Quote: Originally Posted by
ZetecInside 
Er, why not? If it has Stage 3 power but stock suspension, is it a Stage 3 then? This is a serious question. When I bought the car in 2004, we took everything Mopar had to offer, as you can see in the For Sale listing.
MyLaps.com || powered by AMB transponders
MyLaps.com || powered by AMB transponders
Looks to me like the Spec Neons at Mid-O would have dropped you a bit, but that's beside the point. The whole idea of wheel-to-wheel racing at the club level is to create a driver's race. Your car's supposedly faster than a Grand-Am GS car; does that mean you're a better driver than Seb Bourdais (who ran an FR500C last year), Charles Espenlaub, Craig Stanton, or Wolf Henzler? There are fast cars, and fast drivers. Don't confuse the two.
Yup... a Stage 3 turbo upgrade is typically what makes a "Stage 3 SRT-4" It replaces not only the PCM, injectors, MAP & TIP, etc...but you also get an upgraded Ex manifold and a Titanium/Aluminum wheel turbo that is about 30% larger than the factory unit. With the turbo toys (an additional option) it will put down about 50-75 more whp than a "Stage 2" car.
That was my first time at Mid-O in order to practice for One Lap ('07). Full tread, year-old, Goodyear (280TW) GS-D3's street tires and a brand new un-tested coilover set-up. Ran a 1:41 (6th overall in the OLA field - ahead of the modded flame-throwing Ford GT) on the club course with the same set-up (newer Yoko tires though) for my second trip to the track during OLA (only 3 laps, no practice...you know...).
What would make my car faster than a Grand Am GS car? Just wondering, seriously?
But since you brought up the FR500C, I was faster than the NASA-Miller Cup cars (same thing isn't it?seriously) at Rd Atl in March. 8 seconds faster than the NASA-Miller Cup cars pole sitters qualifing time in the wet (about 1/2 hour apart, same track conditions), I couldn't compare Sunday's dry times, since my car's exhaust broke in half in the only session I was able to run that day. However, I was 2+ seconds faster than there fastest Qual time with my times from the 105* day we ran their last August. (Bench racing at it's best...)
I understand the whole driver's race concept, and to an extent, the NASA TT groups attempt to level the playing field by matching a cars potential to it's classing and seeing as I am @75 whp UNDER my maximum allowance for the weight of my car, and I regularly win my events, I would extrapolate from that and take away something alongs the lines of "I'm no slouch behind the wheel". Not boasting my prowess over all that live and breathe, but I have done quite respectably against a WIDE variety of drivers and cars.
