I have a Coolpix 5000 which is the old version of the 5400. It's probably about as fast as you're going to find with a digital point & shoot. Maybe some of the newer ones are a little faster but probably not enough to make much difference, especially if you're trying to shoot car races. I don't think any of them will be great for that, but with practice you might get a good shot once in a while.

For anything else though, it should be a good choice. It can be used in "program" mode (completely automatic) or totally manual. 8x10 prints are very good - you can probably go bigger too, but DSLR's (like the D70) are going to be better for large prints.