Corvettes and gold chains are no more!

Remember the stereotype of the Corvette owner? Mid-life crisis, hairy chest, gold chains; a Disco-Danny or a "wild 'n' crazy guy"! People STILL believe this is the stereotype. The Corvette broke this mold over a decade ago. It is now one of the world's premier sports cars, the best performance value for the money. Many people don't know this . You know who - the guy or girl who has never opened the hood of his car(s). Even for the last 30 years. My dear brother is one of "them". He doesn't have the "gene". A recent discussion made me realize this.

This started undoubtedly in the mid-70's when virtually every car was unremarkable. And quite honestly, so was the Corvette. An generally unreliable car from a company not known for reliability anyway. It's performance was pitiful compared to the heyday during the late 60s.

Anemic performance was a staple then with virtually all cars. But the 'Vette which has always looked fast now wasn't. Fiberglass body panels were clever for weight reduction and resistant to door dings, but difficult for paint to wear well due to flex and surface prep at the time, so I'm told.

The 50s and 60s were good years for the Corvette, but like most cars, the 70's ruined its image. In 1984, the start of the 4th generation Corvette (C4), saw a new styling edge. Before '91, it made at most a dismal 250hp. How much does your 6 cylinder family sedan make today? Exactly. The Disco-Danny's didn't care, and probably didn't know better. Believe me, I still see middle-age men driving new models in the right lane at or under the speed limit. I'm sure many have never seen full-throttle acceleration. But they made a great buying decision.

Some exceptions worth mentioning are the 1990-1995 ZR-1 Corvette. A 400hp model that was quite expensive vs. the standard model and wasn't sold in large numbers. But the interior was still rather lousy. The 1991 model year saw a nice jump to 300hp with a motor called the "LT1". While better, it really needed more.

When the 5th generation model appeared in 1997, everything changed. A lighter, stiffer hydroformed frame, a rear-mounted transaxle (transmission) for optimal weight distribution, a better interior and an excellent "LSX" family motor that in '02 was available in the Z-06 model making 405hp. The Corvette was now a world-class sports car and the best bang-for-the-buck.

Today the Corvette and especially the Z-06 remains the best value in the world among sports cars by tens of thousands of dollars with phenomenal performance. Even the 2009 base Coupe with an MSRP of $49,415 is near the top in performance.

So what about those gold chains? They are now gold medals.

10 years of GM's mistakes means 5 years of loss

General Motors should have consolidated brands a decade ago to avoid the position they are in. With Rick Wagoner's resignation of GM, or firing by President Obama, depending how you look at it, the reports state that GM hasn't posted a profit in 5 years. FIVE years! That is a lifetime for a company.

I pride myself on automotive product knowledge, but somehow I completely missed that GM has been hemorrhaging money for that long. No matter, it made me consolidate my thoughts about something in the back of my mind. GM missed a key business decision of eliminating brands. Hybrid SUVs were not any better.

My heart goes out to the employees who have lost their jobs at the plants, the suppliers and the dealerships. But competition, the costs of the union labor agreements and legacy costs of the pensions made GM a big medical care and pension company that is in the red. A familiar theme these days. GM should have done something unrelated to that aspect, but perhaps equally significant a long time ago.

Eliminating Oldsmobile was too little, too late. It was the tip of the iceberg. Ten years ago, not only should Oldsmobile have been eliminated, but Chevrolet trucks and the Buick nameplate too. Pontiac should have merged with Chevrolet and Cadillac. Hummer and Saab should never had entered the equation. Consolidate the small cars and sedans into Chevrolet from Pontiac and Buick by simply offering various trim levels. Have the maybe two profitable (and I'm guessing here) nameplates from Cadillac, the CTS and Escalade, sold at the Chevrolet showrooms. Put the SUVs and trucks in the GMC nameplate. Saturn would also be absorbed by Chevrolet.

I doubt GM will ever release how much they lost per brand, but lets look at what was involved. Separate bumpers front and rear, hoods, trunks, emblems interior options and materials, tail lights etc. all essentially the same platforms across the company. Development, marketing and advertising, logistics, inventory, shipping are major cost centers that could have been reduced sharply.

This massive consolidation would have eliminated billions in repetitive costs. It would also allow engineers to concentrate on modern development rather than brand differentiation. How many brands does Toyota have? Three: Toyota, Scion and Lexus with distinctly different models in each one. But they are probably pushing the envelope, having recently posted a loss as well. Nissan has kept it rather simple with two brands but have had their missteps too. I could go on addressing each manufacturer but you get the point.

