C.J. Ichiban

mark, congrats-

you're the internet bench racing champion of 2008!

Circuit Motorsports

That's kind of you considering his times have been about 5-6% faster

Lets call it 5%. That would be 4.75 seconds faster if you use 1:35 for the SpeedTC time that they ran last year. Which looks like a 1:30 by my math. Even with 4% faster it's a low 1:31.

I went by a couple of things. Speed TC did 2:05's this year at VIR and 1:35 at Laguna last year. Going under the assumption that the cars are pretty similar and Bryans car has the Speed cars covered by 6 seconds pretty easily a high 1:30 or a 1:31 is pretty reasonable for his BMW.

Track records for cars in SCCA is a pretty decent measure if you know the level of drivers. Formula ford has seen equivalent cars and drivers at both events and they have a 2:02 at VIR and a 1:30 at Laguna. A number of the fast groups showed a similar correlation.

Also Rolex GT ran 1:27'S at Laguna.

Bryans car is a ridiculously fast car that has been well built, well setup and is well driven.

But I'm sure you'll find some way to get the last word in about how you're right. I'm done with this topic.

mark kibort

well, we have seen what the different cars run. i dont think brians car is a 1:30 car, as we have seen cars in the 1:55 range (speedGT) run in the 1:31s at laguna. thats probably the best indicator. Im sure Bryans car is fast. if it is several seconds faster than Touring, its fast. not as fast as speedGT though, and their race times were near 1:31.

sure, Ill agree that he is somewhere inbetween speedGT and speedTouring.
Again, we have one of his cars out here, and they run near the 1:34. for some reason, speedGT and Touring are only 4 seconds apart here, where other tracks the differences are greater and I dont know why.

Ok, enough bench racing, I have a real race this weekend!

MK

mark kibort

Again, Rolex ran 1:53s at VIR though! and 1:27s at laguna. does a 2:00 correlate to a 1:30? lots of factors and this is just guess work now. Bryan might have to come out and prove me wrong.


mk

Circuit Motorsports

A few things.

Where do you keep getting your numbers?

A 1:31 would have left you 10th on the grid at the last SpeedGT race at Laguna. Pole was 1:29. 2007 results

And can you tell me the last SpeedGT race at VIR? I was trying to find the results as I don't trust the numbers you post and didn't see any for the last 3 seasons. And why can't Bryan's car be as fast as a SpeedGT car?

You keep changing/ignoring/modifying the argument so you can justify your opinions. Very annoying I must say.

Have fun at your race. I know I'll be having a ball at mine.

NJcroc

Ok how about we all start a fantasy racing team. I seem to be getting killed in my foorball pools so I am up to try new things

Bryan Watts

I'm sure that we're not as fast as the current pole times for Speed GT cars just based on their results at Road Atlanta a few weekends ago. Too old and brickish of a car with too few horsies. I suspect with a proper driver and some real setup time (which we never do on a club weekend), the car is capable of times that would make it a bit more competitive with those guys though because of our lower weight and stickier tires. I think they ran 1:26's at Road Atlanta this year to our 1:29's...we can probably go a little faster, but it would take better driving and some setup to make up the complete gap. So yeah, maybe the car has the potential, but I don't.

There's easily a second or two in a driver (maybe more, as I suspect I've lost that much time myself between when I drove a lot and now...and I was never that good) and probably another 1-2 in setup around a typical track. We do some basic setup work to make the car feel better/balanced at each track, but quickly get to beer drinking before we ever start making changes that will significantly drop lap times...despite our best intentions of pouring over data and tweaking the car, it's too much fun to BS with friends in the paddock during club weekends.

Stick Tommy Milner in the car and give us 3-4 sessions to work on setup and maybe the car could run right there with the Speed GT guys?

mark kibort

Right from the results! I think the problem, is you use their qualifying times and im comparing Race times to race times. Qualifying times are a different ball game with the pro teams. they do things that we just dont do for a qual time. maybe its something like the time trial guys do, but I dont know.

anyway, race winning times were near 1:31 and Touring car race times were near 1:36. I figure Bryan, enven with a ton of tuning, and a better driver (and im sure he is just fine behind the wheel) can run somewhere in between. Think about what it takes for 1:30.xx at laguna. some tracks give a little more benifit for hp and set up. Laguna is a HP track, but its full throttle sections are very short. (under 10 seconds)

Im not changing my story. Ill find the VIR race numbers as they were a while ago. anyway, its pretty safe to say now, that speedGT, IMSA porsche, and Grand am rolex are near the same times now, even though they are all on different tires. to that point, its interesting to see the motorsport upgraged porsche GT3cup vs the GT3 in supercup without the hot motor run the same times. the main difference is the tires offset the extra massive hp. But bryan says slicks are the same as DOTs, so i wonder where the difference would come from then? fact is, when Henzler had to run a true cup car when his car was broke, against Liddel in a Speed GT upgraded cup car, he lost by about what we expected it to loose by. about a second. So, it looked like the engine upgrades are offset by the michelin slicks when comparing the two cars.

On of the main reasons I feel Brian's car cant do SpeedGT times is that they are so much faster at tracks you and have mentioned. second , with Stuck, Said, and Auberlen alll driving the PTG cars at laguna and not breaking 1:33, i dont see how his car, as fast as it is, could be better.

mk

mark kibort

Thank you , thank you very much. (in my best elvis voice)

Hey, its cheap entertainment between races. No more no less!


Mk