Have bikes ruined sports cars for you?

Never had a sports car, so no for me.

 

Other than six months in high school, I've never not owned one.

 

$60k is more than I paid for my GT350. It's a fantastic car.

I'm in the camp of them just being different, and I have/enjoy both. I haven't gridded a bike up since 2015, and I've been messing around in Chump/Champcar with a V6 swapped MR2 since 2013. I don't take it nearly as seriously as I did on 2 wheels, but I think that's a good thing. It keeps it more enjoyable and less expensive. I haven't beaten any of my 2 wheel lap times, but I've gotten a lot closer than I thought I would. On the road, the mountains/canyons aren't a place for speed records. My pace in the GT350 is pretty much the same as on my old Hawk. Then, when I'm done, call me soft, but I can roll up the windows and turn on the seat heaters/blowers. I had a 2012 Mustang GT before the present GT350. It was probably a better street car, even though it didn't put the same smile on my face. I could daily drive it without worrying about dumb stuff, and 412hp was plenty.

 

I'm not really a modern sporting car kind of guy. But, there's something about the M2 just intrigues me.

 

Bikes have ruined most cars as far as pure acceleration goes sure, otherwise no its totally different and so still fun.
Just not as fun as bikes

 

Small, simple, fun, FAST, sounds great (I put the M Performance exhaust on it), and the six speed manual with autoblipper is incredibly sick fun. I put some new wheels and coilover kit on it recently too, so now it's even better.

 

I think it depends on context. For instance, I was at a (motorcycle) track day where a guy showed up in a then-new Ferrari 550 Maranello. In between sessions, he took me out for a ride on the roads surrounding the racetrack. I was to wearing full leathers and shit. He was whipping that thing and it did absolutely nothing for me. Conversely, take an instance where it's probably been a couple of weeks since I rode a motorcycle. Honda dealerships start getting the first S2000s in the country. I go for a test drive and in five minutes, I feel like I am having as much fun as on a motorcycle. The car has half the power of the Ferrari.

In short, it's more complicated than yes/no.

 

Oh I’ve gotten plenty out of rental cars.

Got the air out of the tires a few times. Got the driveshaft out of a grand Cherokee once. Even got the oil out of a Mazda 6 by way of a giant hole in the oil pan. Turns out they jump pretty well but land like shit.

These days I’m older and wiser and less of a disrespectful twat, but I’m still shocked that I’m allowed to rent cars. You’d think they’d have a blacklist or something.

 

They work at different places for me.
Track riding ruined street riding for me, havent ridden in a couple year.
Reasonable sport cars are so much more fun the motorcycles ever were on the street, you dont have to be scared of every other driver or sand on the road.

 

Cool thread.

I haven't raced a motorcycle since 2014. But I've recently reignited my love for fast cars. It's the same fun, just different. I'm better at making cars go fast than bikes though.

 

When I raced go-karts, it seemed like picking up a tenth of a second was about as hard as picking up a full second on a bike. It is just so much easier to get close to the fastest guys, time wise on a kart vs. a bike. You still may be in 5th place but the lap times are much closer.

I remember telling my dad road racing a bike is the most thrilling thing I've done, go-karts and drag racing bikes are both fun, but not quite the same rush. I still enjoy driving a nice fast car, or a great handling car, even though they usually aren't as fast as bikes.

 

Maybe I will take a second bite out of this apple. I've raced a lot of different kinds of bikes a lot, and raced cars some, mostly road raced. Seems to me, in a race, when you are totally in the moment, and you are struggling to make the thing go the fastest you can get out of it, and beat everybody else, there's not much difference--who at that point is thinking, is this more or less thrilling than cars/bikes? But I will say this--as a very general rule, road racing cars takes a sort of softer touch, so you don't unsettle the car or mess with its wheel weight or attitude in corners to preserve max traction and to carry a smooth parabolic arc to maximizes speed--smoothness is the operative principle, while as another very general rule, a bike takes a fairly strong and aggressive hand to get it to initiate a turn, and basically is far more unstable than a car when it is on the limit. Not more or less thrilling, just different, when you are hard at work on going fast.

But, there is a saying, that the fastest car always wins, and the fastest motorcycle rider always wins. Nothing is always true, but that saying has some truth in it. In cars, it is a much simpler technical undertaking to go fairly fast, and the difference in lap times between a very good and a so so driver is much smaller, and that is in part because it is fairly easy to drive a car somewhat quickly and to get 90% out of a car--relatively easy, and relatively safe, but that is definitely not the case with a motorcycle. On motorcycles, the difference between lap times of a very good rider, and a so so rider, can be very large, because it is very difficult to make it go fast, and a guy trying to get 90% of what a bike has is taking big risks if he exceeds his talent. In a sense, bike racing is a much more democratic sport in which the guy with the most talent mostly wins.

The thing is, cars do way faster lap times than bikes. But the bike is less stable, more of a challenge, there is more risk of injury, and so it is odds on to be more thrilling, all things being equal.

 

That is exactly why I got bored with car very fast.

 

Cars ARE fun, unfortunately, it takes a very good car to come even close to the sensations we feel on a bike and pretty much all of those are specific race cars.

Ken

 

In cars i have drag and road raced, plus race karts as well. I dont have time to race and was tired of sitting at the track for a few sessions a day so at 44 I transitioned to motorcycle track days. I tried doing a track day in a very well setup M3 racing car but it just wanst fun for me probably because i was use to racing.

Motorcycle track days just seem more challenging and enjoyable probably because im still learning, im not super fast dont plan on being the next Rossi but for me its more enjoyable.

i do own a 2005 Porsche and i have toyed with selling her because lately i am just about the ride and relaxing while driving, i dont feel the need to go fast on the street anymore and take chances.

 

It’s a different kind of fun. If money were no object my daily would be an RS6 Avant or E63 AMG wagon. Road trip car would be a 911 when the cargo space of the wagon was not needed. Weekend fun car would be an M2. Solo mountain trips and blasts for a quick fix would command an S2000. Track car would be a GT350.

 

Even with that great collection. I’d rather have an SV and a Sprinter

 

C’mon now, S2K for a money-no-object solo mountain weapon?

I’d be getting a BAC Mono. MAYBE an Atom just so I could strap my dog into it and give him the time of his life.

 

What car is easiest to pull a ton of lateral Gs in?

I think a complete aero package on a semi inexpensive car would be neat.

 

S2000 has a roof, a second seat and a trunk. I’d rather have either of those you mentioned for the track than mountains.