Finally what about SUV and truck hybrids? A ridiculous notion only because they came BEFORE a small-car hybrid. Toyota scored a home run with the Prius, and its probably profitable for them. I will not get into debate about the carbon footprint of mining and manufacturing the battery but the 2008 Chevrolet Malibu PARTIAL hybrid was way too little, way too late.

I really want GM, Chrysler and Ford to succeed, but unfortunately we are paying for their mistakes. GM still needs to consolidate brands, immediately.

Volvo racing equals mistake repeated

What are they thinking? A championship winning race team built a car based on a product from a conservative company known for safety to compete against the "big boys" in the Speed GT series. They are competing against track stars such as Porsche, Viper, Mustang, Cadillac CTS-V, Pontiac GTO and Aston Martin.

Put it this way: Take the stock, dealership showroom versions of those sports cars and put them on a track racing each other. It would be fun, entertaining and basically 2 groups of close racing action. Adding a 257 horsepower Volvo S60 T5 is like adding a pace car. Disastrous. http://www.volvocars.com/us/models/s60/Pages/BuildYourS60.aspx

K-PAX racing won the driver's championship in the proven, reliable and excellent Porsche 911 GT3s' in 2007 and 2008. In 2008, they also won the manufacturer championship for Porsche. Now they built a race car with a Volvo chassis this year in the same series. Talk about kicking the gift horse in the mouth! http://www.kpaxracing.com/

What is this going to do for Volvo? It isn't going to establish a new market segment. They have virtually no racing presence at all in the states, nor are they trying. This was attempted before as well. In 2006 a Volvo managed one rain-soaked win during an otherwise miserable season. This is another doomed effort this year. http://www.swedespeed.com/news/publish/Motorsport_News/article_915.html

Volvo makes fine cars, but here is an attempt from K-Pax, 3 years after a Volvo race car was uncompetitive against the "big boys" like Viper, Corvette, Porsche and purpose-built domestic monsters like the CTS-V and Mustang Cobra trying to make the 2.5L turbocharged engine competitive. Volvo states they are not involved with this vehicle (comment below). K-Pax states they have support from Volvo. http://www.kpaxracing.com/history.html If I had to guess, this means data and technical support.

It really boggles the mind. Not only must this car be purpose-built, making it totally unrelated to the street car, the engine must be modified way beyond what is even remotely possible on the street and that is without major turbo lag. Turbo lag means a delay in power delivery. Frustrating to say the least. The Viper, Corvette and Porsche race cars are closely related to the street car. And even the previously mentioned CTS-V, a factory-built racer, had a powertrain not too far removed from the street car. The Mustang as some pedigree from Ford racing at least, despite a heavily revised chassis like the 'V' and forgoing the supercharger in the GT500.

I always support more manufacturers in any given race series. It is more entertaining, improves the breed and makes for great conversation and debate. But really this effort should be in Speed Touring. They have bitten off more than they can chew.

Granted, a 12th place finish, up from starting 20th is respectable the first time out, even though the other car had a DNF due to mechanical problems (foreshadowing?). http://www.world-challenge.com/events/raceresults.php?ID=804 . They also have top drivers and K-PAX even states it's still early in development. So even if it works, despite the time and expense to be competitive, the big question remains for Volvo: What will this do for you? Volvo better expand on this effort for the buying public or it will be more egg in their face. Prediction: K-PAX returns with Porsche next year and an opportunity for new market appeal for Volvo fails. I'll explain why in an upcoming article that this may actually be a clever exploratory move on Volvo's part.

EDIT 4/19/2009: If this trend continues, I better get ready to eat a lot of crow: http://www.world-challenge.com/news/story.php?ID=1241 Congrats to all involved on a fine effort and results, although they both loss placings vs. their starting positions...

Million dollar supercars are a good idea

Most react to $1 million dollar supercars negatively. They say and write that these cars are a rip-off, meaningless, silly, gaudy, etc. Recent examples are the Lamborghini Reventon and Aston Martin One-77. They are a good idea for the companies that make them and the owners that buy them.

One big question is who buys these things? Industrialists, billionaires, and those with a net worth most likely well over $100 million dollars buy them. Yacht sales have increased, why not ultra-expensive cars too? And you know what? They are absolutely entitled to it. If you earn your money legally, spend it however you want, period.

