gkmccready

A buddy of mine was doing some photography work for Black Dog Racing and Tony Gaples so I headed up to Infineon yesterday to hang out for the afternoon. I peeked at the Black Dog Racing #11 a little bit and the first thing that came to mind was "There ain't nuthin' stock about a stock car." The rear swaybar, which is inside the hatch, was bigger than my HardbarUSA harness bar... I'm thinking the arm length and angle must make up for that stiffness. The rear shocks upper mounts are clevis style and are part of the cage, not the frame (unless you count the cage as part of the frame). Looking under the back of the car while it's on the ground you can't see much other than a bunch of "stuff" to control airflow. This is all a far cry from what I've seen in the C5 "World Challenge" cars that have been for sale with pictures in the past.

Tony & Ray & Mark & Shawn & a name I forget were great to be around. Very welcoming in their brand spanking new hauler. Almost made me wish I could have spent more time car geeking with them that my photog buddy.

That said and done. I didn't get to meet the drivers over at Cadillac Racing, but I did get to hear the cars. And oh boy, do you hear those cars. Far and away the loudest, deepest, oddest exhaust note of the Sunday races. Even compared to the Corvettes, which struck me as odd.

All in all it really made me appreciate the engineering involved in modern World Challenge cars. And it makes me understand why the Touring Cars are trying to back things down, and why GTS should become more popular...

Glennm27

World Challenge Series is awesome.

The 2 Cadillac drivers are Johnny O'Connell and Andy Pilgrim. Too bad you didn't get to talk to them, they are nice guys and love taolking to the fans.

Mike Skeen usually runs the World Challenge too in the yellow Cragar C6R....

72Vega

The speed differential between the WC GT and TC cars is pretty amazing. For most races this year, we had 3-4 spotters strategically stationed around the track to let our driver know when a GT car was coming up on his 6. This was especially important for the street courses with all the blind corners, but also at tracks like Mid O - think Thunder Valley and Madness.

At MO, there was a display of a B-spec racer. Discussions have apparantly been held about creating an affordable TC-B class of cars -- Mazda 2, Ford Fiesta and Honda Fit for example. "Affordable" being under $20K for the cost of the car. Who knows where this will land, but GT/GTS and TC/TCB is a possible race class structure in the future.

It will be interesting to see how this all shakes out for 2012. Now let's all discuss the (in)famous World Challenge standing starts...

rmackintosh

My new Stoptech rotors from the destroyed car finished second in both races in GTS! I got a call while climbing into the pool with the kids Friday night that they needed some parts....so off I drove down to turn 7 at Sears to deliver the rotors/hats. Must have worked well for the car!

In my build thread, you can see the Blackdog World Challenge bodywork on my new car! VERY cool stuff! I don't plan/have the money for a full WC build, but hopefully it LOOKS like one....hehe

PushinTheLimit

Too bad T1 and ST2 Corvettes are pretty much banned from GTS. It would be cool to run some races.

gkmccready

Skeen had issues on the warmup lap prior to the start and ended up starting from pit lane. He had the most *amazing* run up through the field. Highlight of the race from my POV... hope he has some in-car to share somewhere...

SIK02SS

And Greg L was my co-driver at Grand-Am NJMP

SIK02SS

Yea, thanks to JH's 2 races they deemed the cars "too fast"...yet now we're trying to get the GTS/GS Mustangs legalized in T1 as they are very close to being competitive. Makes perfect sense

Glennm27

Mike's a great driver and very nice guy.. He made a run through the field at Mid Ohio earlier this month on the Sunday race. He had a problem at the start then ran his way through the field to ALMOST win. Almost I say because when he took the lead on the final lap at the keyhole, Figge in the Volvo but a pretty bad move on him...

Check it out here as seen from Johnny O'Connell's eventual winning CTS-V
You'll see the move after Mike passes the Volvo coming out of the keyhole. ( at about the 42 second mark)

The Last lap of the World Challenge Race #2 at Mid Ohio seen from Johnny O's CTS-V

trackboss

Watched the race and I'd have to say that O'Connel was doing some pretty dirty driving. There was something wrong with his car. Sounded like it was running on seven cylinders at tiimes. The frustartion is understandable, but especially towards the end of the race, from the outside, it appeared as though he wanted to smash his way through everything. He should have just parked it instead of trying to ruin everyone else's race around him.

ZoomFreakinZoom

In response to what Glen said, it was Alex Figge who was battling with Skeen, not Randy Pobst. Alex was bumping him and they were going at it pretty hard. The incident which ended both of their chances wasn't dirty driving at all though, Skeen thought he cleared the Volvo and he hadn't, simple as that. Came across the front end of the Volvo and it took Skeen out instantly, Figge made it around but finished way down the order.

BuckeyeZ06

The Mustangs have been slowed down with a restrictor plate; takes about 50 HP out of the car. Remember an Acura is in the mix as well.

In GTS trim the best ran 32s at Mid Ohio. In 2005 the T1 Run offs pole was 32 flat, on DOT Kumhos. Those Pirelli slicks are worth about 2 seconds a lap at Mid Ohio over a DOT tire.

I am not sure a 302R would be competitive in T1, and I know that many current T1 drivers are hung up on the factory race car status of the car.

heavychevy

Pirelli Slicks worth 2 seconds over A6's? Has anyone verified that?

BuckeyeZ06

2011 Mike Skeen Corvette 1:24.9
2010 Mike Skeen Corvette 1:27.2

You tell me...

ZoomFreakinZoom

The Pirelli slicks are 1.5-2.5 seconds faster than an A6 depending on the track. Slow - Medium speed high cornering tracks like Mid Ohio or Barber would be more on the 2.5 side, tracks like Road Atlanta would be around 1-2 seconds. Even the CTSCC "Continentals' are about 1 second faster than an A6.

heavychevy

2010 World Challenge? Weren't they on R888?

BuckeyeZ06

Yeah, something that sucked. I forgot all about that...(I'm a dumbass!).

SIK02SS

That's fine, but also look at the tires they are running. I agree with the no purpose built race cars. BUT, I also feel there is some compromise in which Jason has pointed out on the other board. If it has a VIN make the necessary adjustments and let it run (even if it is a GTS car or GS car and just has to swap a couple parts)

After racing on the CTSCC Conti's, they are not faster than A6s. A6s have A LOT more grip. However the cars in the CTSCC have a lot more mechanical grip than a T1 car (springs are open and they have team engineers who between sessions can adjust can pressures, etc..). Even at higher weight and similar power levels, the GS and GTS front/mid running cars will be faster than a T1 car on the CTSCC Conti's. The Conti's are more comparable to R6s with a stiffer sidewall and some say slightly harder compound to last the race durations..I thought the compound was similar, but the sidewalls are very different

95jersey

Boy that World Challenge TV website really sucks. I was only able to watch about 1/2 of the races due to the website crashing or some other technical screw up. The quality is so poor. The streaming at best is like watching a bunch of still pictures put together in a video, it has lots of latency and stops and goes, I find it actually hurts my eyes.

AU N EGL

You T1 guys will trounce the moustwangs