This past weekend, we took on our friends at Jalopnik in a friendly battle at Mid Ohio's American Endurance Racing season finale. The idea was to see which publication would be better behind the wheel in a racing situation.

The cars we used were equally prepared Spec E30 BMWs from Drive Gear Racing. They were perfect for the task at hand. Here's why.

While we have a number of club racers on staff, the guys at Jalopnik weren't nearly as experienced in a racing situation as us. But driving a Spec E30 is the best possible way to even the odds in the race for a few reasons.

MotorSportMedia | Jake Galsted | 2015

First, they're unbelievably easy to drive. There's nothing about an E30 that overpowers the other parts. Power and handling are totally in check with one another, there's a sort of zen balance to the whole car. When you don't have to concentrate on correcting oversteer or smooth throttle application and can instead concentrate on getting the track down, mastering your braking points, and getting that turn in point just right.

MotorSportMedia | Jake Galsted | 2015

Second, they aren't that fast. Now, that might not sound like an advantage, but there's something to be said for a race car that isn't going a million miles per hour if/when something goes wrong. The lack of speed acts as a safety net. If you go off the track and hit the wall in one (as I have), your slower speed will be an advantage, not a disadvantage.

MotorSportMedia | Jake Galsted | 2015

Third, they inspire confidence. It's a lightweight car with a moderate amount of power, great brakes, and controllable handling. It encourages you to go deeper into a corner, get on the power earlier, and generally push it without the fear of it really biting you back.

That's really the most important part. It's the perfect tool for a non-racer to learn a track for the first time and gain confidence as well as for a long-time racer to get faster and learn how to be smoother in more powerful cars. The variance in time from a pro to a novice in the car is a couple seconds a lap. While that's a lot on paper, over the course of an endurance race where anything can happen, it's basically nothing.

Unfortunately, our competition didn't last very long as the treacherous conditions at the start of the race claimed the Jalopnik car in the first hour with a spin and a subsequent slam from another car. It was one of those unfortunate racing incidents.

MotorSportMedia | Jake Galsted | 2015

The good news is that the cage kept them totally safe, and even though the car was totaled, parts are cheap, E30 shells are cheap, and most of that car was salvageable. Reason four right there.

What about for us? Well, our car was a rocket in the wet and we managed to pass race prepped Caymans and BMWs to reach 4th overall of 43 after starting in 24th. It just shows that this is also a car that can punch far above its weight when the conditions are right... reason five why it's basically perfect.

Seriously, just go race an old BMW. What are you waiting for?

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