Missing in Action: The Cars I Have Never Seen Myself in The Track
After a few years an likely by now at least 50 track outings in the Northern California tracks in the last 4 years, there are some cars I’ve never seen in the track (exception for few I brought myself), but haven’t seen anyone else driving them) and others that just seem odd they don’t show up.
1) Volvo C30: Twitter just reminded me of this. Of all the glories and lip service paid to the Volvo C30 Polestar, I have never seen one at the track. Nor a Polestar or a Regular Manual C30. Why is that? On paper, it should be a hoot to drive, right? I’ve driven a manual C70 HT dialed-in just right and that thing was BMW E36 M3 levels of happy. But I still haven’t seen a Volvo C30 at the track.
2) Chevy Cobalt SS (Turbo or Supercharged) except for the time *I* brought one to Laguna Seca and an autocross session at Sonoma Raceway, with painful results, I’ve never seen either of them. I know perfectly why they aren’t great for the track.
3)2015-2021 Honda Accord Coupe V6: Again, on paper, this is the *closest* recipe to the beloved NSX. But I’ve never seen one at the track myself. The auto writer who was won actual tournaments on one, once told me when I asked about it. He said the stock clutch is simply not up to the task, nor the entire brake system. But once you address both, and the soft gooey suspension, you are golden. That’s tons of $$$$ just to get started. I’ve seen plenty of Camrys, but the Accords are usual no-shows despite all other Hondas making appearances.
4)Mitsubishi 3000GT/Eclipse with either the VR4 or 4GTT engines: Again, I once dared to bring my own VR4 to Laguna Seca. It kicked my ass. A lot was due to the badly tuned and not quite sorted out car, but I’ve never seen a Stealth or 3000GT, or even an old Eclipse around.
A few models *should* be great track cars like a Galant VR4 or the Eclipse GT-S. I know from experience the 3000GT is way too heavy, (even though nowadays it weights the same as a 2023 BMW M2), and it doesn’t have a balanced weight, with the heavy front carrying most of the weight. So the brakes and wheel bearings work too hard at all times.
6)Saab Viggen or Saab 9-3 Aero: These two, should in theory, have enough power and specs to do well. Even though the Viggen had 240HP and 260 lb-ft of torque, it lacked an LSD and traction control on the earlier versions.
The Saab 9-3 Aero sedan ups the game to 280HP and 300 lb-ft and en e-LSD, but none of them are ever seen at the track. They both have manual transmissions and turbo engines.
Yes, I brought my own 2000 Saab Viggen coupe a few years back to Thunderhill East, only to blow up its engine at the warmup first round (RIP Viggo), after 3 years of near flawless service.
But The Viggen is awful at the track. the gearing on first and second gear is ECU boost limited, and only near 4K RPM an 3rd gear the car wakes up, but then tries to kill you with heavy torque steer. It does deliver the creamy turbo goodness on 3rd gear and fourth, but doesn’t make up for the lack of power on the first two gears.
Have you seen any of these at your local track regularly? Are they common? Why aren’t they showing up more often at the tracks or Northern California?
