[onewhippedpuppy]

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.

This thought has often crossed my mind with my current Maserati coupe. It's by no means a supercar by 2012 standards, but with 390 HP it's pretty quick. Around town anything other than putting around at low RPMs quickly puts me above the speed limit, and anything other than a brief blip of the throttle quickly puts me at handcuff speeds. Contrast that with my 230 HP RX8, where I can hit redline in 1st and 2nd gear before backing off to blend in with traffic. Both are fun, but the RX8 is much more accessible in the real world.