98Artic

Last week I was watching the NASCAR race at Watkins Glen. I wondered if a new stock ZR1 would be competitive with these cars in this race? Would these Cup Cars with their superior horsepower wipe out the ZR1 or would the ZR1 have a chance because of superior handling? Does anyone know for certain if it would be a race or not? Thanks for the input from the road racers who know the answer to this question.

bosco022

What handling advantage? It appears the Cup cars were only 4 seconds slower than the Daytona Prototypes.

Nascar stock cars handle quite well despite weighing about 3500# and running on a 15x12 tire. They can run within about three seconds a lap of a full on Trans Am car.

moespeeds

Stock as in off the showroom floor? The tires alone would be a big problem.

Timz06

Are you kidding? A cup car will crush a ZR1.

Mike.D

. It wouldn't even be close

RX-Ben

900hp. Are you kidding?

Racingswh

I remember when I really didn't understand just how fast real racing cars are, especially when driven by some of the very best drivers in the world.

Given what we know at the Glen on the long course a Sprint Cup car would circulate in qualifying trim in the high 1:40's if not a shade quicker. A stock ZR1 would have a hard time breaking the 2:10 mark on street tires and probably be a 2:15 car with the average ZR1 DE driver at the wheel.

In the end a stock ZR1 while ok for a street car is not even close to racing car fast when comparing lap times.

geerookie

On the Long Course I don't think a Cup car could get below 1:50, to tight and horsepower isn't going to make up for having to man handle 3400lbs around.

As far as a ZR1, it could easily do a 2:10 or lower. I have run 2:14's on street tires in a C5 coupe and in an ST2 car we are running 2:05's and 2:06's on Hoosier A6's with only 350rwhp.

The street tires a ZR1 comes with are only a tick below Hoosier A6's.

Everett Ogilvie

This morning I posted the Watkins Glen laptimes from this weekend in the thread on the weekend racing. As you can see the Cup cars are considerably faster than a Grand AM GT car, which no ZR1 could hang with, so the CUP car is in a different league than any street car;

Grand AM DP best lap 1:05.645
Grand AM GT best lap 1:12.308
Nationwide best lap 1:12.027 (qualifying lap time for polesitter)
NASCAR Cup best lap 1:09.438 (qualifying lap time for polesitter)

z06801

What do the K&N west NASCAR boys run for power, they where fast on Millers east track this year.

AU N EGL

IIRC Cup race on the 2nd last lap was just under 1:00 too. Even with all the OIL and the slipping and sliding

Racingswh

Could be.

ZR1 isn't anywhere near a Sprint Cup car though as was asked by the OP. After turn 2 they wouldn't even see each other until the Cup car came around to lap the ZR1.

That's rolling in your ST2 car. Very nice!!

jcsperson

Some race tires, a little more boost and 110 octane and it might be interesting to see how fast that ZR1 could go.

AU N EGL

with that BLUE AMCO so close ? not without a roll cage and race trim set up

Cobra4B

It'd be interesting, but it wouldn't touch 900 horse 10,000 rpm cup motors.

If you're thinking about the armco you should probably be playing golf Just remember to not think about hitting it in the woods or water.

JeremyGSU

Are the Michelin tires that sticky?! I would have guessed they were more likea an RA1. If they are only a tick below are they as sticky as an R6? Surely not I would think?

AU N EGL

I got into cars as my golf really really sucked.

Not thinking about it, but why do race cars have roll cages ???

AU N EGL

Jeremy, those new Mich tires are very very good. I was surprised at how well they stuck when I drove the ZR1s at Road America and VIR.

Could take the Carrousel at Road America and T17-18 combo at VIR almost as fast as "A"s with 5-7 Heat cycles.

bosco022

I hear most the K&N East Nascar stockers run carbureted L2's with 243 heads, making about 600 HP.

I would guess they use the same powerplant. I think they still have the option to run conventional small blocks as well.

heavychevy

If we are talking about the NASCAR Sprint race, they run a much shorter config than Grand-Am does. Juan Pablo ran a 1:09 to get on pole.

Grand-Am runs the full track and DP cars run 1:05. Much different, NASCAR is not on the same planet as DP's.\


Edit: NM I didn't know Grand-Am ran the short track the second time around.