The Chevrolet Camaros of Stevenson Motorsports finished first and second in the GT class this past weekend at the Utah 250 at Miller Motorsports Park in Tooele, Utah, the final round of the 2010 Rolex Grand-Am Championship.
This is the first GT-class win for the Camaro in Grand-Am road racing and the first victory in professional road racing for the Camaro.
Maybe this is the kind of thing that will give the Camaro lasting credibility on the street. That is, if you believe there's any connection between motorsports and the real world.
I like to think so. Then again, maybe there's not, because the Mazda RX-8 prevailed again in the 2010 Rolex Grand-Am GT championship, and no sports car is more invisible on the street than the RX-8.
Michael Jordan, Executive Editor, Edmunds.com
newt77 says:
02:28 PM, 09/13/10
The RX-8 just doesn't get any respect. 3 rd in C&D's latest handling ranking and a bunch of good press. Probably because people in the US tend to over focus on the engine and HP and the engine in the RX-8 just isn't a home run for Mazda. The Camaro shouldn't suffer the same issue not will it be pegged as a "chick" car.
intercede007 says:
02:56 PM, 09/13/10
The GT-class Camaro is the G6 from last year and is the GTO.R from the years before that. The car has about as much street cred as any given NASCAR on a Sunday afternoon.
When they start raking in GS class wins, maybe then the sports car world will listen.
slickersdrip says:
10:11 PM, 09/13/10
It's a damn shame that the RX-8 isn't so universally praised. I know everyone loves to rag on the rotary engine, but my RX-8 is just perfect for me. I love it every second I'm behind the wheel, it's perfect handling and good looks and practicality. Hell, I even got a personalized plate that says "WANKEL".
scottyscooter says:
03:28 AM, 09/14/10
The RX-8 was pretty close to being one of the greatest cars ever. I owned a 2010 R3 for about 3 months before trading it in. The drive just wasn't satisfying enough for me because I was always reaching for power that just wasn't there. You can always add supercharging, porting, ect, but the honest reality is the engine really isn’t a very good candidate for being modified if you want a reliable daily driven car.
If the car had, say, 50 more hp I probably would have kept it forever and driven until the wheels fell off. It was pretty crappy to lose all that money trading it in at a dealership 3 months after purchasing it, but I guess it was a learning experience. I look forward to Mazda’s next rotary powered sports car.
operators says:
09:16 AM, 09/14/10
so scotty, what did you get? and why are you looking forward to the next rotary if the whole reason you got rid of the rx8 was the rotary? =p
newt77 says:
09:59 AM, 09/14/10
Not to totally hijack this thread but does anybody have any idea why the Mazdaspeed group has never done its full magic with the RX-8? It seems like such a natural move?
slickersdrip says:
02:19 PM, 09/14/10
newt77,
I think because the car would start becoming prohibitively expensive... My RX-8 was over $30K new, and the previous owner installed Mazdaspeed struts, sways, shocks, CAI, lighter aftermarket wheels, cross drilled/slotted rotors and a GReddy exhaust... Getting into a GReddy turbo (which I'm planning on getting) is going to cost around $4K if I install it myself. That still will only bump the car to about 300 horsepower at the wheels. To do all of that and then actually back it up with a warranty it would be around a $40K car that will still be smoked by a cheaper 370Z, Mustang GT, Camaro SS and the like.
I do love myself some triangles, though. Best car of the four I've had in my life ('82 Camaro with the 305 V8, 99 Camaro Z28 M6, 2003 SRT-4), but I can't see myself actually making the decision to buy a Mazdaspeed RX-8 for that kind of money.
Pure speculation on my part, but hey...
scottyscooter says:
07:06 PM, 09/14/10
"operators says:
09:16 AM, 09/14/10
so scotty, what did you get? and why are you looking forward to the next rotary if the whole reason you got rid of the rx8 was the rotary? =p"
I actually really liked both, the rotary and the car. The build quality was very impressive and everything about the car just felt "special". After living with it for a few months I started to have buyers remorse because it just wasn't as fast as I thought it would be. I decided that rather than being a fun and rewarding experience, it would have been more of a headache to attempt to modify the performance level of the RX8 in an attempt to transform the car into what I wanted.
But this isn't because I hate the Mazda rotary engine. I think that the current 1.3 liter Renessis rotary used in the RX8 is an impressive engine, but I also think it is a bit underpowered for Mazda to be using in their RWD rotary powered flagship sports car. I think the car needed to be somewhere around 280 hp mark to really get the job done. The rumor that has been floating around for ages is that the next rotary Mazda is planned to be more of an 2 seater RX7 successor. Even though the timing will probably not be right for me to consider purchasing it, I am definitely interested in the next rotary car. I know that the 16x isn't going this direction, but it would be really sweet if Mazda would put another triple rotary into a car like they used on the Cosmo.
To answer your question, I ended up getting a Pontiac G8 GT. I think part of the reason I went with this car is because I wanted my trade in to be more of a practical car with a lot of utility as sort of a peace offering to my wife since we were losing money on my botched sports car purchase, haha. The G8 makes a great road trip car and has been a really good fit for my family. Plus, its actually a blast to drive so I'm really happy with it. I would still like to have a fast, lightweight, corner carving sports car. Maybe someday...
mboily says:
08:44 AM, 09/15/10
intercede007
+1
The Camaro finish 15th in the Gran Sport Class on the same circuit, the same weekend!
That was a bummer...