On a track with a poor surface yes a buggy can beat a pan car easily. On a track with good grip...it is quite the opposite. The extra drag in the transmission coupled with the extra weight of the buggy negates any advantage an independent suspension gives. We see this in F1 now with the FGX vs a pan style F1 car. On the not so good tracks the FGX does quite well but on a well prepped track it has a hard time keeping up.