Quote:

Kevin, while this may have been true 2 or 3 years ago, things changed last year... They are getting faster.



I disagree that the cars have gotten any faster, it's the drivers. There was a pretty big leap that could be made with the driving. 2-3 years ago most of them were just not very good and the instruction at this years events made a big improvement.

If you look at the times for the cars, the fast cars are lapping at about the same pass in 2014 as the were in 2013. Some are slightly faster, but not huge leaps. Other than the late model and AWD stuff, I think the PT cars have hit a bit of a plateau for lap times.

I'll use USCA Road America as an example and use overall numbers without class splits... I ran my 2013 Challenger R/T in 2013 and finished 19th with a 1:52.825. In 2014 I ran my 2013 Challenger SRT8 Core and finished 16th running a 1:48.658. Now, I picked up 4 seconds due to the car change, but the 1st place finishing time actually slowed by 4 tenths of a second from 2013 to 2014. My time for 2014 would have been 10th overall in 2013.

Similar group of cars, but the driving was distinctly better between the years. More guys picked up big chunks of time. Those big leaps in the same car is not due to more power, brakes, etc... It's driver skill, especially at a more technical track like Road America that has big fast corners and elevation changes.

At the less technical and flat tracks you see a more compact group of lap times with what I would consider the "usual" expectations of a car finishing where it should... cars that appear to be fast/competitive at the top. Why? Simple layout, easy to learn, nothing too scary to deal with. Throw in some high speed carousels, elevation changes, blind crest, etc... and the standings get shuffled up like crazy. Essentially, if you are driving a car with limited modifications, pick your event wisely if you are concerned about finishing position.

Back to the stock suspended comment... I know what the Brick runs at Gingerman and these other tracks. Well known that it's stock suspended, if I put 225/50 Direzza's on it, it would finish a couple seconds ahead of my Challenger. At an event like USCA/Road America it would be well into the top 15, at Motorstate/Gingerman it would be in the top 10.

A well driven Viper, Z06 and possibly a Z28, will podium at any of these events. Running the camera car at MIS I was 4th fastest by less than 1/2 second. This being in a bone stock 2014 Viper TA press fleet car and never getting the chance to put down a true "hot" lap since I was doing camera work.

These cars are not untouchable... far from it.