Quote:
Originally Posted by DarkneSS
It is not hard to comprehend why 1/4 times and straight line performance matter so much to people. 99% of drivers and even enthusiasts will do most of their racing in a straight line whether it be legally at a track or from stop light to stop light.
It is hard on the car, but nowhere near as hard as running hard laps around a track. Not to mention most people do not have the skill to get a car around a track quickly. 1/4 racing is significantly easier.
I am a huge enthusiast myself and my personal cars have only ever seen the drag strip, more times than I can count. I'd love to go to a nice course but my Camaro is my daily and running a daily hard around a track just isn't a good idea. When I can eventually afford a home and a second car then I'll give it a go, for now its high speed go karts.
Additionally 1/4 times are widely recognized and easily understood. There are countless tracks out there and they are all so different. Someone on the other side of the country will likely not have any idea what a good time is at your local course. They would however understand 1/4 times.
So hopefully now you realize how important 1/4 times are and why people care.
For those who responded to me, the above shows why the 500 is a great performer. Most people care about 1/4 times and it just plain trashes the ZL1 and pretty much every other car out there for the money. The ZL1 obviously handles better but most people are never going to a course track.
Just think if the cars were opposite and the ZL1 put up the 500 times while the 500 was a bit quicker around a track? I guarantee I'd see people saying, "Who cares that your car is faster around some random track, you'll still enjoy my tail lights when I see you out." Just saying...
The 500 being the better performance car for the cash doesn't take away from the ZL1 also being a great performer for the cash. I'd still get the ZL1 over it anyway because it is the better daily.
/rant /imdone
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That's where I disagree, for the money the GT500 is not the better performer/buy. It is substantially slower around a road course, not as comfortable for DD, less sophisticated technology, and still cost $5k more. Put that $5k into the ZL1 (will get you over 100rwhp with proper cooling) now we have two cars with same $$ in them, the GT500 has no chance. The ZL1 is better in many areas and the better all around performer for the $$. The GT500 only does one thing better, the 1/4, and that at a $5k surplus to the ZL1 price. Takes $20k to make a nova run low 11's, does that make it a better performance car for the $$??
Quote:
Originally Posted by Vroom
Hmm, think you're not understanding my point...its easy to make a car go fast in a straight line, just takes some money.
Making it endure Nurburgring at 7.40 takes skill and engineering...and lots of it. The fact the GT500 can barely beat a $37k car with 200 less horsepower speaks volumes. There are about a million mods you can do to a LS3 to make a Camaro do the 1/4 faster then a GT500...
As far as egotistical people who are busy living life "a quarter mile at a time"...just don't have time for those kind of people... 
I don't race on public roads and anytime anybody wants to challenge me, I say "sure, lets go to the track"...they usually decline...they usually lack the skill and are worried about their "superior" cars breaking...
Guess you can look at it another way...Cars can accelerate, decelerate, turn left, turn right and endure....seems kind of ridiculous to declare your car superior against a car that can do ALL of those well, because you can do a quarter mile .3 of a second faster, yet suck at everything else
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Exactly, ALL high end performance cars are benchmarked to their track capabilities and ring times due to the level of engineering and performance capabilities of the car. We are in a new era, the reason the old American muscle cars only cared about 1/4 was because old American cars were not capable of producing a car that could handle worth a damn. Now tech has been introduced and things are changing.