Photo Gallery of Rhys Millen's New Pontiac Solstice!

[Slapshotnerd]

explain why i'm wrong. i would be much more inclined to buy the car if they competed with it close to stock. i have no urge to spend money on that car new PLUS full suspension and turbo kit etc just to make it competetive. They arnt going to get any new buyers from the drifting scene if you can still build an S13 up to the same level for half the price.

the solstice already comes turbocharged. And, as mentioned before, GM has a complete build book already to get the same amount of HP out of your EcoTEC motor. The only thing that hasn't been fully documented YET is the steering and suspension modifications that have been done to this car.

And you can't compare building up a 15 year old car to building a brand new car. Obviously, you can fully build a car from 15 years ago for the same price as buying a car brand new. nobody is going to try and fight you on that...

[turbo23]

so when does the new car get to see some action? This year?

[Slapshotnerd]

chicago

the mesasge you have entered is too short. please lengethen it to 10 characters

[FreeThinker]

explain why i'm wrong. i would be much more inclined to buy the car if they competed with it close to stock. i have no urge to spend money on that car new PLUS full suspension and turbo kit etc just to make it competetive. They arnt going to get any new buyers from the drifting scene if you can still build an S13 up to the same level for half the price.

Oh yea I forgot, a stock 1995 240SX does great in Formula D with STOCK suspension, NA and 155hp


That car is built as a RELIABLE RACECAR, Have you seen any of the pictures of the Enjuku Racing S13 Coupe for 2006? It's the same thing, everything is modified, AN hoses and fittings everywhere, custom seating and pedals.

This car is pretty much a stripped bare Solstice with things changed for:

reliability
ease of repair/access
quick tuning changes
steering angle
safety
power
handling
weight

That's as simple as it is, it's just a well thought-out racecar.

[Double M Star]

Nice ^

I don't think GM has to concern themselves with the sale of the car by any means. The whole 2006 supply is sold. As well as the 2006 Vette Supply.

Pontiac supports Rhys... It's a natural choice for them to hand him this car. It's a new vehicle which is sparking some discussion all over the states. Be it here, from the television spots, trade ad's and write ups, EVEN A COMIC BOOK.

Again, GM seems to be more concerned about puting the car in our faces than selling it via Drifting.

When the Solstice gets put through the motorsports gauntlet this entices enthusiasts and works well for marketing the "WE BUILD EXCITEMENT" slogan.

Pontiac hasn't built EXCITEMENT since the Fiero (sarcastic) ...
But their new direction is bringing it back.

And for a personal perspective, from a solstice owner like myself...
I did not buy this car because it's a race car...or could be a race car.
It's a great platform, solid powerplant (as discussed earlier regarding the EcoTec) it looks nice, convertible, and well priced.
Upon reading further about the pontiac motorsports program plan for this car... including RMR's involvement... adds something to it all.

[madmax13]

Pontiac hasn't built EXCITEMENT since the Fiero (sarcastic) ...

If you mean excitment by FIREBALL, that is! Anyways, I think its kind of dumb from a marketing standpoint that dealers don't really do "dealership specials." I think a car like the GTO would have benifitted from something like that, but alas, a great set of RMR and GM motorsports parts go to waste, when dealers could build dealer upgradered OEM parts. GM, (and to a lesser extent ford and dodge) is starting to make cars to compete with J-Sports cars. The Turbocharged model is gonna be cheaper then the S-14 was when it came out, with the specs greater then ANY japan S-14. To me, thats gonna make for an amazing ride.

[Slapshotnerd]

I think its kind of dumb from a marketing standpoint that dealers don't really do "dealership specials." I think a car like the GTO would have benifitted from something like that, but alas, a great set of RMR and GM motorsports parts go to waste, when dealers could build dealer upgradered OEM parts.

what do you mean by this? dealership specials? explain...

[foilman]

Drifting is actually staying much truer to their OEM counterparts, thanks partially to the rules created by bodies like Formula D and D1. They DON'T allow tube chassis one-off fabrication monsters to compete.

One of those key rules is that you must keep the original suspension mounting points. That's pretty common in all production car based series. Actually, FD has an allowance to move them 1" on newer cars (not a allowance I'm for). For some reason the people that built the car (not RMR this time) saw fit to totally ignore that. I'm curious to see what happens.

[110octane]

^^^ME TOO!^^

It will definetly be brought up....

[FreeThinker]

So you've seen the car in person and just happened to have a Jig handy to compare stock locations to the new ones??

What about Ryan Hamptons car??? It clearly violates the OEM front subframe requirement.

I think Formula D just doesnt care as long as it is some well known driver/team. I personally dislike that, if a rule is made it should be enforced. But then again, since this is not a timed motorsport, I am against these kinds of regulations in the first place. What's next intake restrictors ??? People used to say horsepower doesnt matter for drifting.... clearly they were wrong.


