At 10:39 AM 6/16/99 -0400, you wrote:
>If you take recent National Tour and ProSolo results into account things
are a
>_little_ better for the DSMs, in that DSMs have turned times that would
have won
>NationalSeries ESP on that day (against lightweight competion for the most
part)
>or would have been "on the pace" in P3. Then we have Fedja's recent 2cnd
place,
>but being brutally honest, it was a 3 car race. One of the "shoes"
involved had
>cone trouble, and the other appears to have had an off day the first day when
>you compare his times to other place markers in other classes.
I would be the guy with the off-day. But, not really. Let me start by
saying Fedja drove extremely well! (Insert plug for McKamey school here,
Mark Daddio and I instucted him about 3 week prior)
Sooooo, having driven Fedja's car and my own, I have a little insight.
First off, the Talon hadles EXTREMELY well (I was very surprised). Lag
isn't as big a problem as everyone likes to think. Anyone who has taken a
McKamey school knows we have a skidpad turn, the one in Albany was tighter
than normal due to a lack of room. Fedja was using first gear most of the
time, I used only 2nd (and I DO NOT LFB). If I remember correctly I think
Fedja was a little surprised at the amount of boost I had coming out of
such a small tight turn. And if I can build boost, anyone can. Frankly I
was accelerating long before I could've with a Pony-car. That has a lot to
do with the boost vs. BIG engine thing. But, IMHO by the time I could've
gotten on the throttle, Fedja's car had boost, and no traction problems. A
f-body of Stang may have more torque, but can't put down what it's got most
times. Fedja asked me at that school if I thought it was competitive with
my car. My answer was, course dependant.
The Ayer Tour was one of those courses that the good traits of the DSM's
came out (again IMHO). The course looked fast, but wasn't. So power
wasn't a big factor. The offset gates were set up in such a way that the
exit was pretty narrow, and they were also off-camber. And lastly the
start both days was out of a ProSolo. Think about this now, advantage off
the start due to launch. Then Fedja's car is narrower which helps through
the offsets. Then, Alex and I spent our time on exit nailing cones with
the tail's of the Camaro's, due to NOT being able to apply our MASSIVE
amounts of torque. There were no real corners (one each day) to use the
big tires on my car, and no place to accelerate and gain back what we lost
crawling in and out of the offsets. Fedja is also a good LFBer, and lost
very little (if any) boost. All things considered from what I know, it was
the prototypical DSM course.
>True, but HP numbers and 1/4 mile times give indicators to potential. It's
worth
>noting that we're not discussing little differences here (if F-Bodies made
300HP
>and DSMs made 295HP, or F-Bodies turned 13.0@100 and DSMs turned 12.9@99, all
>this arguing would be silly) but BIG ones. 100+ HP, nearly 200+ft-lbs.
Again, just for the sake of fairness (all around) the traction of a F-body
is NOT anywhere near a DSM car, or ANY IRS car. That is just as bad as lag
issue at times. The DSM's are also lighter and Smaller than pony-cars. In
case you don't think that's important, here's why it is.
Some nice folks (I'll call them the Y's) I know had a Built to the limit
ASP 911. 69 body, 3.2 engine etc. Light too, weighed about 2300 pounds.
But there was this little Lotus from Ohio. I was standing with MR.Y at an
event watching the Lotus go straight where he and I had to turn. His
statement to me was something like "If you can't beat 'em join 'em". He
has. So he gave up his pride and joy 911 (big and fast in ASP, like the
F-body in ESP), for a 120 HP nice and small Lotus (more akin to the DSM)
and is doing extremely well lately. Power ain't everything, and size DOES
matter, and so does traction. Everyone wants power, power doesn't win
autocrosses unless the chassis is capable.
Sam Strano Jr.
Strano Performance Parts
800-729-1831
814-849-3417 (tech.)
www.stranoparts.com
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