Rolex GT - GTO at The Glen

[Sk8fe]

I went to the 6 hour Rolex Sports Car series race at Watkins Glen this past weekend. Weather was all over the place -- sunny, hazy, hot, humid, overcast, raining, thunderstorming -- you name it (no snow luckily)! :)

I took some video of practice of #23, a 2004 GTO. It had the coolest sounding exhaust there! Next best sounding exhaust was #33, a Maserati. :D I'm no pro camera man with pro equipment, so the clip is short and sweet. I talked to the GTO pit crew, they were great guys: friendly and let me take a lot of pics. Turn up the volume. Enjoy...

GTO at The Glen (http://www.mightyware.com/gto/misc/Rolex GT - GTO at The Glen.wmv)

Tom

[sccaGTO]

I gotta keep up with the Grand Am series. Road trip next time they go to Atlanta. That should be tons o' fun. :hail:

[Kiwi Jack]

Wow, that really doe's have a fantastic sound. Do you know how many HP that car has? Thanks for the vid.

[Sk8fe]

No, sorry I don't know how many HP #23 had, but it had cool side-dump exhaust that would exit right in front of the rear tires through side skirting. :) It was in the GT class and seemed be running "mid-pack." The pit guys said the car had a lot more than what their qualifying showed, which I think was a subtle "jab" to indicate driver level of experience. Which I would have to agree. Friday night they spent all night replacing the clutch which got fried during Friday's practice. Saturday, they seemed to be all over the place. Sunday, on the first lap their left rear tire was shredded! They were in the pits a lot the first hour and then pretty much called it quits by the second hour. :(

GrandAm Cup series, which I think GM/Pontiac is targeting their GTO-R car for is capped at 450hp. Hopefully that means that they should get good longevity out of the LS2 since it shouldn't be hard to get 50 more ponies out of it.

Hotlanta is like a 13 hour trip for me one-way. :( I think I'll have to catch them on Speed when they run there. ;)

It was my first Rolex Sports Car series race, but I am hooked and will go to see them next year and every year after that as long as they run at The Glen. The Glen could definately use those large "Fan-o-vision" screens like they have in stadiums or at the track up in Montreal when I go to see the F1 race. It was definately cool to seem the drivers close like you see on Speed. I was shoulder-to-shoulder with Chip Ganassi. I saw Boris Said, Scott Pruett, Randy Probst, and Mad Max! They had a driver autograph session on Saturday from 11:30 to 12:30 or something like that, but I missd that! :(

It was definately cool and if they race near you I would definately recommed going to see it! :D

Tom

[Kiwi Jack]

Thanks for the info Tom. I would like to see that car run the avatar car you have.

[Sk8fe]

Tell me about it! I would love to see a V8 SuperCars race in person! :) I love that race series (as you can tell from my member name and avatar). I got hooked on it a couple years ago when ComCast (my local cable TV provider) added SpeedVision to their line-up of channels. That is a major reason why I bought my new GTO (that and I am a long time GTO & Pontiac fanatic having owned a 67 GTO for years several years ago (as well as several other Pontiacs)). RMR sells a V8 Supercars-styled front clip (bumper) that I have on order to use on days I take my GTO out on the track to give it that V8 Supercars look & feel. ;)

These days since Fox bought SpeedVision and changed its name to Speed its more like NascarVision than anything. :( For those who like NASCAR, more power to them, but for me, I only watch the 2 or 3 road course races that NASCAR runs a year. All the rest -- going in circles -- does nothing for me and gets me dizzy. I go out of my way to watch F1, Speed GT (& Touring) World Challenge, Rolex Sports Car series (& GrandAm Cup), V8 SuperCars, DTM, British Touring, etc. :D

V8SuperCars.com I think sells the season on DVD. I have been meaning to look into that and to buy them (not sure how far they go back). Speed airs the V8 SuperCars series in time-delayed compressed format usually in December & January. This past Dec. & Jan. Speed aired them every Tuesday from 2PM to 3PM (or 4PM), so I would program my VCR. Man, I need to get TiVo! Every week in December through the first or second week of January.

