It's a nice article. The Viper "won" on track time but not on driving enjoyment. They tested the cars at Buttonwillow on the East and West Loops and included instrumented test data and segment times, speeds, g-forces.
Basically the Elise could outdo the Viper when it was not power limited. So on the straightaways the Viper would gain lots of time. In some parts of the course the Viper could do over 10 more MPH. And on corner exits it always had enough oompth. On some of the sweepers the Elise could be floored but could not reach it's cornering limit whereas the Viper could. So in those sorts of corners the Viper could corner harder than the Elise. In the tight stuff and with transitions and hard braking the Elise came into it's own. So for exampe the Viper might make up 0.5 seconds on a straightaway and then the Elise might gain 0.2 seconds in a corner.
If the Elise had the same displacement versus weight (with driver and a full gas tank) the Elise would have a 4.9 liter motor!! They said that the Elise felt like a race car while the Viper felt like a very fast street car. They felt the Elise had more driver appeal.
Here's a picture of the track summary data. The Viper and Elise were stock, the Elise had the sport pack.
Basically the Elise could outdo the Viper when it was not power limited. So on the straightaways the Viper would gain lots of time. In some parts of the course the Viper could do over 10 more MPH. And on corner exits it always had enough oompth. On some of the sweepers the Elise could be floored but could not reach it's cornering limit whereas the Viper could. So in those sorts of corners the Viper could corner harder than the Elise. In the tight stuff and with transitions and hard braking the Elise came into it's own. So for exampe the Viper might make up 0.5 seconds on a straightaway and then the Elise might gain 0.2 seconds in a corner.
If the Elise had the same displacement versus weight (with driver and a full gas tank) the Elise would have a 4.9 liter motor!! They said that the Elise felt like a race car while the Viper felt like a very fast street car. They felt the Elise had more driver appeal.
Here's a picture of the track summary data. The Viper and Elise were stock, the Elise had the sport pack.
