Jersey Jeff
Enthusiast
Just a dream but "what if"? Would you jump on it or stick with the traditional hardtop? Does it defeat the purpose, a track designed car with touring inspired feature.
I think an ACR vert would be kind of a joke. The whole reason for an ACR is to have something that can be tracked with minimal modifications. Most tracks won't let a vert onto them - so what's the point? Sure, most people don't buy an ACR to track it anyway, but something that CAN'T be tracked is a pure poser car and I think that dilutes the whole appeal and heritage of an ACR.
As far as aerodynamics goes, when you take the top off of the car, your Cd goes from around .38 to .50 in a hurry. That's significant.
I don't know the exact Cd numbers for the Gen II vs. Gen III/IV, but I seem to remember them going from a relatively clean .32 for the GTS to a 'less clean' .38 for the Gen IV coupe, and a brick-like .42 for the ACR. I'd like to see the Gen V do at least as well as the Gen II (in basic coupe form). All the wings and things add a lot of parasitic and induced drag, so we can't ever hope to get an ACR down to the .32 level, but let's at least start out with a basic design that's a lot cleaner.
Though it would not appeal to everyone, I know that the Aero Group Convertibles , when we had them in the warehouse, drew rave reviews from numerous MoPar groups, Viper owners, etc. when we did tours. The guys/gals that have them can't hardly drive the cars without folks asking about them, so the reality would like be much the same for this dream car, if it was ever made. Not sure about the blanket statement that one can not drive convertibles on the track, as this may be true in some instances, but I know of a couple of groups and numerous tracks that have Miatas, S2000s, Boxsters, Vette and 911 verts, Vipers, etc. running on track days.
Heck , I ran a Miata for two years without a top on various tracks, without an issue.
Don't understand the vert hate here. Some folks like to see the sky, I know my wife does. She was some kind of upset when she discovered the lack of rollover protection in the car so added the Autoform rollbar. We both track at TWS and have no problems. She just runs with the top up when there. Guess technically she has better roll over protection than my coupe. Don't see too many of us doing more than DE's and if the downforce helps secure the car and the look isn't offputting to the owner more power to them.
Richard
Richard
I just got an email from Pemberton at Woodhouse. Woodhouse IS building 20 ACR Vert's. Not a big fan of the looks on their website, but then again, I am a coupe kinda guy.