Photo: Screenshot from Youtube
As we all know, driving at higher altitudes usually means some of our car’s power. That’s because up there the air is more rarefied and doesn’t have the same amount of oxygen our cars are used to. Therefore, the combustion process has to suffer.
Driving a car at 1 mile above sea level will therefore reduce your car’s performance drastically. The guys from The Fast Lane car are based in Colorado and they have plenty of high-altitude areas to play with. They actually turned testing cars at high altitude into their trademark.
After we saw an Alpina B6 xDrive Gran Coupe racing a Corvette up there it’s now time to see if the four-door coupe is equally as potent around a twisty track. Therefore, they handed the car over to Indy race car driver Justin Wilson, to see if it’s any good.
As expected, the weight of the car worked against it. The Alpina a more than potent car showing better numbers even than the M6 Gran Coupe, having more torque and better grip than the Bavarian monster. However, the chassis is still a stock one and not a product of the Motorsport division.
Even with the xDrive system and the optimized 8-speed auto, the Alpina can’t be as fast as the M6. However, the guys didn’t get the chance to test an M6 Gran Coupe on that track so their closest comparison will be with the i8 which is not a race car but it’s still a good track experience.
The hybrid was actually faster than the Alpina despite the 180 HP deficit. That’s because it uses an electric motor that’s impervious to altitude changes and also because it’s a lot lighter than the Gran Coupe. It all makes sense, especially on a small, twisty track like the one TFL has for testing purposes.
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