Uh, my car doesn't have class leading torque, trust me.

The data I've seen of Miata v. RX7 v. Z car v. TR8 v. Mustang shows me that you either need slippery, or small frontal area. It IS an advantage over 100 mph, sometimes markedly so.

I fully agree with you it is hard to quantify this stuff, which is why we stayed away from it in IT.

However, if STL is looking for the difference between "sports car" and "nonsports car" then this is it. Everything else seems like a red herring to me (doors, engine orientation, etc.).