http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8zeKvPrgqA

A stock American Chevrolet going around Summit Point in 105 degree heat.

This car was timed at 1:26's this day, which is impressive.

Driver is Warren ****, who has raced in H1 and H2.

Around 8:35 is where he starts to reel in our Integras.

Maybe there are some good American cars after all! :-)

 

In an automatic too?
Summit looks like a nice small course.

 

Troll,

It looked like he was killing everyone with his t3 apex speed, and that snail works well on the straights too. What tires were the three of you using?

It is nice to see wrong way **** is still out having a good time and doing well, and you too George

 

They put the cones out at the end of the straight to block the road to Jeff Circ so he wouldn't forget.

:-)

 

Yes, these cars have been racing for a few years now. Just not so much here.

 

he's shuffle-steering, all bets are off

 

I'd be interesting in hearing what he thought of the car's performance.

 

You know what's funny? And I'm not trying to toot my employer's horn, but when the drivers of the Stevenson GT program went out to Detroit to get our seats made, Eric Curran had a Cruze as a rental car. He liked it so much that during lunch he made us all stop at a dealer to check them out.

On a separate note, the new Sonic hatch is easily the best handling FWD street car I've ever experienced. Not joking. They did an incredible job setting that little thing up. It has an awkward differential, but the chassis is friggin' awesome. Get the 1.4 Ecotec, put some money into it, better the alignment, buy some tires and brake pads, and DESTROY everything on the track.

 

Awkward Diff? What it mean?

Scott, who is intrigued to hear such a testimonial for the Sonic...it'd be nice to think that so little $$$ could buy basic transportation PLUS...all the more amazing since the typical customer at that price point is generally assumed not to care/know about that kind of plus...Did Bob Lutz let/make them do this?

 

Well I couldn't tell if it was an E-diff trying to fix wheelspin, or just a good chassis combined with an open diff. With everything off we were taking a lot of on and off ramps flat-- even passing our own team van on the outside of an off ramp on the way to Road America... should have seen the look on their faces!

GM, in it's current, slimmed state is in the position to take the systems usually in place to support many models, simply make a smaller number of models excellent. This is why they can make cars like the ZL1 Camaro and the upcoming smaller sport models of cars like the Sonic and Cruze. The guys really do have a handle on suspension (pun) and just need the motivation and okay-go from higher ups to create true SS models of, say, the Spark.

I get a mild discount on GM products, and I've been toying around with the idea of taking a Sonic and playing with it. That Ecotec motor can handle a LOT of mods and power. I'm willing to bet that with just a couple bucks in well-places suspension and braking mods, this little car could be-- dare I say it-- a Civic beater.

 

Warren can still drive! The car has lots of trg and 300ish whp to wheels, if I recall correctly. I believe he has Nitto R comps and a 1.5" HUGE sway bar on the rear. Wish I had more then my little 190whp so he would not catch up on the straight like that! :p

 

It's not just the straights.

I was about to pass an M3 between 3 and 4 when he got on my bumper.

Maybe I can make the excuse that the M3 slowed me down because he was afraid to point before 3, but I think he'd have caught me anyway.