So, everyone remembers the NEW So-Cal bellytank? Yep, the one with solid aluminum wheels wrapped in urathane. On a tip I picked up a copy of the March issue of TopGear magazine and they've got a short article with lots of detailed photos of it including the ****pit and the engine with the cowling off. Lots of other crazy stuff like photos of the Jag JP1 street legal race car and lots of cars folks in the US don't even know about.
Yeah, sporty type car mag featuring all the late model, whiz-bang, buy it instead of build it type cars. Published by the BBC. I've seen it at Borders and Barns-n-Noble. I've told you guys I'm a magazine and book junkie, didn't I?
Saw the pictures at work today in an Autocar mag. Here's some pics from the net (if the hotlink works...): I like it! Finally GM is doing something cool.
Jason are those hyper-trick wheels/tires even legal for the salt? I realize it's primarily a show car but if they ever decided to actually run the thing up to speed would they be allowed to use those urethane rubber bands? I'd think the scrutineers would be damn nervous about letting such untried tech out on the course.
I had questions about those wheels too. As far as I've been able to find out, solid wheels were banned at the dry lakes -except- for Bonneville. Aparently the tore up the fragile surface to fast and caused course changes much more frequently. I guess they felt the hard salt at Bonneville could stand up to them. Other than that, as long as they can convince the inspector, then it's legal. For a layperson to present something like that might be a problem, but I'm sure that those wheels have been designed with specific engineering in mind and can be presented with proof of concept testing do***ents to the SCTA. TopGear notes that the groove in the tire is to prevent the air cushion that occurs underneath traditional tires....interesting. As much as I dislike hyper-tech cars, this one is growing on me.
There was post on this about a month ago. They change the wheels and tires for salt racing....those are just for show.
I had understood that the entire car, at this stage, was "just for show". Rumor was that the car was going to be completely rebuilt with an additonal 18" added to the wheelbase or added to the overall length before they would race. I thought the wheels would stay on for the salt. Either way, I guess we may find out in August...hopefully.
It's a neat looking car, but will the big bucks of GM eventually have the same effect as it had on drag racing? I know the A cl*** machines are heavily sponsored, but how many guys running GBL have that kind of backing?
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