I was talking with a “new to the car world” friend the other day and he had watched a recent road race on the Speed Channel and was a bit confused with the classes and “what make them think you can run a Ford Focus against a Corvette…that’s a no brainer….” he says. So I walked him through the classes and I think he understood that they may be on the same course at the same time but they are only competing against others in the same class, although they do have to contend with the others.
Last post covered the GT class with the likes of the Corvette and the Aston Martin DB9. The GTS class is it much more stock and closer to the what you and I will drive around town….well…sort of…!
With cars like the Kia Optima and the Pontiac Solstice (well what’s left of them) you might be thinking yeah…I’ve see those in the ‘hood’. Well….sort of….
The Kia has 370 hps – yeah…all that from a 4 cylinder aluminum engine. That’s only 70 MORE!!! horse power less than the Lotus Exige that runs in the GTS class as well.
Optima – in racing colors
Exige
This class also has the Ford Boss 302 Mustang (420 hp), Dodge Challenger (420 hp) and the Camaro (422 hp) along with Maseerati Trofeo Gransport (385 hp) and the Scion FR-S (330 hp).
Maserati Trofeo
Boss 302S
There are six classes for GTS: GTS1, GTS2, GTS3, GTS4, GTS5, and GTSU. All cars will be classed
on a power to weight ratio. A vehicle’s classification and minimum allowable weight (as the car
would exit the track with the driver) will be determined by multiplying the appropriate class
weight ratios by the vehicle’s power. “Power,” as used here, will be determined from a minimum
of three consecutive dyno pulls, and shall be defined as:
a) the horsepower value (WHP) from the single run with the highest horsepower reading (for
cars with higher horsepower than torque);
Weight
———————————-
WHP
or,
b) the average of horsepower and torque from the single run with the highest average of those
values (for cars with higher torque than horsepower):
Weight
———————————-
(WHP+WTQ)*.5
The following table shall be used to determine each car’s class based on the calculations
determined using the above methods.
Minimum ratio for D.O.T. Approved Tires Non-D.O.T Tires
GTSU No limit No limit
GTS5 6.6 7.2
GTS4 8.5 9.0
GTS3 11.0 12.0
GTS2 14.5 16.0
GTS1 18.5 20.0
This all seem a bit formal, because it’s pulled from the SCCA guide for classes.
Ford Racing’s 2008 Mustang FR500S – The assembly line Race car.
Why this car was built: This car is #56 of only 75 that were built. They were built by Ford specifically to be entered into the Mustang Challenge for the Miller Cup. It is the first time in Ford’s history that they have produced a line of cars specifically for a race series on their assembly line.
The FR500S – Photo from Barrett Jackson
One unique thing about this car: This Mustang is unique in the fact that it has a passenger seat. Most racecars have only one seat, but this one carted around different celebrities and media personnel, so a second seat was needed.
Why they are auctioning this car off: Ford Racing & Capaldi Racing are auctioning this Mustang off at the Barrett Jackson Auctions, for the St. Jude’s Children Hospital of Memphis, Tennessee. All of the proceeds will be given straight to the hospital.
Tesla has begun making money. After all was said and done they walked away with 11.2 million dollars. Helps when Motor Trend give your product the Car of the Year Award, as they did with the Model S.
Total units sold was 4,900.
I say good for them. I think they’ve earned it, after 10 years of various struggles.
San Francisco 49ers Coach to Drive C7 Pace Car at Indy 500
For football players, there is no bigger event than the Super Bowl. Some men strive their entire lives to get to the Big Game, though just a select few have ever earned a Super Bowl title. San Francisco 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh fell three points short of winning his Super Bowl bid this year, falling to his brother, John, who coached the Baltimore Ravens to victory.
But even being a Super Bowl loser has its perks. One of them is the privilege of driving the 2014 Corvette Stingray Pace Car at this year’s Indianapolis 500 event, becoming one of the first “civilians” to drive this brand new American icon.
It’s a bit of a homecoming for Jim Harbaugh, who quarterbacked for the Indianapolis Colts during the 1990s. In addition to being a fervent football city, Indianapolis has a rich racing history, including the iconic Indy 500. GM has had numerous cars pace the Indy 500, including the Corvette, but with hundreds of thousands of fans in attendance, this is the first time many of them will see a Corvette C7 up close and personal.
In fact, this is the 12th time the Corvette has paced the Indy 500, including appearances that dominated most of the past decade. But this arguably the biggest Corvette pace car event of them all, a radical redesign from the “safer” look of the Corvette C6. Painted in Laguna Blue, this stunning ‘Vette will certainly draw a lot of looks when it makes its pace car debut this Sunday.
A really light week this week. It includes a government bailout, corporate take over, iconic debut, a tragedy and record falls. Yeah…not much going on!!!
Lets start with the government bailout it was 1971, but it wasn’t a US auto company but Rolls-Royce got a $144 million loan from the British government March 5th 1971.
1971 Rolls Royce
On the same day in 1952 Willys rolled out its Aero-Ace.
Willys Aero Ace
In 1929 on March 7th General Motors buys Opel. I was not aware that this occurred that early.
The iconic car released by Pontiac on March 8, 1969 was a variation of the Firebird – the Trans Am – amazing car.
1969 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am
Did you know there is a company that is making the a Trans Am out of the new 2012 Camaro? More coming on that!!!
Automotive tragedy occurred in Detroit in 1901. The Oldsmobile plant burned down.
A few days later (plus) twenty-seven years Sir Henry Seagrave broke the 200 mph land speed barrier. Here is his beast.
Ok now there’s no debating that I’m a two bit blogger with no car industry pull. So Chevy, Ford and Mother MOPAR aren’t dropping cars off for me to beat up or even just to test drive.
Nope, if I want to test drive a car I have to hope a friend buys one (and let’s me drive – given my rep it’s a tough sell) or I have to go to the dealership. I’ve drove 100 miles out-of-town to test drive a C6 Corvette. You really have to convenience the salesman you are serious and in this particular case I did and the salesman accompanied me out on to highway and on a remote entrance ramp allowed me to open it up. That’s rare, normally you are lucky if you get to travel a couple blocks and maybe a spirited lunch at a traffic light.
Ok enough whining.
At Barrett-Jackson the dealerships – well at least Ford and Chevy have a venue set up where you can actually test drive some of their latest offerings. The lines are long and you aren’t going to be able to drive the Shelby SuperSnake or Z06, but there are some good rides there. What’s more, you aren’t driving on a city street….yeah…you are driving on an auto cross track – short but effective.
So I got to drive the 2013 Mustang 5.0, 412 hp on this short track.
That did I think? That coming up in the next post.
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Well once again I attempted to do some “nearly live” postings from the “big show” but my recent move to my own a new domain had some glitches and well my Android phones battery didn’t hold up.
But there were a lot cars and a ton of other sites and activity.
One of which was driving the 2013 5.0 Mustang with 412 hp!!!
So grab the RSS feed or sign up for emails because for the next few blog entries I’m going to ‘expound’ on some of my highlights.
