What vehicle do you drive?

Lambourne said:

You can just build a racetrack at your house it in Texas? I need to move there. Anyone have a hot sister with a tragically recently deceased husband I can marry?

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It's a racetrack that is selling houses on the property. I've driven that track hundreds of times, it is awesome. It's BFE though, the houses are really more of a place to stay during track weekends not a place you'd really want to "live."

Burns said:

If you had the money to buy the land and build it, I think you could build a track with relatively few problems, as long as you stay in rural areas (in a majority of the states). Only when you get into the city limits of various municipalities, do you start running into major zoning issues and miles of red tape. In the same vein, I've seen numerous developments in Texas that have houses built on their own private runway with hangers in their backyard (as least 1 that is less than 10 years old).

Of course if you are building something and someone finds some rare/endangered animal (and reports it), you might have some trouble, but outside of that, the rural areas are much more lax than the city for what you can do on your own land (unless your in CA/NY/WA/OR, probably).

Also, if you have the money to hit a certain threshold, the US may have an independently wealthy permeant resident visa for citizens of allied nations.

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These guys did that:


The amount of money and red tape involved was insane. Do not recommend.

Haus said:

And as Cad said, Motosports Ranch is a great track, but he's right it's out in the middle of nowhere if you are a "city dweller". Also they have 2 tracks, one with longer straight aways, and one more like what you'd think of from Top Gear.

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They have the 1.8 and the 1.3 which are the two halves, they used to just have the 1.8 and added the second part. There's a 3.1 mile track that combines both which is pretty spicy as well.

Burren said:

Just released ZR1 weighs 3,900 pounds. Really sad.

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The regular C8's are already 3500-3600 pounds, and I think the Z06 was already 3900. Not surprising.

My C5 Z06 was like 3100 pounds factory, but granted had less than half the horsepower of this.

Burren said:

Same. C5 and C6 Zs were 3100. Light weight > all. My 720s is about 3,100 pounds and makes 820 wheel. Don’t need 4,000 pounds.

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I agree, but its hard to argue with how the C8 gets around the track. The C8 Z06 was about a second faster at VIR on the lightning lap than the 720s, despite being 700-some pounds heavier. It's a fantastic car even if they have gotten porky.

Lightning Lord Rule said:

I was curious, so I looked up the Ferrari 458 curb weight since the C8 is essentially based on it. So much so that some of the chassis parts are nearly identical to that Ferrari.

A 458 is about 3450lbs, and the base C8 stingray is around 3600. Not too bad considering the different price points.


I too share the sentiment: light weight is better in general. I mean if you're setting lap times or doing SCCA racing, sure who cares, it's all about speed. But who's doing that? Maybe it's a bigger % of the sports car market now that overall car sales have tanked? Eh, whatever. The point is that lap times shouldn't have much to do with cars designed for the road, so if you have a lighter car overall with an equivalent or better power/weight ratio it's a better road experience even if it's not as fast on the track.

I'd love to see a modern S2000-esque type of car with that sort of minimalist design philosophy but with a big turbo small engine. Turbo tech has come so far since the late 90's when that car was designed.

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Light weight is especially better on the track because for any given speed level, a lighter car is easier to handle because it will take a set and transition faster, allowing you to drive it closer to the limit. Heavier cars, even if running the same laptime, will pendulum more, be harder on consumables and once you feel it moving will be harder to save. Causing you to drive it a little less closely to the limit.

A lot of these cars are well beyond normal drivers limits anyway, even on the track, so you should just drive the one that seems the most fun to you.

Just like in the "I want a minimalist little truck that won't break" discussions we have had, S2000's are a great example of why car makers don't make what you're asking for. People didn't buy it. S2000's are fucking amazing on the track, just like miatas... but people think miatas are "fag cars" so they sell to homos and women. But they are fucking amazing sports cars and are probably hands down one of the most fun experiences you can have on a track.

The 718 boxster/cayman are still right around 3000 pounds, but everyone thinks they are a bitch car because Porsche gates the good engines in special models or 911's. I've owned a 911 turbo (997.2) and a 987.2 Cayman S... the Cayman was more fun on track, despite having 200 less hp.

What people say they want and what rich guys with disposable income actually put money down on are two very different things.