It's Great On Track But What About the Road? I Don't Know.

So the supercar thread got me thinking about this.

I get to drive a whole host of amazing cars on track (mostly Porsches) and I'm always talking about the performance. Friends and relatives often ask me about them and I go on about the brakes or mid corner balance etc. and other things they don't even know exist or care about.

A cousin just bought an M4 Competition Coupe; I told her I've driven one on track but had no clue what they were like as a daily driver. She said she loved it but we really couldn't converse anymore on the car because we are coming at it from different worlds.

So out of curiosity for any other folks who instruct or drive at manufacturer events; do you have the suffer the same plight? 

I'm not sure that suffer or plight are the correct words but I'm in the same situation. 

In reply to APEowner :

Most definitely not suffering but it is a weird feeling.

I'd probably be the same way if someone I knew bought an M4, but not a regular 4 series. My line of thought is "why get the M if you didn't care how it drives?"

In reply to j_tso :

My cousin lives in NYC so she's not going to use that 500hp much.

The better it is in track, the worse it is on the roads. A 600hp BMW is no more fun on the street than a 428i for me. But it sure looks cooler.

Maybe less fun in many ways, no easy way to wring it out, no way to get near the limit, more concerned with bumper dings and lip scrapes, rough on potholes, etc.

From the lower end of the spectrum, almost everything about a S60R Volvo is worse than a T5.  But, that's a Volvo, so it an outlier.

Whenever I see a car with great big wheels, tires and brakes, all I see is a darting, harsh machine with too much unsprung weight. 

Race cars are great on a race track.

But, that's just my opinion.  I could be wrong.

Olemiss540 said:

The better it is in track, the worse it is on the roads.

I don't necessarily agree.  I'll use the Ferrari 488, C8 or R8 as examples.  They are plenty fast yet fully daily driver capable.  Comfortable and easy to drive.

j_tso said:

I'd probably be the same way if someone I knew bought an M4, but not a regular 4 series. My line of thought is "why get the M if you didn't care how it drives?"

Same reason BMW sticks M badges all over non M cars. They like the status of the badge. Its why M cars have been drifting less and less track focused over the years. 

In reply to SKJSS (formerly Klayfish) :

I was hoping you'd chime in as I know younger to drive them on the road.

In reply to Tom1200 :

Actually, 95% of my driving them is on a racetrack.  However I have hours upon hours of driving time just trying to dry out the track.  That's cruising between 30-70 mph so it's quite similar to road use.

SKJSS (formerly Klayfish) said:

In reply to Tom1200 :

Actually, 95% of my driving them is on a racetrack.  However I have hours upon hours of driving time just trying to dry out the track.  That's cruising between 30-70 mph so it's quite similar to road use.

That's always so nice when it happens, I will always love that 45 minutes+that I got to ring out the GT3 at Pocono.  I could drive that thing at 7/10ths way faster than most race cars with ease until I ran out of fuel...