Road and Track's Ultimate Track Test

bartboy9891

bartboy9891

I'm not Moe
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Dec 1, 2004
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When it comes to comparison road tests, Road & Track has always led the way among the world's automotive magazines, as we have consistently devised unique and innovative ways to pit one automobile's performance traits against another's. Features such as "The World's Fastest Cars," "0?100?0," "Kings of the Quarter Mile" and "The Standing Mile" have become R&T trademarks, often forcing other publications to imitate our ideas outright. Well, here's another one to add to the list.

Despite the soaring cost of gasoline, the popularity of high-performance sports cars is alive and kicking, and we thought it would be intriguing to see how the latest and greatest fared against one another in what could be our most grueling format ever, an all-out romp on four challenging layouts: an autocross, a short road course (Streets of Willow Springs), a long road course (Willow Springs International Raceway) and, for a unique twist, an oval (Auto Club Speedway, formerly California Speedway). We invited experts in each field to get the most out of these 10 cars at each location: eight-time national autocross champion Gary Thomason, former champion road racer Steve Millen and IRL driver Roger Yasukawa. Because of the large-scale nature of this story, not to mention the wear and tear on the cars involved, we asked each of our hotshoes to jump quickly from one car to another, without much by way of familiarization, and provide us with consistent levels of aggression at each challenging venue, stressing safety as the main order of the day. They delivered with flying colors.

So with the stages set and the players assembled, let the melee begin.
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http://www.roadandtrack.com/article.asp?section_id=31&article_id=6939

It's a pretty good read, the cars involved are:

Mistubishi EVO X MR with TC-SST
BMW M3
Aston Martin DBS
Audi R8 with R-Tronic
Dodge Viper ACR
Lotus Exige S 240
Chevy Corvette Z06
Porsche 911 GT2
Nissan GTR
Lamborghini Gallardo LP560-4 with E-Gear

I can go ahead and compile lists of each car's ranking/time on each different track, but if you're interested you'd want to read the drivers' remarks as well. So for now, just follow the link and read to your hearts' content.
 
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I totally just bought that mag, i was pleasantly surprised by the results. I kind of actually liked the fact they mentioned all the fine points of each car, i mean I'm all for people being assholes so long as their funny, but on the flipside i rather liked not feeling like a idiot for liking the DBS


Also in that mag, they had the Camaro specs, most surprising to me its supposed to actually have something similar to proper weight distribution, something unprecedented for a 4 seater Chevy. Even if its just a dumb holden
 
I was kind of surprised by the result of the autocross:
Surprise, surprise. The Aston Martin DBS (42.27 sec.) "is a massive, large car that should be completely helpless in an autocross, and it's not." A Baryshnikov-like bull in a china shop, the V-12 Aston has no real dynamic weakness: "The steering works, the brakes work, the power's massive, the throttle's controllable," said Gary, "but I did turn on the a/c on the last run to take some power away; you have to be careful with the throttle and not use it as an on/off switch."

You'd think the autocross would be the natural habitat of the Lotus Exige S 240 (42.20 sec.), as it's light, short, narrow and shod with sticky Yokohamas. As such, it clings, leech-like, around the cones despite visible body roll. Brakes are powerful, but Gary found "they're touchy and there's a lot of front bias, so when you're on the brakes hard you're going nowhere but exactly straight." And a relative lack of power was a hindrance on the three faster sections, as was the semi-soggy throttle response. "I think there's more lag with this supercharger than there is with the turbo in the Evo." Overall, the Lotus is such a pure experience that it just feels faster.
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I would NEVER expect an Aston to post a time so close to a Lotus...
The second place for a friggin LP560-4 makes me really happy. Take that, everyone claiming Lambos to be posers' cars. :p
Under its sharply creased skin, the Lamborghini Gallardo LP560-4 (40.29 sec.) is a close cousin to the Audi R8, only with considerably more power in V-10 form, stickier R-compound Pirelli P Zero Corsa tires and an overall edgier feel. "A spectacular car in every way...it's my vote for the best-handling car in the test," said Gary. "Not quite as neutral as the Corvette, but really close, and it never gets into a situation where it's pushing like crazy."
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Another surprise: Audi's R8, heavier and less powerful than the Z06, lapped two-tenths quicker than the Chevrolet. Chalk it up to its outstanding balance, its R tronic manual paddle-shift gearbox and its Quattro awd, which helped the mid-engine Audi put its 420 bhp down without the Z06's tail-wagging drama. "It could use more power," concluded Millen, "because the chassis feels very good."
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:blink:


I am truly happy for the Lamborghini, and a bit sad for the Lotus.
 
