ah, got it.

 

Your cornering speeds go up, but the HP needed for the straights limits your top speed unless you have a ton of aero. I have looked at 3 years of data as the car has progressed and top speed has not improved all that much while lap times have improved big time.

I spend a lot of time defending on the opening laps of a race because some of the cars behind me are heavier and have more horsepower (same hp ratio). It takes time to take advantage of the corner grip and allow the heavier car to get their tires a little greasy.

 

yep, you need 8x the power to go faster!, so at some tracks, I imagine that would be the situation. in Nor Cal. our tracks are slow, so the extra Hp/weight will always effect top speeds down the straights. you will come of the corners faster, accelerate quicker and reach higher top speeds. I did a 55hp adder in 08 and it gave me a 7-10mph top speed change down most of our straights. (with no weight change) I would wonder if dropping the 200lbs would have done the same. Like you said, probaby not at my tracks, but back easy, the aero would be limiting the top ends.

anyway, good stuff.

Mark

 

I don't buy it that an early car is faster than a cup car with the same HP/Weight.

The only early car that I have seen that can keep up with cups so far is Musante and he has a MUCH better power to weight ratio, MUCH less weight, bigger wing, and bigger wheels and tires. And yet my cup cars have usually been faster than his monster.

My car was significantly faster than his in the 2nd gear section of the loop in NJMP.

Just some more data points. Hope to see Geoffrey's car at LRP next month, I will be shooting for :52s.

 

For sure on that one. The new cars are just in a different world geometry wise. The only way an earlier car can compete is with a better power to weight advantage.

 

Agreed. Technology and geometery... enough said.

Look at page 2 of this thread at the 2010 Summit Point PCA Club Race Results. My GT3R car beat every 997 and 996 cup car in both sprint races. I took over Musante's lap record there by almost 1 full second. Chris didn't race last year but he was there to witness it. Musante is one of the best driver's in my opinion and has tons of seat time. There are a number of GT cars that compete with Cups, you just have to look for them.

 

Or you can go as to far as look at anderson's 928 racing at laguna. 7 years in a row, he has not been beaten in POC competition. Very old technlogy, with little or no tuning, just a boat load of HP. Its heavy, but powerful and has huge slicks on it. bang for the buck there cant be beat. (even though he has 175hp more than me and quite a few mods more )
by the way, i think his motons are about 10 years old now too, with out being rebuilt.
1:30.7 at laguna! so, at this track, and this case, the bigger hammer works.

 

I hear ya brother. I usually get pased by 4 or 5 cars on the start that I've out-qualified. It makes the racing fun....

 

That's awesome to see another really fast older car!

But I don't see any of the fast cup cars in any SP results, how about your lap times at Sebring, The Glen, Atlanta, etc?

 

Well.....all I can say is look at Chris Cervelli's old 993RSR. It (and he) still holds the overall PCA track record it set at TWS in 2008, despite legions of 996 and 997 Cup cars trying to take it away. Not just a class record, but the fastest PCA time ever recorded at TWS.

 

A well driven 997 cup could quite easily beat his time.

 

It should be down in the 42's, yup.

 

Im right there with ya, but its fun to come back around on a fast sweaper where they are braking and I just fly righ by. Their brakes are like my afterburner

 

What was Chris's record time? 46? 44? Ive watched his video of his 1:46 run.

 

44.3.

A couple of Cups are in the 44's, but Chris has the fastest overall PCA lap ever recorded there.