robertbartsch

I was dissapointed that the Corvettes were not at Daytona this year. What happended, did they change the rules again?

I don't understand why Porsche can run in every Daytona event since the 1960s and virtually every non-Porsche car that is mildly successful is soon outlawed.

Anyway, Mazda was first in its class follwed by the LSX powered Pontiac.

These cars don't have much in common with the vehicles purchased from the show-room which I don't understand either. A sports car race is supposed to promote factory production cars; right?

The "Porschies" that I have driven were miserably overpriced and underpowered. So the rest of us would like to see some cars we can buy and drive on the streets.

WarShrike

iTrader: (5)

They're lovingly called Porkas by alot of other people.

Are you talking about the Daytona prototype cars that finished? They're called prototypes for a reason.

dailydriver

No, he's talking about the GT class where the RX-8 beat the G6.

robertbartsch

The prototypes are full-out race cars which I understand why they have nothing in common with the street cars sold in dealerships.

The lower class Daytona cars, however, have nothing in common with the show-room cars, execpt for the the Porka cars, which still have body lines that are recognizable as Porsche vehicles.

In years past, I have enjoyed watching Ferraris, Vipers, Vettes and such battle the Porkas but this year Porkas only battled Fords, Masdas (a ricer Ford), Lexis and Pontiac cars (BOOOOO!).

Consequently, I understand why the Daytona grandstands are empty and TV viewership is at rock bottom.

The organizers of some forms of motorsports (Grand Am and Indy/CART/IRL) are dopey and they deserve what they get in terms of a tiny fan support.

SouthFL.02.SS

^
Hopefully, this should help clear up some things you've mentioned. Note that there's two types of chassis prep. for the Rolex GT class. Prep 1 is based on production cars, Prep 2 is based on tube frame chassis with body templates....


Rolex Series (the big race):

DP class:




GT class:
Prep 1 = Porsche, Ferrari, etc. based on actual production car.





Prep 2 = GXP.R, RX-8, etc. based on tube frame chasis with a body template on it.









Koni Challenge (the Friday race):

GS class: based on higher powered production cars...


ST class: based on lower powered production cars...

SouthFL.02.SS

Check out the post above for some clarification as to the car preparation.
If you're inclined to see showroom type racing, see the Koni Challenge races, as all of the cars are based on production cars.
The Rolex series is leaning towards tube frame chassis prep, as NASCAR owns Grand Am, and that's the formula which NASCAR has had success with.

The grandstands are empty, but the infield is packed with people, RV's cars and campfires. I wouldn't want to be in the grandstands for this race when there's a bleacher provided at every turn with the car passing at a stone's throw away. The grand stands are cold, wet and windy. The party is in the infield. Also, fan access is incredible. I've been under cars which are being worked on in the paddock during the race asking questions (Leighton Reese is a patient man with fans).

As for a Mazda being a "ricer" ford. Lol.

Whistler

iTrader: (46)

The top five in the GT class was Mazda, three Porches and another Mazda.
The DP cars are where the GMs shines, taking every spot in the top five except #1, which was the Lexus.

The grandstands are only peppered with spectators because as stated above, it was cold and wet, but also because the race is so lond that there isn't much point to sit there and watch the cars for any length of time. The stands are packed around the center about a half hour before the race ends so the fand can see who makes it.

The infield however is packed. Think woodstock for gearheads. Scores, if not hundreds of RVs, campers, tents with bonfires, everyone has a barbeque.. kegs and liquor abundant. It is a three day party most definately worth checking out.

Regarding the pontiac GTs (GXP-Rs) who cares if the production GXP is front wheel drive as long as there's an LS2 under the hood driving the rear wheels? Those have a nice silhouette to them a la' 911, 350Z...

vanwyk4257

iTrader: (11)

