Confirmed: Pobst, Winkler and SRT are testing ACR at Laguna Seca on November 1st.

[Rapidrezults]

I have no idea if this was supposed to be private information, however, inside sources have confirmed this.(Thx George!) I am making it a priority to be at this event to witness the results first hand! From my understanding, Motor Trend will not be present, and this will be an SRT specific event. I will also be reaching out through channels to see if I can make my TA a test mule for some laps with my newly installed active suspension and see how it compares to a stock TA. This may be far-fetched but it's worth a try! Every indication points to a last minute move, as I know this was not a pre-planned event for them.

Randy Pobst, Chris Winkler and SRT together? No Motor Trend? Hmmm.....

This begs the question...was there already a Motor Trend test done that did not produce the results they were looking for and now they are back to see what went wrong with Winkler and team?

On the contrary, it's a good way to give Pobst some seat time in the machine before he gets it for the Motor Trend test. If this is the case, a very smart move by the boys at SRT.

[serpent]

No General Motors Trend is a good thing.

[RedTanRT/10]

Chris, that will be 23 days earlier then the 6 year anniversary of the ACR 1:33 run. If Motor Trend and other magazines won't be there, you can bet there will be officials to certify the time for SRT.

All the ACR magazine testing thus far has been at VIR. I just got my copy of Grassroots Motorsports. Chris W ran a 1:56.7 on the 3.27 mi. "full course". (completely stock) That was the fastest "street production" time at the Tire Rack-Ultimate Track Car Challenge. (Ben ran a 1:46.4 with his "non-restricted" GT3-R).

Should be a great day, wish I could go. Unless there is rain, a tsunami, or an 8.0 earthquate, the new ACR will set the record!

Don't be disapointed if they won't run your car. Too much liability! Best wishes, bring your camera! Mike

[Boba Fett]

open to public like that?

[ViperSmith]

Should provide some great amusement. We know how Pobst feels about the Z06 now, the Viper seems to have grown on him a LOT in since 2013. I'd love to see the Viper edge out the P1, but those Kumo tires will have quite a job on their hands to beat the TA in full slicks.

[TrackAire]

Should provide some great amusement. We know how Pobst feels about the Z06 now, the Viper seems to have grown on him a LOT in since 2013. I'd love to see the Viper edge out the P1, but those Kumo tires will have quite a job on their hands to beat the TA in full slicks.

Laguna Seca is a maximum downforce track.....this should be very interesting and will be a big test for the Kumhos. I'm feeling a new record on the horizon.

Lets just hope the California drought doesn't end until after November 1st.

[ACRucrazy]

oh dang

[wrh3]

Great news, I've been looking forward to a Randy Pobst test

[Lawrenzo]

With cars showing up at dealerships soon I was surprised that some published numbers haven't already come out??

[Darius]

I'll be there for sure with my stop watch in hand. Being Nov 1st I might even have my ACR by then. Maybe I can talk Randy in to a bet to see who can do faster lol.

[serpent]

Should provide some great amusement. We know how Pobst feels about the Z06 now, the Viper seems to have grown on him a LOT in since 2013. I'd love to see the Viper edge out the P1, but those Kumo tires will have quite a job on their hands to beat the TA in full slicks.

ACR will be dialed in with the less grippy tires but will have better brakes and more downforce. I bet it beats the TA time. I wonder if the ACR is lighter too?

[XSnake]

With cars showing up at dealerships soon I was surprised that some published numbers haven't already come out??

Cars are already at dealerships. VE got 5 yesterday.

Engineering tests are not usually open to the public. Hopefully they will allow club members to attend.

[ViperSmith]

What, they aren't going to have the Lightning Lap drivers give it a go for a record time at Laguna Seca?

[Snakebit10]

I would not at all be surprised to see it beat the TA with slicks/P1 time of 1:30xx. A 1:29 to beat the 918 will be a bit harder to do. I hope I'm wrong.