Tom

[sccaGTO]

These days since Fox bought SpeedVision and changed its name to Speed its more like NascarVision than anything. :( For those who like NASCAR, more power to them, but for me, I only watch the 2 or 3 road course races that NASCAR runs a year. All the rest -- going in circles -- does nothing for me and gets me dizzy. I go out of my way to watch F1, Speed GT (& Touring) World Challenge, Rolex Sports Car series (& GrandAm Cup), V8 SuperCars, DTM, British Touring, etc. :D Tom
Yeah, ever since they changed to Speed Network, they blow. I get a kick out of watching road racing myself. Sk8fe, you know, there is a grassroots V8 style racing group in America. If you haven't already, check this out: http://www.av8ss.com . The only problem I see is that I wouldn't be crazy enough to put my daily driven GTO out there. This is full contact racing with full contact novice drivers.

BTW, has Victor's Secret come out with new car lingerie? A clear bra I've seen. But, expanding to panties & contacts? That's funny, man. :gr_jest:

[Sk8fe]

BTW, has Victor's Secret come out with new car lingerie? A clear bra I've seen. But, expanding to panties & contacts? That's funny, man. :gr_jest:
Victor's(!)? That must be Victoria's brother. LOL! :)

That is just what they are called/referred to around my way. Contacts are the thicker 3M material for the headlights and foglights. Panties are the 3M paint protector material for the side mirrors. :D

Yea, I knew about the American V8 Supercar Series. It seems to get more coverage in Hot Rod & Popular Hot Rodding magazines than on Speed. It is too grassroots for Speed I guess. ??? I'm not sure why? I mean if Speed will show dirt-track drag racing and modified & stock lawn tractor racing to fill non-NASCAR dead air time(!), I'm not sure why they wouldn't air AV8SS? Or at least I have not seen it yet on Speed.

Agreed. I would not take my daily driver GTO or otherwise out for something like that. Too expensive due to it being too full contact. I take my cars out for Driver Ed. and Seat-time (practice) days, but if I need to satisfy my competition woody I'll sign up for a go-kart enduro race. Arrive and drive; that's the way to do it... :)

Tom

[sccaGTO]

Agreed. I would not take my daily driver GTO or otherwise out for something like that. Too expensive due to it being too full contact. I take my cars out for Driver Ed. and Seat-time (practice) days, but if I need to satisfy my competition woody I'll sign up for a go-kart enduro race. Arrive and drive; that's the way to do it... :)

Tom
You might have to point me in the direction of this go-kart stuff.

[Sk8fe]

I don't know the URL's off hand. Let me put some emails out to my friends and I will compile a list for you and post them hopefully by this weekend or early next week.

Absolutely nothing like amp'n 80-some-odd mph 2 inches off the deck with no seatbelt! :eek2: Nice stickly slicks. Zero suspension. Take turns so hard that you push the chassis to flex-point. Late braking. Throwing the kart into the turns. 4-wheel drifting through them! Then when you think you got that down -- do all that in pouring rain while still on slicks! :)

Some of my friends are hardcore and they pay thousands of dollars to fly to other countries to race and represent the USA! I'll pay $400 or so for a Saturday enduro race (Team of 4), but $4000 or $5000 that they pay to race in other countries is too much for me. For that kind of money, I see Sparco seats, upgraded suspension, big brakes for my GTO! ;)

Tom

[Rockos GTO]

I like the way that car sounded.....But all of Pratt Miller cars sound like that. That is the same car from SEMA.......well not the same car, but a clone. Pratt Miller is making them and they are for Sale..... I think somewhere in the ball park of 160K . Personally I like the Autosport development's GTO and its sound. Hopefully they will have the 2nd car out for the Cleveland race next weekend.

