With the growing tensions in the Middle East, the looming nuclear crisis in Iran and North Korea and the shift of economic power from the West to the East, it may seem that a world war is inevitable. So then it’s safe to prepare for one instead of pretending that all is well. After all, Sun Tzu said that the absence of war isn’t peace. If allegiances haven’t changed, then we have two sides, the allied forces and the axis powers. The British, the French and the Americans make up the Allied Forces. On the other side, the Germans, Italians and the Japanese make up the Axis Powers.
This then makes it interesting if we are going to have a world war, but with airbags, anti lock brakes and turbo chargers. I’m not talking about a world war that is a pissing contest between heads of state and major generals, but a world war for engineers, designers and race car drivers. Where superiority is not how many people your bomb can kill but how fast you can get from 0 to 100kph.
For this type of war then you need machines and to win a war you need the best machines. This game like any other has rules. No slick tyres and all cars should be road legal and NO HYBRID CARS. Those are the only three rules for this game. There are different categories and both teams must field one car and a driver for each category. We have the hot hatch category, four door saloon and super car categories. In my opinion, I would pick the following cars to represent both teams in the categories.
In the hot hatch category, I would choose the Ford Focus RS 500 for the allied forces. This beautiful monster produces 350 bhp from its 2.5 litre four cylinder motor and Ford have fitted it with a clever front differential so as to reduce torque steer. For the axis powers, I would choose the Subaru Impreza Cosworth STi. If you’re a motoring enthusiast then you know the marriage between Cosworth and STi is one made in heaven, It’s like a three way with Angelina Jolie and Salma Hayek. This Impreza has 400 Japanese horses and will get to 100kph from a standing start in 3.7 seconds which to be honest is in super car territory. For the 4 door saloon I would pick the C63 AMG Merc, 480 bhp and 0-100kph in 4.6 seconds to represent the axis powers and for the allied forces my candidate would be the Lexus IS-F, 5 litre V8, 417 bhp, and 0-100kph 4.8 seconds. Note that even though Lexus is the luxury marque for Toyota, it is technically an American brand.
The Focus has a pretty nose.
For the super car category, I would pick the Aston Martin DBS V12 Volante for the allies. This British beauty will get to 100kph in just 4.3 seconds and maxes out at 191 miles an hour. For the axis powers, I would choose the Godzilla, the Nissan GT-R, 0-100kph in 3.5 seconds. All this fury is for a reasonable price tag, 70,000 Pounds. The price then makes this Nissan an automotive oxymoron, you cant have cheap and reliable performance in the same sentence. The GT-R is like beer that doesn’t give you liver cirrhosis or like a cheese burger that doesn’t make you fat.
Godzilla dragging it out with the DBS
For the drivers I would pick 7 time Formula 1 world Champion Michael Schumacher to pilot the C63 Merc, Nurburgring expert Sabine Schmidt to pilot the Cosworth STi and Formula 1 driver Kamui Kobayashi to drive the GT-R. For the allies, I would select Group B WRC legend Michelle Mouton to drive the Ford Focus RS500, Former Formula 1 champion Lewis Hamilton to drive the Aston Martin DBS Volante and 7 time WRC champion Sebastian Loeb to drive the Lexus IF-S,
The battlefield then needs to be a place to put these machines and the men and women driving them to test, a stretch of tarmac that has bruised the egos of men who have tried to conquer it. This stretch of tarmac is the Nurburgring. Jackie Stewart called it the Green Hell. Nurburgring separates the boys from the men, the good from the great. This race track is the Mecca for all speed freaks, you must at least once in your life attack the 20.81 kilometres of the best automotive roller coaster on God’s earth. I have tried to take on the 147 corners that make up the Nurburgring on PlayStation and to be honest I couldn’t match the lap times set by real life drivers. The estimates put the fatalities to 12 annually this means each month the Green Hell claims a life.
The format for this race is simple, no grid hence no qualifying, the drivers get just a warm up lap and post two laps, the quickest of the two laps is the one considered. Ladies and gentlemen, start your engines.