What I find more interesting though is GM's "CTS-V" running in the Speed GT series. It is so far from the production car, it's just sad. It even seems to violate a lot of the SCCA rulebook for that class too

[madmax13]

Factory special

Slapshot: During the 1960s, many dealerships where known for taking and tuning factory cars, and selling said cars in their lots. Yanko, among others, is famous for this. I was thinking that it makes bad buisness and marketing sense not to do that in the present day. These so called dealership cars are the hottest non-gm racing cars that you could buy. Nismo does that with there S-Tune and Z-tune cars, but not to the extent of the "factory specials." It was a wierd off topic point to bring up, and really has nothing to do with the solstace, but i'd like to see dealers sell cars with go-fast parts already on it.

[my 1 88 u]

Slapshot: During the 1960s, many dealerships where known for taking and tuning factory cars, and selling said cars in their lots. Yanko, among others, is famous for this. I was thinking that it makes bad buisness and marketing sense not to do that in the present day. These so called dealership cars are the hottest non-gm racing cars that you could buy. Nismo does that with there S-Tune and Z-tune cars, but not to the extent of the "factory specials." It was a wierd off topic point to bring up, and really has nothing to do with the solstace, but i'd like to see dealers sell cars with go-fast parts already on it.

Doesn't TRD do that? Just saw a Scion TC with a supercharger in a Toyota dealership show room this past weekend.

Can anyone verify if the suspension mounting points are different on the Redbull/RMR/Pontiac Solstice from it's stock counterpart?

[foilman]

So you've seen the car in person and just happened to have a Jig handy to compare stock locations to the new ones??

Of course not. It's plain as day. It's like somebody buzzing a reverse mohawk on your head... don't need to measure, one glance and you know something's effed up. Somebody posted pictures and a guy on another board said "looks like they cut the strut towers off". I knew the car didn't even use struts, and went to find a picture to clarify. But, then I noticed giant chunks of metal that belong on top and beside the rail to attach the suspension.

http://www.solsticeforum.com/photopo..._Structure.jpg

What about Ryan Hamptons car??? It clearly violates the OEM front subframe requirement.

I've never seen detailed shots or looked at it close up. But I do remember it basically being illegal along with another car that debuted about that time, which prompted FD/SCCA to address the us with something to the effect of "Wait for the new rulebook to come out next year before you dump money into building new cars, 'cuase these things are illegal". Guess they should have told us to read and follow them too.

I think Formula D just doesnt care as long as it is some well known driver/team. I personally dislike that, if a rule is made it should be enforced...

When the series was new, a bit more leeway was tolerable... things had to grow and change and find their place, and things as illegal as Hampton's Camaro were allowed to slide. (hmm, more clever than punny). But now, in its 3rd season, FD is more established. The rules have had their first major re-write (still more to do) and it's time to get serious about them. And the organizers were serious at Long Beach. We had much more stringent safety inspection this year, and the first real tech inspection (address legality of non-safety items). This particular area (removal of suspension mounting points) is cut and dry, and if they let it slide there might as well be no rulebook at all.

Pontiac, or whoever they had build the car obviously put a lot of time and money in to it. It's a shame they didn't even bother with the rules, and I'm surprised such a professional effort made this huge,obvious mistake; or more like, showed so much blatant disregard for the rulebook and fellow competitors.

[madmax13]

I was just saying that American car dealerships don't do that as much anymore.

[my 1 88 u]

Quote:
Originally Posted by FreeThinker
So you've seen the car in person and just happened to have a Jig handy to compare stock locations to the new ones??

Of course not. It's plain as day. It's like somebody buzzing a reverse mohawk on your head... don't need to measure, one glance and you know something's effed up. Somebody posted pictures and a guy on another board said "looks like they cut the strut towers off". I knew the car didn't even use struts, and went to find a picture to clarify. But, then I noticed giant chunks of metal that belong on top and beside the rail to attach the suspension.

http://www.solsticeforum.com/photop...e_Structure.jpg

Quote:
Originally Posted by FreeThinker
What about Ryan Hamptons car??? It clearly violates the OEM front subframe requirement.

I've never seen detailed shots or looked at it close up. But I do remember it basically being illegal along with another car that debuted about that time, which prompted FD/SCCA to address the us with something to the effect of "Wait for the new rulebook to come out next year before you dump money into building new cars, 'cuase these things are illegal". Guess they should have told us to read and follow them too.

Quote:
Originally Posted by FreeThinker
I think Formula D just doesnt care as long as it is some well known driver/team. I personally dislike that, if a rule is made it should be enforced...

When the series was new, a bit more leeway was tolerable... things had to grow and change and find their place, and things as illegal as Hampton's Camaro were allowed to slide. (hmm, more clever than punny). But now, in its 3rd season, FD is more established. The rules have had their first major re-write (still more to do) and it's time to get serious about them. And the organizers were serious at Long Beach. We had much more stringent safety inspection this year, and the first real tech inspection (address legality of non-safety items). This particular area (removal of suspension mounting points) is cut and dry, and if they let it slide there might as well be no rulebook at all.

Pontiac, or whoever they had build the car obviously put a lot of time and money in to it. It's a shame they didn't even bother with the rules, and I'm surprised such a professional effort made this huge,obvious mistake; or more like, showed so much blatant disregard for the rulebook and fellow competitors.

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