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[JiminVirginia]

I autocrossed my ZO6 AND my MINI S in 2004. I'm going to do the same this year, but running a 2005 MINIS with LSD in STX, vice my old 2004 G Stock car.

The "typical" difference between a representative car running Super Stock and a representative car running G Stock in SCCA events is about 3.5 seconds on a 50 second course, according to the 2005 PAX index. Thus you should expect a ZO6 to beat a MINI S by that amount, each with good but equally skilled drivers. (For an STX MINI S, with coil overs, LSD, and other hardware, the PAX gap relative to Super Stock is about 1.5 seconds.)

I figured my ZO6, which I ran last year on OEM street tires, was about 2 seconds faster than my G Stock MINI S on Kumho V700 r-compounds, based on how I ran relative to a couple of friends. If I had run the Z on r-compounds the difference would have been greater, more like the 3.5 seconds I reference above using the PAX index.

Exception: rain. I can easily believe a MINI S would compete with a ZO6 in the rain, especially on a tight course. I ran the ZO6 twice last fall in the rain, and I hated it: a waste of perfectly good horsepower. An STX MINI S in the rain might well outrun a ZO6 from time to time.

My $02.