We have TWO new cars from manufacturer Kasai Motor Co. The Kasai Inou (going by car filenames, please correct us if we’re wrong) and an actual hillclimb car. Kasai was crazy enough polite enough to give us the honor to drive the Kasai Calibri 1.8, a real hillclimbing car. And boy was that an expensive story for Kasai…
Starting with the Kasai Inou. What appears to be a sports coupe thing.
Lap #1
I was initially scared of turbo lag and torque steer but no, it’s very tame but still packs a punch. I can actually floor this thing and feel safe doing so. Right off the bat, it handles very well. Very easy to handle. Goes above 100mp/h and remains extremely stable. I can floor it out of corners and not die (woohoo!). Lap time 02:35.430
Lap #2
Second lap and surprisingly enough, this car doesn’t want to kill me. I do notice I need to often shift to first in tight corners to get them horsies from the turbo. Can safely do fast corners over 60mp/h. Getting much better with 02:30.730
Lap #3
Now this is the first time it spun out but entirely my mistake because I got too confident in this Japanese pocket rocket. So back to the starting line and retrying the lap. The car has a very easy learning curve and for every lap, I get better at it. 02:27.634.
Best lap: 02:27.634 (Lap #3)
Positives:
- Easy to handle and learn.
- Very tame and predictable handling.
- Superb brakes that don’t wobble or spin the car out.
- A yokel like me can easily haul ass in this thing.
Negatives:
- Need to shift to first to get power out of tight corners.
- There’s nothing to make fun of with this car.
Final verdict: Perfectly tame and easy to learn. I would dare to say it’s not too hard to master either. An extremely driveable car. APDT Approved!
Next up is Kasai’s hillclimber, the Calibri 1.8. Kasai must hate their finances department a lot by letting us play with such an expensive machine. We won’t say no, since we ain’t liable for any damage caused. The car got smashed up twice. Kasai will be getting an invoice for fence repairs on our racing circuit.
Attempt #1 (minor but disabling crash)
So the gearbox. It’s extremely obvious this isn’t a road car. Those long gears and that massive turbolag take a while to get used to. Luckily the car doesn’t behave like it has taken synthetic cannabinoids when you accelerate. However, there was a minor incident while trying to get the hang of this thing. Steering was knocked out from the impact so regroup at the starting line.
Lap #1
Enter lap number one. Finally things go well but the car becomes extremely wobbly when you hit the brakes. Not shit your pants scary but definitely not fun. The car seems to have a cognitive disability since it cannot do two things at once. If you mash the accelerator within the range of the turbo to spool fully, while turning, there’s massive understeer. Despite this, it handles quite well if you’re gentle with the throttle and know your shit. 02:09.655.
Lap #2
The danger with this car is it invities you to drive above your skill level. It is as if it’s pulling a knife on you and threatening to stab you if you don’t behave like a complete baboon behind the wheel. At this point, I’m getting a hang of that weird gearbox and turbolag. 02:07.064.
Attempt #2 (another minor but disabling crash)
Remember how I said the car will stab you if you don’t behave like a baboon behind the wheel? Well, this resulted in another, uh, fender bender. Expensive fender bender. It disabled the car and damaged the body work.
Lap #3
This time, I won’t let the car intimidate me into driving like a hyperactive kid on cocaine. And it definitely helped a lot since now I got the hang of the car and actually felt like Ken Block flying across the circuit in this thing. It’s really well planted to the ground through corners. 02:04.541.
Best lap: 02:04.541 (Lap #3).
Positives:
- It’s a hillclimb car. That’s cool!
- Great in corners and predictable.
- Great traction.
- Once you get driving, the car always stays in high enough revs to spool the turbo.
Negatives:
- Long gears & turbolag means you need to wait for power.
- A bit too steep learning curve.
- Wobbly during braking.
- Gearbox takes a while to get used to.
- Massive understeer when accelerating out of corners.
Final verdict: is not meant for your everyday yokel to drive but not impossible to learn. Has a bit of a learning curve. Turbo lag and weird long gears takes time to get used to. Not APDT Approved.