Mallard

GM's new stuff is pretty good. Soon all models will have overhauls when the new platforms get launched. The reflahes range anywhere from $1000 (BSR/Hahn Racecraft), $675 (RPi), to $99 (plus the one time fee of an HPTuners Pro unit from Wester's Garage).

What's all this new technology that would allow a Cobalt with struts up front, a torsion beam rear suspension, and street tires to hang with those cars? The SWOL is worth a very small amount of time, and there's obviously nothing ground breaking in the design of the suspension or body. The engine puts out 260HP, but those other cars on the list produce more than that. The stock tires could be a point of advancement, but some of the cars on the list use race tires to get those times. The tires on the Cobalt are also pretty good for a street tire, but they aren't seen as the best out there by open trackers or autocrossers. I actually don't know that many people using them outside of stock applications. My point is that it's not fast because of some new, advanced technology that allows it to lap better. It's due to the sum of the parts that GM has tuned very well, in order to be extremely effective. This Cobalt was tuned by the Performance Division (John Heinricy), not the usual vehicle dynamics group. The interior is a point of contention and I accept that. The new seats are much improved over the previous SS seats, but the dash remains plasticy. It's a cheap compact though, so I accept that.

Cool, I work near Joslyn and 75 and live just past Hall and Hayes.

The list is an excerpt from a list Nurburgring Lap Times for production cars. Who cares how old they are if those are the times posted? You'll see that the SS is in good company if it runs an 8:22, no matter how old/new the cars are. You can see a complete list here: http://www.supercars.net/PitLane?viewThread=y&gID=3&fID=0&tID=10073

The ECU controls to a torque and will use as much boost (up to 20psi) as it needs to get that torque. People see anywhere between 16 and 20 psi stock, depending on barametric pressure, temperature, altitude, etc. See my above post for the different boost ranges of stock vs. reflashes. The ECU is very good at calculating torque. Rumor has it that on the dyno the ECU calculates within 3% of actual, everytime.

There are many forms of Ecotecs. The 2.0L in the SS/SC and Saab 9-3 turbo have a forged crank, forged rods, and I'm not sure about pistons. They're around 9:1 CR and GM rates them good to around 300HP...and sells stage kits that takes them pretty far along. The Cobalt that won the Turbo Magazine Time Attack event had a GM Stage 2 with forged pistons and nitrous. There are Cobalt SS/SC's running 13 sec quarter mile's on a stock block. The 2.2L is similarly rated (300HP on a stock block, cast bottom end) by the GM build book, and most, if not all, of the race (drag, powerboat, etc) motors are based on the 2.2L. Tuning options on this varient are non-existant though. (HPtuners doesn't support) The 2.4L has a cast bottom end but have proven to be pretty stout in the Solstice/Sky. There are stock bock cars putting out around 400HP and 430 ft-lbs. Who knows about longevity, but there are forged rods and pistons available, and HP tuners is supporting this ECU. It has ~10.2:1 CR. The 2.0L SIDI Turbo engine has the same bottom end specs as the SS/SC engine except has specially cast pistons due to the DI fuel system. The stock turbo puts out a maximum of 20psi with the stock cal, 23 psi with one of the aftermarket flashes, and 26 psi with the GM reflash used in the NOPI drift cars and SCCA Club Racers. It's a Borg-Warner K04 twin scroll turbo, oil squirters on the pistons, independantly variable intake and exhaust cams, closed loop wideband air/fuel/boost control, etc, etc. It redlines at 6200 RPM, and I'm waiting to see if that limit is imposed because of the turbo running out of efficiency or a limit of the cam driven fuel pump. If the RPM can be pushed higher there will be some nice turbo upgrades for this car. All the Ecotec's share the same block and head casting. There are two generations of Ecotec. The 2.4L and 2.0L SIDI are Gen II, while the others exist in both generations. I'll also add that the 2.0L turbo Solstice get between 30-32 mpg, while my 2.4L N/A has only gotten 27 mpg on a really good day. But I also beat on it pretty hard during the week.

You may see Robby Gordon in one soon, after the huge NASCAR f-up he's in the middle of right now.

The new SS is the biggest performance value on the market, and will considerably outperform competitors in its class.

