2004 Ferrari Challenge Stradale vs. Porsche GT3

"It's a street-legal race car!" is one of bench-racing's most abused and overused claims. Trust us: Anyone who thinks his front-drive V-6 Monte Carlo has anything in common with Little E's #8 NASCAR Cupper is delusional. While it's true that some street cars (let's say, a Dodge Viper) will outperform many race cars (let's say, an SCCA production-class Austin Healey Sprite) generally speaking, cars designed for the track have little relevance to cars intended for the road.

Or do they?

The days of driving your Porsche Super 90 or Ferrari 250 SWB to a professional road race, competing effectively, and cruising home with your trophy were over in the 1960s; but, today, there's a clear racers-for-the-road renaissance taking place. Production based, GT-class racing is enjoying an increase in worldwide popularity and OEM involvement. So the marketplace is filled with great sports cars with direct connections to their racing versions--and vice versa.

This story pits two of them nose to nose. Each shares its corporate stable with tamer ("standard" 360 Modena and Carrera models) and track-only variants (see sidebar) and is the highest-performing version of its respective platform to which you can legally attach license plates in this country.