GM is making some good stuff lately.

[WRXtranceformed]

Like Channing said, tires are always viewed as part of the car in these tests, but as enthusiasts, we know the tires have a huge effect on a cars performance and they are changed frequently during the life of a car. How many of us run the stock tires when we're on the track?

My point being, if you are going to treat the comparison as one for car enthusiasts, rent out a track for a weekend, use professional drivers, break lap times broken down by sections, and compare the times to the tenth of a second, why not fix the variable that could make a 5+ second difference in lap times? I'm sure someone would love the free publicity of making their tire the official car and driver test tire.

I just think the car makers design and build the car, not the tire, and I'd love to see tests that reflect that without a hidden tire test built in.

I see your point, but then the car isn't stock anymore. Why not swap a turbocharger or supercharger pulley at that point, or open up the exhaust? I'd be willing to bet that a lot of enthusiasts that take cars like these to the track and actually go to the length of swapping out to R-compounds are probably swapping out other stuff in their cars as well, unless they're racing in a class that doesn't allow it.

That possibility aside though, when you give everyone the same tires they aren't stock anymore and it completely throws that whole comparison of the cars out the window. You are then testing yes, the engineering of them but this isn't the point of that test. Who the fuck would want a Cobalt over an Elise? Who would argue that the Elise isn't a better engineered car? Nobody. But the point remains that the SS did beat it in a track comparison because GM decided to equip it with better tires from the factory (unless they supplied a ringer, which is possible for those crooked mag tests) and in stock form, which again is the purpose of the comparison, this makes it a faster car.