QOTW: What car for a day at the track?
Moe’s Answer
When I first thought of this question my mind immediately went to supercars like the McLaren or the Enzo. But then I realized something, do I really have the skill to drive one of these cars on a racetrack? The answer is no. Sure I could drive it around the track and I would have a blast doing so I am sure but most likely I would spend a good amount of spinning and out in the grass.
I then moved down a notch. I gave the Viper some thought as it has always been a favorite of mine but it’s not the worlds best handler and once again I have a feeling I’d spend a lot of time in the dirt. I considered the Z06 as well but… meh.
I then started thinking about cars that handle really well and are quick, not super fast, but quick. Cars like the Lotus Exige. It was when I started thinking more along these lines that I came up with my answer. It’s actually a pretty obvious one if you know me well.
I would choose the Ariel Atom. But, I would not go for the supercharged version, I’d stick with NA. I’d want a car that I could drive hard and not be scared silly. I also love that the Atom is basically made for the track and is pretty much a street legal race car. If you watched the video of the Atom that I posted a few weeks ago when I chose the Atom as the COTW you will also have a better idea of why I would love to drive one (take note though, the one they tested is supercharged).
Crawford’s Answer
After about 30 minutes of thinking about the answer, mulling over a couple different cars, and struggling with which direction to go it suddenly dawned on me…and the choice was obvious. But first a couple words on my other choices…
A Lotus Exige S was very high on the list. From what I’ve read it’s got amazing handling and obviously accelerates like a bat out of hell. It’s a Lotus…it’s created to be on the racetrack. The Ariel Atom came to mind too…sure it’s little, doesn’t have a ton of power, and…well…has no body panels…but what a blast it would be. That lead me to think about real road/race cars…machines that are street legal (and I’m assuming we are talking street legal cars here) but are used in racing. The GT40 is high on that list…
But then it came to me like a bolt from heaven. There is a fairly famous video out there of an amazing car being thrown around a racetrack. The driver is a god and any car nut who’s seen the video dreams of driving a machine like this one on a track like…
OK, so here is the video.
And the car…
1987 Ruf CTR Yellowbird
3040 lbs, 3.6L turbo, 469 hp/408 lb-ft, 0-62 in 4.0 seconds
I don’t really need to say anymore. Watch the video. You will understand.
