thomas

http://grand-am.com

seege

http://www.grand-am.com

964Clifton

Just curious why Grand-Am allows new Multimatic Mustangs with 400+ hp to compete with the 996s. Why won't they allow GT3 Cup cars to compete which seems to be more in line with the V8s?

BBailey

Weight and tire sizes are used to equalize the performance of the cars. The series has been slowly bringing the Porsche's up to speed this season and I suspect that either the Mustangs will get some additional weight after this race or the Porsche's will again lose a little bit.

Right now, the Mustangs and M3's clearly have an advantage, but thats part of racing. The series officials keep a very close eye on the relative performance of the different makes in the series and have done an excellent job to this point of keeping the competition close.

As a competitor in the series, I think they'll keep doing what they've been doing and the series will continue to grow in popularity with both competitors and the fans.

__________________
Brian Bailey
Autometrics Motorsports Porsche 996 - Grand-Am Cup #45
'87 Porsche 944 Turbo - PCA GT3s

mark kibort

a mustang with the 400hp cammer engine, really more like 400 at the wheels, is still a solid axle beast and 200lbs heavier than some of the 911s and BMWs. if it was in the hands of top drivers (although the guys driving them now are good, they are not the caliber of auberline, marks driving the BMW.) they would be even faster!. Porsche GT3 cup cars are almost 8-10 seconds a lap faster than grand am cup porsche 996, regardless of the tires!! bmws are pretty stock,with their ecu changes are close to 310hp rear wheel or more with the intake plennum they just took away from them. right now ,its pretty darn equal, depending on the track you visit. I think the porsches are a little heavier than the BMWs and have a little less power. Keep in mind, the Rolex runs pure cup cars and they were running 10 seconds faster. the cup car is an amazing interation of the 996!

Having laguna as a home track, its pretty interestng to see cars much closer to stock specs than what runs in speedGT or the top ranks of PCA racing.

Great job by Brian, who put down some nice lap times, expecially having never been there before and limited practice time. Kudos! (sitting at the corkscrew, i could tell who had never been there before, by the brake lights lightiing up going into turn9. Brian didnt!! But, the mustangs did!) Also, great job by Sofronas whom was in one of the BMWs (Anchor racing) but had issues near the end of the race. However, he did spin a 1:40.5ish time only a second behind Auberlin and Marks in their BMW. be interesting to see him at SpeedGT Laguna in a motorsport upgraded Porsche GT3cup in late summer. He knows the track well. (for perspective, cup cars or cup cars with motorsport upgrades can run 1:31-2ish.even with DOT toyos!)

anyway, great series and was one of the most watchable races ive been to, and i dont like to watch much!

Mk

Greg Fishman

Friend of mine is racing a Mustang in GAC and said it is an awesome car, solid rear axle and all. I mean this car was engineered and built by professionals where most cars in this class are put together by individual shops with various levels of resources. With moderate amounts of tuning the engine is well over 400hp and just walks away from the 996, 350z and others in its class at the big tracks.

964Clifton

If equalizing these cars just using tires and weights in order to even the field, one has to be very impressed with the 996 and its ability to be competitive with the Mustangs and M3s. How much more power than stock does the 996 have when it's prepared for the Grand-Am series?

thomas

Here is some information on the new Mustang in Grand-Am Cup

http://www.multimaticmotorsports.com/mustang/index.html

carreracup21

I heard that a fully factory prepped Mustang for Grand-Am Cup is 150k . That's quite a car for what is supposed to be a street stock series. Not sure why GA let them have a 420 hp aluminum block / head race engine, while the 996 / 997 has to run totally stock. I think the Porsche drivers are better and make the 996 look relatively faster than it really is.

964Clifton

I heard the commentators at SPEED channel mentioned that the MultiMatic Mustangs cost $185K and can be raced directly off the factory floor. I thought that the whole point behind GA was to use stock chassis and engines that are sold to mostly non-racing drivers/consumers. It seems misleading to advertise that a manufacturer is ahead of the others or its cars are better when they develop cars for the sole purpose of winning GA. Of course to make it acceptable for GA, they have to make it available to the public when in reality it is not very practical for every day use.

Greg Fishman

I agree some of the Porsche drivers are top notch but the "factory" Mustang drivers are far from chopped liver.
Also my friend that races one said it was $120k.

mark kibort

pretty funny when you think about my porsche 1986 928 potentially running in the top 10 and you can build one for $20k and the "stang" is over $150k. (thats 1986 technology from porsche and it only has a set of headers on garbage can tires!). helps to know that track too. However, i do have to give credit to the porsche drivers who were hanging in there with the relatively stock porsche 996 and at a pretty heavy weight!. I think the only thing they can do is do some ECU changes so it runs on 100octane and puts out 30-40 more hp than stock. the BMWs are also impressive and are tuned by some of the best BMW tuners. both the 996 and the BMW start out at 300 to 330hp flywheel rating (355 fro the 997, but they even have to run Cats!!!!!), while the mustang starts out with a race engine and one of the owners said it was more like 400hp at the wheels!

the mustang drivers are chopped liver. Laguna in 1:39-41 in a car like that??? they should be 2 seconds faster at laguna. only the mustangs, and other unseasoned drivers were dragging the brakes around turn 9. anyone that is fast at laguna, NEVER touches the brakes out of the corkscrew and into turn 9. (Even with speed GT 550hp cars on DOT race rubber!) .

mk

mark kibort

Did you watch Cal speedway? the 350z pulled on the mustang at the end of the straight!! the bmws were right there. actually, the times and top speeds were pretty similar there. that 350z starts out with a "race" engine product from Nissan, rated at 286hp and then they get headers and a cam (as well as ecu mods. from the look of its performance with top drivers at the wheel, its pretty darn powerful. too bad the drivers made some bad errors through traffic.
Nice to see another porsche driver, anders hainer do well in a BMW with Anchor racing! that bmw is a hell of a car too!

Mk

Greg Fishman

Take it with a grain of salt but a former 350z team said the 350z you see currently running are "cheater" cars. Maybe it was because they didn't have the "factory" engine which I never knew existed. They had theirs built at Menards.

You really think Maxwell and Empringham are chopped liver? Gue/Gennette aren't exactly club racers....
I don't care where they hit (or not) the brake for turn 9. Do you know why they hit the brake? Was it to get some front grip? were they also on the gas?

JCP911S

Notice PCA's own Mike Ellis/Mike Bavaro holding down 10th in standings.... not bad for a couple of ex-club racers