Comparing car lap times: Equal tires?

[brewksy]

Here's the thing: the people that want to compare bone-stock cars to bone-stock cars in a magazine are the average car buyer. They will argue track performance of a vehicle relentlessly but also never actually own either vehicle, or if they do, never actually track it. This is 95 percent of the population and performance in this case is just an ego-satisfying discussion.

Those that do track their cars understand at least the basics of modifying and fitting into various classes of cars when it comes to autoX, rallyX, or even professional racing. These people put little faith in car comparos of bone-stock cars because A) their car will be changing tires tomorrow and B) the comparisons are typically pointless in a classed track setting. This is a very small minority of buyers.

Magazines compare bone-stock cars because that's the overwhelming majority of car buyers - they're not going to track the cars or even modify the car.

So, in conclusion: track comparisons of bone-stock cars merely satisfies the ego of the average car buyer and proves nothing for the track rat. In essence, its a useless test of a car. On the other hand, outfitting two cars with class-specific modifications and THEN testing on a track, actually means something to a track rat, and is useless to the average buyer.