with GRM being a mag focused (mostly) on cars that will do track/autocross duty, one thing always strikes me about comparison tests (e.g. WRX vs. MS3 vs. GTI, or Z06 vs Mustang GT, or whatever):
- guys who use their car for motorsports are not likely to be using a certain "stock" component:
TIRES
Especially since we know that alot of otherwise-good-performing cars come handicapped from the factory with crappy tires (Potenza RE92 comes to mind immediately)...
And thanks to tire comparisons, we know how much difference one tire can make to another on a track or course, right?
So why not find out what the best CAR is in these comparisons by eliminating one of the biggest, most bogus variables in most tests: TIRES:
Take the cars (wrx, ms3, gti, cobalt ss, etc) and match them all up using the exact same tires (stick with stock sizes, to fit stock wheels). Then see which is quicker once the biggest variable (besides the driver) is eliminated.
--
Obviously this would get pricey to do with all tests (especially with supercars, etc). But it would be interesting to see maybe one month a good multi-car comparison doing this method - and then compare that to results to the SAME cars in a previous comparsion, perhaps?
Per Schroeder
Technical Editor/Advertising Director
1/5/10 8:03 p.m.
We've done this on some important cars..MX-5 vs Miata vs Solstice was one 'recent' example. But yea, that's an expensive article to do consistently. And 'stock' sizes are sometimes hard to come by. We typically go with 'as raced' tire sizing.
Per
"As raced" sizes or some variation on that makes good sense to me.
In reply to Per Schroeder:
ah I must have missed or not noticed that one....but yeah, let's say "best available size on stock wheels" for the sake of making it a bit easier....
but would be awesome to see a test like this comparing the "most popular" cars in, say, STX/STU classes....
MS3,
WRX/STi (a nod to the ex-SubieSport guys who now have GRM subscriptions!),
GTI,
Cobalt SS,
Evo/Rallitek,
etc.
I'm sure TireRack or someone could sponsor the test, as a way to convince all the "hot hatch/hot sedan" people that they need better tires 
especially in light of the regular tests you do using 1 CAR but various tires comparison.
^^ the point wouldn't be to decide on the best car for any given auto-x class necessarily (we know the Evo owns STU) - but only to decide on what the best CAR is in a general sense the best CAR, taking away the biggest handling variable.