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Redliner said:
:blink:


I am truly happy for the Lamborghini, and a bit sad for the Lotus.
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Sounds like that mug can't drive. Breaking in a straight line is a good thing. Try doing anything else in a 911 and you'll see why nobody else puts their engines out the back and why JC insists that 911s are plotting the death of their owners. Sure, it sounds like the Exige they tested had been setup to be safe in the hands of people who are used to driving FWD hatchbacks
 
Meio said:
Sounds like that mug can't drive. Breaking in a straight line is a good thing. Try doing anything else in a 911 and you'll see why nobody else puts their engines out the back and why JC insists that 911s are plotting the death of their owners. Sure, it sounds like the Exige they tested had been setup to be safe in the hands of people who are used to driving FWD hatchbacks
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Yeah, but the Exige has the chassis to support trailbraking, if more brakeforce was sent to the back.

In any case, big surpise for the Lambo, really impressed by it. I would have thought the Viper to walk all over them.

Go Europe!
 
I was very surprised the Viper didn't win on the oval with it's tall gears.
I got the magazine in the mail and it was a very good read.
(They also had a good article on the different Suspension setups in modern cars)
 
Meio said:
Sounds like that mug can't drive. Breaking in a straight line is a good thing. Try doing anything else in a 911 and you'll see why nobody else puts their engines out the back and why JC insists that 911s are plotting the death of their owners. Sure, it sounds like the Exige they tested had been setup to be safe in the hands of people who are used to driving FWD hatchbacks
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An autocross course generally doesn't have much in the way of straights so braking in a straight line is often not an option. On the course they had, the hairpin was just after the exit of the slalom. That is probably the spot they had problems with since the short straight (roughly 90') involved braking while getting from the slalom exit on the right to corner entry on the left.
 
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EVO X MR was a bit out of it's league in that test. Probably was a testament tho to how high it actually punches in relation to its cost. Most of those cars cost 3x the EVO or more and it didn't embarrass itself. I wish Mitsubishi would take the fantastic technology they have in the EVO and make a 2 door supercar with a 4L V8 twin turbo version of the 4B11 in the EVO X (when I say version of, I mean use the same kind of technology with a "square" bore and forged internals etc) and really compete with the likes of Porsche and Lamborghini.

/dreaming.
 
Meio said:
Sounds like that mug can't drive. Breaking in a straight line is a good thing. Try doing anything else in a 911 and you'll see why nobody else puts their engines out the back and why JC insists that 911s are plotting the death of their owners. Sure, it sounds like the Exige they tested had been setup to be safe in the hands of people who are used to driving FWD hatchbacks
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I'm pretty sure someone whose a 8 time Solo II nation champion knows how to autocross. The problem i would suspect with the Elise is that it does actually roll a bit (yes, i have ridden in one at a track, at the very minimum atleast 6 times) so when you have to do a braking while slaloming you either have to be very gentle (i.e. slower then normal) or you start jerking the tail out. The Elise is mainly a sensation handling car, as in tactile and balanced in a way you'd want it to be, it however is NOT, despite its otherwise spartan demeanor a very stiffly sprung car.

As for the Lambo, according to Jezza Clarkstonian Lambo offers 3 different suspension setups for their cars, so although a "comfort pack" lambo may be a bit of a pig, , and will be reviewed as so in other road-tests, the sport pack (or whatever its called) may be on a completely different level all togethor.



As for the Viper, A. its size will always hinder it on a autocross course, especially in tight slaloms. I remember at a Alfa Romeo club autocross they actually had to change the course because the Viper drivers could not physically make the tight turns and kept plowing through dozens of cones. B. With wings like that it will never be a oval king, especially considering how sleek some of the other cars are in comparison.
 
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Meio said:
Sounds like that mug can't drive
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HAHAHAHAHAHA No because an 8 time US autocross champion wouldn't be able to drive at all would he??:rolleyes:

_HighVoltage_ said:
I was very surprised the Viper didn't win on the oval with it's tall gears
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Tall gearing gives the Viper an insane theoretical top speed, but with the downforce on those wings, plus the lack of straight means it can only go so fast. Convertible SRT-10's can't crack 300clicks despite all that grunt. Coupes probably might just manage though.

Interesting reading. ACR sounds like a bit of a weapon but needs a close ratio box. Then would be unstoppable, and bloody good fun.

American magazines usually come out with slightly different results to their European counterparts, so always worth a read. Interesting they used a semi-auto R8 as well. The manual probably would have fared even better!!

Also interesting they didn't note the brakes on the Gallardo, every other review of a Gallardo post Superleggera has panned the brakes.
 
I'm still amazed at how the GT-R does what it does. Most surprising was the oval. I really wish Chevy would give the Z06 some tires that suited to the car from the factory. The Eagles don't cut it in that crowd.
 
I would have liked to see a ferrari 430 in there.
 
No idea, does it really matter?? The point is the bloke has won 8 national titles. He knows what he is doing.
 
Necx0 said:
No idea, does it really matter?? The point is the bloke has won 8 national titles. He knows what he is doing.
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Unfortunately only in America, and we all know Americans don't know how to turn left so that means she could probably out drive him :rolleyes:
 
The Viper ACR just isn't designed for the oval. I'd imagine that the stock Viper actually may be quicker due to the lack of downforce.
 
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