ARRC-Driver or Car makes the difference?

[Richard Dziak]

To all the ARRC racers and attendees:

Although I could not make the race, the coverage here on ApexSpeed was great and the results posted as fast as the race.

Question:

Certainly the winners of the top positions were top notch drivers.

My question(s):

Was it the car they drove that made the difference or was it the talent of the drivers that prevailed to the top 5 finishers?

If one of the top 5 drivers were in a conversion built car, could they have won this race?

I am sure there may be many opinions on this question.

[VehDyn]

As an aside...isnt the Piper an extremely well engineered conversion?

Ken

[Brandon Dixon]

You might call it a "factory conversion". From the roll hoop forward there is realativly little difference in the Piper FC and FB cars. Brake calipers and wheels are the only noticable differences. It wouldn't be that hard to take a late model Piper FF or FC and turn it into a car just like Justin was driving.

The Citations that we are building fall in the same camp. We are very similar roll hoop forward, share much of the bodywork etc with the FC car.

[Wren]

Justin pritchard was hauling ass through turn one in a way that i hadn't thought possible(Cole and Tonis were as well), he was also carrying more speed out of the esses and at the end of the back straight than anyone else i watched. Justin has been around RA a few times though and is obviously quite talented. I would love to hear what some of the pointy end was seeing on their data systems for speeds through different corners and some of the lateral accelerations.

Justin's car is just a piper FC that Don put a box on the back of and ran 7's and 9's with FC tires. I didn't see anything this weekend that makes me think a conversion wouldn't be competitive. Maybe in a few years when people are really realizing the downforce a flat bottom allows you may see a little difference, but with the smart people out there, someone will get a big flat bottom under a Van Diemen.

[Purple Frog]

Strictly my opinion, and it's worth less than two cents.

Sean O'Connell qualified 5th, and I'd say he was the first 'clubbie'. He had not even driven anything since July 4th. And, he was up against the likes of Justin, Cole, Tonis, and 8 Ball. Sean was in a conversion. I'm figuring he would have finished 4 to 6 if he had not ventilated his case. Sean had decided to race on R25 rears and R35 fronts. Unfortunately, he didn't do enough laps to really see the outcome of that decision.

We figured Jeremy Hill had the best chance of the conversion class. What with his m/c experience, and having converted a wide track newer VD, it could be argued that it was theoretically a faster conversion. Thus the award for best conversion. Unfortunately his motor also went farther South. And to be fair, Jeremy was shy the Road Atlanta experience that the top 5 qualifiers possessed.

As a spectator all day on Thursday during testing, to me it was obvious that Justin and the Piper were the class of the field. And the radar gun on the back straight was showing him 1 to 5 mph faster than any other car. The car ran fast, but without any flash. It was just so smooth, that without a stopwatch you would have thought it was much slower.

On the opposite extreme was Tonis and the Speads. I truly believe that in the first test session Thursday morning, if a mere mortal had been driving the Speads it would have been wadded up in a big way. We stood in awe as Tonis would make 4 or 5 corrections in split seconds as he rocketed through T1. Only his caliber driver has the reaction times to 'catch' the car like that.

The Sthors seemed to be inbetween the Piper and the Speads. They appeared to be running higher downforce setups for the most part all weekend. First practice Cole was like 110 through T1. Later in the day his data was showing him around 122 - 123 in T1. That is serious speed folks. Cole seemed very comfortable in the car. He appeared to be able to place where he wanted. Jean Luc reported the same comfort. He was adapting to not have the huge downforce his DSR produces.

After the race I did my usual visual on tires in impound. The Piper's looked just nicely scuffed in. Don's idea of using 7 and 9 inch rims with FC tires seemed fairly smart. A better tire footprint than 6s and 8s, but not as much aero drag as 8s and 10s. The Speads and the Sthors showed a lot of abuse of the fronts. Cole's was actually showing a burst blister. Not that that means anything, because that could have been from just one wild braking manuever. Mrs. Frog, like many others, said the race between Cole and Tonis was so outrageous that it was hard to believe. So those gents had to punishing their tires. She said that after the restart is was easy to forget that Justin was leading. He went by smoothly, and looked much like other CFCs, and slower conversions in the field. Justin was like under the radar, compared to the wild display between the orange and red cars.

Every year at the Pebble Beach Con Cours, Road and Track Magazine gives a award to the car they would most like to drive. At Road Atlanta the car I would most like to drive was the Piper. Could a conversion compete? I want to say yes. Especially one of the caliber of Jeremy's. Modern suspension, equal engine and weight.. the only downside to the VD might be a bit more high speed drag. So track configuration may prove to be the great equalizer. But SEDIV tracks require speed (ATL, VIR, RRR, Daytona, Sebring). At Grattan or Waterford it might be a whole other story.

Didn't answer your question. One race is not enough data. But the Piper is a purpose built, very little compromise, rocket. It might be tough to match with the compromises that occur during conversion. We'll see.

[Cole Morgan]

I think there is a very important combo here.

The Piper and Justin have an extremely close relationship, although this is a FB, it is very close to the FC, so I consider it a conversion. Justin is undoubtedly one of the best open wheel drivers around, his National Championships speak for that. The Piper is also a top notch car. Put the two together and, well, you can see what you get.

Tonis and I had never stepped foot in these cars before this event, but as drivers we are supposed to be up to speed, even if it is a new environment (car or track) after 1 session. I feel we both were, even though test day lap times don't show it. I don't know what the outside opinions on the race might be, but I pushed my car 110% every lap, I am pretty sure Tonis did too. That may have been our demise, after our side by side contact at about 130 mph my car developed some front end issues as anyone would expect. I think we both held each other up in spots and our battle certainly didn't help us catch Justin. I would like to see how the development of these cars progresses. I feel each car has it's pro's and con's. I think that each manufacturer has brilliant men behind them and I could only wish of the intelligence to dream up these marvelous creations. It is my honest opinion that a driver can only do so much for a lap time. A good driver will almost always be faster than a decent driver, but the car does matter.

Yes the race is a different story as race craft comes into play much more.

Everyone always said you could put Schumi into a Minardi and he would win. I think a close look at the 2005 results and championship would dispel that statement as he only won 1 race, The USGP, running against 6 cars, in a Ferrari.

Great driving cannot always get the job done, it is a fine balance between man and machine.

If all the other cars are as much fun to drive as the Stohr is, this class will have a very bright future.

Just to tell you how awesome this class is, the most fun cars I have ever driven as listed:
Stohr F1000 (FB)
Dallara IPS (IPS)
Swift DB-6 & Jason Byer's Van Diemen RF03 (FC)
Mustang FR-500C (Grand-Am GS)

[Cole Morgan]

Wren,

122.5 minimum speed through T1.

89 mph minimum speed through T3

144 mph top speed going into T10.

[Matthew Inge]

Cole,
It was good to meet you. How was that IPS car BTW? Hopefully we'll run into each other a couple more times down the road.

Matthew

[Wren]

Wren,

122.5 minimum speed through T1.

89 mph minimum speed through T3

144 mph top speed going into T10.

cole, thank you.

[Sean Maisey]

Richard,

I can't speak for anyone but myself, but it was most certainly NOT a case of a gifted driver carrying a bad car in my case. I have only raced a few times in the last 3 seasons, and had almost no time in the Novak conversion prior to the ARRC.

The following bit on the NovaRaceCars.com site tells the story best:

http://www.novaracecars.com/testing.htm

Make your own conclusions...

Regards,
Sean

[RussMcB]

Sean, for what it's worth, I thought your performance was impressive, especially considering the many reasons preventing you from being optimum.