Pro Touring seems to be gaining immense popularity in the US, with people swapping over new front clips, bigger brakes, aftermarket suspension, big bling rims & tyres (or is it tires
?) loads of chrome & stainless parts. They seem, to me at least, to be turning into the "all show no go" style of cars, just as Pro Street went.I fully understand the need to want to have a powerful engine, good suspension, brakes, handling etc, but what I can't seem to understand is why they do it at such enormous expense. The cars they are building will never be put to the test in racing conditions. They do seem to use them in Autotests, but this is just driving in between cones set out on a course on a large open space. You don't need 600 plus horsepower to do that.
I asked on one of the Pro Touring forums which car would be the quickest an original '69 Sunoco Camaro Trans Am car or a fully blown Pro Touring car. They all believed that the Sunoco Camaro would be the quickest & winner of any race
The Sunoco Camaro only had 450 hp & it used factory A arms, steering box, rear leaf suspension & 4 pot caliper brakes. No where near the amount of aftermarket stuff that the PT cars have.So, I still can't get my head around why they need all of the "bling" to attempt to make their car better. They think nothing of spending $1000.00 on billet hood hinges
The strange thing is, that Mark Stielow is a God to the PT brigade, but all of his cars are very understated, no "bling" other that large dia wheels. There's a thread running at the moment about Stielows car & they're creaming over it. So if they like it sooooo much, why not follow his lead & do the same, instead of going over the top on everything. His cars don't have shiny bits, no billet parts, they are just built as a modern interpretation of a muscle car. They look as if they'd just been made by GM
here's a pic of his engine in Jackass:-
It looks like an engine bay on the 2010 Camaro to me. So why do people who appreciate this car, not follow it's styling cues, but instead have to overload their car with unnescessary parts?. Is it peer pressure?
here's a pic of the car, which is very understated apart from the wheels
I'm not saying here that I don't like PT cars, but I don't fully understand why they fit all of the latest bling items when there's no need to. What are your thoughts on it?, cheers...Nige