The point is for relative data this shows it’s not just a one trick pony and in the hands of an average person this car can provide plenty of fun even on a road course.
The hellcat variants really are just a good average all around performance car with gobs of power for street fun and enough capabilities to still take to the track and hurt some feelings. Now for the more focused track day junky there are better options but the trade off will be a less enjoyable street car so it’s all in what one really wants.
That's not really the point that he brought up, at least how I see it. You can read it how you want, but it was being used as a comparison against other cars.
I don't doubt that the hellcat can throw down a decent lap, I've been on track with more than a few of them.
Again, not the point I was trying to make. This is a poor tool to use as a comparison for lap times.
I disagree. It's solid numbers and the variables you mentioned are going to translate in the terms of. 01 - 1.5 seconds up or down for any car on the list. So you are still looking at a cluster of data that says a Hellcat is going to be damn fast on an actual track.
As for changes to VIR, one of the biggest changes was the addition of FIA Curbing which means you can no longer cut across the gentle corners to ramp up momentum... Unless you want to sheer off your wheels and underbody.
Blasting across the "climbing esses" is exactly what a Hellcat driver would want to do, ands it's exactly what they can't do today.
HC also ran something like a 7:51 on Nürburgring, putting in with the C6 Z06, beating out a 996 GT3, GTR, SL65 AMG and M4.
It's a solid performance car that can hold its own. Your just going to have to channel your inner Richard Petty instead of Niki Laude.
That curbing was added in like 2010 or something and they ended up widening and repaving the track in 2014 and repaving it again like 2 years later. They smoothed out a lot of bumps in the turns which, especially for non-race cars, are a huge deal.
I can't remember the specifics, but nearly the entire field in GTLM broke the previous lap record after the repaving.
And again, I'm not talking down the performance of the Challenger on this.
I believe this is an inconsistent metric to compare cars, regardless of what cars we are talking about. I was saying this exact same thing when the Focus RS (when I owned one) wiped the floor with the STI by like 14 seconds on this track after it was repaved, I knew it was BS. Ring times are even less reliable.