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V8 StockCars at the ARRC by GRM |
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Monday, 29 October 2007 |
When the SCCA’s National Championship event, the Valvoline Runoffs, moved from Road Atlanta to Mid-Ohio in 1994 there was a gap in the track’s schedule that needed to be filled with a major spectator event. Atlanta Region SCCA resurrected an old name, the American Road Race of Champions, and created a “National Championship” event for cars that are not eligible to compete at the Runoffs. Over the ensuing years the ARRC has indeed become a premier event with an entry of over 300 cars and drivers from all over North America. And with the recent announcement that Grassroots Motorsports magazine has joined as presenting sponsor for the 2007 edition, the event has truly become a “destination event” on the road racing calendar.
While a preponderance of the cars at the ARRC by GRM fall into various Improved Touring classes, the event also features a race for ground-pounding American stock cars that run in the increasingly popular V8 StockCar series. With over 50 entries in 2006, the Big Bore race was one of the absolute best of the weekend. Based on participation so far this year, indications are the entry list will be even longer the weekend of Nov. 9-10, 2007.
Although all of them are on the track at the same time, there are three classes in the V8 Stock Car series making up a “race within a race”. The V8GT1 cars are mainly former Trans-Am series vehicles that feature (well) upwards of 600 horsepower, 14” wide racing slicks, big brakes, swoopy bodies and wings instead of the blade spoilers common on most circle-track cars. These tend to be the fastest cars on the track, hitting top speeds of over 170 mph on the mile-long Road Atlanta back straight and turning lap times in the 1 minute, 23 second range. Primarily featuring Corvettes, Camaros and Mustangs (plus the occasional highly-modified Monte Carlo), the V8GT1 cars are clearly distinguished from the rest of the V8 Stock Car classes.
Cars racing the V8 Stock Car (V8SPO) and V8 GT America (V8GTA) classes are very similar to each other in appearance. Both feature a purpose-built tube frame chassis, V8 power (naturally), 10”wide steel wheels and circle-track style composite bodywork. The V8SPO rules are more open, so those cars will have up to 700 horsepower at the higher end, will still run 170 mph on the back straight, and will turn lap times in the 1:28-1:30 range at Road Atlanta. The V8GTA engines are limited to around 500hp by more restrictive rules designed to keep costs down. That’s still enough power to get your attention, however, and these cars top out at over 160 mph with lap times around 1:31-1:33 for the fastest cars in the class.
Regardless of your budget and skill limits, any of the cars in the V8 StockCar series possess enough horsepower to get sideways in a hurry and still make a glorious sound to those brought up around American muscle cars. Come on out to Road Atlanta the weekend of November 9-10 to see what road racing is all about. Come into the paddock area and see the cars up close, then wander around to the various corners and check out the various vantage points to find your favorite spot. But when you hear the V8 StockCar group crank up on the false grid on Saturday afternoon make sure you’re in a good location with beverage of choice firmly in hand and the cooler lid(s) securely fastened to keep them from blowing away when the big V8’s thunder past. It’ll be a hoot!
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