spazegun2213

Alright, being young and owning a tuner car i keep up with the Time Attacks in the US (or i try too). I thought it was funny that there was a gt3 cup car there:



A lot of the tuner guys were shocked that that car was so fast. In fact, i think it won the event. With several tuner cars pushing 500+hp and sub 2500lbs I figured some monster would come out on top. I think this just goes to show you what a tuned chassis can do with a good driver behind the wheel.

jrgordonsenior

Yea those silly German engineers sometimes get it right .....

tchandler

What's a time attack?

JackOlsen

I wasn't there, but according to what I've read elsewhere, the Porsche beat a wildly-modified 850+-hp Skyline for the overall win.

There is no substitute for years and years of track development.

Isn't this an event to promote tuners, though? It seems like letting the factory Cup car out there would work completely counter to the whole marketing-driven nature of the event. Isn't this thing supposed to support the dream that anyone with a big enough checking account can build up a supercar with parts he finds at the SEMA show?

spazegun2213

Its a fancy name for a time trial.


yes, there was a REALLY fast skyline flown in for sema and competed. The Time attacks are open to anyone, from big tuners, to race teams, to billy-joe-bobby in his civic. However, these events are really just to promote tuners and sell parts

thats why i thought it was great that a cup car won. It was probably cheaper than 1/2 the cars out there (i can only imagine the type of money dumped into that skyline), and in the right hands with the right setup, it shows people you dont need 11ty billion hp to go fast.

mark kibort

we are lucky to live in california with so many barometers to see how fast some of these guys really are. Sofro in that cup car (modified heavily for SpeedGT world challenge) runs 1:29s at laguna. do you know how fast that is? any of the top 10 speedGT World Challenge cars are in the 1:30s at laguna. (for you LA guys, thats like 1:20 at Willowsprings.)

Second, its hardly a stock porsche. The new porsche cup cars run near $200k, as modified, Sofronas' car would probably go for, or cost to replicate, about $120,000. hardly a bargan. BUT, it is a guaranteed fast car. You see all these tuner guys putting a lot of money in Evos, skylines, cameros, mustangs, vets, etc, and end up with a very expensive, reasonably fast car, but not anywhere NEAR the performance level of a competition coupe Viper, or porsche supercup GT3. Not to mention the driver skill to pilot such a car. I see cars like this all the time that can be 3-4 seconds faster a lap with a skilled hand at the wheel! remember the skyline that showed up from LA for the speedworld challenge? (i think it was the same one that you are talking about from SEMA) i think it was about 6 seconds off the pace at laguna! so would have been the fastest Evo in the country today, and many other "fast" tuner cars! Again, this porsche supercup car is the best of everything and is certainly not cheap! (nowhere near "half the cost") In fact, at near $80k for a very used porsche GT3cup car without all the big upgrades, its cost is on par for what you would need to do to a "tuner" car. however, it will be a WHOLE lot faster!

I think its awesome that James showed up and ran the time trial. I also think its great that it gives all these "tuners" some perspective on what it takes to really be fast! (both from a equipment and driver perspective)

MK

PS, anyone have the results for the event?? lap times???

spazegun2213

Mark,
I was clearly misinformed about the modifications done to that car. However, even at 200K I know some tuner shops have put nearly that into their cars, swapping parts, breaking engines and what not. Some of the tuner cars are older generations that they swap parts onto. But i think it would be one of the more expensive cars out there (worth it though IMO).

Here are a link to the results:
http://www.superstreetonline.com/eve...ttack_results/

As for the drivers; there were several big named Japanese drivers out there that specialize in time trailing. There were also a number of pro drivers from the US, so there was some skill out there. Still I'm glad to see some do this, take a real race car out for a time trial. While he didn't win by a huge margin, he didn't need to.

I think this also shows his skill as a driver, and how well his team is put together.

A.Wayne

Aha, ! Just love it ,
When you see all theses drag racers making the jump to road racing, then realize they have nothing , always amaze's me of how little they know about cars , but by installing biggy turbos , with big boost , make a 9 sec pass then they become overnight experts, Just because they where able to make their engines last for 33 seconds between blowups..

Now after entering the real world of racing, BANG ! REALITY CHECK !

Great event , just wish they had more events in the S.E.

Just love it !!

JackOlsen

Well, before we get too carried away, the Skyline was only 0.14 seconds behind the World Challenge Porsche, which was able to run without restrictors (or to the usual minimum weight) for the event.

I'd be thrilled to be that close to a 911-based race car like that.

Kurt R

Global Motorsports Group is a tuner. http://www.gmgracing.com/

mark kibort

If the skyline was only .14 seconds behind, James wasnt driving, or they were not pushing. like i said, the skyline was 6 seconds off the pace at laguna WC. even more than that at long beach. i dont care if you put 500more hp, it aint going to pick up 6 seconds! I was out at laguna Seca when randy pobst tested one of these tuner cars (Evo with 550hp, just below top World challenge GT type 4x4s) he ran 1:34.2 on toyos. the owner, a 2 year rookie, ran pretty close to the same times. again, still 6 seconds off the winning pace of the speed GT guys.

edit: just saw the results. sorry, i was thinking it was a different skyline. wrong skyline . looks like Yamada is the better driver vs Igor, or has much more in the car. Igor did a great job at world challenge, but again, out gunned by the modified for WC GT3 porsche cup car.
This other Skyline looks really fast!! wow, 1:49!! thats a real fast time. track configuration was with the bus stop and the sweeper too?

I also wonder if the James in the porsche cup car was running without restrictors as well that are required for WC GT3cup porsches with the SpeedWC upgraded engine. (very close to ALMS GT2 porsche GT3RS type hp)

MK

mark kibort

Thanks for posting that! interesting results.

I know a couple of those drivers, one of which who has an evo (Navid) did pretty well for a roughly stockish evo with the boost turned up!

What qualifies for a tuner car in this event? can a porsche 928 do this, or is it limited to a certain displacement? I didnt see any V8s at all. certainly isnt a hp requirement due to the big hp those Skylines can muster up in tuner form!

MK

spazegun2213

I'm fairly sure its open to anyone, but its geared toward the tuner shops. You should go out there and see how you do I'd love to see another porsche up there in the top 5!