Imagine taking your Ducati über-bike over to the Nürburgring only to have its heels nipped on by a relatively inexpensive front-wheel-drive Japanese hatchback. A front-wheel-drive Japanese hatchback that is, with a turbocharged 2.3-liter DISI MZR engine that spits out 263 horsepower and 280 lb-ft of torque. The Mazda cracks off a 'Ring time of 8 minutes and 39 seconds, which is identical to a Honda S2000 and about where the NSX and Corvette were a decade ago. Also, we really hope this settles once and for all the debate about what can get around corners faster, cars or bikes. And finally, the Mazdaspeed3 is call the Mazda3 MPS over in dirty old cheese-eating Europe.
Related:
Heidfeld Runs Sauber BMW F1 Around Nürburgring [Internal]
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