Where do you work? I work in Aubrun Hills, live in Macomb, and I drive a lot of the newer Chrysler stuff home on the weekends. I just had a trip to AZ with the Challenger. They are pretty sweet (for a Mopar). The exterior gets a lot of looks, and they definitely got the sound out of the tailpipes right.

Well, "kickin ass" is a relative term. GM's goal is to kick ass against other stock vehicles in the category, and stock-to-stock it does pretty well. Here's some lap times for you to compare: Nurburgring Lap Times 8:20 - 148.320 - BMW M3 E36 8:20 - 148.320 - 2008 Honda NSX 8:20 - 148.320 - Porche 993 GT3 8:22 - BMW M3 E46 8:22 - BMW M Coupe 8:22- Mercedes-Benz C55 8:22.38- Nissan Skyline R32 GT-R 8:22.85 Cobalt SS (not yet official) 8:23 - Aston Martin DB7 GT 8:23 - Porsche Boxster S 8:23 - Porsche 996 Carrera 8:24 - Mercedes SLK 55 AMG 8:24 - Subaru Impreza WRX STi 8:25 - Audi RS4 8:25 -- 2007 BMW M5 Touring

Uhh, I don't think they're worried of undermining the performance of any of their other vehicles. And I never heard anything about an AWD Cobalt anyway. It doesn't make sense, considering it's a dying platform and there's no sense in re-engineering the floorpan at this point in the program. This new SS is out for three reasons. 1) A final refresh before the end of this model cycle. 2) The supercharged model would not meet upgraded emissions standards (that's why the SS has taken a model year off between the SS and TC versions) and 3) To kick ass in the FWD performance category.

So then your modded car that's at the limits of the cam driven fuel pump would just be able to hang with a new Cobalt that still retains it's 100k mile warrenty, has better brakes, and has cooler electronic gadgets. (SWOL and Launch Control) Doug and neonkiller - the mods for this engine so far are limited by the ECU. Without a reflash the ECU will still control to the stock torque. You may see gains for a couple hundered miles, then it's pulled back within specs. HPTuners is limited on this platform right now, but there are 1 or 2 tuning options. Also, the ECU runs closed loop wideband control pretty much all the time after the O2 sensor is up to temp. This means there are a few people that have bolted on bigger turbos and are running flawlessly after a few MAS tweaks in HPtuners. The problem right now is that the ECU cuts torque by pulling boost and closing the throttle. Once they get rid of the throttle control there will be big gains found on this engine. Until then, about 300 hp is able to be had with the stock turbo. GM had a Solstice at SEMA that had a "Stage II" reflash, and it was said to be out in "4-6 months." Also, GM is running some stock Solstices in the NOPI drift series this year and they get 330HP and 425 Ft-lbs with just a cat-less 3" exhaust and a reflash. It won't be long until the flood gates open and the turbo Ecotec's are putting out massive amounts of power. The stock bottom end is pretty stout. One guy was running a large shot of nitrous with no issues...until he put in a 300 shot... Also, I don't think you're going to find a standalone that will control a DI engine, yet. The stock BOSCH controller is extremely powerful, it just needs to be unlocked. There are a few re-flashes out there right now, but it looks like RPi is the only company putting out one that I would feel comfortable buying.

Don't forget that the Cobalt SS also comes with 4 piston Brembo brakes, laungh control, and shift-without-lift. The new SS is mean and they did a very good job getting rid of torque steer.

She hasn't won a race yet, but she has done well. She's done better than a lot of guys in that series, and has finished high. She is a good driver, and winning a race in a spec series is not easy...but she's been knocking on the door.

No, it's real. Chrysler is selling Dodge Challenger SRT8 #43 (the 43rd off the line) on eBay with special 'Petty blue' paint.

A harness is not safe for road use. Not only for the reason of rollovers, but with your body strapped tight your head is basically a projectile. In any impact you would be at risk for a broken neck.

