Quote:
Originally Posted by shaffe
That's all true, however I respectfully disagree that they won't build a 1/4 car or street bruiser for the image of the street racer, bc in a nutshell that same argument you made against a factory fast 1/4 car can be applied to the z and just about any performance car.
Instead of building a car that goes fast in the straights, they are now building a car that encourages people to push it to the limits, to take turns harder and faster, bc the car is that much more capable. You have a car in the new Z/28 that is designed for the race track that can be driven on the street, how does that not give the image of a street racer? The z is being advertised as a race car you can drive on the street, how does that not encourage activities that are illegal in every state? There are stupid people everywhere and they will do stupid things in any car.
All I'm saying is your argument against the straight line cars also applies to many performance cars
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Sure but they aren't specifically built for street racing nor are they advertised that way. They are built for and advertised as track cars where it's legal to use their full potential. Public image and legal liability are serious concerns for any major company nowadays. When you have ridiculously over-zealous government officials banning certain sizes of soft drinks out of a faux concern for "public safety" you can imagine how important it is for a company to NOT step on that trip wire. Of course people street race; they street race anything, but a car company doesn't want to be seen as specifically designing and building their cars to encourage breaking the law.
The Camaro SS, 1LE and ZL1 are plenty good as starting points to build out your dream street car. If you don't want to build it yourself there are quite reputable shops who are forum sponsors that can take your car to whatever level you desire.
The new Z/28 is going to fit a particular segment of affluent customers who do in fact go to the track. It remains to be seen how large that segment is going to be but it may be larger than people think once the "official" track performance numbers are revealed.
Mark Stielow is a phenomenally talented engineer-builder-driver and he absolutely "gets it" when it comes to performance and how to achieve it. I would bet money he and his team are still fiddling/tweaking the performance and settings of the Z before it's committed to production. What Justice Pete was trying to tell everybody is these guys absolutely understand what's necessary to make a killer track car and THEY ARE DOING IT.