Have you even tried? The way sales are right now, they'd probably be foaming at the mouth that you rolled up in a 27k car instead of a 5k car.

 

I looked at it and talked to a guy there, but he didn't want to come outside. It does not help that it won't stop frakking raining.

 

The X made up quite a bit of speed in the long straight between sectors 1 and 2, which seems to indicate that the X was the ringer, not the TTS. Or that I should reconsider my aerodynamics rankings. As for weights, I think I used a non-MR Evo weight the other day - woops.

Regardless, the exit speeds for sectors 1, 3, and 5 are principally about grip and handling - and the TTS is much faster exiting all 3. That benefit exists in 5 or 6 other places on the track, and is parlayed onto every straight. Sector 2 seems to show the X MR having more power in 4th gear.

As for using bench numbers, 0-x and x-0 don't mean much. 40-80, 50-120 acceleration is all that matters (eliminating the launch benefits the Evo might have), and brakes behave differently after being warmed up a bit. I want to know 120-40 braking on the 10th lap, not 70-0 under idealized conditions.

One thing to your point on comparability - C&D absolutely dropped the ball by not bringing a reference car. Could be anything - a Miata, Corvette, hell it could be a FWD econobox. Something consistent year to year to establish a baseline time.

 

Do you think suspension upgrades and wider tires would fix this? I mean the X MR is pretty cush. Probably my only complaint about it as far as performance after tune and light bolt-ons.

Man I absolutely agree with you there. It always drove me nuts when car mags / resources do 70-0. How often do you do that? Once in a blue moon when a kid chases a soccer ball out in the street (even then I only stop half the time)

I agree with you 100%, and I think this is the main reason not to be comparing cars from previous years. If I want to compare two cars, I'll drive them both and look up any real head to head matches.

 

I completely agree that 0-x is meaningless, as we have flying starts, but trap speed is far from. The TTS has equal power:weight on paper, but traps some 4mph higher (C&D drag results of both cars in different issues).

A also agree about brake fade, but they already admitted in the test results that they don't take averages, but the best lap.

This is the core of my point about conditions.

I also think not sourcing the cars from the manufacturers and letting them know usage is for intent for a track shootout would be more ideal and not tempt anyone to bring a car with a tuned ECU, optimized tires, or suspension trickery. You can knock a lot of time off with basically invisible changes.

 

I think a good diet would do more for the X than any other single component.


But in general, yes. Stiffer springs and sway bars, tighter shocks, stickier/wider tires, maybe larger brake rotors with more pad surface area... all would improve the X on the track. That's the one thing not mentioned in this thread - the X is cheaper than the other cars in LL2. Certainly leaves a budget to fix some of its shortcomings in the track environment.

That said, you're always better off starting with a lighter car for track duty.