Shelby GT350R-C first impressions @Mosport

first of all congrats to the team, it was an awesome race, too bad the #15 was taken out, and the 16 year old kid sure can drive. I do have a few pics that I will share later but here are my first impressions:

-the drivers are super friendly, cars are easily accessible to the public; didn't think of any questions to ask since the race car is so different than the stock one.

-the car looks way better in person than in pictures: low, mean, wide and way more 3D-like than the pics I took with my i6s, it looks very bad ass in person.

-the sound of this car is by far the quietest out there, even the inline4 civics were way louder than the 5.2L FPC, don't know why, maybe they are still working on the exhaust tuning? I heard the z4 gte, c7 LMGT cars, and the sound is just insane(hurting my ears without ear plugs). On contrast the sound of the 5.2L fpc is almost....muted?

-it is pretty obvious, the gt350 has a HP advantage over the LS7. On the front straight which is not very long it can easily pass the bowtie crew

-lap time wise this class is not that fast, 1:28 is 2-3s slower than 600cc sportsbikes ridden by pros, on contrast the GT3 cup race were about 1:21 which is about a second faster than 1000cc super bike pros. maybe they need to up the HP limit in the future to make it more fun. the GT350 in real life is suppose to be close to 911 gt3 in terms of laptime.

that's all I can think of for now, tomorrow is the big race, there is an ecoboost ford LM car competing in the prototype class

pics will be uploaded soon

Way cool. Thanks for posting.

arsenalrocks said:

first of all congrats to the team, it was an awesome race, too bad the #15 was taken out, and the 16 year old kid sure can drive. I do have a few pics that I will share later but here are my first impressions:

-the drivers are super friendly, cars are easily accessible to the public; didn't think of any questions to ask since the race car is so different than the stock one.

-the car looks way better in person than in pictures: low, mean, wide and way more 3D-like than the pics I took with my i6s, it looks very bad ass in person.

-the sound of this car is by far the quietest out there, even the inline4 civics were way louder than the 5.2L FPC, don't know why, maybe they are still working on the exhaust tuning? I heard the z4 gte, c7 LMGT cars, and the sound is just insane(hurting my ears without ear plugs). On contrast the sound of the 5.2L fpc is almost....muted?

-it is pretty obvious, the gt350 has a HP advantage over the LS7. On the front straight which is not very long it can easily pass the bowtie crew

-lap time wise this class is not that fast, 1:28 is 2-3s slower than 600cc sportsbikes ridden by pros, on contrast the GT3 cup race were about 1:21 which is about a second faster than 1000cc super bike pros. maybe they need to up the HP limit in the future to make it more fun. the GT350 in real life is suppose to be close to 911 gt3 in terms of laptime.

that's all I can think of for now, tomorrow is the big race, there is an ecoboost ford LM car competing in the prototype class

pics will be uploaded soon

Click to expand...

Thanks for the fine recap and comments based on being at the race today!

Been travelling a lot lately so haven't been able to keep up on all of the events recently but assume today's race was at Mosport?

:first:

Awesome...

arsenalrocks said:

first of all congrats to the team, it was an awesome race, too bad the #15 was taken out, and the 16 year old kid sure can drive. I do have a few pics that I will share later but here are my first impressions:

-the drivers are super friendly, cars are easily accessible to the public; didn't think of any questions to ask since the race car is so different than the stock one.

-the car looks way better in person than in pictures: low, mean, wide and way more 3D-like than the pics I took with my i6s, it looks very bad ass in person.

-the sound of this car is by far the quietest out there, even the inline4 civics were way louder than the 5.2L FPC, don't know why, maybe they are still working on the exhaust tuning? I heard the z4 gte, c7 LMGT cars, and the sound is just insane(hurting my ears without ear plugs). On contrast the sound of the 5.2L fpc is almost....muted?

Click to expand...

The 5.2L Voodoo is most likely quiet due to the effect the FPC has on intake and exhaust tuning (scavenging) and acoustics (sound waves) of combustion. Also, the exhaust tubing looks to be stock 2.75" all the way through (which would be about enough and not over-sized for the power).

