D-Class Muscle Inc. (Super Stock Series by Spanky's Speedshop)

[landstuhltaylor]

They all used the same set of crappy Munroe Shocks.   

I use those pieces of crap on my real Trans Am!

[Hoplee]

Someone thought I was crazy for picking the Charger on Maple Short...

Had fun racing last night Fit. I rarely spend time in D-Class but had a blast running around with you in the old iron. Maybe we'll find one of these that can keep up with that pesky Dino!

[Fit4aking]

It could happen.  Definately would need to open up the restrictions to wider tires and less weight.  I was glad to see the old iron keepin so close on the shorter tracks but that pesky Dino decided to hustle around Suzuka East.

I have a setup/toon that I want to try on some of the slower cars to hopefully improve them.  I'll have a Dino killer in no time, yeah right.

[Fit4aking]

I am going to modify all of the D-class cars to another set of standards.  It is obvious that the Muscles aren't going to stay competative within themselves and still be able to run online.  The trade off can be that they stay in a nice tight knit bunch and only run each other, or modify the build to allow 2-3 of them to accel in the class and overshadow the others.  Suprisingly this would alienate the Z/28, and include the Chevelle.  The Z just doesn't have the power but still has the weight.  The Chevelle has gobs of power and low weight, add tires and it does well, not great but well.  On anything but a short track it will decimate the Z with its jump off the line.

Needless to say my grand vision of a limited D-class room that would taylor to these cars would have to near exclusively include only them.  The next step is to set up each car with the widest tire possible, platformed and if any PI is left remove weight.  Then I'm gonna try and run down Hop and his Dino again.

[bimmerlovere39]

I'm still up to comparing my E30 to your times, too 

[Fit4aking]

I'll post some of the grip times here as soon as I run a couple of cars in that configuration.  Thanks for the comparo times.  Its hard to make heads or tales of these cars using the leaderboards as reference.

[bimmerlovere39]

No problem - it might actually get me driving the D-Class E30 again!

[Fit4aking]

Had a chance to run all of the cars on Road Atlanta last night.  I was chasin the elusive 94 second mark and couldn't quite get it.  Close but no cigar.  The heavier cars really started to spread out and the power really showed its ugly head for the weaker cars.  Didn't run the Charger or the Chevelle as they are being deemed a cheater car no matter how you build them.

Mustang Boss:  95.315
Shelby 500KR: 95.494
Trans Am:  95.719
Camaro SS:  96.148
Challenger R/T:  96.423
GTO:  97.152
Barracuda:  97.224
Camaro Z/28:  97.714

Two and a half seconds difference is a bit much to overcome but the Z/28 is horribly underpowered for the long straight on Road Atlanta and pretty much anywhere else for that matter.  On a shorter track the cars stay bunched up but the general concensus is that the snakes aren't the most popular.  Limiting the series to only shorter tracks will probably alienate a lot of people and tracks.

If anyone is interested in a D-class race I have all of the cars built.  I added 215's to all of the cars (except the Challenger, I left stock width) Then I added the Street weight reduction to all of the cars (Except the Challenger whick took the Sport weight, still 3400lbs) after that I platformed the cars to full race. (except for the Z/28, I left out the race Driveshaft for PI)  No hard and fast rule applied to all of them but other than under 500hp.  Just build with a focus on grip over power and see what happens.

[Blooze]

This is looking good Fit!

I have BucksToon primed to go to work on the D cars as soon as he is done with the B cars.

Some of the disparity is a fact of life and to be expected.  I don't think you will be able to factor it all out no matter what you try.  Its like trying to mash a balloon, you push on it one place and the air pops out in another.  If you mash it with two hands, it pops.

I don't see anything wrong with the list.  So you can't run the Camaro on the long tracks...  Such is life.

PS:  You ought to run a poll - you might be surprised at the popularity of the snakes.

On second thought - I'll run the pole.   Think about it.  D Classed Muscle - 10 laps on Boomer Reverse.  You talk about Friday Nite at the local dirt track...   Bangity, Bang, Bang... Crash.