[sccaGTO]

Definately let me know how those Sparcos do for you. The stockers hurt my lower back. That's the only bitch I have about the car.

[Sk8fe]

For a stock seat, I found that the GTO's seats to be more comfortable than other cars I have owned. There is a lower lumbar adjustment, but you probably have already been playing with that to try to find that "sweet spot." I have lower back problems (drunk driver hit me head-on in the summer of 1990 and I have been living with pain ever since. :( Drunk driving laws weren't what they are today back in 1990)...

My "beef" with the stock seats are:

I hate automatic adjustable seats with no memory. It takes you 5 or 10 minutes of putz'n with the levers to find that "sweet spot" and then when someone else sits in the car that "sweet spot" is gone and you have to spend another 5 or 10 minutes to find it again! I would rather have manual seats if there is no memory settings.
I have two boys, 9 & 6 years old and it is painfully slow to get them in and out of the back seats because of that automatic "slider". Once they are in the back seat they like the GTO. Plenty of room for them. They like the leather seats and the vents in the center console so that can direct heat or AC to point right at them.
Finally, the most important point for me is that I do not fit in my GTO with my helmet on with the stock seats! I'm 6'2" and the stock seats even when adjusted all of the way down to the floor I do not fit.

I'll post pics when I get the Sparco's installed; although, it probably wont be until the middle of July. I got the Sparco Milano Prestige (black leather) seats to go with the rest of the interior. I am working with Eric at RMR. He has been great so far. He gave me a decent price, plus they are going to custom fabricate mounting rails to get me as close to the floor as possible. :) If you are considering Sparco seats call RMR. No one seems to have mounting rails for the GTO. I spent 3 months calling and emailing a ton of places and no dice. Some places offered to fabricate me rails, but they could not get a hold of a GTO to get measurements. I ended up waisting a lot of time trying to pursue those avenues. One day I was looking at RMR's website because I like their Aussie V8 SuperCars styled front bumper (serious shovel-like front air splitter) and I noticed in the picture that they had Sparco seats in that GTO, so I emailed them. RMR has one or two "show" GTOs right there in their shop, so Eric was like, sure we can do that for you. After three months of deadends, I was like COOL!!! :D

I got in on a group buy for Wilwood Superlite 6-piston caliper brake kit (front), 4-piston calipers (rear) for my GTO. I got them in the mail this week. They look sweet! But I can't put them on until I get 18" wheels with the right offset to clear the Wilwood's before I can put them on. Your Drift-R's are on backorder until the middle/end of July. :( I'll post pics when I get my wheels and Wilwoods installed. :)

Later...
Tom

[Sk8fe]

I like the way that car sounded.....But all of Pratt Miller cars sound like that. That is the same car from SEMA.......well not the same car, but a clone. Pratt Miller is making them and they are for Sale..... I think somewhere in the ball park of 160K . Personally I like the Autosport development's GTO and its sound. Hopefully they will have the 2nd car out for the Cleveland race next weekend.
I hear ya, but for 160K, I think that I would get a Porsche 911 GT3, a Maserati, or maybe a certified pre-owned 360 Modna... ;)

I love my GTO, I love V8 SuperCars, but lets face it. The GTO is a heavy car with a high center of gravity. Capped at 450hp I don't think that's enough for these cars to be competitive, but I am dying to see what the factory GTO-R will do in the GrandAm Cup series! V8 SuperCars are 650hp I think and they obviously look very competitive. It is hard to loose serious weight with these cars. For $160K, I don't know if I would spend it on a GTO race car. Actually in prior discussions with RMR, they said that they could build me an RMR GTO Drifter for $70K (plus the cost of the car). I don't need a pro race car, but taking a pro RMR Drifter out on Driver Ed. and Seat-time days would be pretty awesome! :D

[Rockos GTO]

Well the GTO-R race car is a race car......tubed chassis the whole works......with out the GTO shell you wouldnt know what it was.......thats why I like the World challenge...you still have to use the cars major supports. I have seen the GTO-R up close. I got them to pop the hood at SEMA and took pics of the engine compartment, nothing like a stock GTO.........it is a tube frame with GTO shell........Dont get me wrong I LIKE IT....but its kinda like a nascar with a GTO name on it

[Sk8fe]

Good point (on all points)! Agreed. Do you have any pics of the GTO-R that you can post (or perhap you already did in another thread)?

