Originally posted by Integrity
So you don't drive a Cobra or Q400 or Nascar stock car?
In the end, that's all that matters.
Fully prepared? Maybe not, but when I compare a stock S2000 to a stock Mustang GT you bring up suspension mods and Q400s. So if the Mustang's shortcomings can be made up for, then certainly the Civic, RSX, Celica's etc... shortcomings may be made up for.
Look, I don't even drive an S2000. I used to drive an ITR. I've raced many Mustang owners with the same mentality as yours (on the street and on the track) who thought they're TORQUE was enough to win. It wasn't, there's simply TOO many other factors. Now you can argue that sanctioned racing events remove such factors, but that doesn't discredit what I'm saying.
I drive a Civic and 350Z. The Civic is being modded slowly and the Z is staying stock for atleast another 4,000 miles. If anything, the Z is similar to a domestic with its high torque and heavy weight. I'm just not silly enough to believe that my 274ft/lbs are going to keep me from getting stomped by some of these imports running around.
I didn't go down the route of mentioning the Q400 and stuff to get into another topic, I was just dismissing the statements thrown about like "the S2000 would slaughter the Mustang on a road course" and things like that. Maybe my idea of road course is different........I don't think stock vehicles in Car and Driver......I think fully prepared race vehicles. In the Targa link I gave they have to be street legal. My point there was show that a car like the S2000 has not been made competitive in that arena.....at least not as of yet.
Yes you can make any car's factory compramises better......to a point though. You won't turn a Civic into an 8 second car, and you won't turn it into a V8 class road race competitor either. That is all I'm saying. Even with street cars, there is a point where the car will get as good as it can for what it is designed for.
Don't come away thinking that just because my car has great torque, that some import that has been built can not take me out on the street because I'm not that arrogant. The stock GT is putting out a little over 260hp with the cat back.......that's not a lot of power. And having a lot of experience with friends who race, I fully realize that there are a lot of other thngs to consider. Why do you suppose my concentration is on suspsnsion mods and drivetrain mods? And to be honest, the GT isn't as bad a handle as people say.....they just don't understand how a solid axle handles.........different backgrounds maybe.
Here is the thing, you with the 350Z and myself with the GT can pass more cars than we get passed by.......and you can't say that having that kind of torque isn't a good starting place for a modified car.