yeah, I know that 1000 coupe Sport Sedan. Don't know the owner, only spoken to him once years ago in the pits. It was very competitive at Lakeside, especially in the wet! It gives away alot of straight line speed, but was a very good handler and under brakes. At a track like Lakeside he could nip at the heels of the top QLD SportSedans in the dry, and was an outright contender in the wet. I assume the almost record is a class thing. It certainly would not be an outright Sport Sedan record. The V8 Supercar record at Lakeside is held by Seton at a high 51 or low 52.

For our latest internet search expert, and those of you who aren't familiar with QLD Raceway, there's a few different track configurations used at different race meetings. The 1000 Sport Sedan time is obviously from the short circuit used at alot of club level meetings. While the V8 Supercar's times are from the full track.

to demonstrate, here' some actual comparison times (from Natsoft) with both categories on the same circuit, on the same day, at last year's QLD 500:

SPORT SEDAN at 2002 QLD 500 QUAL
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1 Kerry Baily Nissan 300ZX 6000cc 1:07.3191*
5 Tony Ricciardello Alfa Chev 6000cc 1:08.8382
38 Stephen Voight Honda Prelude 6000cc 1:10.4343
13 Mark Stinson Holden Calibra 6000cc 1:10.6455

V8 SUPERCARS at 2002 QLD 500 QUAL
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11 L.Perkins/R.Ingall Holden Commodore VX 5000cc 1:09.9367R

4 of the best Sport sedans in the country went under 1:11:00, compared to 17 V8 Supercars.

V8 Supercars are highly developed race cars, and damned fast tin tops with the best drivers in the country and million dollar budgets behind them. If you think you can "whoop" V8 Supercars [i]"relatively easy with a limited budget" you haven't got a clue about motorsport.