PT to GTS Crossover

[Blake T.]

Hi all,

 

I have an 1989 944 Turbo S.

 

I have ran with PCA and POC for some time now.

 

The Utah Region was just announced and the only series that wil be offered is the PT series. My questions are:

 

Assuming a stock motor, does anyone have a guess as to where my car would run in GTS?

 

Is power/weight the only determining factor for GTS classing? My reading of the rules says yes to me?

 

How easy is it to change classing? I am thinking of running PT for regional races but run GTS for Nationals maybe? I like the 13/13 rules GTS follows, even though they are a little different from PCA or POC. Plus most of you guys probably originated from PCA or BMWCCA so it's nice to run with other birds of a feather so to speak.

 

Thoughts?

 

TIA

[JSG1901]

Greetings, and welcome.

 

Power to weight (and tires) are, indeed, all that determine GTS classing. That's actually one of the great things about GTS because it doesn't limit what you can do to your car in terms of suspension, body, aero, etc.

 

Your car would fit best into GTS3. Here's why...

 

It was listed by the factory as 250 hp, but that's at the flywheel. We measure power at the wheels, which will be lower due to powertrain losses. Depending on what you may have done with intake and exhaust, you'll probably be somewhere in the 220-240 hp range at the wheels.

 

In GTS3, your minimum weight (including driver) on DOT tires (Hoosier R6, etc) would be...

 

2,420 lbs (at 220 hp)

2,640 lbs (at 240)

 

That's pretty light for a 944 unless you've really stripped out everything. What might make more sense for you is to run on full race tires, which are faster but require you to run more weight. With these horsepower numbers, slicks would have you at...

 

2,640 (at 220 hp)

2,880 (at 240 hp)

 

Those are more reachable numbers for a 944 and at something in the 2800ish lb range, if you can get there with appropriate horsepower, your car could be pretty competitive given the proper aero and suspension setup.

 

Changing classes is easy. You can do it during registration for any event or even, sometimes, at the event itself. We've had cars run in one class on Saturday and a different one on Sunday. For Nationals, it doesn't matter which class or classes you ran during the season as long as you have enough starts under your belt.

 

When you sign up for the championships you can choose the class you want to run or even run multiple classes. So, for instance, you could race in both PT and GTS if you wanted to (and there's usually a "super size" discount for those who want to do that).

[D_Eclipse9916]

You can do it, but it will leave you "not fully prepped" for one class or another. I run GTS2 and PTC/TTC trim. Leaves me very underprepped for GTS2, or I could go full gung-ho for GTS2 but that would leave me uncompetitive in PTA/TTA. Play around with points and see where you are. So far I have been doing relatively good for the crossover. (remember car counts are more fun than winning).

[Blake T.]

Thank you for the replies.

 

I think that eclipsor is right on with having to choose a class to run in primarily. The main attraction that brought me to consider GTS is the 13/13 rule. I guess I build for PT since its the class that my region is running.

 

Thanks again