An ant produces more strength for its size but it still sucks versus a cheetah in a foot race. How many of those exotics ran a 14 (+) second quarter mile or pulled less than 0.9 g’s on the skidpad? That’s why people say “only an S2000” in relationship to a Ferrari.
I’ve done track drag racing and my close friend does a lot of road racing and while they’re cute S2000’s just aren’t real sports cars for a reason. There’s a pretty good reason that none of Ferrari, McLaren and Porsche’s top models are puny 4 cylinders and it’s not because they dont’ know how to build race cars.
The other thing I learned from drag racing is that you literally do not want the highest hp per liter ratio. It’s simply too much strain on the components. The cars sporting insanely boosted, overtuned, or high nitrous engines have a shelf life of about a year if they were actually being run hard, regardless of whether they had forged and balanced internals. Afterwards they’d sell them to some sucker. Even then they were chronically in the shop.
Additionally, HP per liter is a stupid metric. Liters don’t weigh anything, engine blocks do, which is why the LS series of engines (aluminum block V8’s with more HP and torque) weighed less than the inline sixes put in M3’s (which were also actually longer and taller engines due to the inline design). And unless you only plan on obeying the speed limit, even HP per Lb has its drawbacks as aerodynamic resistance takes over even in the quarter mile. Obviously you need a good power to weight ratio but it’s balanced against other factors.
Sure, so is a fox body Mustang, but I’m not going to tell people they’ve never experienced the wonders of a1991 Mustang GT because it’s got a better HP per $ ratio than any of the late model Lamborghinis on the market.
i don’t understand how you can compare an s2000 to a ferrari. although an s2000 is certainly fun to drive, so is a mini. not to knock on s2000s passions but if you’ve ever driven a ferrari you would absolutely understand why someone would say only an S2000.
there is something intangible about the experience of driving a ferrari that is unlike any other sports car. it’s fun watching episodes of top gear where they’ll compare a ferrari against mclarens and lambos, and although the ferrari would lose in some if not most of their testing categories, there’s a reason they all still would choose to own the ferrari. it offers an unadulterated driving experience that you just can’t put a metric on
Due to the forged internals and bulletproof 9" rear differential that could handle a load of torque, I’ve seen guys that bought these things for maybe $8 grand and strapped a pair of racing slicks and a 200-300 hp nitrous kit or a 20lb supercharger on there with only tuning required. You wind up with a $12,000-$15,000 car that has 500 to 600 hp and can cut a low 11, possibly high 10 second quarter mile. In the drag racing world the fox body mustangs and buick grand nationals had a crazy following because of this. These days most of them have aged to the point that the arbetrage had ended, but they were a popular car in the early to mid 2000’s.
I was never a fan, but that was why I chose it as an example for comparison.
beautiful indeed. although i’ve never driven one, i think the F40 was probably the ferrari that produced the purest driving experience. it wasn’t by coincidence this was the last model that enzo ferrari had his hands on. the thing was primitive. everything in that car was built for the rack, if it didn’t add speed it was stripped from the car. look at the door handles, you literally had to pull on a piece of wire to open the thing
I understand the point about “pure” driving experience. However, you also have to admit - Ferrari just didn’t have as much competition back then, so they could get away with poor build quality. Look at that door - wire for door handle? Exposed screws? That is just cutting corners.
That’s why later cars, like Honda NSX, were such a big deal. They had the same driving attributes as Italian sports cars, but were not complete pieces of crap.
great point- competition was definitely lower in the 80s. beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but i wouldn’t say they cut corners. the beauty of the car is that it was a pure driving machine. everything in the car was geared towards that. there was no tape box or sound system in the f40, no unnecessary leathers, that door is straight carbon fiber. the build wasn’t for aesthetics or luxury, it was for the drive. competition now is so high that everyone has to include fine leathers and sound systems and all the other bells and whistles, but IMO all of that deviates from the driving experience, which is the true point of the car. this is why i have a love affair for 80’s mid engine sports cars, like the countache where the rear window was so small to nonexistent you actually had to open the butterfly doors and stick your head out of it just to drive in reverse
