sitting here watching the real time acuras getting torn up by the h and r bmw and a mazda.
anyway , does anyone know the specs on the type r's

 

http://realtimerl.com

 

i did a search... nothing
thank you

 

Yes I just watched it, too. What a great race once again, but remember this series is kind of misleading to say the least if you look at it strictly from the cars‘ performance point of view. Watch it more for the racing than anything else and don’t try to ask yourself: “how can a protege pass a bmw on the straight or how’s a Civic Si running the same pace as an ITR or is300?” Most people are not supposed to think that hard.

The ITRs did have its glory days in the past. Remember this car has been raced for 6 years now. The problem was that the car had *too* much glory and success in the past and *still* is a top runner on some of the (non-power) tracks right now. The Touring WC rules allow for constant adjustments of two key areas: weight and restrictor plates (and tire width, but that‘s more relevant in GT). The ITR is without a doubt the car that has received the most penalties over time than anything else out there. This is on top of the fact that it is the car that is allowed the least amount of modification in the first place! Right now as it stands, the series basically killed it and only the development $$ funds of Realtime and the fact that arguably the two best drivers in the series are driving the ITRs now is all that is keeping them still running up front. I've heard discussions regarding the ITR in Touring and the attitude right now is basically to slow this car down enough with penalties so the others can be competitive with it instead of letting it run without weight penalties and a larger restrictor and hoping the other cars can match the speed. Some of it is politics since the growth of the WC Touring series has attracted new manufacturer support and that is very important now. The series has to be appealing for everybody, and if a 5 year old car is dominating the series (as the ITR did in past years) it would not look too good for the newer cars running. And those proteges are practically purpose built race cars. Just check one out in person and you'll be amazed. Suspension mounting points, steering column, etc.. and not to mention the motor are totally modified on the racecars. These things make exactly *twice* the power that stock proteges do. The BMWs are powerhouses as well and even the Civic Si's current (10K rpm!) engine package is a powerhouse compared to the ITR. They should just put all these cars on a dyno (especially an ITR vs the protege) so people can see exactly how much of a difference there is. But of course that would not happen. There are a lot of things going on behind the scenes in this series, but the formula is working great right now in keeping the racing extremely close. So to this series. But just enjoy the racing because Speed Touring is the most competitive thing out there right now and very exiting to watch.

 

Damn nice points

 

this is true....in Touring Car, the protege makes the most power, but it's inherint FWD disadvantage kinda negates it's HP advantage. I agree, the ITR is past it's prime in this series, time to see what RealTime racing can to with the RSX. Considering that on the Proteges (at least Foo's) they can change the roll center, it's no wonder that they have been winning races....BTW, who won tonights race? I didn't catch it

 

I saw the new RSX at Road America it was sweet looking. PD says the ITR is still beating its lap times during testing at Mid-Ohio. As soon as they beat a ITR time, they will bring it. Handling is the problem right now. My buddy Mike Bergman raced a realtime ITR at RA for PD that was cool! (Got screwed in Qualifing) It is nice having Realtime AND King Motorsports in my back yard!! By owning a shop also, I have been around these guys alot at the track. I always get in arguments with Scott Z from King!! Jk He is old school in his tuning thinking I like to try all the new and crazy stuff that I see work at the track!

 

I was speaking about this with a driver that ran in the series and he simply explained the rules this way: there are no rules to start with, you bring whatever car you want, modify the way you want it. And if you get too fast, they'll make rules to slow you down...

 

very good points Hracer - thanks for the background insight. ...had no idea the protege was making that much power until today when Bonocorsi (sp?) was whipping so much *** (of course he did a few weeks ago too)

Bonocorsi in the Mazda took 1st, Turner in the BMW *almost* grabbed 1st on the last corner but ended up 3rd behind Fitzgerald in the IS300 when his manuever cost him speed exiting the corner and he lost 2nd. It was a great race, and watching Klinubing and Cunningham working together to avoid a wreck was cool too. Good action, and I'm glad to see Realtime still in 1st and 2nd in overall points but not sure if they can keep it up.

Funny story- I went to a local sports bar this morning to watch the race because they have like 30 TV's on DSS - but we got there and they didn't get Speed Channel! The race was starting and the owner of the place called DSS and ordered Speed Channel right there on the spot so we could watch it, I only missed the first 10 minutes!

 

i especially loved the nascar-style "bump-drafting" the ITR's were doing on the back stretch.. (lets see how the word "nascar" goes over with people..) heheheee..

 

hah you saw that too

one teg bumbed the other from double drafting and the team gained a spot. that was tight

i love those inside camera shots

 

heh, PD and Klinubing will do anything to stay in it... my roommate (bagelw) drives an Si so he always roots for Taz Harvey and I always root for Realtime - a couple months back I remember the two of them basically working together to push 'ol Taz back a few spots, haha, it was kinda "dirty" but it was great! I assume they can communicate with each other? He was complaining about the "dirty" tactics and I just had to defend them, haha


[Modified by uncleben, 7:58 PM 9/7/2002]

 

they seem to have spent a lot of time trying to get the DC5s as fast as the tegs....

 

Well they were heard at DC saying they got a late start building the cars and the season hasn't left much time between races to test. However, they've had some time off since their last race so MAYBE (hopefully) we'll see them at the next one. Cross your fingers!!!
And besides that, the DC2 cars have been fine tuned for <U>6 years</U>!


[Modified by vtec250, 8:00 PM 9/7/2002]

 

they can't communicate directly, only through the crew at the pits..

(but then again, they've been team mates for a while, so you can probably predict the others moves)

 

I still don't see it as the ITR being past its prime. As far as model year yes, but on performance, no. If they could run as unrestricted as they did a couple of years ago, or how the proteges are running now for example, they would be dominating again. If the proteges keep up their performance, you can be sure they'll take a beating next year with an updated rules package. We also have to remember that in the WC there is no one set rule book. Instead, each car has its own set of rules and that's what makes it very easy to constantly keep adjusting them to keep the racing so close. They really are doing a great job in keeping things close, just look at the great racing our there! The only consequence of this is that sometimes inevitably you start penalizing the really good drivers drivers as well as the teams for their continued success.

 

waaaaay O/T, but I though I heard something on the broadcast about dupont(?) giving up on the E46 bmws for now and going back to the E36. I was screwing around with my son, so it did not have my full attention...

 

does anyone have the offical speed TC/GT website with the dates/times. I can never figure out speeds new webpage.