Yeah, I was going by what he said when he talked about taking the guy racing it on the freeway vs. his Veyron. The link you posted is not the test I'm thinking about. It was in the 90's and they ran a Ferrari 550 at top speed for 24 hours around the track at TRC, IIRC. Doesn't matter. Maybe policies changed, but you would probably know the current policy better than I do It's crazy for me to imagine going through that much just to do over 99 mph, considering I've gone 155 mph at Chrysler with no paperwork, but I understand the need for it. On the weight, again I was just going off of what the guy said in the video. Still, stopping a 2800 lb car vs. a 4100 lb car is quite different. It is impressive that the Veyron does it in 103 ft, and it's also impressive that the SSC UA can do the same with no ABS, but I wonder how repeatable that number is. With ABS you just mash the pedal. Also, the stability of the vehilce under braking would be interesting to see, especially from a high speed. Their web site claims that they have to pass emissions and be DOT legal, but DOT legal only means that they have all the proper lights, wipers, seat belts, etc. It says nothing of the safety of the vehicle. If you're familiar with OEM development you know that it's not as easy as bolting some belts in a car and calling it safe. There are constant, small revisions to make a car perform well in a crash, and no two are alike. Again, I can respect the car's exterior design, and what they have done with off the shelf components. But it's no where near the Veyron when you get down to the details that an OEM goes through during vehicle development.

How did Motor Trend (or was it Road and Track) do that 24 hour 200 mph test on the Ferrari a few years ago? TRC is on the wrong side of the country yet they took the car to Dubai? Also, I guess I was wrong about the Sky stopping distance...it's published as 116 ft from 60 mph. (http://media.gm.com/us/saturn/en/product_services/r_cars/r_c_sky/skypresskit/overview.htm) If you Google "saturn sky stopping distance" you will find quite a few web pages with that number. You'll also find that stopping distance is highly dependant on the surface conditions tested that day, which explains why you see different numbers between different magazine tests. Also, even though the Veyron uses the spoiler under braking it also weighs twice as much as the SSC UA.

My Saturn stops in 114 ft from 60mph with much worse tires and more weight. The Hot Rod Solstice stopped from 60 in 98 ft. There are plenty of modified Corvettes stopping in less than 100 ft (better tires, pads, wheels, and braided lines). Honestly, I'm not impressed with 103 ft from a 2800 lb car, with brakes optimized for stopping (no compromises for noise, fade, rotor life, cost, etc), very high end tires, lightweight wheels, and at a cost of half a million. Again, I'm impressed with the amount of work that went into the design of the body, but the rest of it just seems...incomplete to me.

That's because they said they could not find a closed test facility with a long enough straight to hit thier top speed. Which was kind of surprising to me because they should have been able to go to TRC if they had the cash to rent it.

Does he have to do it everytime to make it dumb? What kind of control does he have with his elbow? Why would I have to know him personally to know that driving with your elbow while holding a phone to your ear is stupid? He has his hand on the shifter when he's not shifting, but his elbow is on the wheel so it's ok? Oh, right, he must just be a really good driver. Just because he doesn't do it everytime doesn't make it a bad idea. I thought after George Stanton's accident everyone was talking about how much safer they were going to act behind the wheel.

I would also like to add that the Mosler MT900 would be on my list before this car. It's only a matter of time until Mosler puts a tweaked ZR1 engine in that car. (It already uses a 620 hp N/A LS7)

Well, the guy was driving with his right hand on the shifter, his left hand on his right ear, and his elbow was steering. I love first gen Camaro's though. looks like a nice car from the inside.

I can admire the amount of aero work taht seems to have gone into the design, and it was a good exercise of what you can do with current off the shelf parts. But at the same time, from what I have seen, it is a glorified kit car that has gone through no certification process like an OEM does. There's no telling how it will hold up in an accident, or even if the safety equipment has been properly tested. The fact that he said they tried various TCS and ABS systems, but 'thought they took away from teh driving experience' means that they were trying to make cheap aftermarket stuff work, but had no idea what they were doing. You will stop better with a properly tuned ABS system, it will be more stable, and all your customers will be able to execute the same performance. Traction control would be a nice thing to have with over 1000 HP and only two driven wheels. Using launch control would also allow all of their customers use the full potential of the vehicle. Also, with a car this fast it would be nice to have stability control. A properly tuned system will get them around a racetrack a lot faster, and again, it's much safer when you have that much HP. I think the professionalism of the company was displayed when they showed a clip from their top speed run and the driver looked to be wearing a T-shirt and no helmet. The Veyron has gone through 1000x more testing, simulation, engineering, and certification than this thing has, and it shows.

Not an Ecotec.