Keep in mind there are many, many million-dollar cars shown many times a year at the Concours D'elegances around the country. There are four in Northern California alone. The advantage with these modern cars vs. "other" million dollar cars is they can be driven with enthusiasm and safety on modern roads with high speed limits in great comfort. I doubt many do that in the skinny-tired antiques from the 1920s.

And what about purpose-built race cars? Sure they provide entertainment but they cost millions of dollars plural! They are not street legal, require exquisite care and maintenance and if anything, are infinitely more silly and gaudy. So if they are exempt from scorn, so should the street-legal cars.

The Reventon and One-77 can be driven to the country club, the yacht club, exclusive dinners, parties and charity events and of course those car shows too! Not only can the owners enjoy them, but it's also an opportunity for exclusivity and a little bit of immortality. Which Lamborghini model will be invited to the lawn at Pebble Beach 40 years from now? Probably not the excellent but comparatively pedestrian Gallardo but we can count on the Reventon. I find it a little sad and disenchanting to see so many mass-produced supercars advertised for sale all the time in the DuPont Registry or AutoWeek. But we won't see much of these million dollar babies for sale very often!

The factory has an equal benefit as well. They have possibly new customers that will be loyal, very affluent and very influential among their peers. Skilled engineers and technicians are utilized to for the special project which builds enthusiasm and creativity. These factories don't have multi-million dollar racing efforts, so it is another tool to bring advanced technology to the public with out a phenomenally expensive racing development.

Finally, the profit margin makes a nice business case too. Lamborghini sold 20 Reventons. http://www.autoweek.com/article/20081205/FREE/812059982 I would be willing to guess that is a nice $10 million dollar asterisk in the internal annual profit report! Aston is making 77 units but only 6 for the US. The recurring "seven" theme is related to the James Bond series as well. http://www.autoweek.com/article/20090303/GENEVA/303039998.

I applaud these cars. Whether closely related to the "standard" Murcielago model like the Reventon, an excellent engineering exercise like the One-77, or a speed record setting Bugatti Veyron, I say keep it up!

The Key for more viewers of SpeedTV and Koni Challenge Racing

SpeedTV televised the Koni Challenge Series at Daytona in Florida. The same reoccurring problem with racing coverage was evident for this race. However, it is even MORE essential in this series! Why? Because these cars are the closest to what is sold in the showrooms and driven on the street.

If viewers can't understand how cars can compete against one another, the interest will diminish. If SpeedTV would give a review of each car with some details and Grand-Am provided some information, the viewing audience will grow.

Racing is the most expensive sport in the world. Many can only dream to race, let alone at a professional level. Even a "track day" is about $200 plus thousands of miles taken off the life of brakes and tires. These performance cars being televised are sold based on their abilities. When obvious disparities are reduced and these various cars compete against one another head-to-head, the viewer must be informed how this is done. Not only that, many owners want to make street-legal modifications to their cars to make them closer to what is being raced. Faster is better, right?

The following cars were racing each other: Ford Mustang GT, previous generation BMW M3 with a 333hp 6-cylinder engine, current generation M3 with a 414hp 8-cylinder, a Dodge Challenger SRT-8 with 425hp but a very heavy, large car; Porsche 997 - the quintessential race car. Unmodified, the Porsche and V8 BMW would dominate the rest, hands down. And these are just the "GS" or Grand-Sport class cars:http://grand-am.com/koni/schedule/results.cfm?eid=877

In NASA, these cars are spread over 3 to 4 classes due to how much of a difference they are in performance:
http://www.nasaproracing.com/rules/Performance-Touring-rules.pdf

While the names of the drivers and teams is good information that must be provided, it is equally or more important for the masses to understand what makes this racing possible.

Car & Driver's mysterious Pontiac Solstice GXP cover story results

The April '09 issue of Car & Driver had the cover story of four best-buy sport coupes. The dominant winner in the last two SCCA National Championships came in last place. The Pontiac Solstice GXP was the car to race in the SCCA Runoffs for 2007 and 2008 in the SCCA T2 class. In this story, it was last against the Mazda RX-8, BMW 135i and the new Nissan 370Z.

What is the SCCA? The Sports Car Club of America. Founded in 1944, now with 114 regions in the US, virtually everyone considering competitive racing at a "grassroots" level has looked into or participated in the SCCA. Some new cars have been sold from the factory with 1-year memberships!

