I haven't read this year's article, but I don't believe they typically limit the selection of "best driver's car" to traditional sports cars. There is a good chance these would be the same, but not necessarily. Even in true motor sports the best handling cars are not necessarily "sports cars". Rally cars come to mind...

So the Miata is weird. I've been studying up on it, think it might be my next car. Theirs is the first I've seen that had the Brembos and BBS wheels but not the Club appearance package, which is supposed to be standard in combination with those items (underbody spoilers all around plus a black lip spoiler and I think black mirror caps). I wonder if it was a preproduction model? The first Clubs have only been in owners' hands about a month now and they're still only trickling out.

I'm with you there - I don't think they should restrict entry to just traditional sports cars. I think the issue is calling cars like the 4000+ lbs. CTS-V sedan "sports cars" in the article. It's really more of a tangential point.

Probably a pre-production Miata that hadn't been fitted with the appearance package yet. The new ND Miata is really interesting in that on some courses, it's slower than the Twins and others it's clearly faster. Very evenly matched cars with different strengths that suit different courses.

Gotcha. I would definitely not call the CTS-V a sports car, more a sports sedan at best. Didn't realize the article referred to it as one.

Now that said, if someone wants to give me a CTS-V, I will happily take it!

Hah me too!

It could have also been beat on by other journalists or drivers before it got to Motor Trend. Seems odd to me that a car that light with Brembos would have brake fade so early.

I'm actually surprised that there was no Ferrari 488 or Lamborghini Huracan. They were both praised rather highly when they were tested earlier this year.

winner surprised me too. Solid car though and turned in the fastest lap by a good margin.

No video of the AMG GT S yet?

Not yet, they seem to release about 3 videos per day.

Here is pt 2 of their writeup though in case anyone is interested:
http://www.motortrend.com/features/p...enders_part_2/

Updated with hot laps for the Z06 Z07 Package, Continental GT3-R, and AMG GT S. Pobst singing high praise for the AMG GT S.

Also not surprisingly, he seems to have broken the Z06 on track. Given how good the Z/28 is and Chevy's "24 hrs of GM" testing, it's surprising how fragile the Z06 is on track. Half-baked, needs more time in the oven.

yeah the c7 z06 has been having a host of problems. GM even released a statement pretty much saying not to track the car in the summer and to wait until fall when the temps are lower.

http://forums.motortrend.com/70/9644...fro/index.html

Seems like they couldn't provide any more cooling to the engine if they wanted to keep the sleek nose. The CTS-V runs the same motor... but has a ton more radiatiors/heat exchangers.

That's really interesting. GM claims all previous Vettes had the same durability target of a "professional driver doing unlimited hot laps at 86 degrees ambient", but that makes me wonder why previous gens didn't have these limp mode issues. Either the previous gens far exceeded durability targets or the current Z06 is just more sensitive to temps above 86 F ambient.

Also sounds like if they want to keep raising the performance for the next gen, they will have to increase the frontal area (or go with a different philosophy like cutting weight & power).

I still believe GM should have kept the Z06 naturally aspirated and made a new version of the LS7 based on the new LT-block. It would not have had the 650 hp figure to boast about, but it shouldn't have the heat soak issues. Either that, or wait another year in development to sort this out...