[wbradley]

Subtact the straigtaways and you have a car that beats many many others. Add the straightaways and you get beaten by high powered SUVs among others.

Also, drifting around corners doesnt necessarily get you the fastest lap times. It is fun as hell and it does allow you to approach corners a lot more agressively. I watched a bunch of Initial D anime last night so now I get the "drift".

I think to sum up this car, it allows you to have fun without fear of what happens when you reach the friction limit. Many other cars might have higher limits (tires can change that), but few cars are so predictable and stable beyond.

Nordschleife is irrelevant unless you set the car up specifically for that course. The claim to fame is that it's used for benchmark times on super cars with super power. I am sure the chassis itself could preform very well numbers wise with some modification to the friction devices at all 4 corners and more agressive springs/dampers. For the straightaway, either remove them or you need more power to compare times to the big boys.

My only concern with adding more power is that it has to be in a form that can be modulated similarly to stock to maintain the drift control. Makes me think more about adding in a S/C.