These Sports Cars May Be Cool, But They're Useless On The Track - HotCars

Much like the muscle cars mid-‘70s onwards that were muscular in name only, some sports cars are sporty only in looks and nameplates. These may not have been failed cars for their time and being sports cars they were also fast, but they could do nothing on the track.

So sure, given the time they were released, they had to have been faster than the other cars on the road, and came in coupe two-door formats to be called sports cars. But put these sports cars on the track and they were doomed from the start, too slow to make any kind of impression on the start line, other than the fact that these were the slowest cars in the competition.

Some of them were also plagued with reliability issues, making them prone to breakdowns and temperamental outbursts, on-road or the track.

So here are 10 sports cars, which may be cool, but are technically useless on the track.

10 2002 Ford Thunderbird: A Retro-Themed Fail

A pretty car but one that lacked any major muscle under the hood, the eleventh generation of the Ford Thunderbird was sporty only in looks but could not do much on any track. The 3.9-liter V8 engine in it made 252 horses initially, later upgrading to 280 horses, and it came from a Jag.

The T-bird could sprint 0-60 mph in 6.9 seconds, and the upgrade bettered the time to 6.5 seconds, which made it fast on the road. But with little to no aerodynamics, it did not have a track record worth anything and at high speeds, it turned scary to drive.

9 2020 Toyota 86: A Cheap Entrant

If you have little money and still want a sporty drive, the Toyota 86, and its Subaru sibling, the BRZ, is the cheapest sports cars around. But then again, since they come cheap, you cannot expect them to have hypercar like handling, or speed.

It does handle well and had quick reflexes, but with a 0-60 mph sprint of 6.2 seconds, the BRZ has no place on the drag strip or the track, and definitely not in stock form. On the road though, these are fun to drive but rely heavily on their handling to carry momentum through the corners and maintain any measurable speed. On a track though, these will get beaten by everything from a Civic to a 350Z simply due to the lack of power.

8 1990 Nissan 240SX: A JDM Favorite

So yes, ask any JDM fan and they’d light up at the mention of a Nissan 240SX. It ran on a naturally aspirated 2.4-liter inline-four engine that made 140 horses, taking 8.6 seconds to hit go 0 to 60 mph. Top speeds were 130 mph. It was cute and today is a favored classic with JDM fans because it's available for import.

But it was not track-worthy with the kind of specs it originally came with. If people did want to race it, they modified and sometimes even engine-swapped and turned it into a racer of their dreams, which involved a lot of money and time-spend.

7 1984 Pontiac Fiero: America’s Mid-Engine Nightmare

At the time, with people buying the Pontiac Fiero in droves, it seemed less like a nightmare and more like a marvel. To have an American sports car that was not a Corvette, with an engine that jetted 143 horses in the top trim was indeed a joy.

Then, people discovered that the Fiero was not a car made well. Even if you ignore the 0-60 mph sprint of 8 seconds and that 125 mph top speed, the Fiero was known to short circuit and have electrical problems galore, making it unfit for any track.

6 1969 Porsche 914: Not The Poshest

We doubt Porsche can ever live down the ignominy that was the Porsche 914, a car built with the help of Volkswagen. The engine was the VW-made 1.7-liter flat-four that jetted all of 79 hiccuping horses and took 11.3 seconds to go from 0 to 60 mph.

Had they put any other engine in the 914, it could have been an awesome car, given its looks and aerodynamics. But it was so underpowered, it was barely faster than the sedans of the time, and way slower than the muscle cars.

5 1980 Ferrari Mondial 8: The Slowest ‘Rari

We understand that sometimes even niche carmakers feel the urge to go mass, but to do so with a Ferrari that carried a V8 but jetted only 180 horses and crawled 0-60 mph in 9.4 excruciating seconds was simply the pits.

Thankfully, the Mondial 8 zipped in and out in just two years, from 1980 to 1982. Sadly, 700-plus were still built. Not sporty at all, except on country roads, and the back seats are best not mentioned considering they could only seat the vertically-challenged.

4 1981 DeLorean DMC-12: Stainless Steel Dreams

After you are over the Back to the Future flashback, let’s truly take a look at the beautiful failure of a car they called the DeLorean DMC-12. Built from stainless steel, and powered by a V6 from Peugeot, the DMC-12 needed a wheezy 10.5 seconds to go from 0 to 60 mph. The top speed, unbelievably, was 109 mph.

Has John DeLorean not gotten desperate enough to get investment by selling nose candy, the car might have redeemed its name. Instead today, the DeLorean name is more a bad joke about stainless steel cars and drug busts.

3 2009 Saturn Sky: Doomed To Fail

The Saturn Sky wasn’t so much a bad car as it was an ill-thought one. GM brought out the Saturn Sky to take on the growing market of Japanese cars, and made the Sky into a “fighter car”, with little thought given to the sustainability of the project, and some bad build quality.

The 0-60 mph sprint of 6.9 seconds was respectable on the road, but the Sky was not built to take on track cars, and was just a little too mediocre in every respect, especially for its 2007-2010 existence. Simply said; the Saturn Sky could have done better.

2 1971 Jaguar E-Type Series III: The Suicidal XK-E

The Jaguar E-Type, also known as the XK-E was a great car at the onset of 1961. Based on Jaguar’s D-Type racing car that won the Le Mans, the E-Type came with superior speed and specs, all of which ground to a halt in the US, when emission laws changed and strangled engines.

Suddenly, by 1974, the E-Type’s V12 engine made a lot less than before and propelled it 0-60 mph in double digits. Shameful for a European sports car and enough the end the E-Type Jaguar for good. Taking it on the track will make you the butt of all jokes especially with the rubber bumpers.

1 1990 Mazda Miata MX-5: The First Of The Greats

These Sports Cars May Be Fast, But They're Useless On The Track — via Pinterest

The Mazda Miata has been a favorite of many sports car enthusiasts for a long time. It's not an expensive car, does give you thrills, and comes with rather adorable looks. The first Miata, the MX-5, came in 1990 and was rather cute for a 2,000-pound car, jetting 116 horses and 100 ft-lb torque from its 1.6-liter inline-four.

A 0-60 mph sprint was over 9 seconds, cool enough for a thrilling road ride from a car that cost around $14,000 at the time, but too weak to take the track roadsters on.

Sources: DriveTribe, CarAndDriver

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Arun Singh Pundir (430 Articles Published)

Arun Singh Pundir has been a longtime media crackerjack and worked most of his life in sales and marketing. In 2018, he officially flipped and switched sides to the editorial. He lives with his wife, two rascally sons and is a car and motorcycle nut in his free time. Not that he has too much free time. He currently writes for HotCars on anything that has any number or kind of wheels. He is also penning pop culture, lifestyle and all things rich for TheRichest. For now, he considers his Isuzu D-Max V-Cross, Suzuki Ciaz, and Royal Enfield Classic 500, the three current flames of his life. His dream is to drive around the world; even if it takes more than eighty days.