Brumos recently went to a "Targa 66" Event in Savannah Georgia. This is an event held by Brian Redman, in which you basically drive whatever you want on the track. The event is 3 days, and this one was rather small because it was at Roebling Road, in Savannah. In attendance were about 40-50 Race Cars including the Grand Am Maserati, E36 IMSA M3, a bunch of mid-late 90's indy cars, Lowenbrau 962, and much more. As far as street cars go, we drove up in our SL65, and there was also one Carrera GT, about 4 360 Challenge Stradales, 3 Elises, 2 Exiges, a bentley GT, and much more. I drove a 914 Roadster this weekend, and had a lot of fun doing so. Not many times I could be on the track with such nice cars, but anyways the biggest shocker of this weekend was the SL65. People were astonished at how brutally fast it was. Down the front straight away, which is about .5-.6 miles out of a FAST last turn, it would do approx. 148 MPH. This was much faster than all of the other cars, and only a tad faster than the Carrera GT, which I believe pulled low-mid 140's. We didnt drive the SL65 extremely hard, but we managed to pull a 1:28.0. This was about 0.7 seconds quicker than the Stradales. I will try to get some pics of the event, I didnt bring a camera, but if I can find some on the net, it will be posted.

 

here is a link to the events, if anyone is interested in going to the next one. They hold them all over the USA, i believe more east coast, but it is a lot of fun, and A LOT of track time. Especially for us Floridians who dont get any track time like they do in California!

http://www.gorace.com/targa66/about.html

 

Wholy *********. The SL65 is faster than a Stradale around the track??? and hits a faster top speed on the straights than the CGT!

LOL!!!!!

 

Yep, at a mere 1/2 to 3/4 ton extra at that. I'm sure the tires and brakes maintain their grip for quite some time with this handicap as well.

 

Its a GT, not a sports car. It is not supposed to be faster than those cars on a track at all. Just posting those numbers is very impressive. Personally I wouldn't drive my SL to a track. Its not meant for that. Its an automatic and its too heavy, but its heavy because it has all the stuff that makes it a great daily cruiser (panoramic roof convertible top, seats with massage, ventilators, etc, Navigation with DVD, MP3, satellite radio, voice-activated phone, etc). My 360 or even the tubo cab would be much better suited for that job. The SL65 is my daily driver, and for that its great.

 

i hear ya terrence! We definetely didnt drive it there with the intention of tracking it, it is just a daily driver. Enough people were egging on bringing it on the track, so finally we did just for a few laps of fun. The car is heavy, and not suitable for a track car, but for being what it is, it definetely did a great job, and made lots of people go

 

We need pics!!!

 

at least the Stradale looks faster than SL65 in the parking lot!

 

I'm sure the CS is faster than the SL65 with a real driver behind the wheel, sure the SL has more power, but doesn't handle nearly as well as the CS when driven properly, do the math...

 

all I can say is I have a little measly TT x-50 and pulled 151 mph at the end of the front stretch IN THE RAIN at Roebling at the Florida Crown PCA DE this past year. I wonder about those numbers and those drivers. I am no pro by any stretch of the imagination, it was my first time on that track, using street tires and my car is NOT on a diet. Anyone else with turbo # from Roebling out there?

 

Different day, different track surface, different temperature, different humidity, different elevation, etc. Everything's different. Only relevant comparisons are cars on the same track at the same time.

 

How can different elevation be a factor if he is talking about the same track, which he is, correct?

If he hit 151 in the rain it presents a valid argument because if he could do that in those conditions imagine what could done in the dry?

Basically, the point I think he is trying to make, is one persons interpretation of what happened at the track is hardly the reason to set anything in stone as to what car is faster than another car around the track.

The biggest difference probably isn't the conditions but the driver behind the wheel.

 

How can an SL65 be faster than the CGT, being 900 lbs heavier? But then again, how can an X50 be 10 mph faster than a CGT? In worse conditions? That was some non-professional driving IMO.

 

Just a thought, but if these speeds are taken from the speedometer, it's possible they are inaccurate.

Greg A