Took the S2000 to the strip.

[G.Irish]

Yeah, that was kind of a weak analogy. What's this red mist you speak of?

"Red mist" is when a driver gets so caught up in the adrenaline and testoterone of going fast and/or chasing someone down that target fixation, overdriving, and recklessness are the result. This obviously leads to crashes (Exhibit A: RJ).

AWD and high horsepower are characteristics of the car I drive. I'd learn how to exploit these on the track. Why buy another FWD or RWD low horsepower car, that I wouldn't enjoy driving because I'm not into those cars, just so I can find out what it's like to drive one and learn how to drive one?

On this question, the reason you'd get a slower car because it is easier to learn on the slower vehicle. There are fundamentals of car control, maintaining momentum and "the line" that you'll have to learn before you start working on taking advantage of the extra traction of AWD. With high horsepower you can get away with not carrying as much corner speed because you can make up for it with power. When you don't have as much power if you screw up a corner there ain't no making up the speed.

If you want to go fast in a slower car you have to get all of the techniques right. With a fast car you can still be doing a lot of things wrong and go at a pretty good clip.

Can you still learn on the higher horsepower AWD car? Sure. Will you learn as much as quickly? Maybe. Would it be easier to start with something slower? Definitely. Would that be right for you? You be the judge.