Racing cars is an expensive hobby. Reading magazine comparisons help fill the void of racing, but you can only read what is written. What do you if you want to race any kind of car? What about racing your old car vs your new car?
The answer is car racing simulation software. I use a program called CarTest200. http://www.cartestsoftware.com/cartest2000/index.html
With a trip to the track and simulation software, you can dial in your actual times with the virtual version of your car that you can preserve the true performance of your car and use for testing against any other car that you think of. The CarTest software comes with a database of over 2000 cars. It also allows you to build or program in any car as long as you have the specs required to build the car.
Once you have a time slip from a drag strip you properly dial in your car and calculate your car’s exact stats. For example, my 8.76 1/8 time is good enough for a 0-60 time of 4.9 seconds.
The other fun thing about the CarTest software is you can virtually “mod” your car. How much faster would your car be with 30hp? How much faster would your car be if it weighed 100lbs less? You can edit almost any parameter of the car and the environment, even the outside temperature.
Simulators are just that, simulators and aren’t always 100% accurate, there are anomalies that can effect some stats. For best results you can match up actual time slips with specific cars to get that exact level of accuracy.
