Rams Eye The Track Guy

Yes, I have mentioned a Dodge in the same breath as a McLaren, and a McLaren that was named after no one other than Ayrton Senna. You might get angry. You might think I've gone mad or lost my bearings. But before you do any of that, consider this: What is arguably the most outrageous metric or aspect about the Senna? Power? Construction? Brakes? No, in my opinion, it's aerodynamics. The power, the brakes, the suspension, the attention to detail, everything is very impressive, but none is ground breaking, especially for McLaren. The aerodynamics, though, are what resulted in the menacing and brutal function-over-form styling of the Senna which makes an Alien vs Predator battle scene look like child's play in comparison. So if it's aerodynamics, the amount of downforce must be huge (it is). You know the 911 (991) GT3 RS? It makes do with just 262 kg (622 lb.) at 150 mph. The insane 991.2 GT2 RS generates a maximum of 450 kg (992 lb.) at its 211 mph top speed. Tha...

Get your pitchforks sharpened and your torches lit up. There is a new Camaro vs Mustang comparison test and one of them walks the other. This time, it is the most recent comparison test between a 2018 Camaro SS 1LE and a 2018 Mustang GT posted by Motor Trend a few weeks ago. The results are the stuff of classic and long lasting brand rivalry so let's dive straight in. There is so much I want to talk about that it was difficult to pick where to start. Power seems to be the simplest and it's the one most are interested in so I'll start with that.       2018 Camaro SS 1LE       2018 Mustang GT Perf. Pack 0-30 mph 1.8 s 1.9 s 0-40 mph 2.5 s 2.6 s 0-50 mph 3.2 s 3.5 s 0-60 mph 4.1 s 4.4 s 0-70 mph 5.1 s 5.4 s 0-80 mph 6.5 s 6.7 s 0-90 mph 7.9 s 8.1 s 0-100 mph 9.4 s 9.7 s P...

Blasphemy!! Before you get your pitchforks, let's get two things straight first of all. Number 1, those two cars are not actually going to be cross shopped. I get that and don't mean to suggest that they would be. In fact, even for those people who can afford to buy several of either of those cars and would not turn their nose up a Chevy Camaro (they do exist), if any were to consider both those cars, they would not be looked at as alternatives, just two separate interesting cars. Number 2, stock vs stock, on the same day, same track, same (experienced) driver, the Camaro does not stand chance. Don't get me wrong, the Camaro ZL1 1LE is very impressive and supremely capable. More so when you consider the price. Even more so when you consider that this isn't like the last Z/28 or GT350R. As much as all the aero bits would have you believe, one of the ZL1 1LE's goals was to retain full functionality. As a result, it doesn't lose any sound deadening. You get to...

FWD is for kids. Anyone can go fast in a FWD car. Real drivers learn to handle RWD. That's what a buddy said when I was talking about managing throttle in FWD vs RWD in one of the turns on our track. Another friend of mine who is a diehard VW fan just bought a new Mk7 Golf R. Naturally, we argued about Golf R vs Focus RS as we've done countless times in the past. This time, though, the Civic Type R came up, and he said it doesn't matter because "it's FWD." If you agree with all of that, you can't take this new Type R seriously. You might as well stop reading now and move on. And frankly, Honda has done a pretty good job with the styling to convince you NOT to take this car seriously.. But you might be making a mistake. A proper, thoroughbred sports car needs to have RWD in my book. But we aren't talking about thoroughbreds here. We are talking about very-hot hatchbacks based on compact economy cars. So the question boils down to FWD or AWD? Well,...