Answering an age-old question: Slow car fast or fast car slow?

Both. 

But I like slow car, fast enough to learn new skills at the track. On the street anything above a well prepped Miata is just showing how big your wallet is. 

I'm just building a slow car that looks fast.....

Gotta agree with what tom1200 was saying. Perhaps another way to put it is that a slower car has more planning and patience with mid-corner corrections added to the bag. It's a bit more of a chess game. Faster car is much more decisive. Much more reflexive. Not as much planning time, you have to nail it immediately. Get behind and there isn't as much of a chance to correct mid stream. 

Not saying that the examples are absolute, it's a spectrum. Each has its strategy, there is a lot of overlap. 

Cars are like women. There are cars that are much more than I can handle. And there are women who are much more than I can handle. 
 

I don't have the skill to nurse the last tenth of a second of potential out of a fast car. Most of us don't. Only 1 or 2% of drivers have that level of skill. 
 

I like challenging myself. I like racing a car that takes me to my limit while I take it to its limit. 
 

Slow car fast. 

I have fond memories of running cars in D stock as well as FSP and then EP. Not quite the lowest power and certainly not the most HP either. But enough difference to appreciate having to drive tidy and avoid mistakes if you wanted to keep up with others in your class. I remember an autocross at Danville Airport. At the time my old Chevy Nova was very nearly at its best. The hot car in A stock that year was the 84-85 Corvettes. Clearly a totally different kind of car and way different class than FSP, but the lap times were shockingly similar. I was about 2 seconds slower than the corvettes on a 1:30 course. They weren't in any danger of being shamed by the old Nova, but there surely was no shame in posting times that close to theirs. I went home happy for sure, both with the car and my own performance. It just doesnt get much better than that. I had maybe 10k in the Nova and they had 40k in their Vettes. And I would argue I had as much or more fun than anyone else there.

The most fun I have ever had on track was in my old Legacy wagon. With 165 HP and 3200 lb curb weight it was never going to be a trophy car, but it did take to a few very entertaining track days where its limited HP but reasonably well developed chassis  and brakes made up for being a bit shy on power. The chassis helped make every horsepower count and not get wasted. Other than what the ham-fisted driver wasted :) Although I think I am improving its slow progress at this age. 

Slow car slow, at least that's how I end up driving them,

All I know is it's more fun to drive a slow car fast than a fast car slow.

Since I started autocross in 2018, slow cars are all I've had. I've had two NB Miatas, about to sell the last one to pay bills. 
 

It was never intended for use as my primary and about to be only autocross car, but now I'm driving my 08 civic coupe in H Street in regional events. 
 

The open differential and 140 HP engine really limit it on paper, but it does really well on a momentum course. Last event at the Firm, won the class by 3.5 seconds. 
 

Lots of body roll with the non SI suspension, but it really grips. 


 

I suppose it all depends on the why...    I find slow car (sort of) fast to be very satisfying.  

Good discussion topic.

I've only driven slow cars in autocross and HPDE days. A few decades ago autocrossing  I had several 2nds and 3rds in my class with a 1987 Jetta Gli. I prepped it extensively for an upcoming Autocross and was really gunning for a first place at the next event. I showed up at the event and was pleased  to see no Acura Integras were at the event. I placed second, I was beat by a very rusty Ford ranger 2WD. Lost by over a second. That driver danced around the cones with that truck. For the most maximum fun get to an ice race on a lake with a slow car. Most fun you can have with your clothes on.

In reply to codrus (Forum Supporter) :

yes but the number of cars to race against in the slower(less expensive) classes is typically higher. Look at the typical car counts for SM and Spec Racer groups; compared to GT1, and the other high power classes. More folks to play with and if i end up in front of a higher horsepower car I look like Parnelli Jones!

I think I'd have to put a qualifier on why its slow. If its low power and handles great, fine. If its slow because it handles like a rental Malibu, ugg no thanks.

Pick the fastest car you can budget for. I race a 26 year old Miata...

Slow car fast.

But then, if you are driving a slow car fast is it still a slow car?

Noddaz said:

Slow car fast.

But then, if you are driving a slow car fast is it still a slow car?

Plato would be proud.

6 of us race in the ITO class in SCCA. We have 80s V8 Mustangs and Camaros for the most part. Because of the V8 we have always been grouped with the Big Bore Cars-Tube frame, TransAm, etc. Compared to them we are moving cones, but we know them and they know us; we play together well.

The speed differential is growing and the race organizers are planning to move us to a class where we'll be the fastest. Stay tuned for the answer... :)

I enjoy driving both fast and slow cars fast but what I really want is a car that's faster then my competitors.