This is going way off topic, so this will be pretty much my last post on this. There is not a single person that I know that runs NOS. DSMs can run into the 14s with free mods (modifying bcs, solenoids, etc). With about $500 you can bring that into the mid 13s. With about $750 more you can bring it into the high 12s. With about $1500 more you can bring it into the low 12s. That's a 3400 pound car. None of these modifications involve NOS. On race gas DSMs are known to run 25 pounds of boost without issue.

You can buy a DSM for $4000.

Nobody is talking about throwing a lot of money into a car. But for about $7000 you can have a car that hangs with the Vipers and Ferraris. How much *DOES* a Viper cost? While it is true you can get into 12s with enough money, the better question is how much *additional* horsepower can you get at what price. How much money does it take to add another 100 horsepower to a Viper? How about the next 100 horsepower? If Henessey is any indication, hopping up V8s is a rich man's game.

Anyway, you may prefer the "raw low end" versus a turbocharged high end, but in all honesty, in a real race with real drivers, the outcome is decided in the first 60 feet. An Eclipse GSX would be halfway down the track and in "raw high end" territory and finishing the race, while your pumped up V8 is still at the starting line spinning its tires in a raw show of what?

And don't forget, in autocross racing, they often start the race on an L-bend which means a v8 doesn't really buy you as much as you think.

I think in the end, it's not about money, it's not about torque, or even the number of cylinders. I suspect you would be just as biased against a Japanese V8. The facts bear out that for very little money, you can be ridiculously fast. If you have to puzzle over why anyone would race an import 4 cylinder, then you've probably never, ever sat in one that broke into the 11s. What it feels like is sheer terror as you're crushed back into your seat, with the speedometer needle moving as fast as a rpm needle in an ordinary car. It never lets up.

Calvin