REVIEW II: THE 2018 HONGHU 8^8 HEILONG EDITION
BACKGROUND
Made by @yangx2, this absolutely bonkers thing was made for CSR 96, a CSR dedicated to obnoxiousness and prestige. And obnoxious and prestige this is, in quite possibly the best possible way. As soon as I opened the .car I knew this car would be special, and as soon as I started driving it (now with a an actual wheel) I knew it was gonna be bonkers. For a car that Yang hasn’t even tested in Beam, it drives surprisingly well and is quite a rush to experience. All in all, I greatly appreciate the effort that Yang has put in this, and I hope I can give it justice. Even if it doesn’t win CSR 96, it has already won it for me!
Enough of my gushing, lets get on to the review!
FIRST IMPRESSIONS
STYLING
I personally believe that given the right conditions, competition can bring out the best creations out of people. Higher stakes require rarer creation. I truly think that in regards to Automation cars (In terms of looks), this 8^8 is one of the best supporting examples of my philosophy. Yang was presented with a challenge full of very solid competitors, and delivered, in design, something truly incredible. Whether or not the car would be made as good without the competitive incentive is unknown to me, but I feel like Yang would have made something great regardless.
As you may be able to guess, I really, really like the aesthetic design of this car. In fact, I think this car teaches a key lesson in ludicrous car design; even ludicrous cars benefit from subtle touches. Subtle trim such as the type seen in the second to last picture in the gallery really brings the whole car together as a modern, sleek and beautiful car.
It may not be perfect, but it sure does feel damn close in the right lighting.
GETTING THE CAR
Because this is a car that’s actively being used for a competition occurring right now, it really is rare to have the privilege of reviewing a car like this. In fact, I think I’m the only person other than the creator and the competition host who has one. The only real issues I had getting this car was that I lacked an exhaust tip mod that exists on the workshop and that the creator forgot to send me his very own modded badge he made for this car. The first is my own fault and the second is understandable, since I’m not even sure if its on the workshop currently.
STATS AND ENGINEERING
The 8^8 is a stupid car that reeks of stupid and yells about how stupid it is with nearly every single stat it has. With hypercars and the like, I expect some stupid big numbers and some stupid low numbers, but not this big and low.
Firstly, it weighs 4148 lbs (1881 kg) dry, which may seem oddly large for a hypercar, until you realize a few other things. It has a 6L twin turbo aluminum-silicon V12 making 1010 hp. That is not electric, that is not hybrid, that is pure, forced induction, internal combustion, nut-busting power. As if that wasn’t head cocking enough, unlike every other current hypercar I’ve seen, this thing has an aluminum semi-space frame chassis, rather than a carbon fiber monocoque. I assume this was put into place for cost and engineering time for the competition, to which that is understandable. Double wishbone front and multilink rear, an interesting luxurious contrast of some luxury compared to the 1010 screeching horses up front, almost as much as a luxurious contrast as the interior.
Speaking of the interior, its exactly what you would expect of the tip of the top of a 2018 super-luxury car. Injected with pure tech and extravagant hand-made luxury, there’s a lot to like. The rest is fairly predictable, fat sports tires connected to magnesium wheels connected to an AWD drivetrain. Plenty of downforce, plenty of sport.
My only possible real complaint (and great concern) is the safety of this car. Based on a detailed look of safety features, it does seem oddly outdated, to which, again, can be understood for engineering times. But considering how absolutely bonkers this thing is, making it a tad unsafe may venture too far into the land of lunacy. It isn’t a rolling coffin, don’t get me wrong, but it’s not exactly a Volvo either.
TEST DRIVE
If there is one thing that this car has in common with every other car in the world, its that you do gradually get better at driving it as you get used to it. But it seems almost exponential in this car, as when I first tried driving it with all the assists I found it an uncontrollable mess. However, given enough time I learned to get used to it. The one thing you need to realize, when driving this car with full ESC in automatic, is that it is a nuclear missile with a condom strapped onto it. It is technically safe, yes, but it is also capable of demolishing you and everything else in a 10 mile radius.
If you drive this car gently it is, surprisingly, not as bad as you’d think, but once you kick it in the backside it retreats into the land of chaos. This car really wants to go fast, and feels sorta condescending, if its even possible for a car to do that. If this car could talk it would say “Okay honey, I’ll go real slow for you now that I’m in automatic. Would you like a warm cookie with some milk, sweety?” as it stays below 4000 RPM.
But even in this neutered state, you can hear the fire as you stomp on the gas for a second. It first hesitates, still condescending, but then it gets insulted that you’re kicking it and flings you forward, already going above 60 mph. I feel this car will be interesting in manual mode without ESC and TC, to say the least.
RACING
For a car this heavy, it sure doesn’t feel like it. The substantial downforce allows this car to be not only grippy enough for putting down power, but grippy enough to also go through corners way quicker than it has any right to. This combined with the AWD system and insane power means that this car is not only fast, its scary fast. I go through a tight corner in Italy at 10- nope I’m doing 30 miles per hour. As I get ready to brake in a straight I’m already up to 50- nope it’s 80 mph. This is the kind of car that not only gets you in trouble, but big trouble. No corner is safe and no straight is too long for this, all because of the sheer brute-force power it has in aero and powertrain.
That being said, it does take some getting used to. I feel like I’m braking a lot more than I usually do because it gets to such insane speeds in the straights so quickly, so I have to brake more. The brakes work lovely, no fading in my experience and a good balance between sharpness and controllabiltiy. It sorta feels like an obese F1 car in its cornering speed and acceleration, but once you start braking it feels like a 4000 lbs sports coupe again. Overall, this thing is meant to race and race it does!
CONCLUSION
The 8x8 Heilong Edition is a car of duality; luxury and sport, tameness and insanity, slow and fast (Okay, maybe not really for that last one). As such, it has a very interesting driving feel in general and is rather dynamic in how it acts. It either behaves well in a corner or it feels like eating a delicious-looking lamp post, it depends. Of course, this can be a bad thing, but it can also benefit in having a car that’s genuinely interesting.
This car is a testament that says that not all cars nowadays are bland; you just need to look for those blood-red diamonds in the rough.