I'm surprised that GrandAm Cup rules would allow that (tube chassis that is). I'd have to look at the rules again. The GrandAm Cup cars that I saw at The Glen last weekend were slower around The Glen that the Rolex Sports Cars that raced on Sunday (lower performance specs). I don't know. Still cool though... :D

Tom

[Sk8fe]

http://www.endurancekarting.com/
http://www.dinousa.com/

I'll add more as I get them.

Tom

[Rockos GTO]

Good point (on all points)! Agreed. Do you have any pics of the GTO-R that you can post (or perhap you already did in another thread)?

I'm surprised that GrandAm Cup rules would allow that (tube chassis that is). I'd have to look at the rules again. The GrandAm Cup cars that I saw at The Glen last weekend were slower around The Glen that the Rolex Sports Cars that raced on Sunday (lower performance specs). I don't know. Still cool though... :D

Tom
Yeah I have some, will try to get up here soon.... the one running the grand am cup isnt a tube chassis...I dont think, but the suspenion has been moddifed heavily, I havent seen the one running in the grand am cup but I know the GTO that ran last year in the world challenge......and with out modifications to suspenion, drivetrain, engine they wont compete at all....

[Sk8fe]

GTOs in both the Speed GT World Challenge and the GT class of the Rolex Sports Car series are tube chassis (or at least it looked like it). Agreed. Without heavy modification the GTO are not competitive. With heavy modifications they seem to be mid-pack runners at best. :( I hate to say it but that #23 at The Glen was mid-pack running and Stu has been in Speed GT now for what 2 years and I can't recall seeing him up front. :( Not slam'n anyone, just calling em like I see em. But then I haven't seen every race, so I could be wrong. I wish the GTO would be an up front runner, because it is as cool as hell. :)

I don't know why GM does consult HRT for suspension and all of their racing data/knowledge. I'm sure those cats in the V8 Supercars series could get the GTO setup ironed out in no time! :)

[Rockos GTO]

GTOs in both the Speed GT World Challenge and the GT class of the Rolex Sports Car series are tube chassis (or at least it looked like it). Agreed. Without heavy modification the GTO are not competitive. With heavy modifications they seem to be mid-pack runners at best. :( I hate to say it but that #23 at The Glen was mid-pack running and Stu has been in Speed GT now for what 2 years and I can't recall seeing him up front. :( Not slam'n anyone, just calling em like I see em. But then I haven't seen every race, so I could be wrong. I wish the GTO would be an up front runner, because it is as cool as hell. :)

I don't know why GM does consult HRT for suspension and all of their racing data/knowledge. I'm sure those cats in the V8 Supercars series could get the GTO setup ironed out in no time! :)

OK..no is Stu's GTO isnt a tube chassis, it is a stock sub frame and stock lines.....THE GTO-R is a tubed frame like a Nascar.... stu finished the last year 15th with a stock car but modified .......this years car is a whole new car..... and he finished 9th in the last race..... The GTO isnt a factory backed team like cadillac or Audi. They have done great on there ownand they keep getting better ...and they were the first to race a GTO so they dont have anyone or any specs to go off of. it is all trial and error.... The GTO this year is running a rearend from Holden..... they should have the Second car out this weekend at Cleveland. I can Honestly say I dont know much of the #23 car..or there team...But I will look in to the techincal spec of the cars and see if I can fid some other pic of it and what series it is running in

Here are the GTO-R pics this is the TUBE FRAME
http://www.ls1gto.com/forums/attachment.php?attach mentid=15475&stc=1
http://www.ls1gto.com/forums/attachment.php?attach mentid=15476&stc=1
http://www.ls1gto.com/forums/attachment.php?attach mentid=15477&stc=1

[Sk8fe]

The #23 engine bay looked A LOT like that. The pit crew on the #23 team were great guys, I talked to them at length. I never did meet any of the drivers. I don't think they are as heavily funded and TRG or another team like that.

