I did the Fiero GT project. Did some rules lawyering and got the 87 & 88 GT on the same spec line. The 88 car had better brakes and front suspension. The 87 had better rear suspension. I had some trouble witht the motor behaving well - great torque but it spit and popped and was a general PITA. But with a better mechanic and programmable ECU - the motor could have been a real monster. 135HP with 172 torque on a dyno jet. At 2600 I still wasn't sure it would compete with an Integra or Miata.
What ultimately turned me away from the car was the chassis. I tested the car at Pocono and running Konis, relatively stiff springs, Weltmeister bars. It would pull well, but over any bumps the car felt very unsafe. It was also a total PITA to dial it up right so it had neutral handling - never did get it right. Oversteer, understeer, oversteer - settled on some oversteer to power out of the corners a little better. No limited slip was likely a big part of this. But I did not feel safe at high speed in this car around a sweeping, bumpy corner.
The car had a rebuilt motor with .5 bumped compression, .04 over, free flow intake, high volt stock coil, headers and a OK exhaust. There was more to be gained too - but ya ever get a sense a type of motor would be demo happy? That was my sense - this engine would be a blowmaster.
The last thing left was installing the cage. I had a rare vision of common sense and sold the car for close to what I had into it. Great decision in hindsight.
Now I'm working on an ITR 968 - great car, lotsa dough. But I think it will be the dominant ITR car in that class. That sorta falls into the oddball group, eh?
BenSpeed
#33 ITR Porsche 968
BigSpeed Racing
2013 ITR Pro IT Champion
2014 NE Division ITR Champion
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