Read the fine print or footnotes!!

Sorry I haven't posted in a while but moving was rough. I'm back online now. I've had people ask me why in modern road tests of Hemi Challengers, Camaro SS's and Boss 302 Mustangs the 0-60 and 1/4 mile times vary as much as 1/2 second. People have also noticed this in vintage road tests of musclecars when they were new. There are a lot of factors involved, and they all contribute to this disparity between performance figures from one magazine test to another. I'll list them in no particular order. # 1. The miles on the test vehichle. A vehichle with less than 500 miles on it may not be "broken in" and could be noticeably slower than an identical vehicle with more miles. Hot Rod tested two different 5.0 Mustangs back in the early '90's. They were both 5-speeds with 3.08 rear ends.  The red one ran a 15.29 in the 1/4, and the blue one ran a 14.72.  However, the red one had only 150 miles on it. The blue one had been in the press fleet a while and had 5,600 miles on it. This happened to Car and Driver with two Buick Grand Nationals. The one with 3,000 miles on it was 3 or 4 tenths quicker than the one with only 800. # 2. Make sure your comparing "Apples to Apples."  The difference between a manual or an automatic trans can be minimal or substantial, especially if different axle ratios are involved. A 4-speed, 3.42 geared "Smokey and the Bandit" T/A is going to run a lot quicker than a 2.56 geared automatic model.  Same with modern stuff. Car and driver tested two different Hemi Challenger R/T's. The six-speed manual with a 3.92 axle was nearly 1/2 a second quicker than the 5-speed automatic with a 3.06 rear end.  Duh!!!         # 3.  Read about "Launch technique" and what the "professional driver on a closed course" really did. Back in the '70's Road and Track and Hot Rod tested 400, 4-speed WS6 Trans Ams. Road and track ran a 15.30, while Hot Rod ran a blistering 14.61-a lot quicker.  However Road and Track slipped the clutch at 1,800 rpm to "minimize" wheelspin and all shifts were "lift-throttle".  Hot Rod popped the clutch at 4,300 rpm, let the posi do it's job, and powershifted . That could do it.  # 4. Beware of "Ringers".  Some 40 years later, Jim Wangers finally admitted what we already knew. Car and Drivers May 1964 GTO test car that ran a blistering 4.6 sec 0-60 and 13.1 second 1/4 on 7.75-14 bias ply tires was a ringer. Royal Pontiac had pulled the production 389 and installed a blueprinted 421.  In 1993 Mitsubishi claimed a 13.7 sec 1/4 for their 3000 GT. With 15 psi in the tires, the rev limiter and knock sensor disabled, 104 octane gas in the tank, and the "professional driver" dropped the clutch at 6,200 rpm and powershifted at 7,000, which blew the $5769 transaxle after two runs.  Not exactly the way the average guy would drive the average production example.  Mastermind