I hear you about factory backed teams vs. doing it on your own. I understand and agree.

Are those Pontiac Arrows on the hood custom painted on or are they a large decal that I could buy somewhere? I see them a lot. The RMR GTO has one as well.

[05YELLOWJACKET]

I think the old boy driving needs to get comfortable with that car he was hitting that corner way to slow. But it did sound better than any other car you got on tape.

[Sk8fe]

Well, one thing about the camera -- they say it makes you look 10 times fatter and out on the track it makes you look 10 times slower! :) I know that from Driver Ed days (especially in-car cameras). I suspect better (pro) equipment might help, but I can't afford that. He had a decent pace for practice, which is what the video is from. On race day they were plagued with problems from the start (shredded a tire on lap 1 and the race went down hill from there until they finally called it quits a little over an hour into the 6 hour race).

[dhr]

Jet Service Center Mobarak Aircraft Painting Championship at the Glen



...............The American V-8 Supercar Series (AV8SS)would like to
take this opportunity to invite all racers to come join us for the 2005
series finale at Watkins Glen October 8th and 9th.
As this is our last event and the Watkins Glen full course is a big
track, we are inviting everyone with a race car to come join in the fun.
While the purse monies and official placings will be reserved for AV8
legal cars, we welcome all road race cars with a log book and drivers
with competition licenses. Open track may still be available with PDA
(Performance Drivers Association), our partner for the weekend.
We will have four 30 minute practice sessions on Saturday. Sunday will
include an early practice followed by a qualifying session and a single
45 minute race with a 1 P.M. start. Single days are available. Cost for
the entire weekend is $400.00. For more information please go to
www.av8ss.com or contact Dan Schlickenmeyer at dans@av8ss.com.
Come join us for the beautiful fall of upstate New York and rare
opportunity to run the full course at historic Watkins Glen www.av8ss.com.

[sccaGTO]

I'll post pics when I get the Sparco's installed; although, it probably wont be until the middle of July. I got the Sparco Milano Prestige (black leather) seats to go with the rest of the interior. I am working with Eric at RMR. He has been great so far. He gave me a decent price, plus they are going to custom fabricate mounting rails to get me as close to the floor as possible. :) If you are considering Sparco seats call RMR. No one seems to have mounting rails for the GTO. I spent 3 months calling and emailing a ton of places and no dice. Some places offered to fabricate me rails, but they could not get a hold of a GTO to get measurements. I ended up waisting a lot of time trying to pursue those avenues. One day I was looking at RMR's website because I like their Aussie V8 SuperCars styled front bumper (serious shovel-like front air splitter) and I noticed in the picture that they had Sparco seats in that GTO, so I emailed them. RMR has one or two "show" GTOs right there in their shop, so Eric was like, sure we can do that for you. After three months of deadends, I was like COOL!!! :D

I got in on a group buy for Wilwood Superlite 6-piston caliper brake kit (front), 4-piston calipers (rear) for my GTO. I got them in the mail this week. They look sweet! But I can't put them on until I get 18" wheels with the right offset to clear the Wilwood's before I can put them on. Your Drift-R's are on backorder until the middle/end of July. :( I'll post pics when I get my wheels and Wilwoods installed. :)

Later...
Tom
So, how much of this stuff have you gotten done, Tom? I almost forgot we were having this discussion. :drink:

[Sk8fe]

Unfortunately -- nil, nada, not a dam thing. :( I ran into a snag with the Sparco seats. Appearently, if you unplug the stock seats to remove them to bolt in the Sparcos the air bag light will come on in the Instrument Cluster and possibly record a code in the ECU, which may cause problems come inspection time. :( So there was no point in buying expensive Sparco Milano Prestige seats. Well, the only thing that I got for it that I did put on was the BMR aluminum skid plate; everything else I got for it is still in their boxes, unopened, sitting in the garage.

