Originally Posted by gpeele
just for the record tsuchiya is one of the greatest race car drivers out of japan. he can drift faster than most drivers can grip a course and is well know for his ability to drive any vehicle to its limits with a minimum of seat time.
Tsukuba is a small technical track that doesnt have alot of room to open up. the lighter more nimble car will definately have the advantage on this course since it will be able to carry more speed throught the corners. the s2k handles like a gocart, and the chasis is stiff as hell. ive never driven an m3 so i cant say how it handles, but youll have a hard time convincing me that a 3500lb car can turn inside of a 2600lb car thats designed from the ground up to be a handling machine.
euro cars are great in that you can take them to the track, have a blast, and then pick up the misses for a date at night. but they are way overpriced for the performance that you get and the aftermarket for them is even worst in terms of pricing. japanese cars are great because they are well engineered cars that can easily be tapped for greater power and handling through a cheaper aftermarket.
. It's easy to tap ANy car for greater power. You just have to be a baller to do it in an E46 M3. I think If you compared the aftermarket between the S2k and the M3 they would be very similar in terms of pricing on most parts.
From your description of this course it seems obvious to me why the S2k seemed faster. If the course doesn't open up at all then how can the M3 take advantage of the power that it has? Race those same two cars on VIR or Summit and I guarantee different things would happen. If you think european cars are over priced, you can think what you want. Hows this: you get what you pay for. You're going to have a hard time convincing anyone that an E46 M3 is an overpriced, poor handling car with a poor aftermarket.
Also, I like how you throw all European cars into the same bucket (ie overpriced, heavy, and poor/expensive aftermarket). I know my 3 series has an aftermarket comparable to nissans/hondas, and many of the parts are less expensive AND more functional. (i guess it kinda helps that we aren't all trying to pay extra money to be a JDM faggot huh?).
Making generalizations makes you look like an ass. (especially when you seem to have absolutely no idea what you're talking about)