http://www.caranddriver.com/features...tning-lap.html

 

Cool . So our beloved Z06 only lost to the ~50 HP under-rated GT by ~.4 seconds . But it beat the Viper by .5 seconds!

Not a bad performance by the Cobalt too, eh?

I'd like to see how an LS1 F-body would fare out there in the mix?

 

That was a pretty impressive showing by both the Z06 and the Cobalt. Surprisingly, they were even praising of the Cobalt's handling, rather than the off handed, faint praise type stuff they normally do. Of course, if it were a comparison test of "pocket rockets" or "cheap speed" (a la a while back when the Acura RSX got smoked but won), they'd spend more time focusing on random minute deficiencies of the Cobalt's interior and still pick the much slower Civic Si or the much pricier GTI as the winner. :blah:

One thing that I noticed is that they didn't seem to do a great job of pricing some of the cars based on "functional price". The 350Z, for example, should have been in the $30k-$60k class, since they chose to test a Track edition (which starts at $34k). It still would have made a good value performance car (albeit a less-than-pretty one), but instead of winning its class in LL1, it would have been defeated in LL2. The base 350Z may be under 30 grand, but it does not have the suspension tuning, Brembo brakes, and so on. Some of that might make a difference in a purely racetrack test setting...

Still a cool article overall, though.

 

Shame on Ford...
The Focus RS should be sold in the USA, should have made that test in the LL1 class, and should be garnering awards like crazy.
Even the old SVT Focus would have been a nice entry if it was still being made.

Good to see Mazda showed so well... that's future technology in Ford vehicles there.

Congrats on the Cobalt and Corvette showings too.

I love VIR... it's a killer road course. Good test.
The only thing that could be better is if one driver could do every car under exactly the same conditions, but that's just not a realistic expectation.

PS - what-up with Didge sending a 4200-lb Charger to this test with ASW tires?!?! OOPS! Call the marketing boys up on that one and fuss...

 

Good read. Too bad the GT500 had some gremlins, I would have been very interested to see how it performed compared to the others.

 

I think that's the performance we can expect out of it . So far, I have not read one compelling article on that car yet ... Look at all the work it took the Evolution boys to get the car into the 11's for crying out loud . Somewhere, somehow, Ford dropped the ball on that car? It just seems like a huge under-performer in almost all regards? Ford claimed bad ignition coils and spark plugs???? Yeah, ok . Even the base, 400 HP 'Vette beat it!!!

 

I liked this article and the whole concept of this kind of testing although I realize that those of you out there who live and die by ¼ mile ETs may not see the benefit as much as others of us!

I put together a quick table of all the vehicles including price as tested, lap times, curb weights and HP and HP/Weight ratios but unfortunately, I can’t figure out how to post it in such a way that it is readable. However there are some interesting patterns including four distinct groups based on lap times.

Those three vehicles in the fastest group are within 0.9 seconds of each other (from 03:00.7 to 03:01.6) although the price differential between the Ford GT, ZO6 and Viper are significant.

The next fastest group is, at best almost 9 seconds slower and include the Elise, Corvette, Cayman S, M6, GT500, 350Z and Lancer Evo. They range from 03:09.2 to 03:13.5 or a total difference fastest to slowest in this group of 4.3 seconds but again, some significant differences in price.

The next group includes the Charger, RX-8, Cobalt SS and Mustang GT and range in lap time from 3:18.2 to 3:20.9 or a difference of 2.7 seconds. I’m surprised the Mustang GT performed so poorly although I’d say the Charger is the big disappointment in this group seeing that it’s very expensive compared to the rest in this group at over $43K

For the life of me, I couldn’t pull the exact lap times for the GTI or Civic SI but these bottom three (GTI, Civic Si and MX-5) are significantly slower than the next group up.

Obviously, you don’t usually buy a car based only on its performance or on a performance for dollar ratio but clearly, it’s difficult to pass up on the ZO6 (especially since the GT 500 is now, unfortunately, out of production). However the next group down clearly offer a lot of performance for the money if you are a little more frugal…the 350Z, for example (a favorite of mine since I own one), is only 3.3 seconds slower than the top (in this group) Elise yet it’s the least expensive of the group at $35,865 (and you can spend considerably less than that).

I can’t help but wonder, however, where the GT500 would fall if the car was operating up to its potential???

 

I'm just realizing, they didn't test a WRX STi . They should have. I've been getting into some Solo I / road racing this year (well, a whopping 3 events) and the Subarus are kicking some serious a$$ . There's an STi that runs neck-and-neck with a new (C6) Z06 . Their lap times have been within 1 second of each other on the 2 road courses at Mosport International Raceway .

 

I think the high HP cars (Viper, Ford GT, Z06) benefited because the track had some straightaways.

 

You're right...I wonder why they didn't test it too?

Of coruse, one of the benefits of using the same track for these tests of other cars is that it will serve as a basis for comparison when they do test one.

 

I don't think you should be pigeon holeing the group because many disagree with some of your recent postings there Robert. There are MANY here who value the twisties as much or more than the 1/4.

 

I hope that's true but I have to ask, where have they all been? It seems as if some folks on here think it's sacralige to even discuss anything other than a 1/4 mile ET.

 

I am guessing you haven't read any posts by Eric Bryant, Z284ever, or GuionM. I don't think to many threads have been in this forum about what is more important 1/4 or twisties. Maybe you should do a poll on that and see what response you get.

 

I would have to agree that around here, the biggest emphasis is normally on flat out power, and 1/4 mile performance. I'll admit, I've probably been one of the worst "offenders" for only caring about power/acceleration #'s, but I think that's the general reputation of Camaros ... 1/4 mile kings ... you want to take corners, buy a 'Vette . I think that attitude spills over into most forums and most discussions . But I myself have only been learning about the great handling aspects of my Camaro in recent months, and find myself more concerned with overall performance (like I'm sure the "general population" probably is too??? ). But again, here in Camaro-land, I think more people are still concerned with 1/4 mile #'s ... JMO?