[landrovered]

If you look at ALMS you can see the effects of exactly what you are talking about.

LMP1 cars have the most horsepower and should be much faster than the LMPC and GT cars.

On long tracks this difference is notable but on examples such as last weekend's race at Long Beach the LMP1 and LMPC cars were suffering from a lack of mechanical grip and the GT cars were actually faster in the corners than their more exotic bretheran. The speeds were too slow for the aerodynamic grip to give the LMP cars an advantage.

A well driven GT car will usually place in the top ten of any ALMS race when they can be slower by more than15 seconds per lap.

So as noted above, it is not total horsepower that is the key to success but what you do with it and planning a strategy that plays to your cars strenghts and not its weaknesses.

My wife has a 2.5 and I have a 3.6, I am quite aware of the differences between the two cars performance but I would not discount her 2.5 in any way. It is a hell of a good car.

If we were to race each other, I am sure that I would be much faster than her car but she would pass me while I was refueling.