I just got Car and Driver's Feb 06 issue and saw an article in which Acura gave six magazines RSX's and gave them plenty of time to modify them. Rules where that they had to run with 91 octane fuel, stick to the stock engine block and had to be driven by someone on the magazine's staff .
C/Ds entry, with the second least powerful engine (had a Comptech supercharger with only 6 psi), won the test. There was even a dyno-queen that boasted over 500hp, but blew up -as expected-.
The bit that interested me the most was that C/Ds car was the faster through the quarter mile. Remember, with the second least powerful engine, although it had lost 270 pounds.
The only down part is that they threw over US $38.000 on the $24.000 car.
My point is, even though hp is one of the predominant figures its not really a tell tale of the overall car. See results here:
http://www.hondanews.com/CatID3000?m...66750&mime=asc
ps. Look at the braking figure! I've read plenty of tests in which "uprated" brakes actually perform weaker than original, but this guys nailed it. I´m asuming every body used the stickiest tires available.
Edit: My theory is confirmed, only two teams braked shorter than the original car. See here:
http://www.stoptech.com/company_info...hallenge.shtml