The other cars you mentioned have very different exhaust acoustics from combustion/firing and have huge exhaust tubing from I remember seeing.

Look at the... Listen to... The 458 GTLM car. It has a V8 FPC and the exhaust is large and short (mid-engine) and it isn't very loud compared to the other cars. In contrast, the 911 GT3 and RSR cars are BRUTAL loud (rear-engine, super short exhaust, large pipes, none-FPC).

Nice undercarriage...

Nice pics. thanks.
I like how they added a diffuser into the back edge of the fuel cell.
I also see they've changed the tailpipes to remove the quad tips. Less weight, more power, no doubt.

You suggest that adding HP will make the series more fun. Not true.
Making the cars faster does not make the cars more fun to drive nor does it make the racing better for the fans. Ask NASCAR.
They limit horsepower on most of the cars in this series as part of their competition adjustments. It's not perfect. In fact, it really hurts the coyote engine's torque output. BUT it does allow different cars with very different characteristics to race close together which IS fun for both drivers and fans.
It will be interesting to see how long they allow the GT350 to run up front before they add more "competition adjustments".

Mystic_Cobra said:

Nice pics. thanks.
I like how they added a diffuser into the back edge of the fuel cell.
I also see they've changed the tailpipes to remove the quad tips. Less weight, more power, no doubt.

You suggest that adding HP will make the series more fun. Not true.
Making the cars faster does not make the cars more fun to drive nor does it make the racing better for the fans. Ask NASCAR.
They limit horsepower on most of the cars in this series as part of their competition adjustments. It's not perfect. In fact, it really hurts the coyote engine's torque output. BUT it does allow different cars with very different characteristics to race close together which IS fun for both drivers and fans.
It will be interesting to see how long they allow the GT350 to run up front before they add more "competition adjustments".

Click to expand...

Nascar versus F1 - completely different strategies on how the race should be managed, one is to be a fan friendly event one is to be the pinnacle of racing.

with the continuing performance adjustments, i for one lose interest as the good are punished - never seems to be the best team/best driver/best car wins but who managed the competitive adjustments.

there are pro's and con's, but i for one would rather see a displacement limit, weight limit, tire limit, brake limit, smaller displacement if FI etc and then let the teams go for it and let the teams adjust as opposed to the regulators adjusting the cars

Mountain376 said:

Click to expand...

I just noticed that catalytic converter sitting on the ground next to the tire. Looks like it has external reinforcements.

Grimace427 said:

I just noticed that catalytic converter sitting on the ground next to the tire. Looks like it has external reinforcements.

Click to expand...

Maybe fins fabricated onto the can to keep the cans from burning anything. I imagine a lot of unburnt fuel gets those things pretty hot. It could also be an exterior frame to make sure the can doesn't deform from the heat. They are probably transparent they are so hot.

That's all I can really think of...

Already hearing "well they are racing 6 year old 5th gen Camaro technology. Just wait until the 6th gen." Same thing will be said when the production car is placed against the production Z28. They cry foul but were screaming accolades when the Z28 was being compared against the Boss 302. :doh:

thePill said:

Maybe fins fabricated onto the can to keep the cans from burning anything. I imagine a lot of unburnt fuel gets those things pretty hot. It could also be an exterior frame to make sure the can doesn't deform from the heat. They are probably transparent they are so hot.

That's all I can really think of...

Click to expand...

Yeah, it looks like it has been thoroughly cooked.

thePill said:

Maybe fins fabricated onto the can to keep the cans from burning anything. I imagine a lot of unburnt fuel gets those things pretty hot. It could also be an exterior frame to make sure the can doesn't deform from the heat. They are probably transparent they are so hot.

That's all I can really think of...

Click to expand...

I'm thinking preproduction part that was probably (at least partially) hand fabricated.

Will be interesting to see how the Camaro does. It should be considerably easier on tires with the claimed curb weights we're seeing and the handling will only get better on a platform that was already pretty good.

Mystic_Cobra said:

I'm thinking preproduction part that was probably (at least partially) hand fabricated.

Click to expand...

I'd probably move that theory ahead of mine. It could be a combination of the 3 as well.