Turbo's sweep STU....

[Z3_GoCar]

Looks like the margin of victory was pretty wide... with the Solstice running away with it. By the HP/weight the turbo cars are at least 150-200lbs light, and that's not even counting for the fact they're really torque mosters over the high strung naturally aspirated motors. So, what's to be done to reign in the turbos? Limit boost? Move them to STO? One thing is certain, the turbo's aren't on the same level as the best N/A motors.

[Ron Earp]

How many data points are in your set?

[Greg Amy]

Turbos were a major point of discussion all week. The CRB/STAC is aware of this issue. We had data boxes on all the major players all week and this will be one of our top priority discussions. - GA

[Z3_GoCar]

How many data points are in your set?

Every division where STU has a Turbo and non-tubo cars, plus the runoffs. At this point the naturally aspirated cars are running E-production lap times, the turbo cars are 2-2.5 seconds faster per lap.

[Prof. Chaos]

The STU turbo cars can't be moved to STO -- Tucker qualified at a 2:15, compared to Huffmaster's qualifying setup of a 2:24 (in race trim Huffmaster only managed a 2:26 and Tucker a 2:17). However, the fastest n/a STU cars were in the 2:28s (although I believe Heinrich clicked off a 2:27 before his qualifying DQ and eventual retirement from the Runoffs due to a blown motor). So how do we even the playing field?

A possible answer is the STU turbo cars need a little weight to drop them to the 2:27s or 2:28s, where the super-fast n/a cars stand a chance. Then STU and STL could be reevaluated and many of the n/a STU cars could be moved to STL with additional weight.

The STL pace at the Runoffs was 2:35. My STU street ported 13B turned lap times less than 0.2sec faster than the front STL guys in the race (and the STL 13B ran 3 seconds slower). Wickersham went from winning the GT2 National Championship earlier in the weekend to qualifying 17th in STU in a Honda S2000 with a 2:36. Some n/a cars just can't be sped up to 2:27s or 2:28s, and STU certainly shouldn't be dumbed down to meet the lowest common denominator.

Adding 100-150# to STU cars like the street ported 13B and the Honda S2000 should leave them competitive in STL, and then remove weight from existing STL cars to speed them up.

Or maybe all of the n/a STU cars that are too slow for STU and too fast for STL should just move to EP.

[Z3_GoCar]

Is there a way to meet in the middle? Say add 100lbs to the turbo cars, and take 100lbs off the N/A cars. Try to get the N/A cars a little faster than EP and slow the turbo's down a little. I seem to remember that Eric's smoking time was in the high 2:27's, maybe a 2:27.8, so at best it's a 3.5 second gap.

Say Philip, did you catch RP's quip about wondering if you might be his editor?

[Andy Bettencourt]

Forced induction cars in every series pose a problem. Just look at Grand Am ST. It's not about weight, it's about finding out how to limit boost/HP.

Stock ECU's and stock-ish exhausts are a key step.

[Mrsideways]

The STU turbo cars can't be moved to STO -- Tucker qualified at a 2:15, compared to Huffmaster's qualifying setup of a 2:24 (in race trim Huffmaster only managed a 2:26 and Tucker a 2:17). However, the fastest n/a STU cars were in the 2:28s (although I believe Heinrich clicked off a 2:27 before his qualifying DQ and eventual retirement from the Runoffs due to a blown motor). So how do we even the playing field?

A possible answer is the STU turbo cars need a little weight to drop them to the 2:27s or 2:28s, where the super-fast n/a cars stand a chance. Then STU and STL could be reevaluated and many of the n/a STU cars could be moved to STL with additional weight.

The STL pace at the Runoffs was 2:35. My STU street ported 13B turned lap times less than 0.2sec faster than the front STL guys in the race (and the STL 13B ran 3 seconds slower). Wickersham went from winning the GT2 National Championship earlier in the weekend to qualifying 17th in STU in a Honda S2000 with a 2:36. Some n/a cars just can't be sped up to 2:27s or 2:28s, and STU certainly shouldn't be dumbed down to meet the lowest common denominator.

Adding 100-150# to STU cars like the street ported 13B and the Honda S2000 should leave them competitive in STL, and then remove weight from existing STL cars to speed them up.

Or maybe all of the n/a STU cars that are too slow for STU and too fast for STL should just move to EP.

Pull the Restrictor, give the solistice a slightly larger turbo, reduce weight and give it 10 inch wide wheels..... it'll run STO times.
As for the Audi and the Miata. I'm not sure you could get either of those to run STO times without spending lotto winning type of money.

I think the big issue your seeing is that yes the N/A cars will see a similar terminal speed on the straights, but what's the average speed? The T cars are going to get there much faster and have a higher average speed.