Bill Lackey's GTR is now Tom Tweed's GTR
Discussion
I went to visit Tom at the POCA autocrossing event yesterday. We got to pour over the car and enjoyed watching Tom drive it hard for the first time. He was competing against the usual Porsche names, but included a '07 Z06, several GT3's, and some race only 911's. Tom's done a lot of Autocrossing in his previous Porsche's but said this is by far the most car he's driven. Here are Tom's words of the day:
"I slowly kept picking up the pace as I got more comfortable with the car, and had my Porsche mechanic, Steve Grosekemper (from Dieter's Independent, downtown) ride with me and then drive the car himself in the afternoon. We made an adjustment to the front swaybar, going to full soft setting, and it improved the understeer considerably, and I cut 3 seconds off my earlier times (down to 1:11 flat) in the last session.
The car ended up with TTOD (Top Time Of the Day), faster than all the Porsches, including the dedicated race cars and a few GT3s, etc., but not with me driving it--Steve clipped me by over a second on his last runs, turning a 1:09.84. He's almost 100 lbs. lighter than me, though, so I figure that weight penalty was good for about a second of the difference--at least, that's my story and I'm sticking to it!
My impressions? I was pretty amazed that it did that well on a tight autox course. The PCA does throw a pretty fast course, though, not as tight as the SCCA, and considering I really got the car to drive on the big tracks, which are clearly it's domain, I was very pleasantly surprised that it performed so well in the tight stuff, especially since we used the street tires and not the slicks. It would have been a couple seconds faster on the race tires, I am sure, and not pushed so much, due to the larger fronts (23.5x11.5-16's vs. 245/40-17's).
It is by far the fastest car in a straight line I have ever driven. Yours is going to be stupid fast with the LS7. It can't quite corner and brake as well as my LeGrand DSR, but that car weighs 850 lbs. and sits 2" off the ground, so no wonder! It does corner better than my 911 Porsche, though, which is about the same weight, and will absolutely destroy either one of them accelerating off the corner and down the straights.
All in all, I am totally pleased with the car, and I haven't even started to explore its limits. If it also turns out to be fairly reliable, I will be doubly stoked! The only comparable Porsche I have ever been in is the 911 GT2, which is a 500HP, $180K car, and is actually faster than the 650HP, $450K Carrera GT. For the money, this car has them beat by a mile."
It was great seeing Tom push his LS2 powered car. He totally destroyed the field.
Paul
"I slowly kept picking up the pace as I got more comfortable with the car, and had my Porsche mechanic, Steve Grosekemper (from Dieter's Independent, downtown) ride with me and then drive the car himself in the afternoon. We made an adjustment to the front swaybar, going to full soft setting, and it improved the understeer considerably, and I cut 3 seconds off my earlier times (down to 1:11 flat) in the last session.
The car ended up with TTOD (Top Time Of the Day), faster than all the Porsches, including the dedicated race cars and a few GT3s, etc., but not with me driving it--Steve clipped me by over a second on his last runs, turning a 1:09.84. He's almost 100 lbs. lighter than me, though, so I figure that weight penalty was good for about a second of the difference--at least, that's my story and I'm sticking to it!
My impressions? I was pretty amazed that it did that well on a tight autox course. The PCA does throw a pretty fast course, though, not as tight as the SCCA, and considering I really got the car to drive on the big tracks, which are clearly it's domain, I was very pleasantly surprised that it performed so well in the tight stuff, especially since we used the street tires and not the slicks. It would have been a couple seconds faster on the race tires, I am sure, and not pushed so much, due to the larger fronts (23.5x11.5-16's vs. 245/40-17's).
It is by far the fastest car in a straight line I have ever driven. Yours is going to be stupid fast with the LS7. It can't quite corner and brake as well as my LeGrand DSR, but that car weighs 850 lbs. and sits 2" off the ground, so no wonder! It does corner better than my 911 Porsche, though, which is about the same weight, and will absolutely destroy either one of them accelerating off the corner and down the straights.
All in all, I am totally pleased with the car, and I haven't even started to explore its limits. If it also turns out to be fairly reliable, I will be doubly stoked! The only comparable Porsche I have ever been in is the 911 GT2, which is a 500HP, $180K car, and is actually faster than the 650HP, $450K Carrera GT. For the money, this car has them beat by a mile."
