Muzzy, De La O, and I received our calls from Kim. We are all in on the first series of Comp Coupes.
Several weeks ago I talked to John Fernandez and Herb Helbig about the racing venue for the Comp Coupe. This car is being made specifically for the Viper Racing League. John wants absolutely no modifications to the car allowed so that the race is purely a test of driving ability. It is being built as a club race car for the VCA, not a professional race car.
Rich, here's my think on using it in pro racing....Whether the car is accepted into a professional race series remains to be seen, and you can be sure it will be "dumbed down" so that it loses its competitive advantage over the other cars in the Grand Am Cup or the World Challenge Series. The SCCA will make sure that it loses to the Acuras, BMWs, etc. You'll have a lousy tire package, restrictors, weight penalties, etc. until your car is too slow to be competitive. What's the point??
I asked John if there was a chance of running the car in the GT class of the Grand Am series (as opposed to the Grand Am Cup series). He said the Comp Coupe would not be competitive with the Porsche GT3R or the BMW without spending alot more money on weight reduction. He said a competitive car in the GT class would cost around $250,000. Notice that many times the Porsches in the GT class are actually beating the GTS class cars such as the Viper GTSR, Saleen, Corvette, etc. The Comp Coupe will have no chance here.
So, back to the purpose it is being built. So we can have all 30 Comp Coupes on the starting grid in identical condition and configuration to race against each other in the VRL. Add the existing 25-30 GT-1 Vipers from the VRL and we can finally count on 30-40 car grids for every VRL race. Wouldn't it be grand to see a starting grid with 40 Vipers on it??
