Subaru BRZ Places 4th in 2012 Best Driver's Car Competition by Motortrend

[MiguelAE86]

Originally Posted by DeeezNuuuts83

For example, do you remember when the Evo X was first tested by magazines? The first batches had really bad tunes and were doing 0-60 in the 5s and quarter-miles in the high 13s if they were lucky, and all of a sudden people were saying that they were bloated pigs completely inferior to the Evo IX and, more importantly, the STI when it came to acceleration. The MRs were just as slow, if not slower. But when everything was fixed, both the GSR and MR were hitting 60 in the mid-4s and doing the quarter-mile in the low-13s.

Wow that's really interesting! Top Trivia right there

[DeeezNuuuts83]

Originally Posted by MiguelAE86

Wow that's really interesting! Top Trivia right there

Yeah, it was interesting but obviously after those first reviews were published, a lot of people began to doubt the Evo X since the acceleration numbers alone made some people view it as a step back while almost ignoring the improved handling numbers (though it did lose a tiny bit of feel). Maybe if they had a crew there to fix it (since I would assume that a number of publications may have been testing the same press car), the numbers would've been better and more representative of the car's capabilities. For example, a later test (I think by Road & Track) of an Evo X GSR (same hp and torque rating but obviously not with the same tuning issues) did a 13.0-second quarter-mile. It would've been much better for the first tests to have those numbers and make more of a splash.

Whether they were cheating or not, Ferrari probably just doesn't want their cars to be tested on a bad day with crappy numbers or in a car that might have issues. More trivia -- it reminds me of when Motor Trend did a top speed shoot-out (I think it may have been in 1997), and their Viper GTS messed up during its top speed run (though it hit 192 mph and was the fastest in the test) and ended up spraying coolant everywhere and had to be towed away. The next day, Dodge sent them a second Viper GTS that ended up having mismatched tires (front-to-rear, not left-to-right) which hurt its performance numbers in the other tests of that comparison.

[F1point4]

You don't even need a chase car to film the drag race. BRZ steps up to the plate LOL @ 2:25

[Oriental Life]

BRZ is between Godzilla and McLaren?! Can't get better than that! I'd happily have a beer in that company!

Honorable victory over Detroit boys!

[YW-Slayer]

I'm going to test-drive an MP4-12C in early Sept (obviously not going to be able to buy it), so I thought this might be apposite.

[Fascist Fish]

wow, kinda shocked Mr. Pobst called it his sacond favorite. Gratz brz/fr-s!

[themali]

Originally Posted by brz7400

274hp brz sti?

Better have a brembo kit.

[YukiHachiRoku]

Originally Posted by F1point4

You don't even need a chase car to film the drag race. BRZ steps up to the plate LOL @ 2:25

[jkonquer]

In the end it really came down to lack of horsepower

[DeeezNuuuts83]

Originally Posted by themali

Better have a brembo kit.

Yup. That's what a lot of inexperienced people tend to forget about. It might be a relatively light car, but the dinky stock stoppers won't do much good when trying to slow down 274 hp if you're doing any fun driving. The Best Driver's Car competition already talked about how the brakes were fading after a few laps... and remember that's a stock 200 hp car.

[ABQautoxer]

It's the stock pads that are the problem. Same ones in the front of the 2011+ WRX with 500lbs more weight and nearly 100ft/lbs more torque.

[TSY]

Originally Posted by ABQautoxer

It's the stock pads that are the problem. Same ones in the front of the 2011+ WRX with 500lbs more weight and nearly 100ft/lbs more torque.

Agreed. With the way the car is geared it's never going to reach stratospheric speeds anyway regardless of how much power you give it, just a change to better pads would probably make a huge difference. A BBK is probably a waste of money in a light car that doesn't go that fast (top speed). Look at Miatas- they have tiny brakes but do just fine with them since they are appropriately sized to the car's weight and have a low top speed.

[DeeezNuuuts83]

But's about more than just top speed. Yes, cars with high top speeds need suitable brakes, but just because you can't break 150+ doesn't mean that you have no use for more aggressive brakes.

I agree that BBKs don't need to be on tiny little cars, but the example you gave was a little off, in my opinion. The reason why the Miata doesn't need aggressive brakes isn't because its top speed is relatively low (for a sports car), but it's partially because of the engine not being all that powerful since its acceleration won't be too powerful either.

For example, consider a 0-100-0 test run. Now throw another 100 hp into whichever car -- Miata, FR-S, BRZ, whatever -- and you will notice that the 100-0 time won't be identical to before, despite slowing down from the same 100 mph speed, since you're also trying to slow down stronger momentum due to the more swift acceleration from the more powerful engine. Again, not much to do with top speed.

[TSY]

Originally Posted by DeeezNuuuts83

But's about more than just top speed. Yes, cars with high top speeds need suitable brakes, but just because you can't break 150+ doesn't mean that you have no use for more aggressive brakes.

I agree that BBKs don't need to be on tiny little cars, but the example you gave was a little off, in my opinion. The reason why the Miata doesn't need aggressive brakes isn't because its top speed is relatively low (for a sports car), but it's partially because of the engine not being all that powerful since its acceleration won't be too powerful either.

For example, consider a 0-100-0 test run. Now throw another 100 hp into whichever car -- Miata, FR-S, BRZ, whatever -- and you will notice that the 100-0 time won't be identical to before, despite slowing down from the same 100 mph speed, since you're also trying to slow down stronger momentum due to the more swift acceleration from the more powerful engine. Again, not much to do with top speed.

yes you are correct. The work (force over time) required to stop a car that has greater acceleration is greater. But that doesn't even come close to comparing to the work needed to bring a car down from 150mph compared to 100.

Take your example for instance, a car that accelerates to 100mph 1 or 2 sec faster will require marginally more work than the slower car to offset the greater force of acceleration, and then from the point both cars are no longer accelerating (acceleration=0), the work required to stop both cars will be exactly the same.

I'm not saying BBK are totally useless, but not nearly as effective for lightweight cars compared to these overweight monsters being built these days.