Car & Driver selects VIR

[Mr. Magoo]

Just got my current issue of Car & Driver and read an interesting article regarding VIR. C&D said that the best way to test cars were to test not only straight line but handling performance. They mentioned that the best track was "the Ring" (Nuremburg) in Germany, but due to the distance they have found the next best track.... VIR. From this time forward they will do all their comparision testing at VIR. The will use the entire track which is 4+ miles. That part is usually not open for driving when we have been there.

We can look forward to more info about VIR as they test there. It is interesting that they will drive by several tracks (Mid-Ohio, etc) in coming from the editiorial offices in Michigan to VIR.

[simplygriff]

Wow. That's pretty neat. I gotta get up there sometime...
-G

[HotRodPilot]

Big fan of CarandDriver,, and this just reaffirms it. Some surprises from the test:

The Chevrolet Cobalt beat the Civic Si, GTI and the Mustang GT http://www.caranddriver.com/idealbb/view.asp?topicID=76150

The 350Z which is a sports car but is hampered by weight from sharing a platform with a lot of the RWD Infinitis. Beat out the EVOVIII, RX-8, etc. http://www.caranddriver.com/idealbb/view.asp?topicID=76141

Results:

1) Ford GT - 3:00.7
2) Z06 - 3:01.1
3) Viper SRT10 - 3:01.6
4) Lotus Elise - 3:09.2
5) Corvette - 3:09.3
6) Cayman S - 3:09.5
7) BMW M6 - 3:10.0
8) Shelby GT500 - 3:11.0*
9) 350Z Track - 3:12.5
10) Lancer Evo MR - 3:13.5
11) Charger SRT8 - 3:18.2
12) Mazda RX-8 - 3:19.0
13) Cobalt SS - 3:20.6
14) Mustang GT - 3:20.9
15) VW GTI - 3:25.1
16) Civic Si - 3:26.5
17) Mazda MX-5 - 3:29.3

I wish they had tested a Cooper S sans JCW to see how it would stack up since the testing seems to favor a tight suspension, low weight, and good brakes.