TrackAire
Enthusiast
What would be interesting to see is how fast a GTS would be with the carbon aero package, which is a relatively tame aero package and on par with the ZR1's. The GTS with aero may be nearly as fast as the TA, and would remain a GT car. Aero is powerful, as the ACR shows.
Two weeks ago when I was tracking my Camaro at Buttonwillow, the Camaro was faster than all of the cars but the big-wing cars which were in a different league. The fastest car of the day was a late-model M3 with a big wing on the back, a splitter, coilovers and R compounds. The driver has been tracking for 20 years. He claims his aero shaves 3 full seconds off of his lap times at Buttonwillow, which is a much slower track than Laguna Seca. Aero would shave more time off at Seca. So aero plays a huge role.
I'm more optimistic than many about the prospects of a Gen V ACR at the Ring. 1500 pounds of downforce at 150 MPH is what I've heard may be the ACR aero package, much greater than the 300 pounds of the currently-available carbon aero package. Add to that some new bad ass R compounds on it to replace the mediocre Corsas and carbon ceramic brakes, and the Gen V ACR could be competitive at the Ring.
I remember seeing some documentary about the Cobra Daytona Coupe and the design of it. I believe it was Bondurant that was testing the car when they first got it done and said it was pretty much unstable in its current coupe design. Peter Brock added the rear duck lip spoiler and it totally transformed the car. Compared to today's wings, that spoiler is tiny. Just that rear spoiler was enough to make the car fast. I have no doubts that some basic aero, correct spring rate, quality shocks and the right alignment will make the GTS a car that will always be in the very top of the pack. I don't even know if it will need carbon ceramic brakes, just the right rotor, pad, brake lines and brake fluid and I think it's good to go. Add R-compound tires and you'd have another winner.
Cheers,
George