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How would you call this race: Ford GT40, Chevrolet Corvette ZR1, Dodge Viper ACR, Ferrari 430SC?
Excepting the GT40, all of the above were reviewed in Road & Track, February 2008. The venue for this hypothetical contest is Infineon Raceway, Sears Point, CA, USA, involving forty laps of the American Motorcycle Association-spec seven-mile loop--the venue is used by CART, NASCAR, NHRA, IHRA, DHRA, &c., and as I understand things was recently added by Indy Racing League. If FIA chose this venue for a Formula One event, their preferred course would probably be the same one used by AMA for Superbike races.
Order and intervals of finish, given equal drivers, would be appreciated.
Well, the first thing to look at is the track... Infineon is a wonderful flowing track that places cars almost in constant transition, putting a premium on handling. This is one of my favorite tracks as a driver, and certainly one of the more challenging and more technical.
The Ford GT would seem to be well suited for this track... but I would have to go back to personal experience at having seen two Ford GTs at events at this track. Both suffered failures under less than stressful driving that required them leaving via a flatbed. As finishing is a requirment to winning, The Ford GT scores an impressive result on paper, but in the end, I don't think it's a genuine track car as was the original GT40. Mark it down for last place.
The Viper has made great strides in recent years as a track car. With the issues of the inadequate brakes of the earlier cars now firmly addressed, and small improvements all around, it's a really great car, and one that should hold up (where some of the earlier cars might of been prone to ending the same as the GT). However, the nature of the track does not play to the Viper's strong points, and the quickest part of the track (the esses) will work against it as the weakest handling car of the group. Mark it down for third (could easily get a better result at a different track with more straights and low speed corners).
Which brings us to the Corvette and the Ferrari. Both cars have alot of strengths... but ultimately it would come down to the power advantage of the Corvette against the chasis and braking advantage of the Ferrari. The ZR1 looks like it will be pretty amazing, but it would be a feat if it comes close to the Ferrari in terms of chasis balance, poise, and rigidity.
This would give the Ferrari an advantage in a couple key spots on the track, which should compensate for the couple spots where the ZR1 could really take advantage of it's power. Giving a second place to the Corvette, and the winning spot to the Ferrari.
The longer the race, the more the advantage would go to the Ferrari, given the better balance and less power and weight, the Ferrari should also do better on brake and tire wear where the others would eventually lose time to both of these.
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