Quote:
Originally Posted by Jeff Higgins
Right on, speeder. The point is that all of these cars so thoroughly transcend our abilities on the track, much less any sane man's needs on the street, that their ultimate performance has become moot.
I remember reading a 600 sport bike shoot-out in Cycle World a year or two ago. With pro riders aboard, their lap times at Willow Springs spanned a four or five second range. For many, the "obvious" conclusion was that some bikes were "superior" to others. The Cycle World staff, however, did their best to set everyone straight regarding this perception.
They said, essentially, that we don't care who you are or where you ride - you will never, ever extract the "worst" bike's performance from the "best" bike. In other words, the entire field's performance was so far beyond most riders' skills, and any sane level of street performance, that the differences in performance had effectively been rendered moot. They said that we have reached the point where you could now choose your next 600 sport "like a girl" - pick the color you like. You'll never be able to exploit the difference.
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Yep. With bikes this theory is even more true, i.e. there is a bigger gap between what a member of the public could extract, performance-wise, and the machine's actual potential.
This not to completely throw lap times out the window. These are sports cars, after all. And a Mustang, or any lower priced car, hanging with the newest 911 or Ferrari is impressive as hell. Porsche will NEVER win the *most bang for the buck* contest of sports cars or sporty cars. Never has, even back in the 356 days. What they build are amazingly beautiful objects of German engineering that win endurance races to an extent that no other manufacturer even holds a candle. Though Audi, (irony of ironies), is giving them a run for it with the newest TDI diesel LeMans cars.