$

[Fit4aking]

I think it should be exclusively on the shorter tracks.  I also think it should be a cumulative type of hotlap challenge.  I know we have some guys on here that are very fast but stringing together 5-10 really good laps is often a deeper challenge.  With the shorter tracks you can run 4-5 laps in the amount of time it takes to get around Road America once.

I can just see it now.  Friday night.  8 cars, two full grandstands and a hotdog vendor.  After a couple sketchy starts and some tempers flaring the A-main finally gets under way on Boomslang Reverse.  The infield quickly turns into a junk yard or flying sheetmetal and flat tires.  And when the dust settles, Buckstoon is kissin the 4H Hog Queen, holdin his carboard check, and he knows in the back of his head that his crewchief is doin his best to keep the entire JEi pitcrew form rippin his head off.  Ah, the short track under the lights is a place to be.

I look forward to the polling.

[bimmerlovere39]

Ah, yes, that sounds like a ton of fun...

*day dreams*

[Fit4aking]

I had about an hour of downtime in between family visitors today so I decided to run the D-class Contenders on another track.  Being Christmas and all I could have gifted myself a run on Laguna Seca (my favorite), but I went with a shorter track instead.

Russels Viper

Chevelle:  44.938
Barracuda:  44.857
Charger:  44.439
GeeTO:  44.084
Trans Am:  44.020
Boss 429:  43.985
Camaro SS:  43.826
500KR:  43.572
Camaro Z/28:  43.386
Challenger:  43.214

I was suprised to beat my previous 500KR time with the GeeTO Tiger.  I was running the cars in order of my garage ranking, worst to first.  That put the GTO second just after my Cuda.  The Cuda was all over the place.  It gripped in some places slid out in others and under no circumstances would slide around the last 2 turns, my proven fast line was out of reach for this car.  The GTo was finally able to show how much of a difference torque makes.  I muscled passed my ghost on the straight and set up for the fastest lap.  As I ran the next car I caught and passed the GTO, and right on down the list the cars got faster and faster.  Well, until I got to the Chevelle (which is ranked as my 3rd fastest D-class), then the lack of grip became evident.  Overall I was very pleased how close these cars were on a diverse track.  Short-choppy twisties, a downhill sweeper, and 2 long straights should have sorted out the power cars but instead grip was king here.  The wide tired Challenger was tough to catch and impossible for me to pass.  It gripped the tight turns well, it had plenty of power and it was stable enough to slide around when needed.  It actually drove like a much lighter car.  Also the Z-28 was able to keep pace.  Being very underpowered I was afraid that it wouldn't be competative.

I'm actually having fun running these cars, somebody stop me.

[Fit4aking]

I've been running the beJesus out of these cars.  On a variety of tracks.  Individually and as a group.  I've been looking for the one common upgrade that will bring these cars in line with each other.  Its not there.  No common tire type, like the B-classers.  At this level they are just very different but similar animals.

The solution:  Keep the cars grouped together by limiting the track size they run on.  With power from a measly 290 all the way up to 450 horsepower, and stock tires ranging from pizza cutting 205's up to respectable 235's its easy to see that some of the cars will run away on power tracks or excel on the twisties.  In my experience running them they stay very close on the Snakes.  As an unwritten rule try and build these cars on a grip path.  Lose weight, add tire width, platform the cars and if anything is left over add wheels, wings, or a couple of horsepower.  You may just end up with a D-class Muscle Mongoose.

I'll consider this exploratory mission complete.  The Super Stock Series will work.  The group here should be able to scoot these cars around the short tracks in no time at all.  Just remember that these were never meant to run on the power tracks outside of each other and all of the testing was done on the Snakes (and Road Atlanta per the daught net).  Look for a couple of my personal favorites to become a seperate topic.

[Fit4aking]

Had an opportunity to run some open D-class tonight with Snyder, and Stankonia.  No restrictions just good racin.  I was able to do well with the Challenger and I managed to break into the 94 second range on Road Atlanta.  The Boss ran a 94.919.  Competition always makes me faster than my own ghost.

I'm now more convinced that these cars are pretty solid competitors on shorter tracks. (And on longer tracks if built similarly)

[Snyder005]

i need 2 get back in with the D-Class racing.  I've spent to much time driving my GT40 in S-Class.