SCCA Trans-Am

[Fogelhund]

Originally Posted by AU N EGL

Not easy to start a new seires on its own. putting the new race on the dance card with another BIG name is a great ides.

It wasn't a new series then... it was a dying one.

Making Trans AM the Main feather during SCCA National weekend wont be a draw for spectators.

Of course not, as most will see that it is just Trans Am in name...

[Fogelhund]

Originally Posted by AU N EGL

Funny when ppl talk about 'club racing and club drivers' many of those "club" drivers are much better then the so called pros.

Right... all these hidden gems who are so much quicker than McNish, or Bergemeister or..... Ave and Pickett are about as quick as this series will get. Neither would hold a candle to the pro drivers on any serious pro team.

In other words dont knock CLUB racing until you have done it for a year or more on your dime.

Nobody is knocking club racing. Pretending to call Club Racing, Pro Racing, by attaching a historically significant name is something altogether different.

[AU N EGL]

Originally Posted by Fogelhund

Right... all these hidden gems who are so much quicker than McNish, or Bergemeister or..... Ave and Pickett are about as quick as this series will get. Neither would hold a candle to the pro drivers on any serious pro team.

Nono you may have missed the point. Not better then the front runners, but 70% of back runners and Paid Drivers.

Nobody is knocking club racing. Pretending to call Club Racing, Pro Racing, by attaching a historically significant name is something altogether different.

exactily. Pretending is a joke. I know what my budget is for a year,

[R59]

So is this because GT-America is growing, and the SCCA thought that they could rebuild Trans-Am on the back of it?

I remember Trans-Am when the ICI sponsored Olds Cutlass was "the" car. It was certainly a great series then.

I certainly wouldn't call it club racing, I'd rate is alongside what we call "National" racing over here - like our British GT's, or similar, and that's where the multiple 100K budgets come in.

[gttouring]

SCCA has wroked har to develop the WOrld Challenge GT series and name...
they could easily have made the Speed World Challenge Trans-am GT series and it would be a lot more like the original than the GT-1 parades (as good as they are at racing)
who ruined it anyway was it Gentilozzi?

[AU N EGL]

Yes Gentilozzi did, not enough sponsorship, and promissed start money to teams which did not continue. or something like that,

SWGT and SW Touring is great racing. Some of the best GT racing in the world. Races are short at 50 mins each. But darn fast.

[Bob Riebe]

Ford built their quasi-Trans-Am show car; now Chevy has produced its quasi-Trans-Am show car for SEMA, it is even in old Sunoco colors.

Trans-Am with decent rules can put Detroit and road racing back on the map, that is why many seem to be promoting it in a back-asswards way.

[TWK]

This is not Trans Am; it's borrowing the name for an historics class of SCCA. It's more an encroachment on the territory of historics series than it is a serious start up of a professional racing series.

[The359]

The Sunoco Camaro is for Grand-Am KONI Challenge.

[Flyin Ryan]

Originally Posted by Fogelhund

Ryan, are you ten or less? Not a dig...

26. I don't consider running underneath the Toyota Atlantic race on the CART undercard as having fans, let alone interest.

The whole "history" thing and all that. Who cares? Most sportscar-savvy race fans today have no clue what Trans-Am was back in the 1970s, so it's not like their destroying a grand ole name, because that grand ole name was already destroyed a long time ago. As long as everyone's being honest about what it is, which based on the comments here I think everyone is being honest, it's not a bad thing. And the competitors' cost is being partially offset by a title sponsor.

[Bob Riebe]

Originally Posted by The359

The Sunoco Camaro is for Grand-Am KONI Challenge.

I know exactly what it is for, and SEMA is where it is going or is at, at this point.
THEY painted it in old TRANS-AM colors for a reason, and it ain't got nothin to do with the KONI series.
At the same time, except for engine prep., it is very close to what the Trans-Am was through 1972.

[mountainstar]

There is no reason why the Challenger, Camaro and Mustang can't be raced in a new series.

[Fogelhund]

Originally Posted by Flyin Ryan

26. I don't consider running underneath the Toyota Atlantic race on the CART undercard as having fans, let alone interest.

The whole "history" thing and all that. Who cares? Most sportscar-savvy race fans today have no clue what Trans-Am was back in the 1970s, so it's not like their destroying a grand ole name, because that grand ole name was already destroyed a long time ago. As long as everyone's being honest about what it is, which based on the comments here I think everyone is being honest, it's not a bad thing. And the competitors' cost is being partially offset by a title sponsor.

Trans Am was strong through the 80's and 90's.

Most Sports car savvy fans are aware of this and fully understand what Trans-Am was in the sixties, seventies, eighties, nineties and now.

[broadrun96]

Originally Posted by mountainstar

There is no reason why the Challenger, Camaro and Mustang can't be raced in a new series.

Except the giant one, who's got the money? Older Trans-Am cars are still out there and meet the regs already, who's gonna build a new TA car when they could buy one? I'm guessing fairly cheaply compared to rebuilding a modern car to compete with the older ones.

[Speed-King]

Originally Posted by Bob Riebe

I know exactly what it is for, and SEMA is where it is going or is at, at this point.
THEY painted it in old TRANS-AM colors for a reason, and it ain't got nothin to do with the KONI series.
At the same time, except for engine prep., it is very close to what the Trans-Am was through 1972.

