prg

Track day driving a wings'n'things with a bunch of street cars certainly is pretty unsatisfying. I'd imagine driving a cup with DE rules would be pretty unsatisfying as well. A bit of an ego boost from having the fastest and coolest car around, but a lot of waiting for the next straight to pass.

allegretto

At our track there's a rat pack of fast Porsches including more than a few Cups so if I went that way it's a "class"sort of.

But I like an open cockpit and insane G's would be a hoot. Do you worry about safety and exposure?

prg

I would if if was going to be routinely running with + 3,000 lb street cars.

Running with other 1,000 to 1,500 lb cars, I actually think the purpose built tube framed cars are about as safe as a caged production based car. That said, one of the reasons I switched from a tube framed standard FM to a carbon tubbed pro FM was safety. I wanted a car with a fia certified survival cell. I honestly think I'm safer in my carbon tub than most caged production base cars. I don't know that a cup car driver would fare as well as Katherine Legge or Robert Kubica did with similar impacts at the Kink or the Montreal concrete wall.

RQ_GT3

Interesting discussions. Curious, how would you compare safety-wise a Radical tube frame that has the factory "FIA reinforcement"? (that is what I have)

Still subpar to a carbon tub?

Sorry if the question is stupid, trying to learn.

prg

I am not an engineer. My suspicion is that the carbon tub is significantly stronger but I have no data to back that up.

Clearly a tube framed car can be made extremely safe, but at the price of weight. Have you ever looked at the cage tubing on sprint cup or nationwide car? It looks like they stole some tubes from the trans alaska pipeline.

Riz

I wonder if the Exige S 240 was setup right. If it had the track pack, it has to be stiffened up and the ride height has to be lowered. If you don't do this, it rolls more than you would think. When I did this, it made a huge difference. You also have to corner balance it. The stock track pack setup is even softer than standard sport pack setup unless you adjust to track settings. I know the Viper ACR had its own engineer that came with the car to optimize setup. Lotus is such a low budget company, my Exige S 240 did not even come with proper owners manual, how to use variable traction control, or launch control. I had to do the research later.
I agree with NJ-GT, it all comes down to power/weight ratio. The Exige is really lacking in hp/torque in that company. I love the handling and feel. A lot more fun without getting into speeds of my GT3.
I'm surprised they didn't include the Ferrari Scuderia in the test.