[fatoni]

Originally Posted by Tristor

There's a Focus RS that goes to my local track. The guy that owns it is admittedly a much better driver than I am. I've ridden with him, and he knows that car intimately, he's exceptionally good at getting it to rotate to apex on command without overdoing it, something I'm still working on myself. Despite this, when we're on track together he's constantly ending up giving me the point bys. Neither of us is really "racing", since we're just getting seat time on an open day, but I consistently set better laptimes than he does, despite my admission that he's a better driver and the fact he's on stickier tires. I was out there on Michelin PS4S with a few heat cycles, and he was out there on Toyo R888Rs.

I honestly think the way power delivery works in the Focus RS, the higher CoG, and the much worse seats all play a part in how it creates driver confidence and what results it generates on track. It's not even a question for me, I'd take a BRZ w/ good tires and brakes over a Focus RS any day.

The faster car on faster tires with the faster driver being slower times either account's for a lot of confidence or something is up. I'd have thought the fancy awd machine would be easier to drive than the basic sports car.