I doubt that the gt500 is even on the vette's radar. You could give it a thousand horse power. The gt500 is a muscle car and the vette is a sports car. When a stang starts getting close in lap time, the guys at GM will start paying attention. As for right now, I'd agree with the first part of your statement that the Viper will likely have a lot of influence on the Z06/Zr1. IMO the viper/z06 are versions of the same car, where the viper is slightly more track biased, and the z06 is more street biased. Both do both well, but one is slightly faster, and the other is slightly more comfortable. I'd expect that trend to continue.

Unless something big happens, the Mustang is about 500-600lbs too heavy to be in this conversation. That said, I am a huge fan of every level mustang on sale right now. I believe that the stang lineup is as strong of stronger at each level now than it has ever been.

 

To me the mustang is far and ahead the most impressive car in that pack. To be knocking heads with cars like the caymanR and C63AMG, as well as the Panamera turboS at a fraction of the cost of all.

 

The ACR Viper is not a "normal" car too most people. The only people i know that think is it drivable on a daily basis is you and the s2kpdx. R Comps = No DD. I hate the GT-R but hey at least you can drive it everyday

 

^ If you don't like the sport cups then put on some PS2's and still be faster than a GTR/ZR1. (assuming that they are both on "street" tires too. If youwant to make an argument about the ACR not being a "normal" street car, lets talk about the aero. I can't think of another "normal" car that makes 1000lbs of down force. The aero and the humunganormous tires are what makes the viper fast. The fast that it wears the cups just makes it a little faster. Per this, the viper is about 5 seconds faster than the GTR. The cups are maybe 2-3 seconds faster than a set of PS2's.

 

I'm not inclined to think of the ACR as a good DD-type car, but to make that judgement based on what kind of tires it comes with is just ludicrous. They wear out pretty quick when used as intended, then you can install whatever tires will fit.

 

The ACR is anything but "normal"; it was designed to be a track car, but just happened to be street-legal, barely! Hell, even the base Viper is barely "normal". The ACR is not street-legal in many countries, including Canada. The ZR1 and GT-R are more "normal", by that they are more comfortable, among other things.

 

I would have to agree with that. I'd put an ACR in the same class of extreme as a Lotus, Scuderia, GT3rs, ect. What makes cars like the ZR1 and GTR amazing is that they can hang with the best while still being very civilized on the street. Though honestly, I'd be fine with an ACR as a dd. It couldn't be any more uncomfortable than a Miata on race suspension, and a race seat.

 

I've met a guy at my local track w/ a ZR1 and an ACR. He loved both of them, but said the biggest difference is that after running at the track, the drive home is a lot more comfortable in the ZR1. The performance was awe-inspiring, but that shouldn't surprise anyone here.

 

Is there any reason why it isn't legal in Canada or is this just Dodge didn't sell it there. For that mater why is it illegal in any country where the Viper is legal. Sure it's darn aggressive for a road legal car (not sure how that's different then some of the 911 GTxxxx models) but, while it was in production, you could buy it from a Dodge dealer. I would say it's a production car.

It does illustrate why some of the ring times are dumb. What makes for a great ring time car doesn't always make for the best road car or sports car for the road vs the track.

 

I believe it may be because of the tires. I'm not sure the cup tires are legal everywhere.

single lap times are interesting for pissing matches and everyone loves a good one of those, i know i do. But, what would be more interesting would be 5-10 laps in a row. A lot of cars can turn in a great single lap, but 10 hot laps in a row really takes a toll. The Zr1 for example often heat soaks. The guy I bought my acr from had a zr1 too. The Zr1 was harder to drive quickly on a track (in his opinion), it got really hot and would turn the AC off on him at the track. He liked to set lap records with his AC on. It was 105 at thunderhill last time and running hot laps with the AC on was pretty awesome. My instructor kept jumping out of his spec miata and was so happy to get in my car.

The acr is quieter and more comfortable then my s2000 (ap1) was when it's on street tires and i soften the suspension up. Right now I have it on full soft on street tires and it's not bad at all. It's low, but it's not pavement scraping low at the stock height. It's stiff, but not crazy with the suspension softened up. The reason it makes a worse daily driver then say an s2000 is because it looks ridiculous, the splitter is very expensive if you f@#k it up, and it has 600+ hp and is rwd with no nannies. It's better then the S2000 (ap1) as a daily driver because it's roomier, has a bigger trunk, it's quieter, and you can see out of it better.

I given rides to tons of people and the ones who have driven high performance modded mustangs, vipers, corvettes, porsches, etc have all said they were surprised at how quiet and comfortable the car actually is.