so i guess i'm the only one who is impressed the GT3 beat the SR3, caterham, and the noble on a tight circuit?!!?!?!:yikes:
I mean you can argue away it's thrashing of the zonda by saying it's a tight course yadda yadda, but how did it beat these cars? They are much lighter and in some cases quicker then the GT3?!?

I'm really impressed by the Elise 135R. This thing only has 135bhp and lapped within a second of the 375bhp GT3. It even beat the VX220T Sprint, which is based on the same platform but has 237bhp. What helped was the 135R's R compound tires.

yeah, and it weighs about 1300lbs of less...that sorta helps. The GT3 is not a small car compared to the elise, caterham, noble, or sr3. I am still surprised on such a tight course it did so well. The GT3 weighs about the same, if not a little more, then the zonda!!

R compounds helped it...a yeah, that's an understatment. I think it is real stupid if some cars had R's and some didn't.

That looks like Top gear test track list.... Not sure though.

I have not seen the article, but I'm guessing that most of the 'kit cars' in that list are on R-spec tyres while the 'production cars' are not. Hardly a fair comparision if that is the case. Car's that I'd presume are on R-spec rubber are:
- Radical SR3 LM 1:21.8
- Westfield XTR2 1:21.8
- Lotus Elise 135R 1:21.0
- Caterham R400 1:21.0
- Gardener Douglas GDT70 1:19.5
- Ariel Atom 1:17.6
- JP1 1:14.2

Also I'd be much happeid if they included the 'standard' STI and EVO instead of the modified pair. They call them 'mildly modded' but they lap good 2 - 3 secs quicker than the 'standard' cars from what I've seen in EVO.

The GT3 time is impressive as that car is most likely on road-rubber (Michelin Pilot Sport2), but I am surprised that the Noble was so close to it ... maybe to do with the 'tightness' on this particualar track.

Last of all did anyone notice this:
- Mazda RX8 1:29.0
- Mazda MX5 1:28.9

Does that imply that the RX8 does not lap any quicker than the MR5 (Miata)?! If that's the case, then I'm surprised.

ps. What issue/month is this issue of Autocar?

None of the cars are kit cars in the UK market. The Radical SR3 LM ran on Bridgstone S03 rubber, hurting its performance against the other track day specials.

Among the normal cars, the Alfa 147 GTA wore R-compound tires.

The standard STi and Evo models have been thoroughly tested already. I think they were in last year's Best Handling article.

This is from the 26 August 2003 issue of Autocar.

I got the magazine a couple of days ago

The group of selected best handlers started as:

Palmersport JP1
Ariel Atom
TVR 350C
GDT70 (Lola replica)
Porsche 911 GT3
Noble M12R
Caterham R400
Elise 135R
Vauxhall VX220T Sprint
Westfield XTR2
Radical SR3 LM
Lamborghini Murcielago
Pagani Zonda
Impreza Type-C
Mitsubishi EvoVIII FQ300
Alfa 147 GTA
Focus RS
Audi S4
BMW Z4
Porsche Boxster
Merc E55
Mini Cooper S Works
Renault Clio V6
Mazda RX-8
Jag XJR
Pug 206 GTi 180
Honda Accord 2.4 Type S
Volvo S60R
Astra GSi
Ford Sport Ka
Skoda Fabia RS
Mazda MX-5 (Miata)


From these 32 cars, after the shootout 7 cars were selected as finalists:

Porsche 911 GT3
Noble M12
Caterham R400
Lamborghini Murcielago
Subaru Impreza Spec C
BMW Z4
Mazda MX-5 (Miata)

From these 7, as the best two were selected:

Porsche 911 GT3
Mazda MX-5 (Miata)

The choice of which of the two is the better one has been tough,
but in the end the winner The Best Handling Car of 2003:

Mazda MX-5 Miata

The drivers who tested the cars around the racetrack and selected the winner:

Tiff Needell (former F1 driver/broadcaster - BBC's Top Gear, Chan 5's 5th gear)
Justin Wilson (current Jaguar F1 driver)
Takuma Sato (current BAR F1 driver)
Michael Bentwood (BMW BTCC driver)
Phil Bennett (Proton BTCC works driver)
Martin Anderson (Lotus Technical Manager of vehicle dynamics)

Here are the words about the winner:

"The baby Mazda roadster is already a synonym for handling excellence, already holder of Autocar's best sub-

Still looking for a copy. So, ummm, the more info posted the better ;)

Given the near-equivalent time of the RX8 to Miata, and the comments on its roll, I have to wonder. Which RX-8 did they test? The low-power or high-power? With or without the sport suspension?

In addition to lap time, Autocar measured peak speed on the main straight, peak cornering speed, peak lateral g, and peak longitudinal (braking) g for each car. Looking at these numbers I can see where the GT3 is making time. It outbraked the opposition, generating the highest longitudinal g by far:
GT3 -1.06g
Noble -1.01g
Caterham -0.97g
Elise 135R -0.90g
Lambo -0.90g
Pagani Zonda -0.94g

BTW, the RX8 tested was the model rated at 237bhp. I assume this is the high-power.

Here, I took some photos of the magazine

The cover:
http://www.rx8forum.com/attachment.php?s=&postid=114679

The page talking about the Miata, RX-8, Elise and Caterham 7:
http://www.rx8forum.com/attachment.php?s=&postid=114681

The page where starts the article about the 7 chosen for the final battle:
http://www.rx8forum.com/attachment.php?s=&postid=114698

And here is the handling winner. The pic - Tiff Needell driving:
http://www.rx8forum.com/attachment.php?s=&postid=114699