http://www.vtec.net/articles/view-article?...ticle_id=172472

ron

 

Some very interesting observations. It's going to be very interesting to see how the new car stacks up to the old one with an alignment and proper sized tires.

 

It was interesting, but a bit unfair to the MY04 to have smaller wheels/tires installed, as the older car is optimized for the 16's, and the 2004 is not. I personally believe in the old "race what you brung" approach - Honda made the MY04's a certain way, and the previous cars another. One cannot simply even out the wheels/tires, and say it is now apples to apples - it aint.

The impressions of the extra revs of the 00-03 buying some advantage depending on the course confirms what many of us have speculated - it is a crap shoot from one auto-x to the next. So we MY04's have to fess up to that. But the article does not mention any "softness" contributing to loss of prowess in the MY04's performance in cornering, which many of the MY04 naysayers will also have to fess up to, if they can. Honda obviously has not "ruined the car" or "screwed the pooch".

Both cars are great. That is something that cannot be contested.

 

As I said in the last thread about this - move a couple cones and the outcome could be completely different. Autocross is not a valid comparo of cars, only drivers.

Real race courses have layouts that remain the same and would be a more valid place for a comparison, and besides they tend to have stretches that balance the advantages between cars that can go through turns faster and ones with better straightline acceleration.

Clearly this course happened to favor the gearing on the 1st gen s2000. It in no way means the 2nd gen s2000 is inferior in any way.

 

That's funny. With due respect, based on that statement, you've obviously never ran or seen national-level autocross, where the depth of the driver talent pool allows finishing positions of different cars to be predicted fairly accurately. It also calls into question whether you've even read the article, since the same driver drove both cars.

If your statement were correct, a Z06 would not be able to outrun an S2000, which would in turn be unable to outrun a Miata, which would in turn unable to outrun an Integra Type R, which would in turn be unable to outrun a Mini Cooper -- yet, amazingly, year after year, event after event, this turns out to be the case. How do you explain that?

Is autocross the ultimate word on car performance? Does a single autocross prove or disprove the superiority of one car over another? The answer is no to both questions, but autocross is nevertheless a valid measure, and denying that suggests that you don't know much about it.

Steve

 

Maybe I worded my post poorly but my point is what you just said - one autocross course between the two gens means nothing because move a couple cones and suddenly the other gen could be the winner. That's all.
And yes I've been to SCCA autox events.