In the Runoffs, the Solstice GXP had multiple podium finishes, beating other notables such as the Nissan 350Z, BMW E46 M3 (the 333hp 6cyl model), Mitsubishi Evolution, Subaru STi, Cadillac CTS-V, Pontiac Firebird and GTO and the Chevrolet Camaro. For the most part these cars are significantly faster than the Solstice in a straight line. The popularity of these cars dictates better and more in-depth coverage.

Now granted the new 370Z, the first place pick, is pretty tough competition. Maybe the best sportscar buy for the money. But there was a key element mentioned but not expanded upon. A $650 dealer-installed package that adds 40 horsepower. An absolute bargain! Was this the key to the SCCA domination? Surely this should have been researched. And if two of the four cars in this test make over 300 horsepower, wouldn't be fair to test the Pontiac with this option? And by the way, horsepower upgrades like this from the dealer with the factory blessing, are very, very rare. Especially a 40hp jump which is significant for virtually any car, let alone one weighing 3080lbs.

Another absolutely key element completely missed was publishing the lap times. There was mention of lapping at Willow Springs, but oddly, no results given. This is one of the most elemental pieces of data for a test of cars such as this. A big error of omission without explanation. After all, they evaluated the cars for five days.

Road & Track recently reported the 370Z experiencing high oil temperatures after 4 laps and needing a cool-down. If this is due to a design flaw, not only is it absurd for the best new sports car value, but it should have been reported by Car & Driver if noticed! Edit: Car and Driver notoriously discovered a severely braking cooling problem....

Granted the ranking of the cars was warranted by the disclosed test data. Digging deeper, is the SCCA T2 two-time dominator allowed to have a horsepower upgrade that makes the rest of the field impotent? Should the car be demoted to the slower SCCA T3 class? Investigative journalism was severely lacking when covering sports cars like these.

New Performance Standard: 60mph to 130mph

The quarter-mile has lost some relevance, especially among modern ultra-high horsepower cars. The 60-130mph measurement is easier to obtain and consistently more representative of the car's capability. The quarter-mile will always exist and rightfully so because of the all-around nature of measuring a cars straight line performance. Of course, it's a lot of fun and its always great to see a large variety of different cars race. But many times its simply easier to get a 60-130mph measurement. I don't condone speeding on public roads but this is the reality.

Instead, a VBOX http://www.racelogic.co.uk/result result of a 60 to 130mph run gives a very accurate depiction of the performance of the car. Traction and surface preparation issues are minimal and heat soak is no longer a factor. The 130mph speed separates the big boys from those that perform better at lower speeds due to gearing or AWD. It also represents what happens in racing on road circuits - a rolling drag race when exiting a turn. And it's much easier to find a stretch of road with no traffic that fits the bill. Again, obey your traffic laws...

Check out these links to see how its structured and the results. All most likely done in Mexico or on private roads: http://www.6speedonline.com/forums/996-turbo-gt2/55163-6speedonline-1-4-mile-60-130-mph-standings.html and http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=911116&highlight=130

In this day of 600hp+ cars, low profile tires and intrusive emission controls, an optimal quarter-mile result is becoming more and more elusive. We all want to know how cars are capable of performing. But how many of us can go to a dragstrip with a well-prepped surface for excellent adhesion, a negative density altitude (cold dense air) for highest potential horsepower output, no long waits while idling to approach the staging lights, and time to practice launch techniques with various tire pressure in order to achieve the quickest elapse time and highest trap speed possible?

If you have a modern high performance car, especially in the 500+hp range, it has stiff, low-profile tires and is very difficult to launch. Is your track even open when the temperatures drop into the 40s or below? How is the surface preparation? How many runs do you get in? At 600+hp, it becomes an even greater exercise in power and wheelspin management, especially on stock (low profile) tires that are designed for handling and braking vs. drag radials or slicks.

Magazines must continue to use the quarter-mile as the benchmark for a car's straight-line performance potential. But the magazines have certain benefits racers at many tracks do not. First and foremost, they have easy and open access to the tracks. That is not the case for tens of thousands, especially during the work week. They do not sit in a line of 10, 100 or even 300+ cars while engine temps climb beyond normal operating temperatures, robbing precious horsepower. They are able to practice various launch techniques because they can get multiple runs. Finally, many tracks are closed to the public during the colder seasons. The track should always be our preference, but the alternative is quite frankly, easier.