So that's why there is a KONI Challenge series logo on the side of the car...

http://www.autoblog.com/photos/sema-...eveal/1134848/

AFAIK at least one specimen of the car has already been sold to a Koni Challenge team.
There will be also a Dodge Challenger in Koni at Daytona, and of course a whole armada of Mustangs.

[AU N EGL]

Originally Posted by The359

The Sunoco Camaro is for Grand-Am KONI Challenge.

Along with the Mustangs and new Challenger.

[AU N EGL]

and why GrandAm Koni Challenge is so popular. Longer Races, somewhat few rules then the SCCA.

ppl dont want 20 min races of the SCCA, or even the 40 min races at NASA. They want the 250 mile to 6 hour races.

It just takes a big check book and good pit crew to do so.

[Flyin Ryan]

Originally Posted by Fogelhund

Trans Am was strong through the 80's and 90's.

Based on the races I saw, I disagree entirely.

[Fogelhund]

Originally Posted by Flyin Ryan

Based on the races I saw, I disagree entirely.

You must have missed a great deal.

Factory backed entrants, pro drivers, close racing..

This is one race from 1994... the name drivers were in this series during the period I've suggested.

Pos Driver Nat Car Laps
----------------------------------------------------------
1. Ron Fellows CDN Ford Mustang 42
2. Dorsey Schroeder USA Ford Mustang 42
3. Tom Kendall USA Ford Mustang 42
4. Paul Gentilozzi USA Chevrolet Camaro 42
5. Scott Pruett USA Chevrolet Camaro 42
6. Robert Rizzo USA Ford Mustang 42
7. Jon Gooding USA Ford Mustang 42
8. Bobby Archer USA Ford Mustang 42
9. Tim McAdam USA Chevrolet Camaro 41
10. Brian Simo USA Ford Mustang 41
11. Philip Bartelt USA Ford Mustang 41
12. Bill Saunders USA Ford Mustang 40
13. R.J. Valentine USA Chevrolet Camaro 40
14. Ray Kong USA Chevrolet Camaro 40
15. Donald Sak USA Oldsmobile Cutlass 39
16. Greg Pickett USA Chevrolet Camaro 39
17. Jamie Galles USA Chevrolet Camaro 39
18. Craig Shafer USA Chevrolet Camaro 39
19. Bruce Barkelew USA Chevrolet Camaro 38
20. Ric McCormick USA Chevrolet Camaro 38
21. Bob Patch USA Pontiac Trans Am 37
22. Clint Welding USA Chevrolet Camaro 21
23. Jack Baldwin USA Chevrolet Camaro 15
24. Dale Phelon USA Chevrolet Camaro 10
25. David Windle USA Oldsmobile Cutlass 7
26. Tommy Archer USA Ford Mustang 5

[Speed-King]

And a video from that year: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GycBd...x=0&playnext=1

Is it just me, or did T/A really start to go downhill once they added the big rear-wings instead of the spoiler-lips?

[The359]

Originally Posted by Bob Riebe

I know exactly what it is for, and SEMA is where it is going or is at, at this point.
THEY painted it in old TRANS-AM colors for a reason, and it ain't got nothin to do with the KONI series.
At the same time, except for engine prep., it is very close to what the Trans-Am was through 1972.

They painted it Sunoco colors because it's a famous Camaro, not because it was in Trans-Am. The car is going to KONI Challenge.

[AU N EGL]

Originally Posted by Speed-King

And a video from that year: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GycBd...x=0&playnext=1

Is it just me, or did T/A really start to go downhill once they added the big rear-wings instead of the spoiler-lips?

Ohhhhh baby. tube frame carbon fiber body big motor 700+ hp monsters.

THAT IS REAL GT1 type racing. oh wait that was Trans AM. What the heck, I will take it

[Speed-King]

Originally Posted by AU N EGL

Ohhhhh baby. tube frame carbon fiber body big motor 700+ hp monsters.

THAT IS REAL GT1 type racing. oh wait that was Trans AM. What the heck, I will take it

I don't agree with you all that often, but on this one I'm right with you.
It is really a shame that this kind of cars has completely died out in modern professional racing.
The SCCA GT1-cars look quite nice, but as long as they have wings instead of spoilers they'll never be real T/A cars to me.

[Bob Riebe]

Originally Posted by Speed-King

And a video from that year: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GycBd...x=0&playnext=1

Is it just me, or did T/A really start to go downhill once they added the big rear-wings instead of the spoiler-lips?

No it is not just you.
The wings did nothing for the car or series.
As Carl Shafer said a decade earlier, we are fast enough, we don't a damn wing.

[AU N EGL]

Originally Posted by Speed-King

I don't agree with you all that often, but on this one I'm right with you.
It is really a shame that this kind of cars has completely died out in modern professional racing.
The SCCA GT1-cars look quite nice, but as long as they have wings instead of spoilers they'll never be real T/A cars to me.

It hasn't Those cars are very much alive and racing hard in SCCA GT1. Bloody fast.

Not too expesive to buy, just expesive to run and maintain.