Not to hi-jack this thread or take any credit away from the Speed tech crew, but Steve is not making excuses for the vette's performance, only stating the facts. I agree that this is a "run what ya brung" event. What we "brung" was a car that was completely dialed in from a suspension stand point, but was lacking on the interior. There were huge issues on the interior ergonomics that made it difficult for anyone to sit in the car. Unfortunately the interior was the one area of the car that we did not build, and it has caused the most problems. The interior is being completely re-done currently to correct this issue. We were able to pick up an additional 4" of length and lower the seat by 1.5" as well as adding in the much needed bolstering, all by building complete new seats. Due to time constraints, we could not get this completed before the event. We tried to put a bandage on the situation by installing a Cobra racing seat from another car which did give the much needed bolstering and slightly better seating position, but it still had an awkward driving position. The other big issue was with the floor mounted pedals designed for our customer's size 11 shoe. Mary told me that her much smaller foot was barely reaching the pedal pads with her toes. Its pretty hard to make a car perform when you can't reach the pedals, or sit correctly in it.
When I drove the car on the autocross after Mary was finished, I dropped almost 2 full seconds off of her time. Steve, is it possible for you to post the actual time with me driving the car now that the article is out?
I am not making excuses either, but I think it was pretty obvious to anyone there that Mary was not pushing the corvette anywhere near its limits. The majority of that was due to the ergonomics and fitment in the car.
Again, not to take anything away from the Speed Tech camaro as it definitely did perform great in all 3 areas!