In the earlier days of Team-BHP these track tests would be the talk of the town. We would debate and argue on the timings and figure out which car did better in what sector of track. We would look at the videos and analyze where the car lost time or gained time. Discussions would be on power to weight ratio which is why the Baleno posted such good numbers.
It's quite surprising that nowadays the discussion is whether such a track test served any purpose and that the test is meaningless in real world. And actual doubts on the way the test was conducted. Having the same tyres is usually the ideal leveler in any sort of scientific test.
To answer the questions on how it's applicable in the real world. This is how a car behaves at the limit. While you may not experience this on your daily drive but any driving enthusiast will want to know how the car handles at the limit. These situations even occur during an emergency and it is what catches a driver out cause he doesn't know the car at the limit.
Most of the points put up in that article, I can correlate with as you can see those traits in a car when you drive them outside the city on highways or on ghat roads or on single lane state highways.
The Abarth while shows a lot of stiffness in daily usage, actually suffers from body roll as the stiffness is only initially and once the heavy weight loads the suspension, the car actually rolls and you can see the weight transfer very clearly in the videos. The Abarth appears to have a very long travel suspension to aid ground clearance and this makes the weight move around a lot when cornering hard. This also means the car will not be stable under braking.
The Polo is definitely setup on the softer side and again due to additional weight this will impact the time especially over chicanes which require quick direction changes. How the car shifts weight and how quickly it recovers is important not just on track but when doing an emergency/evasive swerve on the highway. If you swerve too much and your car is not good at changing directions you are looking at an intimate relationship with the divider. Also, the DSG downshift issue is very very noticable for anyone who drives aggressively, the Polo's gearbox is tuned conservatively for reliability and will not give an aggressive downshift to reduce the drivetrain stress. This is very very noticeable in the ghat sections where you approach a turn and the gearbox is in 3rd but you want second for getting more momentum. The DSG will refuse 2nd if you are carrying more speed and will only give you the shift till you slow down to a lower rpm in third.
The baleno timings are expected cause of the lighter weight. A light weight car is the ideal track tool as it behaves the best when changing directions. Since there's lesser mass that moves, the car will be fun to throw around the turns. Even the sentre of gravity is low in the Baleno and it has a long wheelbase. Ofcourse the suspension needs to be setup well which is the case with the Baleno.
The Elite i20 came as a surprise as it was the most dull to drive on road but did respectably on the track.
The Jazz engines let it down big time more than the chasis setup. The chasis is not that bad but the Jazz is also severely under tyred vs the others in the interest of efficiency.
The Figo. Well I guess this is the surprise of the bunch. We knew it was quick but didn't think it would dislodge the Polo GT and the Abarth Punto. Ford's chasis eve though Figo is softened down big time vsthe older one still holds good and outright grunt from a 1.5L engine helps put the power down. Plus it's lighter than the Abarth and Polo which helps in direction changes.
These tests were something we loved in the earlier days.