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Old 04-23-2003, 11:07 AM   #9 (permalink)
BooRadley
Insane
 
Location: Kentucky
I am not trying to start a ricer vs domestic argument. I am telling the people who swear up and down they are knowledgable about cars to get a little sense and stop the pointless domestic bashing.

I have said nothing biased in my previous post. I never have owned a viper or a porsche or any high end car. But, people(engineers) test these cars and the results can be easily compared to other cars.

The same couple of arguments against domestic performance cars always comes up, and they are really ignorant considering actual knowledge of engineering.

I don't pretend to be an all-knowing expert, but I'm studying to be a mechanical engineer. I've got quite a bit of hands on knowledge of race-car design and fabrication with Formula SAE, and I think it's an adequate basis for most of my opinions on here.

"real wheel drive is inferior to all wheel drive"-- maybe for short autocross tracks and 1/8 mile drag racing.

The viper is a high speed beast, not a commuter/autocross car. It is raced at lemans 24 hours, that should be a hint to where it's track use is. Most decent sized RWD cars are not set up for incredibly tight slow corners, but then again, Corvettes still own porsches in SCCA autocrosses in my area.

"The xxxx gets bad gas mileage and the turbo xxx gets 25 mpg"-- Yeah, formula one cars get 4-6 mpg at best? Ok. Yes, we all know how much you want your high-performance car to be fuel efficent. Ridiculous. Fuel efficency is impossible with significant power.

"Turbo is a replacement for displacement so big engines are useless now adays"--Yes, turbos are wonders of technology. The right tuned turbo could be devastating and have tremendous amounts of power, but high horsepower+turbo + small motor = ridiculous RPMs, narrow torque band, and high turbo lag. I'd rather have a car with instant power than wait for things to spool up and have to keep it in a specified rpm range.

This next one will be biased : "But the viper/corvette/camaro/mustang is ugly as hell!"
I prefer the aerodynamic coupe/roadster styles to the station wagon/hatchback with hood scoop and ground effects look any day.

I don't pretend to know every single complexity of race cars and how and why every component is designed as such. I have learned the basic engineering principles behind high performance cars, and the arguments against domestic cars are weak to say the least.
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