It was great seeing Tom push his LS2 powered car. He totally destroyed the field.
Paul
Edited by San Diego GTR on Monday 17th December 03:48
Just for reference from the Ebay listing....430HP at the wheels with 15% drivetrain loss is circa 500HP at the crank.
That's with cast iron Vette manifolds.
Motor is LS1 (5.7L) mildly modified as below.
Motor
o Patriot CNC LS6 heads with extreme valve springs
o Titanium retainers
o Fast 90 intake and 90 throttle body.
o Dry Sumped
o Engine looks great and can pass for show quality
o Drives like stock (Idle is great, runs great)
o 91 Octane is fine - 25 MPG
o Billet forks
o Cable side shift kit
o 80% LSD
o Gearing for 202 MPH (2400RPM at 70MPH)
That's with cast iron Vette manifolds.
Motor is LS1 (5.7L) mildly modified as below.
Motor
- 5.7L ASA LSx motor with CNC heads, Patriot valvetrain (430hp at the wheels/390 torque)
o Patriot CNC LS6 heads with extreme valve springs
o Titanium retainers
o Fast 90 intake and 90 throttle body.
o Dry Sumped
o Engine looks great and can pass for show quality
o Drives like stock (Idle is great, runs great)
o 91 Octane is fine - 25 MPG
- Air Conditioning (Yep!!!)
- New California Motorsports G50 transaxle with custom ratios
o Billet forks
o Cable side shift kit
o 80% LSD
o Gearing for 202 MPH (2400RPM at 70MPH)
- Oil Cooler
- Remote filter
- 2.5” exhaust with Magnaflow mufflers in Jet Hot coated mild steel.
- 96db without Supertrapps - 86db with (Quiet)
San Diego GTR said:
I went to visit Tom at the POCA autocrossing event yesterday. We got to pour over the car and enjoyed watching Tom drive it hard for the first time.
Paul-My first posting here, and it will undoubtedly not be my last, as I will have a myriad of questions to be answered in the future, no doubt! Thanks to this Internet thingie, I found you on this forum and was able to visit and see your car, and most importantly, sit it in to see if I could fit, before venturing forth to buy Bill's car! It probably never would have happened otherwise--this age of easy, international communication is an amazing resource for which we can all be thankful.
At least you have saved me some of the introduction--I am indeed coming from a Porsche background, having been introduced to the marque in the late '50s by my father, but was never able to afford one of my own until the late '90s, when I began to suck on the "crack pipe of speed" rather heavily. This addiction has resulted in me cashing in two of my early 911s to own the Ultima GTR, in order to maintain the adrenaline rush at sufficient levels. It is a sickness, I'm afraid! Those of you with idle time on your hands can visit my website for the whole, sad story of my descent into poverty over this racing thing: http://members.rennlist.com/tweedt/
My hat is off to those of you building your cars from the ground up.
I had my experience with that sort of thing back in the late '70s-early '80s, from building my own cruising sailboat (http://members.rennlist.com/tweedt/boat.htm ), and after taking a severe beating in that endeavor, financially, the "make vs. buy" decision in this case was simple for me--better to just write a check to Bill for it!I saw my first Ultima in person about 5-6 years ago, being built in a shop in Morgan Hill, CA, where I went to pick up a pair of Porsche wheels I had bought. I liked the looks of it, and I did some research on the web about the car at the time, but never thought I would own one. Now I am looking forward to a new and exciting chapter in my driving experience.
TT
k wright said:
Tom,
What a stunning story of your boat! It is beautiful boat that I hope you sail again someday.
Thanks, Ken! When I sold it, I did ask the new owner to give me "first right of refusal" if he ever put it on the market, but I have not heard from him again in the past 20 years or so. I did also tell him that if he sank the thing, I did not want to hear about it, so I hope that isn't what transpired! What a stunning story of your boat! It is beautiful boat that I hope you sail again someday.
Interestingly, one of the last things Bill said to me when I was about to drive away with his Ultima was: "If you crash it, I don't want to hear about it."
TT
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