I work for the power company and with all of these heatwaves we had this summer, I was extremely busy. Funny, people still expect their lights to come on when they run their air conditioners. ;) However, I did manage to get the Goat out to the track several times -- a two day weekend at Summit Point and a 3-day weekend at Watkins Glen. :) The Goat ran stock with exception to brake fluid, pads and tires. I had a lot of fun out on the track with it, but I don't exactly fit into it with my helmet on and it is too nice of a car to do all of the things that I would want to do (strip interior, 10-point rollcage, track seats, 5-point harness, etc.), so I think that I am going to keep it nice for the street and look to get something cheap to have fun with out on the track. :) I like my Goat, I've only had it 7 months and I already have over 10k miles on it. I have a couple more gigs before Thanksgiving to finish up the year with in the GTO (4 more days at The Point and two more days at The Glen) -- to use up the tires and sets of brake pads I have for it. All of the stuff I got for it still sitting in the garage unopened (BMR Subframe connectors, Wilwood Superlite brake kit, GMM RipShifter) and the BMR skip plate I'll try to sell here in the For Sale forum. Although I may still decide to keep the BMR skid plate and RipShifter as even for street those are useful/nice-to-have. :) But the BMR Subframe connectors and Wilwoods are overkill for the street.

Tom

[Flashpoint]

Darn airbag seat sensors..... I wonder where in the seat they are...under the seat padding maybe?

Wonder if it is possible to pull those out and just plug them in and place under the seat, or figure out how to trick the computer into thinking it was plugged in.

Has to be a way to do it. No one wants to say exactly how to do it, for liabilties sake and the sue happy people of america.

I need a service manual....:bomb:

[Sk8fe]

The cars are just too dam smart these days. :( I still think the way to go is to get a mid-to-late 80's Porsche 944 (naturally aspirated, which was weak in the horsepower & torque, but handled extremely well and was very light in stock form ~2800lbs). The NA's are very cheap to source. You get a non-turbo VIN for cheaper car ins. and buy an LS1 conversion kit! Drop in a tuned LS1 and get that nice V8 rumble. 400+hp/tq in a 50/50 2800lbs car! :D If only I was more mechanically inclined...

[sccaGTO]

I need a service manual....:bomb:
You & me both. Tom, I didn't even think about the seat sensor. I guess sometimes we take old technology for granted.

[Sk8fe]

Yea, that is why I don't have my "44-8" yet. By the time I paid a mechanic to do the work (plus the cost for the kit and a nicely tuned LS1 V8), I could just buy a late-90's Camaro, Trans Am or Cobra that already has a V8. :(

Someone said that the sensor is needed so the computer knows how much force to deploy the bag or something like that. Kind of makes sense. Personally, I rather not even have one and have a nice Momo steering wheel with the arrowhead crest for a horn button. :)

[sccaGTO]

Someone said that the sensor is needed so the computer knows how much force to deploy the bag or something like that.
That is correct. I was awed that my new car had something so technical when I bought it. I never planned on the future modification factor.http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v642/SCCA GTO/rant.gif

[Flashpoint]

That is correct. I was awed that my new car had something so technical when I bought it. I never planned on the future modification factor.http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v642/SCCA GTO/rant.gif

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v642/SCCAGTO/ran t.gif
:bomb: there goes the idea of just putting it under the seat (well it would still work technically but your airbag wouldn't get the right reading)

Maybe transfer them as like it was an aftermarket seat heater???



disclaimer: Of course I claim no reponsibilty if anyone does this and thier airbag doesn't work and they get hurt or anything like that.