Getting a little off topic from what Jody is asking here, but if its truly an ultimate street car then the following should also be included in the points-
dB and noise spectrum at cruise as well as NVH frequency analysis (how high, how much amplitude) make it a single blended score
Visibility out back and for lane changes
Cockpit temperature maintained in a certain range
clutch stiffness (again a wide rating that mostly penalizes outliers)
freeway rut tramline test
Would your mom ride in it ?
Ultimate level - would your mom drive it ?
Totally impractical of course but I kind of laugh everytime people start discussing race/street cars. Other than the "pre 1980 body style" thing I don't think there is a way to really separate muscle car styles from the modern cars.
The real question to start with is does Optima want an ultimate street car contest or a "cool looking cars compete on track" contest ?
I believe the first few years were the latter, and now it is turning into the former. I remember the first few years, it was mostly show cars that could run vs what's going on now. But as people have said, that's what made it cool, that was the real draw.
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