Photo Gallery of Rhys Millen's New Pontiac Solstice!

[my 1 88 u]

Is there any rules against cutting the frame rails?

No answers? Now I've seen some creativity with the radiator core support (V mounts and such) but that car appears to have a section of the chassis rails removed and custom designed to hold that big radiator.

[Slapshotnerd]

I hope noone crashes into him right behind the front left wheel.

why not? that doesn't look to be a fuel cell to me... looks like either a power steering or brake fluid reservoir

[RyanHampton]

Actually that is an oil tank, looks like they went to a dry sump.

[foilman]

RMR, You still here? I'm surprised you've made no further comment. Please point out if I have made a mistake, or overlooked something... particularly on the below.

Your shock mounts have been moved much more than 1". I don't think the relevant sections of the rulebook have changed (this is from the one currently on the FD site). How does it not violate these parts below?

Eligible Vehicles:

D) Must maintain original OEM unibody or frame structure between front and rear suspension mounting points.

Chassis/Suspension:

A) Uprights/hubs and front cross member and rear sub-frame must remain OEM. Suspension chassis pick/mounting points may not be relocated from original OEM location. Suspension pick up points maybe moved 2 inches from the original location for cars with manufacturing date before 1/90. Suspension pick up points maybe moved 1 inch from the original location for cars with manufacturing date after 1/90.
B) Suspension arms maybe mounted within 1 inch of original location for cars with manufacturing date after 1/90. Suspension arms may be mounted within 2inches for cars with manufacturing date before 1/90

[craziazzmofo66]

You diffinitely shouldn't get a job at a marketing division.


Same goes to you.

-Al

im just sayin that there probably isnt a single part on that car that the consumer can buy for their own solstice, and what GM thinks they can do is to repeat history with their "what wins on sunday sells on monday" but the consumer market is not even close to being the same as the 60's. and ive already been seein solstices on used car lots. :why?? :beats me.. i understand that their really not bad of a car either..though i would rather invest in the saturn sky. my point is just this drift solstice isnt gonna help GM sell more then the car itself is goin to, yes it will sell more then the GTO. but u gotta consider the amount and kind of people that watches/fallows driftin. as big as drifting is in our eyes, its no where NEAR being actually big enough where itll have that 60s effect. so i still think GM is really just wastin their money. though it does make our sport/entertainment more excitin and slowly gain popularity.

[Double M Star]

hehehe I have to laugh at the "I'd rather invest in a Saturn Sky" comment. They're the same car.

as far as "seen on used car lots", I have yet to see this but One thing I did consider is "flipping" my Solstice for a profit. Yes, it's possible.
With 20K solstices made per year, and the 2006 supply spoken for...
Many who bought, as I did, for MSRP... buy them to resell for a few $K profit.


Now, so far as reaching the proper audience when marketing the RMR Solstice... It's happening.
You should take a little pride in this alone, for RMR/Pontiac are reaching a new demographic with this project.
What can that mean?
Well, it brings Drifting closer to mainstream. It's elevating the substance and acceptability of Drifting as a True MOTORSPORT.

I know of nearly 2 to 3K sets of eyes who've looked at the RMR/Pontiac news.
If they follow the project will be another detail. but from what I've read so far, there are a whole lot of interested people reading and waiting for more info on the RMR Solstice. If not for Drifting, for modification ideas and ques.

Now... that's HUGE.

Can an old 86 Hachi, or any 240 bring that large of a new demographic in?
If and when this happens, let us all know.

[craziazzmofo66]

hehehe I have to laugh at the "I'd rather invest in a Saturn Sky" comment. They're the same car.

as far as "seen on used car lots", I have yet to see this but One thing I did consider is "flipping" my Solstice for a profit. Yes, it's possible.
With 20K solstices made per year, and the 2006 supply spoken for...
Many who bought, as I did, for MSRP... buy them to resell for a few $K profit.


Now, so far as reaching the proper audience when marketing the RMR Solstice... It's happening.
You should take a little pride in this alone, for RMR/Pontiac are reaching a new demographic with this project.
What can that mean?
Well, it brings Drifting closer to mainstream. It's elevating the substance and acceptability of Drifting as a True MOTORSPORT.

I know of nearly 2 to 3K sets of eyes who've looked at the RMR/Pontiac news.
If they follow the project will be another detail. but from what I've read so far, there are a whole lot of interested people reading and waiting for more info on the RMR Solstice. If not for Drifting, for modification ideas and ques.

Now... that's HUGE.

Can an old 86 Hachi, or any 240 bring that large of a new demographic in?
If and when this happens, let us all know.

i know their the same car, just that i favor the look of the sky better...but i guess if u put it in the sense that its gonna attract buyers that r just the average middle age or close to that male, or grandmas thatll just see the rmr solstice perform and go "wow...thats cool i guess its a pretty good car! i think ill buy 1!!" and its not that itll be a bad sale, itll be GREAT for business since older people have the money. now all GM has left to do is to get ABC,CBS, ESPN to show drifting during their prime time. but yes...i now see somewhat of the point that this might work...

