The 'Fanboy Wars' Thread

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RA92

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The 'fanboy wars' on the Escapist generally tend to limit themselves to gaming platforms. But the Wild West that is the Internet is home to countless battles being waged every single day in the name of allegiance.

Do you partake in any of these wars? Perhaps you express nothing bar indifference towards them, but can't seem to avoid the fanboys on a particular topic? Or maybe you reserve nothing but pure malice for these pestilences?

Whatever the case, bring these fanboy wars to light! Just one rule: anything but PC vs console, console vs console or PC vs Mac. I can safely presume we're all well aware of those...



McLaren F1 vs Bugatti Veyron

<youtube=RXqSedWSu2k>



Watch the video - it's very dramatic. Then go ahead look up any discussion on the internet about which is the greater car, and chances are it'll drag on for days...

I feel rather annoyed when ignorant kids go on rants about how the Veyron claims supremacy because it can top 260mph and has over a 1000bhp, while the twenty year old McLaren F1 has to do with 600bhp and 241mph.

But the fact is, they miss the point entirely. The McLaren F1 held the title for the the fastest road car in the world for a solid 12 years (and still holds the record for naturally aspirated cars) - but that was never its aim. The aim was to create a purist's car, with no electronic driver's aid or turbocharging. Hell, the XP5 prototype that made the record was less powerful than the final production version, and the F1 itself could go faster with a higher gear ratio or a seventh gear. But they never tried to rectify that - because that was never the point.

On the other hand, the Bugatti was literally all about a dick-measuring contest, being created with only one thing in mind - to become the fastest and most powerful. It's absolutely one-dimensional. Breaking the record meant nothing to many people - the McLaren still had better power-to-weight ratio, lower drag coefficiency and a racing heritage of beating goddamned Le Mans Prototypes for God's sake. The Bugatti on the other hand just became a toy for spoiled Arab playboys and European Association of Man Whores football stars. Hell, this Top Gear episode had to be shot several times because the Veyron kept losing (its four turbochargers were choking in the desert heat, while the fifteen year old McLaren had no issues at all).

Automotive subtlety escapes so many people...

Wow. I am a bit of a fanboy, eh?
 

Johnnyallstar

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Well, since you started your fanboyism with cars, I guess I'll retaliate on the same level.

Pushrod versus Overhead Camshaft Engines.

Sure, you can dial in prime levels of power/efficiency easier with a European style dual OHC because it's all done with belts and chains, and usually has twice the number of valves than an American Overhead Valve engine with similar numbers of pistons.

But how many of you have actually taken an engine out of a car, torn it apart, put it back together, and returned it to it's resting place? Sure, it's really easy to choose a DOHC engine when you're clicking options in a video game, or reading specs in an article, but if you take the time and effort to do it right (see the 2011 Corvette) you can have almost identical peak performance with good fuel efficiency out of a pushrod.

But the reason I state my preference for the pushrod is simply for ease of working on it. OHC engines require so much attention to every little detail so that you don't bend every one of your valves in the first 20 miles after a miniscule timing error. Pushrods have a little more gimme room so you don't completely lock up your engine, or damage your valves and fry a piston.

If you love having other people work on your cars, OHC is fine and dandy, but us poor guys who have to do all the work ourselves to get 600 horse and 650tq out of an engine prefer pushrods.
 

RA92

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Johnnyallstar said:
OHC vs OHV
Ah, the mystique of <url=http://www.topgear.com/uk/richard-hammond/richard-hammond-stang-2009-04-21>pushrods...

But seriously, the Vette's been giving even 911's flat-six a run for their money...



<youtube=Le_5tALFvFo>
 

Johnnyallstar

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Raiyan 1.0 said:
Johnnyallstar said:
OHC vs OHV
Ah, the mystique of <url=http://www.topgear.com/uk/richard-hammond/richard-hammond-stang-2009-04-21>pushrods...

But seriously, the Vette's been giving even 911's flat-six a run for their money...
My argument wasn't as much performance, but just the amount of pain in the ass that a OHC is to work on compared to an OHV.

The corvette's 350 is awesome, but I'm working on an old Chevelle who is just begging for a 496 stroker. And well... money is almost there :D
 

RA92

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Wow, didn't expect this to turn into an automotive thread...

Is there really such a shortage of fanboys on the 'net? What has the world come to? O_O