Slow cars rule: Why more horsepower doesn't equal more fun - Digital Trends
I was barreling toward turn eight on Big Willow racetrack in southern California, carrying triple-digit speeds, with the throttle matted to the floor. And the car that delivered those thrills was not race prepped Corvette or a Porsche 911 Cup car. Instead, the chariot in question was a second-generation Mazda MX-5 , dishing out all of 110 horsepower or so. That’s when it occurred to me: Despite our fixation on it in all things automotive, horsepower is woefully overrated. Too much for the track A few months after that Spec Miata race, some track time with a 2014 SRT Viper T/A only reaffirmed my new mantra. With 640 horsepower on tap, there’s no question that piloting the Viper around a race course was an intense experience. The T/A wears the widest tire contact patch on a production car sold today, with 295mm Pirellis up front and massive, 355mm meats in the rear. But even with all that rubber to work with, it takes little more than an overly eager dip into the throttle without the front wheels pointed straight ahead to get the car bent out of shape. This kind of behavior is certainly not exclusive to the Viper either – high-horsepower cars, especially those that are rear wheel drive, tend to rely on driver patience coupled with short bursts of acceleration and massive brakes to scrub that... Source: www.digitaltrends.com
