Open main menu
Home
Random
Recent changes
Special pages
Community portal
Preferences
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Incubator escapee wiki
Search
User menu
Talk
Dark mode
Contributions
Create account
Log in
Editing
IMSA
(section)
Warning:
You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you
log in
or
create an account
, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.
Anti-spam check. Do
not
fill this in!
=== IMSA Bridgestone Supercar Championship === IMSA also hosted the '''Bridgestone Supercar Championship''', sponsored by the sister brand of Firestone, [[Bridgestone]], which was for higher-end sports cars such as the [[Porsche 911 Turbo]], [[Lotus Esprit#X180R|Lotus Esprit X180R]], [[Chevrolet Corvette]], [[Mazda RX-7]] and [[Nissan 300ZX]] and was run between 1991 up until 1995. Usually a televised support race to the GT races, running at 30 minutes, the series attracted some well-known professional drivers such as [[Hans-Joachim Stuck]], [[Hurley Haywood]], [[Doc Bundy]], [[Elliot Forbes-Robinson]], [[Andy Pilgrim]] and [[Paul Newman]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wspr-racing.com/wspr/results/imsa/nf_imsa_home.html|title=International Motor Sport Association<!-- Bot generated title -->|access-date=2 July 2017}}</ref> with a total prize fund of $555,555 for the 1992 season. All cars had to run on road-going Bridgestone Potenza RE71 tires which were trimmed to semi-racing depth and during a wet race, cars raced on full depth.<ref name=showroom/> The series was not without controversy, mainly for the all-composite [[Consulier GTP]], as it was bordering on a departure from the showroom stock ethos, as well as being criticised for having little common with cars that the general public ever saw on a public road.<ref name=showroom/> The GTP debuted with just four silver Consulier Series II GTP at [[Lime Rock Park|Lime Rock]] in 1991, despite having a 2.2 liter [[Turbocharger|turbo]] with about {{convert|195|hp|abbr=on}} connected to a five-speed gearbox, weighing at {{convert|2100|lb|abbr=on}}. The car took a pole-to-chequered flag finish, easily outpacing the other more powerful but heavier cars, even if they were piloted by talented and more experienced drivers such as Hurley Haywood in a factory Porsche, [[Boris Said]]'s [[Callaway Cars Incorporated|Callaway]] Twin Turbo [[Chevrolet Corvette|Corvette]], and Jim Minnaker in a factory ZR1 Corvette. It was subsequently announced by IMSA that they felt that it was not in the best interests of the series to allow the Consulier to continue with such a massive weight advantage, so as a result they added a {{convert|300|lb|abbr=on}} weight penalty to the GTP, before its being barred from the series altogether at the end of the season, despite taking a runner up spot. {{Expand section|date=May 2008}} Despite that, the spirit of that series continues today with the modern GT3-based sportscars.
Edit summary
(Briefly describe your changes)
By publishing changes, you agree to the
Terms of Use
, and you irrevocably agree to release your contribution under the
CC BY-SA 4.0 License
and the
GFDL
. You agree that a hyperlink or URL is sufficient attribution under the Creative Commons license.
Cancel
Editing help
(opens in new window)