What defines a true sports car ?

[GordonThom]

Recently a number of motor boffins were chatting over a beer, when someone asked what defines a true sportscar? It seemed that all had a different opinion has any one got a definition.

[SL]

I my humble opinion it is a car that could be driven to a race on public road. Raced, then driven home again. The only mods would be for safety and any engine, brake and suspension adjustments that could me made at the track without replacing a major component. Race tyres could be allowed.

However these rules would be useless as I am sure it is quite possible to get an Audi / Panoz / Porsche 956 road legal almost overnight.

Simon

[Delman]

"The TRUE Sports Car?????????"
Two seater, road registerable, topless and preferably doorless.

[josvandeperre]

two doors two seats and (to quote some journalist's very valid point) NO ROOM FOR GOLF BAG

[Ray Bell]

...but a bit more durable than a Lotus 7?

Yes, I have one of those, built up out of Peugeot 203 bits in 1963, but not yet completed... give it time!

Lots of that sort of thing around these days, Westfields etc, and with some engines that leave the old Ford and BMC lumps well in the shade. Gearboxes are superior, too, and some have independent suspension all round.

And they sure look the part!

[KC]

I think a sports car must seat only two, and as SL said, could be driven to the track, raced and driven home. Touring cars, especially coupe versions, do not qualify as sports cars.

[Ray Bell]

We are talking about Sports Cars here... not racing cars, so maybe the track component is an option?

But for a certainty it's a joke that things like Celicas are called Sports Cars! The top has to come down or off, otherwise the best it can rate is Gran Tusismo, and it doesn't get that if it's front wheel drive!

[Mike Argetsinger]

It has long been said that a sports car is a state-of-mind. That definition still works for me.

[TimD]

Welcome to the forum, Mike. Your reputation precedes you. Delighted to have you aboard.

I used to have great faith in Laurence Pomeroy's definition of a sports car, as embodied by the annual VSCC Pomeroy Trophy, which incorporates a number of track tests funneled through a complicated index of performance based on engine capacity, accommodation, age and agility. It meant that a Hispano-Suiza could compete on a level playing field with a Shelby Cobra, for example.

This was until a 1973 Ford Cortina was entered for one year's event, and won it!

But tellingly, on paper at least, the index seems to favour the 1937 BMW 328 above all others. And that, for me, is not a bad definition to start off with.

[Peter Mallett]

Originally posted by TimD
Welcome to the forum, Mike. Your reputation precedes you. Delighted to have you aboard.

I used to have great faith in Laurence Pomeroy's definition of a sports car, as embodied by the annual VSCC Pomeroy Trophy, which incorporates a number of track tests funneled through a complicated index of performance based on engine capacity, accommodation, age and agility. It meant that a Hispano-Suiza could compete on a level playing field with a Shelby Cobra, for example.

This was until a 1973 Ford Cortina was entered for one year's event, and won it!

But tellingly, on paper at least, the index seems to favour the 1937 BMW 328 above all others. And that, for me, is not a bad definition to start off with.

Tim,

I thought the Pomeroy Trophy was to determine the best Touring Car. I recall Ron Gammons having to find a suitcase to fit into the back of an MGB, thus proving it was a touring car not a sportscar.

[Ray Bell]

Originally posted by Mike Argetsinger
It has long been said that a sports car is a state-of-mind. That definition still works for me.

A state of mind from New York State... Mike, when you cast your mind back over the Sports Cars of the forties and fifties, the kind that ran on your father's road course, I'm sure there are none that could be mistaken for at Touring Car.

No Allards looked like a Cadillac coupe, for instance, and the difference was great... none of the MGs could ever be considered related to the Morris range, and nothing in the Morris range could possibly be called a Sports Car.

Today the marketing people and the design people have blurred all the edges...

[Roger Clark]

in the early years of the last century, it was any car you couldn't wear a top hat in.