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  Sept. 27, 2009 7:27 p.m. leozinho None

  Hi all,

  Is there some sort of equivalent here in the US to Top Gear's lap times - a database where cars are measured against each other?

  Basically, I'm interested in comparing, say, how fast a stock Mazdaspeed3 goes around Summit Point (or some other track) compared to a WRX, or compared to any other sporty car out there. (Not just the very high end cars that Top Gear mostly reviews.)

  Does this exist?

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  Sept. 27, 2009 8:52 p.m. 4eyes New Reader

  Unfortunately the race organisers in the U.S. prefer "close racing" so instead of racing cars stock (as they came off the assembly line) and letting one model dominate the season, forcing the competition to actually...uh...compete. And make several manufacturers IMPROVE their product, organisers punish the better car with weight penalties or intake restricters, or tire sizes. Thus ensuring slower but "more competetive" racing. The only place even close is stock class autocross/solo II. This makes the old adage "Win on Sunday, sell on Monday" the greatest lie in motorsport. All racing today, is spec-racing, some venues hide it better than others.

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  Sept. 27, 2009 8:56 p.m. ReverendDexter HalfDork

  4eyes wrote: Unfortunately the race organisers in the U.S. prefer "close racing" so instead of racing cars stock (as they came off the assembly line) and letting one model dominate the season, forcing the competition to actually...uh...compete. And make several manufacturers IMPROVE their product, organisers punish the better car with weight penalties or intake restricters, or tire sizes. Thus ensuring slower but "more competetive" racing. The only place even close is stock class autocross/solo II. This makes the old adage "Win on Sunday, sell on Monday" the greatest lie in motorsport. All racing today, is spec-racing, some venues hide it better than others.

  Taking that into consideration, couldn't one get a loose approximation of what's faster based on the "penalties" for that chassis? If chassis X has a mandated 100 lbs of ballast for series Y, and chassis Z only has 10 lbs of ballast for the same series, I would assume chassis X would be faster in the wild.

  '98 Cobra; '96 Bronco; '77 Celica GT Liftback; '90 5.0 'vert

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  Sept. 27, 2009 8:58 p.m. aussiesmg SuperDork

  Like Nascar?

  Cornering is like bringing a woman to climax. Jackie Stewart

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  Sept. 27, 2009 10:53 p.m. littleturquoiseb Reader

  Car and driver runs VIR with all a bunch of new cars, they are modeling it after lapping the ring ... they call it the lightining lap, they haven't done it in a while but I know they tested the MS3.

  It's about time you man up, buy a $500 dollar car, and join us on the BA/BE Rally!

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  Sept. 27, 2009 11:24 p.m. ReverendDexter HalfDork

  Yeah, but we all know that no one from C&D can actually drive

  '98 Cobra; '96 Bronco; '77 Celica GT Liftback; '90 5.0 'vert

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