Quote:
Originally Posted by Vegas69
This is the perfect thread for me to get something off my mind. It's my opinion that some are headed in the wrong direction in their thinking of building the "ideal" pro-touring car. One of the best things about my car is its ability to cruise in comfort on a lazy Sunday reliably and earn it's respect on the race track. Sometimes in the same day. I feel I've pushed my car about as far as I'd like. In most cases, a better race car means a compromise in the other arena. I'm sure alot of guys are wondering what the hell I'm talking about since they've never even turned the key in their project. I'll give you some examples.........
[LIST]
A full cage or partial that compromises your comfort of makes it unsafe without a helmet
No sound deadener to save weight(Rattles, overly noisy ride)
High spring rates to limit body roll(I went to coil overs and adjustable shocks to get rid of the leaf spring ride) My car rides so nice...
Simple functional systems of any car(door handles, hidden wiper motors, heater, stereo)
Race belts(Will you really wear a 5 point harness on the street?)
Fixed back seats[LIST]
There are many more that I'm guilty of in the drive to have a capable street and race car. Once a car is no fun to cruise, it's a race car and Pro-Touring is dead in my opinion. Maybe I'm taking it personal and feel it's all about the racing end of the spectrum. These are fair race cars. Hell, I ran within 5 seconds of that crazy Porsche super car on the road course at El Toro. My point is, the faster I get, their are choices that can be made that compromise the function of a pro-touring car.  |
What he said...
We're all talking about building cars that are great at everything and yet here we are going back and forth about the topic because its pretty impossible to make the ultimate, "I'm good at everything" car. Some cars are more race car, some more street car, and some are more show car. What is perfect for one person won't be for the next. For example, Bad Penny is straddling the line of being too much of a race car for me, but Steve is so madly in love with her that he can look passed her faults (i.e. climbing in and out, which is not easy) . Personally I'd rather have a car like the DSE '69 that is practically a beater with one hell of a suspension and drive train. On the other end of the spectrum towards show car, there's my Camaro. There are times I wish I could just leave it in a parking lot without worrying, or kill cones without guilt.
Matt