[FreeThinker]

however much the fans do like the car that they see drifting, the vast majority of them have enough brains to realize that it is a modified version of what they can go out and actually buy.

They being said, it is totally wrong to say that the average joe can't produce a very similar vehicle in a functional sense, to the RMR solstice. I have nothing to do with the team or the building of the car, but I can tell from the many pictures available that the car isnt really all that crazy modified. I tend to get straight to the problem and work out a simple, direct solution to things, but it would not be hard at all to create a similar car. Especially once the factory turbo model is released.

Also the average drifting fan from about 23-30yrs old should have no difficulty affording a car that costs low 20's. There are Hyundais that sell for 30k these days. Even a used 350Z is almost 20k.

So why not go to a Pontiac dealer, get great financing, low payments and use the extra money to buy a few simple things like decent suspension, race seat, extra wheels, and go hit the drift events?

-Sean

[Double M Star]

Actually, their setup is purchase-able. If I have a few extra $'s to spend, I could order one up for my own pleasure.

I could go Roush, Mallet or Garage.

It's all available... and do-able.

I don't get what is so hard for some to "get".

[my 1 88 u]

Actually, their setup is purchase-able. If I have a few extra $'s to spend, I could order one up for my own pleasure.

I could go Roush, Mallet or Garage.

It's all available... and do-able.

I don't get what is so hard for some to "get".

a few extra $ is B.S. and you know it. A lot extra money could buy this for my S chassis but it would still be cheating.

oh look the bonnet/headlights come off together

that is why this car cannot compete in D1GP

[my 1 88 u]

from an old old thread:
http://drifting.com/forums/showthrea...1&page=9&pp=15

Like I said before..... the biggest rule that is needed is the following:

-all suspension mounting points MUST remain in the stock locations.

(therefore you can't bring a tubeframe car to a drift event because the suspension isn't in a stock location.)

also, here are some others I have thought of....

-must use production lower a-arms on the front suspension

-curb weight of the car must be greater than 85% of the original, production model's curb weight.

(therefore even if the car is a semi-tubeframe, it will have no weight advantages)

If all these rules were brought into place, then costs would plumet. It would make it a lot easier for a smaller team to put together a winning car.

The rule about the stock mounting points comes to mind from the Speed WC GT series. They made a rule change that allows the teams to move the suspension locations a maximum of one inch in any direction from stock. Now Schnitzer in Germany is using their computers and advanced programming to find the ultimate suspension mounting points. They send the info to PTG, and they fabricate the necessary bits. Now the car is 2 seconds quicker. Three years ago, I could have had a decent chance in that series (we run what amounts to a father-and-son racing team, but we've got help from some sponsors). But now that the factory teams can use their big budgets to make the cars faster, we have no chance. Cadillac is spending 9 million dollars over two years to just RUN the cars, nevermind building them.

Before, there were still teams with huge budgets. The difference was that three years ago, sufficient rules were in place to keep the factories from building cars that we couldn't compete with. Now the rules have been relaxed due to pressure from the factories. Now, costs are so high that anyone with a reasonable budget will be lucky to finish second-last.

What I am trying to say is that this has to be avoided in drifting. Factories can be allowed in drifting, but we NEED rules in place to keep them in check with reality.

We can't let them build 1000 bhp, 1700 lb, tubeframe cars with tires that are 425 mm wide. The factories will do this. They don't care about ruining series. Wanna know how many racing series that Porsche has killed? More than I can count... They go in, find all the loop-holes in the rules, and build a dominant car. With drifting, it will be difficult to do that, but they will eventually. We just need rules in place to prevent them from ruining major-league drifting.

heed his warning because it has already started and drivers like Tony sense it.

[Double M Star]

a few extra $ is B.S. and you know it.

How is that BS?

I can pay a few extra $K for Roush to build me the same car.
I can pay a few extra $K and Mallet will drop a LS1,2, or 7 in it.

How is my statement BS?
You must be ignorant.

[FreeThinker]

Once again, in drifting, more than anything, the DRIVER matters most. The judges handicap the obviously better funded cars.

Oh plus if I recall correctly drifitng is not a timed motorsport, there are no photo finishes, there are just judgement calls. 2seconds a lap means nothing to a world without timing.

And comparing the Weld S14 to the RMR car is so hilarious im just like............ without words.....................


The Weld car has so much work into it that if it were mine I probably wouldnt drive it.

The RMR car...... if you cant duplicate the simple changes they made, then you need to go back to middle school shop class.


Oh and there is only ONE race series that Porsche Supposedly ruined and it was known as Can-Am. That's it, ONE. I guess 1 is more than you can count.

But yea, Porsche are so terrible for wanting to go the distance required to win decisively.

From the negative perspective that some of you are arguing this, tubeframes would actually be great. WAIT!! Spec tubeframe cars with generic bodywork and stickers to resemble some stock car. No manufacturer could dominate because they all have the same thing. GREAT IDEA /////NASDRIFT



-Sean

[Amanda]

Nice car!

[soultron]

Nice car!

thank you Amanda, for saying a nice thing.