As another example, the 812 Superfast also has a 47/53 distribution, and it has a slightly better 0-60 and 1/4 mile time despite the fact that it’s not wearing super sticky sport cup tires like the ZR1 and has a worse power:weight ratio.

It’s because they keep flaunting the 50/50 weight distribution like it’s supposed to be special. The Mercedes AMG GT-R has a 47/53 f/r weight distribution and that car has been praised for its ability to put power down. It posted the fastest corner exit speeds at C&D’s 2017 Lightning Lap, beating out even the Porsche…

Problem is, the next gen Camaro’s development is currently suspended and the current gen is supposed to continue until 2023. Not sure how plausible it is to put a transaxle in the current gen.

Is that in a C3 frame? The small block C3s actually have a pretty impressive 46/54 to 48/52 f/r weight distribution depending on the year. Curious what the distribution is with that transaxle.

Per a recent interview with Jim Mero, they ended up going mid-engine simply because the higher ups wanted a rear mid-engine car. It wasn’t performance-related. Lots could’ve been done to a new front-engine platform to improve performance if they had gone that route.

It’s actually a pretty impressive weight loss, roughly 13.5% reduction in weight. Were it a 3500lb car, that'd be about 472lbs.

Gonna have to disagree about the Jim Carrey part.

“Hand-made craftmanship,” not like some robot-made soulless poo poo car.

Neon has a smaller frontal area as well. 21.6 ft^2 vs the GT’s 22.6 ft^2. The GT probably has a way more favorable lift coefficient, though.

The neon’s frontal area is also slightly smaller. 21.6ft^2 for the neon vs 22.6 ft^2 for the GT. The GT may be shorter than the neon but it is wiiiiiiiiiiide. GT’s lift coefficient is significantly better, is my guess, though.

Oh I’m well aware.

The Neon actually has a lower drag coefficient than the GT. Neon is 0.33 vs the GT’s 0.39.

Main difference with maintenance is it requires incremental valve adjustments every 30,000 miles using shims to keep valve lash in spec. It’s not too difficult, and it’s actually easier to get the valve cover off in the Z3 compared to the M3 because the nose is so long on the car. It is $$$ though if you don’t diy.…

So, this may come as a surprise, but I actually liked the S52 more for puttering around. It is just so responsive with the cable driven throttle vs throttle-by-wire. Also the stock throttle mapping on the S54 Z3 cars was terrible from the factory, because you had kind of a dead zone in the pedal that caused a delay…

I had an S52 Z3M Roadster prior to getting my S54 shoe. I hope I can get another Roadster some day. They’re a lot of fun.

You measured the cornering grip of your X5? Yes it’s no surprise on the ponycars. They have a front biased weight distribution and suspension setup that favors sporty handling, i.e. not much weight shift to the rear on launch (except for the Demon), so not as much available traction force at launch as you would get on…

Yeah, the GT with PP2 option and GT350 (and soon the GT500), and they pull in excess of 1g, compared to 0.87g of your SUV. The regular Camaro SS and PP1 Mustang still manage 1g cornering with 275s in the rear. 300+ width tires aren’t an absolute necessity for grip.

Latest widebody hellcats run 305s, and the more hipo models of the Camaro and Mustang both run 300+ width tire setups. Tire width is only part of what allows a vehicle to put power down effectively. Seen plenty of musclecars on skinny stock-looking rear tires that can put the power down because their suspension shifts…

It also has almost 2000 more lbs to haul around.