I've owned and driven a few different porsches from 944's to 944 turbos, a 928s 5-speed and a 1975 and 1985 911. Your comment about Porsches being overpriced and underpowerd is ignorant.
Porsches don't have the same torque and off-the-line power that an american V8 has, but they do have pretty good power. I will tell you this, in an endurance race I would much rather have a Porsche flat 6 than an LSx engine under the bonnet.
Porsches may be overpriced new in the current market, that I won't dispute. But the build quality in a Porsche is much better than anything GM has been turning out until very lately.
I had a 1985 Porsche 944 track car last year that had been driven very hard. The door on the car still shut like it was brand new and it had no rattles at all. My 1994 camaro rattles and creaks like crazy. Face the fact that GM build quailty is not exactly something to brag about.
My lowly 944 with almost stock suspension and good street tires was able to keep up with a lot of faster cars on a road course because it handled so well.
The reason I have the camaro is that parts are cheaper and if I blow up a motor (which I did do in the 944) it's a lot cheaper to build a new one.
A well driven Porsche 911 set up for the track will outpace a lot of cars with significantly more power depending on the track.
As far as I'm concerned when I have the budget to have an older aircooled 911 set up for the track I will, but I do think that a V8 camaro or corvette is more fun on the street.

Also, as far as whining about the non-porsche entries being penalized, the Porsche GT cars are based on the production car, the Pontiacs and most of the other cars are full tube chassis cars and the last time I checked pontiac wasn't making an LSx-powered G6, so I don't think it's a level playing field right off the bat when some manufacturers are given a lot more liberty in building their "production"-based racer.

Kamin

hahaha out of the carousel through the s into turn 9 then onto nascar back straight

thats PIR in phoenix, i know those corners very well lol

and a rotary won an endurance race?! wow...im kinda shocked.

as for the vette, maybe they are just taking some time off to build new cars, with the ZR1's release and all its possible.

SouthFL.02.SS

^
Yeah, I was using stock photo footage of each class to describe the cars. That's definately not Daytona, and it's an ST class pic.

As for a rotary winning the race, the GT class winning RX8 is a stout 3 rotor (unlike the weak 2 rotor Renesis found in the production car). The only thing the SpeedSource drivers complained about in relation to the RX8 was the fact that they couldn't hear jack after each stint due to the ringing in their ears.

Surprisingly, Mazda has won a class at Daytona 22 times over the years:

Iron Sights

I was there, and I'm not sure what you mean by a Pontiac finishing second behind the Mazda. 2nd through 4th place in the GT class was taken by the TRG cars (go Jim Pace!). The infield was packed by 9 or 10 each morning and RVs as far as the eye could see, so I wouldn't say that attendance is down. The SpeedSource guys ran a solid, consistent race, so congrats to them.

SouthFL.02.SS

Jim was one of my instructors when I attended Skip as well. "Make sure you go down EVERY gear... EVERY gear- don't skip any!" he would tell us for entering turn 1 at Daytona (lots of students were trying to just click down 3 gears without clutching).... ...fastforward three years later, I'm up watching the race on TV and SPEED had some in car footage of him entering turn 1 and sure enough, you heard YANGA, YANGA, YANGA, YANGA in the brake zone.

Iron Sights

Jim's a great guy; I did a lead and follow session with him at Road America back in September. "Deep breaths on straightaways, deep breaths." A truly nice guy with tons of patience, and who understands what it's like to be a newbie at this. Honestly, all the Skippy instructors deserve a tip of the hat for being so patient and willing to share their knowledge. You run any races in the Southern series? After this weekend, I had hoped to do a lapping day or a race weekend at Daytona, but nothing is scheduled there (same can be said for Mid-Ohio ).

SouthFL.02.SS

Haven't done any wheel to wheel racing or any further Skippy stuff after my initial 3 and 2 day with them in '05. Since then, I've been lapping at Homestead, Moroso and Sebring in my street cars at HPDE's, honing my technique. I've shaved about 9 seconds off my lap at Sebring over the past year, so the seat time is paying off. I'd really like to hire Peter Argetsinger to coach me for a day at Sebring for further instruction.
When I have the budget to go race, I'll race. For now, it's just open track days with point byes in my Mazdabitch. At least this car is really making me learn how to drive- there's no power to spare, but plenty of brake and control.

Iron Sights

Yeah, Skip is pretty pricey. I was up at the USGP this past summer, and Richard Fernandes gave the 20% discount deal on an ADV2, so I'm probably gonna do that at Road Atlanta in July. As helpful as Skip Barber is, it is tough to foot the bill it takes to spend a bunch of time there. I got my hands on a Spec TaG kart two days ago, so I'll be running that in New Castle to get some seat time.