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A good demonstration of why more power in the same chassis doesn’t necessarily make a better car can be demonstrated by Caterham. In the current model range the entry level car has 160bhp per tonne, the top 620bhp per tonne, with all cars weighing close to 500kg. The general consensus in the community is that 360bhp per tonne is the best balanced performance point, the entry level car car be the most fun with its standard skinny tyres and the most powerful car can be exhilarating, dangerous and wearing all at the same time.
There was a model variant a few years ago called the Caterham Levante, which had a 2.4 litre V8 with 550bhp and weighed 520kg for 1074bhp per tonne. The Levante is fast, tricky to drive and has generally lost the handling balance of the less powerful models, losing a lot of the fun and feel to replace it only with speed.
From a track performance perspective, unless you have long straights it is difficult to predict which Caterham will be faster when you get above 400bhp per tonne, as the more powerful cars can be slower through the corners due to compromised balance and handling and may not regain lost time with extra power on the straights.
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