[thePill]

Originally Posted by LOWDOWN

Pill, you're basing your "cannot do" list on an existing production SS chassis. IF there is a Z/28 created and available in volumes greater than 500 units (which WILL be the case), the Z/28 will come with "upgrades" over and above the SS...including most assuredly the BRAKES...which will NOT be a "useless" upgrade...

Originally Posted by LOWDOWN

Remember that brakes, like horsepower, can never be "too much"!

I put the "500 minimum production" rule out there just to solidify a point I made three post after I posted the rule. My point was that the Camaro GS will be replaced by either the SS or the Z28 soon, same as every eligible car has done already. My intentions were not to say that the Z28 would be limited to 500 units a year. You obviously do not support the Camaros in Grand Am enough to know this but..... Although some eligible cars do run a factory setup, others like the Camaro GS do not always use the factory 14" fr/14.4" rr disc brake setup. Camaro teams are actually permitted to use the stock V6 12.4" rear disc brakes and most of them do. Some teams run smaller than factory disc in Grand Am but most production cars a factory ready to run this type of race and do not need to downsize to smaller brakes because they are factory built small (11.9 rr brakes on the Boss). In race cars, "race weight" and the race cars brakes go hand in hand just as GVWR and brake systems in production cars do. In fact, braking systems and GVWR's are so dependent on each other that they identified by the same digit in the VIN. If you lighten the vehicle, it is only natural to reduce amount of brake surface and the amount of force applied to that surface via the calipers. 14.7"/14.4" rotors are light weight and at speeds, could defeat the traction of a 285 tire and possibly the ABS at a race weight of only 3400lbs. That braking system may be too much for a car that has a 4550lb GVWR (as the production Z28 would hopefully be equal to the SS). So the teams usually opt for a smaller disc...

The Grand Am Z28 will not have big disc brakes on the race car, this is something the production cars will have that the Grand Am cars do not but the Z28 will not require the ZL1/CTS-V's braking system because:

1.) they are too large for the vehicle that must maintain at least the front disc and still use an 18" wheel.

2.) The GVWR will be the same or hopefully a few pounds lower than the SS.

3.) The 6 piston calipers are illegal in Grand Am and only a maximum of four pistons are allowed per wheel...

The three reasons stated above would make 14.7 inch, 6 piston calipers USELESS on a track ready, turnkey production race car. Because they are too large for the race weight/wheel size and the calipers are not permitted to compete.

As for the Multimatic Mustang of Scott Maxwell and Co., look for them up front...they have a certain history with the FR500C that is enviable...and Multimatic is a division of Magna International Inc. (do a google), who do NOT suffer from a lack of either funds OR factory support...

Scott, to Mustangs, is kind of like Ron Fellows was to C5R/C6R Vettes...and coincidentally, both are Canadians who earned their stripes in the GM/Player's Challenge Series 20-odd years ago in Canada.

I know Multimatic is a great team, they also have factory support in the Grand Am GS Boss 302 as well as FIA GT3 Mustang. Roush also is a wealthy team which is why I said:

Road racing has a lot of rules to keep it competitive with driver skill and race engineering. If cash teams were allowed to run prototype equipment or systems that were far more advanced than everybody else’s.... money would win every time.

Roush and Multimatic have factory support, great drivers and fantastic race engineering, that is why they are in the front all the time. BMW came to Grand Am to race Ford, BMW brought exactly those three things but didn't dominate the GS series as they would have liked to. BMW won last year, Ford won the year before and I hope they win it this year as it looks like Multimatic and Roush are after the BMW's this year (slow start though). If one of the Camaro teams had factory support they might do better...
You make it sound like the whole Multimatic team is an evil, underground, criminal organization that is funded by an illegal black market corporation. They drive a Ford, why wouldn't they have factory support? Multimatic is using Ford next gen IRS in the FIA Mustang, maybe Ford supports them because they can keep their mouths shut when testing stuff like the Boss and CB IRS.

Anyway, why don't you try to add something to the Z28 instead of just telling me whats wrong with my post. You never add anything.

What chassis will the Z28 be built on and why not the 5th Gen?
What kind of improvements to the current chassis would have to be made?
What would the "upgraded" brakes be?
How many Z28's do you think will be built?