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Not sure if this was already covered, but Car and Driver published their annual lightning lap times which included the 2016 Miata. It ran a 3:20.8 which was interesting since the BRZ ran a 3:18.6 in 2013.
It was run at the Virginia International Raceway, which to be honest I'm not familiar enough with it to say that it favors power or handling in a car or a mix of both. They also publish a full list of times over the years, which makes some interesting reading since it includes many of the cars compared to the BRZ/FR-S here. Below is a selection of the results (in some cases, where there were multiple results for the same model I picked the fastest one):
3:27.3 Fiat 500 Abarth 2013
3:24.1 Honda Civic Si 2012
3:20.8 Mazda MX-5 Miata Club 2016
3:20.4 Ford Fiesta ST 2014
3:19.3 Volkswagon GTI 2010
3:18.6 Subaru BRZ 2013
3:17.6 Ford Focus ST 2014
3:16.7 Mazda RX-8 R3
3:16.0 Mazdaspeed 3 2007 (2010 model was 0.2s slower)
3:15.6 Ford Mustang Ecoboost 2015
3:15.5 Subaru WRX 2015
3:15.4 Mini Cooper Hardtop JCW 2015 (2009 model was 1.7s slower!)
3:15.0 Honda S2000 CR 2008
3:14.6 Volkswagon GTI 2015
3:13.8 Hyundai Genesis Coupe 3.8 R-Spec 2011 (2013 was 0.1s slower)
I know the discussion here can range from drag racing to driving experience to practicality etc, but I think the lap times give an interesting benchmark of the capability of each car based on power and handling. I think its a pretty fair reflection of the models covered here.
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