An in-depth look at the nation's fastest GT-4 racecarsIf you look at the spec sheet of a GT-4 racecar, you won't find things like "700 hp," "1,000 pounds of downforce," or "seven-speed sequential transmission." You may not even come across such handy features as "fuel injection" or "rear-wheel drive."
GT-4 racing isn't about space age technology or earth-shattering performance. It's about bringing the joys of wheel-to-wheel racing to people who must live within a budget. Sort of. GT-4 racing, like many motorsport activities in the United States, is sanctioned by the Sports Car Club of America. The SCCA calls its annual National Championship Runoffs event "the pinnacle of amateur motorsports."
Biased source notwithstanding, the Runoffs is indeed quite the spectacle. For one week, all attention is focused on the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, as nearly 700 club racers converge on Lexington, Ohio, from every corner of the nation.
Considering that 24 different classes are represented and, for each, a practice session and three rounds of qualifying occur before the green flag is ever raised for the actual race, it's truly a miracle of scheduling that there's time left for extravagances like lunch-and breathing.
Each of the 24 classes belongs to a category, ranging from the pure racecars of Formula and Sports Racing to the almost straight-from-the-manufacturer Showroom Stock. Somewhere between these two extremes lies the Grand Touring category.
While "grand touring" may conjure up images of brisk yet luxurious cross-country travel, GT racecars are neither comfortable nor driveable on the street. About all a GT car has in common with the car on which it's based is the body. And even then, it only has to mimic the shape of the original, not the materials nor the construction.
Picture a tube-frame chassis with a clip-on body shell manufactured principally of lightweight materials like fiberglass or carbon fiber. Also picture a big old chunk of metal secured to the underside of the vehicle. This apparent oxymoron actually makes perfect sense, as the SCCA requires drivers to add different amounts of ballast to their vehicles to keep the class competitive.
Fit your racer with too many competitive amenities (such as rear-wheel drive or a larger engine) or, worse, win too many races, and you'll find your car lugging more excess weight than a pregnant whale. Nevertheless, drivers can at least make the best of the situation by placing those extra pounds strategically, allowing them to lower the center of gravity and optimize weight distribution.
At the conclusion of 2004, there were five classes in the GT category, labeled sensibly enough, GT-1 through GT-5. But with the change of the calendar, the GT-4 and GT-5 classes were lumped together to form a new GT-Lite category (known as GT-L). This merger was motivated by turnouts at some events that, in the SCCA's eyes, didn't quite measure up.
To make sense of the different GT classes, the only thing you really need to know is that performance and cost go from sizzling to lukewarm as you work your way up the ladder. So if you regularly face dilemmas like whether to buy a 250-foot luxury yacht or a Lamborghini Murcilago, GT-1 may be your ticket. Conversely, if you're wondering whether you should patch the hole in your 10-foot canoe with duct tape or Bondo, you'll probably want to stick with GT-L.
Since we figure most people are firmly entrenched in the latter category, we decided to zero in on the GT-4 class at this past fall's National Championship Runoffs.
Here's what we learned.
Three Cars, Three DriversComprising nearly one quarter of the 21-car field, the Honda CRX was the most popular GT-4 nameplate at the Runoffs. In this particular race, popular also meant fast and reliable, as the three men on the podium all emerged from machines based on Honda's legendary two-seat hot-hatch.
In an effort to cover the best of the field, we decided to get the scoop on the first- and second-place cars, which were driven by their owners, Michael Mazziotti and Joe Kristensen, respectively. A third car also captured our interest, a Nissan Sentra SE-R, which was driven by the estimable Wilson Wright, Jr.
With three national championships to his name and the fastest qualifying time of the bunch, Wright and his Tang-inspired tangerine racer looked to be the favorite in this event. Unfortunately, after leading the first two laps, his engine crapped out, dashing his hopes of taking home a fourth championship.
Meanwhile, painted a deep Radio Flyer red and wearing the number 56, Mazziotti's CRX finished the 20-lap race 7.908 seconds faster than Kristensen's. Kristensen, however, managed to pilot his silver and black number 24 CRX to a new Runoffs lap record of 1:36.309 around Mid-Ohio's 2.245-mile road course.
The irony here, and certainly a testament to Mazziotti's driving ability, is that his car is saddled with what most would call a distinct disadvantage: front-wheel drive. While this layout may be more forgiving of certain types of mistakes, it's generally considered a hindrance because it results in a nose-heavy racecar and a tendency toward understeer.
Kristensen's and Wright's cars, on the other hand, benefit from the kind of balance that only rear-wheel drive can provide. Though Kristensen finished a few seconds behind Mazziotti, the order could very well have flip-flopped if his first lap, in which he emerged in fifth place, had been a little stronger. His record-setting lap is also telling-just a few more trips around the track and he may have caught up.
So why hasn't Mazziotti switched over to a layout that he freely admits would make him more competitive? Basically, because he's weary of expending a lot of effort on his car until he can be sure the new GT-L class is not going to flop. Also, at least part of his brain thinks it would be really cool to take a stab at GT-3. If that happens, he would definitely go with rear-wheel drive.
The Heart of the BeastThe Honda CRX hit the market in 1984. This sub-2,000-pound, two-seat hot-hatch came with either of two engines. The first displaced 1.3 liters and was tuned for fuel efficiency, while the other was a 1.5-liter unit and was tuned for fuel efficiency (although it did deliver a slight bump in power). Twenty years later, the block from the larger of these engines, referred to as EW1500 by insiders, is alive, kicking and cleaning up at the Runoffs.