That KTM looks like frickin Decepticon.

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Exactly. That's one fierce wagon. Dunno about those go-carts though...

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Got to agree here.

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Damn, it's so irritating when someone writes exactly what you were thinking before you can! :)

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I think it already ate them, but spewed them out after a couple of laps of the 'Ring. Too intense for even the hardiest of cars, you see.

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ummm, why?

I'd rather do the driving and have more appealing eye candy on hand. Besides, she would be complaining the whole time.

not my cup o tea, atall.

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You you got it wrong, it was a bunch of Danicas set up like pylons, and there was this push bar installed on the car...

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At least he isn't rolling in his grave :)

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If he isn't after a 3,000 pound Lotus was announced yesterday, I guess he must be strapped down pretty tightly.

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Should have included Caterham in this test. Would be interesting to see how descendants of the Seven would do against the Seven itself.

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I don't think there's anyway any of them post any time close to the 7:30 mark. Although they clearly have the handling (and then some), I don't think they have the legs to turn that kind of time. There would have to be a significant amount of time spent between 120mph and 170-180mph, and I don't know if any of those cars can get anywhere near that. The Nurburgring rewards cars with more top end than handling (see e.g., the ZR1 vs. GT-R). But the drivers will no doubt have a hell of a lot of fun.

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if its the european model it more than likely wouldn't have the ecotec option anyway. I think the ecotec would be better though, a little torque never hurt anyone.

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I envision that Sam would be surprised how fast ~250 horsepower is when its tied to less than half the frontal surface area and mass of a road-going car.

While horsepower only improves acceleration and top speed, lowering mass has the compound effect of improving acceleration, braking, and cornering speeds -- you are faster all over the place, as opposed to just on the straights. Even on the Ring, only about 1:00 is spent over 120, and all of these cars will reach that speed almost as quickly as a GT-R. These cars all probably have top speeds in the 160 mph area because their cross-section is so small.

A GT-R does what, 0.96 Gs on a skid pad? These all do 1.1-1.4 Gs -- that's up to 40% faster through sustained turns. Meaning, if a GT-R can pull 60 mph through a turn, one of these cars will be going almost 90.

And when it comes to complex turns, these cars are also better suited because their chassis are incredibly rigid. That means weight is able to transition across the car extremely quickly. This means that inputs can be sharper than in a normal car and the chassis won't become unsettled.

They are also able to brake in about 30% less space.

You have to realize these _are_ race-cars. KTM races stock X-Bows (with race safety gear and tires) in FIA GT4. They have tons of compromises to be as fast as they are, and thus they are ludicrously fast.

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