Easier to do when the starting number is lower. 50% of 1m is easier than 50% of 100m (dramatic example only, not real numbers). I think the best number to use is the overall take rate of a BEV of the total sales. Example, fortune magazine posted an article 6 days ago about BEVs having a 9% take rate so far in 2023 in the US, and quick search shows about 7.3% take rate for 2022. Still a decent increase.

That said, BEVs in some sectors are selling like hot cakes, others seem to a bit slower to sell, coming from the manufacturers.

Another fantastic point. Some laps on record have spots of wet track which can throw away several seconds. Then of course temperature…

It’s a measuring stick of performance. Much like a 0-60, 1/4 mile, skid pad or braking test. It just puts all of it together on a long track with a ton of varying corners and some high speed sections.

What makes the numbers meaningless are when they mod the car outside of what’s available at the dealership in order to lay down a lap. If I recall properly, Alpha did a bunch of weight reduction, some specific suspension adjustments, and R compound tires, none of which were available from a factory order.

Those 70s boat anchors were in part to low compression ratios, smog trash on the back, choked up intakes, and so little of cam and crap heads that they’d only spin 4k to 5k rpm before floating the valves. They usually had some torque, but no rpm to make hp with.

In all likelihood, no. New vehicle prices will not be lower.

Even our own at times. It’s natural.

This is the problem with OTA on things like cars. They “whoops” and now your (in this case very expensive) car is dead. “Sorry boss, I can’t come to work my car won’t go… yeah I know it’s brand new… yeah it totally pulled a Windows move with an update making it worse.”