I’ve been working my ass off, and often finding myself in crowds that don’t give my lowly 200hp ZN6 any respect at all. It has been a bit of a downer. The end result is often that I find myself awake late at night with a bottle of blue, browsing for a Corvette, or a Porsche… or anything else that isn’t a wussy boy racer car.
Forget that crap.
For twenty years of car life, I’ve been of the mindset that the guys who crave HP are the same guys who only care about protecting their rock star driver status and don’t actually give a damn about driving, or at least have to protect their lack of skill with 325 section smoking power.
I’m not sure I actually feel that way still… but skinny cars still are what turn me on first of all. I was happy to find this little blurb on the Toyota Motorsports GmbH CS V-3 in the latest issue of Race Car Engineering Magazine.
At more than 50,000 Euros the car is hardly a cost effective route to building a “fast” 86, but when I imagine the things I want out of my own car, this seems about perfect, and maybe even really attainable.
Full Specs HERE.
How much experience do you have driving the higher hp options out there? I am definitely in agreement that HP is more often than not, the holy grail of mediocre drivers… However, there is something to be said for a driving experience that doesn’t leave you, wanting, in any area.
I want to be engaged and thrilled in every aspect of the drive, and part of that is the fun of stabbing the throttle down the straight, getting a nice push into the seat, and hearing a screaming exhaust note. A balanced chassis, great feedback, stable braking, instant throttle response, and enough power to make hitting the gas a measured skill rather than a consequence free stab. In my experience cars in 3000lb range, with about 300 hp seem to hit this balance just about perfectly. I have yet to drive a lotus, but imagine it only gets better as you shed the weight.
Nothing kills the experience more than banging on the steering wheel down the straight screaming “COME ON YOU PIG!!!”
While it is glorious to hang on tight while a 500hp 911 turbo rockets you down the road, it is definitely the definition of excessive.
To me the answer has always been Cayman… here is to another 10 years of saving up 🙁
You have no idea the lust I have for this car. These and the Gazoo Racing/TOM’S Spirit 86. All about that minimal, but effective mod life.
Nathan your comment got stuck in my spam filter. Happy to see you here! I’ll agree with your numbers – 300hp, 3000lb, and I think it scales down pretty well. 200hp, 2000lbs? Hell yes.
I don’t have the same experience with higher HP cars that I do with lightweights, and I do feel like more HP adds a whole new dimension to driving… but for me, I often find that power is a distraction from other aspects of driving, but when behind the wheel personally, and when talking with others about their driving experiences.