make it a genuinely fast but usable road orientated car, not a car in which you have to change down 2 gears to get into the power band with.
With respect mate, you have identified the nub of the issue here. The solution is in your hands and will cost you nothing at all, not one penny.
A bit of re-education is all that is required. There is absolutely nothing 'wrong' with changing down a couple of gears when additional torque is required. That's exactly the purpose of a manual gearbox - it enables the driver to select the amount of torque delivery that is needed to provide the required power characteristics on any given situation.
These are sports cars after all, and you have bought an Aero Racing variant of an iconic sports car. Do yourself a favour and revel in it. Grand tourers are for pussies!
I agree with this. I had a 1993 4/4 with 1.6 cvh efi. A nimble car with an engine of about 110-115 bhp.
It came alive when revved. I was quite happy to keep up with bigger engined cars by using the gears. It would also poodle round town etc as the lightness of the car made it easy for the engine to cope.
I changed to a Plus8 (Rover).
A totally different animal!
The bigger torque meant I became "lazy" - not using the gears as much. After a while I learned the car response and became more confident and aware of it and where the power was and started to kick in. This makes it a lovely car to drive.
In the end it is down to you as much as the car. Are you happy to adapt to the characteristics of the car? Modify your driving thoughts and accept the learning of where the torque is.
Remember....it is a tuned engine that will essentially have power/torque at higher revs than a "normal" engine.
If you don't want to go down the ARP4route of driving style then sell the car and get a bigger engined one. That way you can get more low down torque without messing about with mods.