What about the magazines? They must keep testing, and always test to 130mph, preferably 150mph. That way comparison data can be easily extrapolated.

Drag racing at the tracks is still a blast. The competition, sights, sounds and camaraderie can make a great time even if getting only three poor runs. More tracks should open to address the public demand and street racing should be discouraged.. However, brief a 60-130mph blast in a high performance car on a clear multi-lane road is far safer than the daily 60-70mph commute millions have every day. So now, the 60-130mph is becoming a new standard of measuring acceleration

Viper sale signals the end of the horsepower race

http://www.autoweek.com/article/20090205/CARNEWS/902059976
As much as we like it, the trend of ever-increasing horsepower is going to end. What is the ceiling for horsepower on the street? This sale of the Viper division is foreshadowing the beginning of the end of the horsepower race. Instead of Chrysler shutting the plant down in a few years due to lagging sales, I'm sad to say its a smart move to sell it now.

Development for ever faster cars is going to slow as demand slows and mileage and emission requirements increase. The state of the economy just kick started it. The division is doomed to fail in just a few years.

The Viper, especially the ACR, is a spectacular performance bargain in the big picture. But it just doesn't make sense to keep adding power in light of future requirements. Sure they might tweak it for another 50 or 75hp, but it is already traction limited . There are very, very few cars making more horsepower and their market is not the racetrack but exclusivity and exotic appeal.

On the street, rear-drive only 600hp cars are already traction limited. In fact, this is deep into the range of horsepower for race cars and even with racing slicks, traction is an issue that must be managed as well. And they don't have the hazards on the street that we do!

The notable domestic contributions are the Corvette ZR1 and Shelby Super Snake. But neither will compete in a race series without major changes and both have "heritage appeal" sales. The normally aspirated Corvette Z-06 is already the established track day or race car and the Shelby, with 725hp, doesn't have a warranty and still needs to lose 500lbs. Not only that, it already has the economy of scale with the Mustang, and has a huge mark-up.

Making the Viper lighter from a competitive standpoint (ala the Corvette Z-06) will cost far too much in R&D. Making the interior equal to any of the competition will also cost too much.

Remember how Audi bought Lamborghini and turned it around? I think a similar move would be the Viper's best chance. Otherwise it becomes a boutique vehicle with unprofitable sales numbers.

As much as the ACR would be my dream car for track days, I'm not optimistic about the future of the brand. And significant horsepower increases from the manufacturers has come to an end.

Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona key element missing

Edit: The series is long gone but the coverage of the vehicles is still terrible. Watching one race on a 75" HD TV and they list the driver's names but the make of the car isn't even legible.

The Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona was recently televised. Speed TV did a good job covering the race itself. Where they lacked is typical in racing coverage - the cars! Getting to know the drivers is good, the race teams can be obscure, but the common element that everyone wants to watch is the cars. But no details!

http://www.grand-am.com/rolex/teams/
This website needs to expand. We want car details, not just driver and team bios.

Did you know there were two Corvettes entered in the GT class? How about two Ferrari F430s? What about the lone Mustang? And of course, the Mazda RX-8. How much power are they making? How do they compare to the other cars? Why wasn't it closer between the Ferraris and Porsche like in the ALMS? What are the performance differences between the GTO.R and GXP.R? We want data, performance metrics, comparisons, explanations. Even to a hardcore enthusiast, they remain rather mysterious. And that doesn't even consider the powertrain and chassis differences of the DP (Daytona Prototype) class.

There is a link for teams, a link for drivers, but what about the cars? THE CARS?!
http://www.grand-am.com/rolex/

PINKS lacks results!

Pinks and Pinks All Out on Speed TV is a fantastic show. From a letter sent to them:

But there is a key element that is lacking in the television coverage. Every time a complete 1/4 mile run is shown, its rare for the ET and trap speed to be listed.

What I propose, and quite frankly this shouldn't be too hard to do, is for every pair of cars, show the year, make and model, the 60ft and at the end, the ET and trap speed. IF possible, the engine size and power adder. This way viewers are getting the complete story and results.

The way it is right now, its like watching Olympic diving without the scores. Or, NHRA races without the data! Nice to see, but what were the results? There are tens of thousands of viewers who greatly desire this information.

Since it is only 2 objects on the screen that are the focus, one line of text for each car would not take up much space. Or even a column on each side. This would greatly improve the coverage and interest level in the show.