Many people watched the movie Apollo 13 even though they already knew the denouement. They enjoyed the movie because it was a pretty good story. And so, most people now know that the Superlite Coupe won the 2011 NASA Super Unlimited National Championship with Ryan Ellis at the wheel on Saturday, 9/10/11. But there is more to that than just the dry recitation of facts.
Well, maybe the facts aren’t so dry after all; consider some of them:
In all the races the SLC has entered this year, it sat on the pole 11 times – every time the car got to qualify, it sat on pole.
Ryan drove the car to a first place finish in every race it finished (some of the early races were marred by various new-car problems like plumbing, electrical and engine issues).
The car only ran two short test sessions and 4 race weekends - including the National Championships weekend- yet still managed to completely dominate the field in every race it entered, including most importantly, the National Championship race. We had our share of new-car teething issues, but it is very unusual for a new car to be so fast right out of the box. It’s almost unheard of for a new car to have both the pace and the reliability to win the National Championship.
The Superlite Coupe went to two tracks this year in NASA, and shattered the lap records at both tracks. How often does a new car unload from the trailer and go immediately to breaking lap records at every track it sees? We still hold these records, incidentally.
The SLC was fast in all conditions, usually taking the weekends fastest lap time in the dry, but was equally fast in the rain. On Thursday, Ryan drove the SLC in the rain to a pole position for that days qualifying race that was 6 seconds faster than the rest of the field, and took the fastest lap time of the day, across all classes, including a TTR Radical and even the open wheel Formula Mazdas. In a series where qualifying can be won or lost by tenths-- or less-- this was massive, and a portent of what might be to come. The car was so good in the rain that Ryan asked everyone to do a little rain dance for the Championship race. For those who understand the dynamics of fast, high-powered mid-engined cars, this is surprising, and more than a little unusual, and speaks volumes about the confidence Ryan has in the handling ability of the SLC in wet and dry conditions. The takeaway is that the SLC is benign at the limit in all conditions, which is essential to fully exploit the potential of the car.
The Superlite Coupe didn’t achieve the records it has by just throwing a big HP number on the wall. In fact, we gave up several hundred horsepower to some of our competitors, and won instead on superb driving, and a car with unmatched handling. Ryan was able to put the car anywhere on the track he needed to, which is especially important when working traffic. This year we competed against Porsches with 700+ HP, a 1200 HP Mustang, several stockcars with ex-NASCAR SB2 engines with around 800 HP, and a Lister-Corvette with a reputed 850 HP. We ran the SLC with 525 HP to the wheels, which was around 600 HP at the crank. Next year Fran promises to find more power, which should bring us to parity with more of the rest of the field.
The Superlite Coupe didn’t arise from a modern factory in Zuffenhausen surrounded by hundreds of man-years of race car design and development resources, or in some hallowed ground in Maranello that has spawned decades of successful race cars, or even from a company devoted to making pure racing cars, but from a small shop just outside of Detroit led by a person with a vision to produce insanely great cars that are actually attainable, and a few craftsman that helped to achieve it. The significance of this is hard to overstate: the SLC, in its first months of racing, conquered very mature race cars from Porsche, Ferrari and others that had massively more time and resources devoted to their development. It’s a classic David and Goliath story, with a local Detroit twist.
The factory-built SLC that won the National Championship race so convincingly (it had lapped almost the entire Super Unlimited field, some of them a couple of times) shares almost everything with the standard SLC kit that anyone can buy. And the race-specific parts are readily available, and on the shelf, for those customers who want to buy a clone of the 01 car. This is in distinct contrast to some other manufacturers that don’t actually race what they sell, despite appearances.
But there is more than just the Joe Friday (“Just the facts, Ma’am”) version of the story.
A championship in any racing series is more than just hardware. It always revolves around the people, and how they coalesce into a team, and how that team works to secure the desired result.
That story will be the subject of the next post!
Well, maybe the facts aren’t so dry after all; consider some of them:
In all the races the SLC has entered this year, it sat on the pole 11 times – every time the car got to qualify, it sat on pole.
Ryan drove the car to a first place finish in every race it finished (some of the early races were marred by various new-car problems like plumbing, electrical and engine issues).
The car only ran two short test sessions and 4 race weekends - including the National Championships weekend- yet still managed to completely dominate the field in every race it entered, including most importantly, the National Championship race. We had our share of new-car teething issues, but it is very unusual for a new car to be so fast right out of the box. It’s almost unheard of for a new car to have both the pace and the reliability to win the National Championship.
The Superlite Coupe went to two tracks this year in NASA, and shattered the lap records at both tracks. How often does a new car unload from the trailer and go immediately to breaking lap records at every track it sees? We still hold these records, incidentally.
The SLC was fast in all conditions, usually taking the weekends fastest lap time in the dry, but was equally fast in the rain. On Thursday, Ryan drove the SLC in the rain to a pole position for that days qualifying race that was 6 seconds faster than the rest of the field, and took the fastest lap time of the day, across all classes, including a TTR Radical and even the open wheel Formula Mazdas. In a series where qualifying can be won or lost by tenths-- or less-- this was massive, and a portent of what might be to come. The car was so good in the rain that Ryan asked everyone to do a little rain dance for the Championship race. For those who understand the dynamics of fast, high-powered mid-engined cars, this is surprising, and more than a little unusual, and speaks volumes about the confidence Ryan has in the handling ability of the SLC in wet and dry conditions. The takeaway is that the SLC is benign at the limit in all conditions, which is essential to fully exploit the potential of the car.
The Superlite Coupe didn’t achieve the records it has by just throwing a big HP number on the wall. In fact, we gave up several hundred horsepower to some of our competitors, and won instead on superb driving, and a car with unmatched handling. Ryan was able to put the car anywhere on the track he needed to, which is especially important when working traffic. This year we competed against Porsches with 700+ HP, a 1200 HP Mustang, several stockcars with ex-NASCAR SB2 engines with around 800 HP, and a Lister-Corvette with a reputed 850 HP. We ran the SLC with 525 HP to the wheels, which was around 600 HP at the crank. Next year Fran promises to find more power, which should bring us to parity with more of the rest of the field.
The Superlite Coupe didn’t arise from a modern factory in Zuffenhausen surrounded by hundreds of man-years of race car design and development resources, or in some hallowed ground in Maranello that has spawned decades of successful race cars, or even from a company devoted to making pure racing cars, but from a small shop just outside of Detroit led by a person with a vision to produce insanely great cars that are actually attainable, and a few craftsman that helped to achieve it. The significance of this is hard to overstate: the SLC, in its first months of racing, conquered very mature race cars from Porsche, Ferrari and others that had massively more time and resources devoted to their development. It’s a classic David and Goliath story, with a local Detroit twist.
The factory-built SLC that won the National Championship race so convincingly (it had lapped almost the entire Super Unlimited field, some of them a couple of times) shares almost everything with the standard SLC kit that anyone can buy. And the race-specific parts are readily available, and on the shelf, for those customers who want to buy a clone of the 01 car. This is in distinct contrast to some other manufacturers that don’t actually race what they sell, despite appearances.
But there is more than just the Joe Friday (“Just the facts, Ma’am”) version of the story.
A championship in any racing series is more than just hardware. It always revolves around the people, and how they coalesce into a team, and how that team works to secure the desired result.
That story will be the subject of the next post!
