G t a 101

[Butch Kummer]

I've talked about the benefits of GTA over the years and at our July 2010 weekend at Road Atlanta Tim Suddard of GRM drove my car a couple of sessions on Friday's test day. Here's the YouTube video based on that experience:

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=seprX8U5Ilo[/ame]

A few things came to mind as I watched this the first time:

1. We don't really make 560 hp. It's really closer to 500.
2. The first lap on video was not a ball-to-the-wall lap. I eased by the Mustang on the back straight and went just fast enough to keep from messing up his lap while creating as big a gap as possible between me and the red #21 in front of me (Randy Walker). Once Randy went into the pits I turned the wick up.
3. I didn’t realize I had missed a shift coming out of Turn Seven on my fast lap in qualifying. I don’t know if Cuervo was firing a “warning shot” that the transmission would pack up later that weekend or not. Even with the missed shift we were still running over 150 mph on the back straight.
4. Yes they have a synchronization issue at the start of the walk-around.
5. I’m NOT ready to quit my day job just yet…

Enjoy, and I’d certainly be glad to hear any comments and/or answer any questions you might have.

[BruceG]

Just posted mine(98 ex Terry Labonte Monte Carlo) on V8stockcar.com, Butch for $10,000(geared for Lime Rock). Motor alone is worth 8G.

[mossaidis]

sweet... thanks for sharing.

what's the red light for on the upper right hand corner of the dash?

[Butch Kummer]

It's a water pressure light that's supposed to come on at anything lower than 3 psi, but obviously we have a short in there somewhere.

[Ron Earp]

Hey Butch,

Thanks for sharing that! I met Tim at the recent UTCC at VIR and he is a super nice fellow. Man that car sounds great and looks to be a blast to drive!!!!! Much like.

Revise that. I must do that sometime. Period. Have to. And no I don't care if it has a Chevy.

Someone tell me again why we're not all racing these things?

Ron

[Marcus Miller]

Hey Butch,

Thanks for sharing that! I met Tim at the recent UTCC at VIR and he is a super nice fellow. Man that car sounds great and looks to be a blast to drive!!!!! Much like.

Revise that. I must do that sometime. Period. Have to. And no I don't care if it has a Chevy.

Someone tell me again why we're not all racing these things?

Ron

Short answer: Becuase we are idiots.

Longer answer: uhhh..... yeah. In my case, it's because I wanted to run longer endurance races, and Stock cars just really don't do that well.
edit: Of course, I'll have more in my turbo project than is the cost of entry for one of these....
<-- is an idiot

[Butch Kummer]

Hey Butch,

Thanks for sharing that! I met Tim at the recent UTCC at VIR and he is a super nice fellow. Man that car sounds great and looks to be a blast to drive!!!!! Much like.

Revise that. I must do that sometime. Period. Have to. And no I don't care if it has a Chevy.

Someone tell me again why we're not all racing these things?

Ron

Same reason they make different colored paints even though everyone knows ALL race cars are red!

I've always been a big V-8 guy mainly because my petite stature limits the cars I can fit in and I need the torque to haul my dainty butt around the track, but the cars are a hoot to drive. And the rules do allow Blue Ovals and Mopars to compete as well as the Bowtie Brigade.

What we've tried to do with GTA is limit the places you can spend ungodly amounts of money (i.e. - GT-1) and the racers have responded despite the economy. We've averaged over 10 GTA cars per "major" SARRC event in 2010, and we've averaged over 20 at the last three ARRC by GRM events. Because I was actually racing rather than participating in a high-speed parade, I learned more racecraft in three months of running GTA than I did in the three years of GT-1 prior to my making the switch in 2005. And we feel allowing the Camaro & Mustang bodies starting in 2011 will go a long way toward removing the "redneck taxi-cab" image of the cars.

I'll be at Barber and WGI (for the Fun One) in September, then the SIC in October and (assuming things go well) the ARRC by GRM in November. Stop by our paddock spot and I'll give you a personal tour.

[spawpoet]

Thanks for sharing the video and information Butch. Very interesting. I know Krys Dean is a big proponent of the GTA cars down here, as she's talked them up in the past. They're a lot of fun to watch at the track. I did have some questions regarding them.

Are most people just buying old circle track chassis and converting them, and if so how much is involved in doing so? Also in the video they said the fastest GTA car could be had for 25k, but what is the price range for any decent running car?

Can you speak to the cost and frequency of engine replacement and repairs? What's the lifespan, and cost factors for other typical wear items (brakes, tires, suspension, etc)?

Thanks again for posting. They look like a hoot to drive.

[Butch Kummer]

Here's a link to another thread where I've answered many of those questions:

http://roadraceautox.com/showthread.php?t=30954

Depending on how much work you can do yourself, you can run mid-pack in GTA in SEDiv for $12K-$15K. If you want a pro shop (Hamke is one of the best) to convert your circle track car you're looking in the $5K range (LF suspension, possibly steering rack, road race gears in the transmission, road race sway bar(s), etc.). Obviously you can do it for less depending on how much you can do yourself and/or what compromises you're willing to make.

Kurt Roehrig is the only person I know with a purpose-built GTA car - I'm pretty sure all the rest turned left full-time at some point in their history. We're probably 50/50 between converted ASA cars and converted Late Models here in SEDiv, and the LM guys think the ASA cars are better while the ASA guys KNOW the LM cars are the hot set-up! Performance on the track has indicated we're damn close with the rules we have right now, however.

We run a traditional engine which is probably the most "fragile" option. We figure 50-60 hours between freshenings, which works out to about three seasons with our schedule. Guys running the LS-1s say they last about twice that. You can make tires last three weekends without any real issues, but if you want to run at the front you'll put stickers on each weekend ($620/set). Brakes obviously depend on the tracks you run (Sebring is the toughest, Daytona probably the easiest), but we generally figure three weekends on front pads and change the rears when they get so rusty we can't stand it anymore.

One of the major benefits of these cars is we're using circle track components designed for weekly use with 650 hp and running them once a month with 500 hp. They're not bullet-proof, but they are really very low maintenance. With my nationally competitive GT-1 Corvette we figured 50-75 hours of maintenance between events and with the GTA car it's less than 10 hours to get ready for the next weekend.

The cars are designed to be easy to work on and (although I'm SURE no one here has ever had an off-road excursion) they're designed to be easy (and cheap) to repair.

If you like going fast, there's no better bang for the buck out there...