ran away and hid on a long straight it was a cool video

 

[TODD L GRIFFITH]

J,

A friend of mine had one back in the early 70's. I remember being amaized at the size of the car, being really tiny. It was fast for back then. I know for sure an 81' Vette that is stock would have that problem. My buddy has an 80' that he dropped a 383 built up crate motor in. I would have a hard time getting passed him.

To get back to the facts of the new Elise, the numbers generated in the quarter mile match the 2005 Mustang GT, but the Stang is also faster 0-100mph. With the 190hp of the Elise, you can see what little weight the car has at 2500lbs. The GT weighs 1000lbs more at 3520lbs. with only 300hp.

The article compared the ZO6, Viper SRT-10, Modena 360, and the 911GT3 to the Elise.? Road and Track is known for poor numbers compared to Motor Trend. The Motor Trend numbers are always better. Temperature, Elevation, driver, etc. could be the reason I figure. The numbers are never the other way around. On this particular vehicle, it is the opposite. Motor Trend has its 0-60 .4 seconds later, but the quarter mile only .1 seconds later.

The article said that the Elise's lightweight and handling make up for lost ground on the track against the competition. The handling numbers on the Elise are excellent in R&T, beating all in the slalom @ 71.1mph, although I've seen those numbers from the competition in other mags. I decided to check the 0-100mph from the Elise. This to me is an important number because, this is what you would expect from vehicles on a race track, breaking into the corners down to 50mph, on the throttle coming out of the corner, down a back straight at over 100 mph. Aha, I find the achilles heel. 0-100mph 4 whole seconds later. I'm thinking about eventually lapping this car. (hehe JBsC5 like that thought?) So I write the email, and they edited out the 0-100mph time of the Elise not found in the article, but in the back of the magazine.

p.s edit: I forgot. Their article says, "how does it (the Elise) stack up against the big boys of the sports car establishment?" Big boys made it into my email reply, but makes me feel alittle uneasy, although confident about the ZO6's abilities.

 

[JHL]

My 81 has probably in excess of 400hp but it was a particularly twisty road used a lot by motorbikes for a Sunday afternoon thrash and I just could not get past him, the route is over the North Yorkshire Moores between Middlesborough and Helmsley and is about 30 miles from town to town. I have driven his Lotus a few time and for something from the 60's it is amazing.

Here are the numbers from our Top Gear program for a C6 and a Lotus Exige, which is the slightly "hotter" version of the Elise, nothing in it. Maybe the extra couple of ponies the Z06 has might have made the difference. But bearing in mind it does have less than a third of the engine size and around 40% of the horse power !!!

Lotus Exige - 1.26.4
Chevrolet Corvette - 1.26.8

J.

 

[JBsC5]

Was the Lotus Exige on race tires? (I don't know but think it was?)

 

[JHL]

Not quite racing tyres but just about as close as you will get on a road car and used by a lot of track day specials. Yokohama A048's available in various sizes upto 18". The Lotus comes with 195/50/16 front and 225/45/17 rears.