Americans can't build performance cars

[C M Smith <cmsmith@domain.elided>]

Ladies, please please get off this bandwagon before someone gets hurt, 
seriously.

GM's latest Corvette will run with, past, and for longer than the non North 
American best. Earlier Corvettes were just as capable in their way. And the 
Corvette is cheap by super car standards, heck ordinary people have been 
known to buy them (even more normal people like them). If you've never 
driven a Corvette, you are not qualified to guess how good they can be. The 
Viper may have an aluminum (or aluminium if you prefer) truck engine but no 
one could ever suggest it might be slow. Blow your doors off? Yes it will, 
and that's just when it gets fired up! Once the clutch gets dropped all the 
Euro car driver will see is tire smoke, the Viper will be gone. Seems to me 
a guy called Panoz is making some pretty hot specialist cars for racetrack 
or street.

As for US designs in world class racing, I believe the Ford GT 40 whipped 
Ferrari's ass, several times. With a push rod V8 no less, designed in 
Detroit and built in Australia (another country fond of the big iron 
solution to minor problems like insufficient acceleration).

These cars are not to my taste (well except for the GT 40 of course, who 
wouldn't want one of these?) but let's get the facts straight.  You want 
fast? There is no substitute for cubic inches.

Now that F1 will be running the new road course at Indianapolis we 
Europhiles will have a chance to consider our opinions a little before we 
make rash assertions about American cars and American racing (we Canadians 
have produced some seriously outrageous racing machinery in our time as well).


Michael Smith
Calgary, Alberta
Canada
91 Alfa 164L, White, original owner

------------------------------