"Sports cars" is a generic term we use to describe vehicles that tend to be designed with an emphasis on their go-fast ability. Based on this definition (totally unofficial, by the way), you can have all sorts of vehicle types that fall into this category.
Coupes, roadsters, hot hatches, sometimes even sedans—hell, plenty of SUVs can make the claim these days—all would like to be referred to as such, and before anyone raises any eyebrows, it should be said they also have the performance to back it all up.
Still, to qualify as a true sports car, you need to show the willingness to sacrifice some practicality for the sake of performance, and sedans and SUVs can't really brag about that. That leaves a much narrower segment to choose from—or so you'd think.
If there was ever an illustration of just how similar and yet different these cars can be from each other, it's this: a motley crew of sports cars from three different continents getting together to have a friendly contest over a short (very short) but technical autocross circuit.
We have the American Chevrolet Corvette C8 Stingray as the sole representative of the V8 gang, shamelessly flaunting its 6.2-liter engine putting out 495 hp. One could expect the C8 to be sluggish, but the 'Vette has proven it's quick at the drag strip time and time again, and it's also the only one with a true mid-engine configuration, so we know it's got balance.
Yeah, except it'll be going against Porsche's track master, the 911 GT3 RS (albeit of the 991.2 generation). The rear-engine Neunelfer would absolutely obliterate its competition if the track were longer and wider, but it's not, so it remains to be seen whether it can still come out on top.
Also representing Europe and Germany is the GT3 RS's baby brother, the 718 Cayman S. Well, the Cayman GT4 would have been an even closer sibling, but the S has enough to give the rest of the cars plenty of headaches. It's smaller and nimbler, two attributes that should come in handy on this tight course.
Finally, we have the entry from Japan. While all the others are fairly modern, the Rising Sun is sending the good old Honda S2000. However, given its diminutive size and the high-revving 2.0-liter VTEC engine (that could theoretically allow the driver to complete the course using only first gear), dismissing the 2K would be a mistake.
To prove our point about how different sports cars can be, a Nissan GT-R makes an appearance as well, looking like an elephant in a porcelain shop. It's just a guest driver, though, so his time wouldn't have counted anyway.
Each of the four drivers gets three runs around the track, and while we're very tempted to talk about what happened, we're not going to. Let's just say it doesn't go as planned and that the winner is decided during the very last run.
"Boy meets car, boy loves car, boy gets journalism degree and starts job writing and editing at a car magazine" - 5/5. (Vlad Mitrache if he was a movie) Full profile
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