Serpent I think the ACR is around the same weight as the TA if memory serves from an article I read. I guess all the suspension and other ACR hardware cancelled out the weight of the hardware it replaced. I would have loved to see it in the low 3200lb range but oh well cant have it all.

[Rapidrezults]

Cars are already at dealerships. VE got 5 yesterday.

Engineering tests are not usually open to the public. Hopefully they will allow club members to attend.

The craziest part about this event is it's actually an HPDE event. They will be running in some of the run groups with other drivers on the course, so I'm not sure how or when they will be able get good clean laps in for time. This could just be a testing day for them to fine tune the aero for future tests.

[kdaviper]

I wonder if they're going to do a time trials with winkler and pobst in order to encourage competition, and thus lower lap times

[rw99]

Tried to get this to happen back in June at our unlimited sound weekend... they were even signed up. But ultimately it didn't fly, according to my SRT guy, due to $$$$.

Glad they've kept it on the to-do list; maybe there's also more confidence (with a couple more months of prep & data) that the outcome will be positive.

I'll see what I can find out...

- - - Updated - - -

I wonder if they're going to do a time trials with winkler and pobst in order to encourage competition, and thus lower lap times

Trust me: that is a big YES

[slysnake]

Isn't Pobst the guy that keeps giving it bad reviews because he's afraid of it and won't open it up fully?

[Snakebit10]

Isn't Pobst the guy that keeps giving it bad reviews because he's afraid of it and won't open it up fully?

I think Randy was being honest in his assessment of the Vipers suspension reactions at Laguna so I wouldn't necessarily say he was giving it a bad review but yes he does seem to indicate he is sort of afraid or not fully comfortable enough with it to fully thrash it like Winkler and others have done. Winkler beat his time in the G4 ACR too (albeit different days etc) but I still like Randy. Maybe since Winkler is his competition heads up same day, it will push Randy to fully give in to the Viper fully. It would be nice to see both of them break the current record. I think Chris will be faster hehe.

[gfviperman]

Keep Randy away from these Vipers!!!!

[TrackAire]

Isn't Pobst the guy that keeps giving it bad reviews because he's afraid of it and won't open it up fully?

I'd be afraid to open up a car with f'd up alignment too. For all you Randy Pobst haters, show me one other driver that is hitting 140 mph coming into turn 1 at Laguna Seca with a stock Viper? The balls it takes to come into turn 1 at Laguna Seca at that speed is huge. More important is the talent it takes to have the exit speed from turn 11 to achieve that speed at turn 1. Randy has the talent and for anybody to claim he is afraid of any car that is in good working order is bullshit.

[Rapidrezults]

I'd be afraid to open up a car with f'd up alignment too. For all you Randy Pobst haters, show me one other driver that is hitting 140 mph coming into turn 1 at Laguna Seca with a stock Viper? The balls it takes to come into turn 1 at Laguna Seca at that speed is huge. More important is the talent it takes to have the exit speed from turn 11 to achieve that speed at turn 1. Randy has the talent and for anybody to claim he is afraid of any car that is in good working order is bullshit.

Agreed! Furthermore, if you've ever driven Laguna you will most likely respect the fact that he ran a 1.30 on slicks and a mind blowing 1.33 on street tires. It looks easy in the videos, but let me be the first to say it is amazing skill to do this on street tires at this course. It takes big balls to drive this course fast in a street car.

[Darius]

I really want to try out the pirelli slicks. That is what pobst set the 1.30 time with. I'm sure they have to be better than the Kumho's that come on the acr.

[rw99]

Agree completely, George & Chris.

[XSnake]

I really want to try out the pirelli slicks. That is what pobst set the 1.30 time with. I'm sure they have to be better than the Kumho's that come on the acr.

I believe they ran Hoosiers for that run. Pirelli slicks are faster than the Hoosiers. Comparing the Pirelli slick to the Kumho isn't really fair.