Road & Track supercar shootout: the latest BS

[Venom Lover]

Sorry if someone has already posted on this subject, but I've been out for the last week with my family for Thanksgiving.

Has anyone read the November R&T supercar shootout article? They chose 6 cars to compete in 4 tests: top speed, 0-100-0, slalom, and lateral acceleration. The 6 cars they chose were the following (listed in order of overall composite ranking from best to worst):
(1) Ruf turbo Porsche
(2) 2001 996 TT Porsche
(3) Lamborghini Diablo GT
(4) Z06 Vette
(5) Ferrari Maranello
(6) BMW Z8

Uhhhh.........where's the Viper? These guys pick one car to represent America in a test where top speed plays an important role, and they choose the Z06? Don't get me wrong, I love my Z06, but it is not a top end car.

Second gripe: number (1) on the list is a tuner car, and number (3) is not even sold in America. What kind of comparison is this? If tuner cars are allowed, then I would think Hennessey Venom or TNT King Snake would be the winner over the Ruf Porsche. But what do I know?

 

[AviP]

Well said. While it is annoying to see the reviews being affected by the sponsors, it is true that it happens a lot. I guess the money is in those glossy full page ads and displeasing the sponsor does not bode well for the bottom-line.

But we folks know better so who cares anyway. In most shootouts these days, if the Viper shows up it bags the last spots anyway. Do I care? Not at all. I just enjoy my drive everytime I get into the Viper and am happy about the decision I made 4 years ago.

Magazines ****. Get Autoweek. It's a weekly and is more news oriented rather than editorial content based. I'm not affiliated with Autoweek.

-Avi

 

[94 RT/10 Black MAMBA]

For anyone who cares Road & Track is owned by Saddam Hussien! What the heck does he know.

 

[Venom Lover]

94 RT/10: You're kidding about the Saddam Hussein thing, right?

loanshark: I agree, they can't drive. Their summary says something like 12.5 sec 1/4 mile and 4.3 sec 0-60 for the GTS. Other magazines, and certainly owners, have done better than that. Their braking numbers also seem awfully suspect. I don't know why I even waste my money on R&T, come to think of it.

Dennis: R&T obviously had no problem including 3 German cars in the test. If the Viper isn't American, it's German, right? So, what would it matter having a 4th German car??? I agree competition is good. What do you think has stopped GM from coming out with a big block option on the Vette? Surely they've done a market survey on this subject, and I guess they concluded it isn't worth their time (or else the turn-around time is very slow). The speculation I saw in MT a couple months ago was that the C6 would not have a big block option. Sigh.

jlatl: OK, technically/legally Ruf may be its own make. In my mind, I still think of it as a tuner Porsche, same as the Saleen is a tuner Mustang. I've never seen or heard of a Ruf dealer, the car looks like a stock Porsche (maybe cognoscenti recognize the difference), etc. I think not including an LPE, Hennessey, or TNT car because they are tuner vehicles and Ruf isn't is a technicality. I assume that a Hennessey Viper is street legal, comes with a warranty, etc. Probably not much difference in those respects from a Ruf....

 

[94 RT/10 Black MAMBA]

No I'm not kidding! Road and Track is owned by Flachette Publishing in France which is owned by Saddam Hussien. It's one of the many places he hides the money he steals.

 

[Joseph Houss]

Correction:

Hachette publications, offices in NYC.