Photo Gallery of Rhys Millen's New Pontiac Solstice!

[tunerzine.com]

In depth look at Rhys Millen's new Red Bull sponsored Pontiac Solstice from the unveiling at Long Beach. Gallery located here:

http://www.tunerzine.com/newsitem.php?id=9

[quach]

suprisingly i like the way that car looks alot. i think its even more awesome that the drift car looks that good with no bodykit or anything. i think the GT wing coulve been bigger though

[Double M Star]

GREAT photos.

[FreeThinker]

nice to see somebody getting serious about suspension, Penske shocks are among the best in the world. Also looks like a slide throttle setup.... awesome
or maybe roller barrels... even better.

I would love to hear some of the detailed specs on this car from RMR. Sequential transmission? looks like an awfully short shifter.

-Sean

[Slapshotnerd]

is this jason didn't you take most of these shots?

all i got to say is... HOLY STEERING ANGLE BATMAN!!

[J-BloodAE86]

looks sick. i just wish they would of kept it more stock. its doesnt say much about the car's capabilities if they need to make everything custom from the ground up. bad marketing in my opinion.

[craziazzmofo66]

Originally Posted by J-BloodAE86

looks sick. i just wish they would of kept it more stock. its doesnt say much about the car's capabilities if they need to make everything custom from the ground up. bad marketing in my opinion.

defintely a +1 on this!!! i was thinkin the exact same thing!! i thought even with pro drifting, the cars were suppose to be some what "realistic" and not a million dollar budget race car...i also belive that pro driftin was created so vendors/parts manufacturers can show case a product that they can sell to the public. still a cool lookin car. but thats not gonna help GM with sellin that car........

[Slapshotnerd]

you guys really have no idea of how a racing series works, huh?!

look at the top fuel / funny cars in NHRA.
Or the Pro FWD or Pro RWD cars in NHRA Sport Compact.

Full Tube Chassis cars with fiberglass bodies and custom everything under the hood, running off of pure alochol or 116+ octane race gas. Almost everything is 1-off parts. Yet Ford / Chevy / Nissan / Toyota pay thousands of dollars for the rights to put their logo and a sticker that looks something remotely like the headlights on the OEM version of the car on the fiberglass / Carbon Fiber body of these monsters.

Drifting is actually staying much truer to their OEM counterparts, thanks partially to the rules created by bodies like Formula D and D1. They DON'T allow tube chassis one-off fabrication monsters to compete. you MUST start with an OEM chassis, you MUST use an OEM engine, everything has to START as part of an OEM car. And the D1 street legal series just takes it a step further, outlawing motor swaps, a lot of CF / lexan parts, and requires working windows / AC / radio.

And if anybody understands the importance of modifying a stock car into a race car, it's GM. Has anyone ever taken a look at the EcoTEC cookbook? GM released all of the information they found by building their NHRA sport compact cars to the general public. it has race-proven formulas for 300, 400, 500, 700, 1000, and 1200 HP engines. And yes, this is all with the same 4 cylinder EcoTEC block in the Cavalier, Cobalt, and now the Solstice.

[Double M Star]

^^^^
What he said.

They've taken a stock car and done some heavy wrenching on it.
Look at the specs on this car. These are all attainable. If I had a few more $'s I could do this with my car.
Hell, even with a few extra $'s I can do SOME of the modification's they've done.

Originally Posted by J-BloodAE86

looks sick. i just wish they would of kept it more stock. its doesnt say much about the car's capabilities if they need to make everything custom from the ground up. bad marketing in my opinion.

You diffinitely shouldn't get a job at a marketing division.

Originally Posted by craziazzmofo66

defintely a +1 on this!!! i was thinkin the exact same thing!! i thought even with pro drifting, the cars were suppose to be some what "realistic" and not a million dollar budget race car...i also belive that pro driftin was created so vendors/parts manufacturers can show case a product that they can sell to the public. still a cool lookin car. but thats not gonna help GM with sellin that car........

Same goes to you.

-Al

[J-BloodAE86]

Originally Posted by Al

You diffinitely shouldn't get a job at a marketing division.


Same goes to you.

-Al

explain why i'm wrong. i would be much more inclined to buy the car if they competed with it close to stock. i have no urge to spend money on that car new PLUS full suspension and turbo kit etc just to make it competetive. They arnt going to get any new buyers from the drifting scene if you can still build an S13 up to the same level for half the price.

[rawdeelux]

I myself like it when the technological envelope is pushed. I believe it's the only way the sport will evolve. When it gets out of hand FD can just make a street legal or sport class like D1 and NHRA Sport Compact. I can't help but admire stuff like gusseted cages, tubbed fenderwells, adel wiggins clamps, stack gauges, and tilton pedals. Even tough I don't really like the Solstice, you have to give respect to RMR's fabrication skills.

[my 1 88 u]

Originally Posted by J-BloodAE86

explain why i'm wrong. i would be much more inclined to buy the car if they competed with it close to stock. i have no urge to spend money on that car new PLUS full suspension and turbo kit etc just to make it competetive. They arnt going to get any new buyers from the drifting scene if you can still build an S13 up to the same level for half the price.

I agree, how many srt10 vipers or GTO's do you see at a DDay? But in the other hand the mission is not to sell vehicles to feed the drift market, It is to sell vehicles.

[Drift Brick]

Which is a terrible god damned idea in the first place. how many drifters bought their cars brand new?

how many gto's do you think rhys sold? not a whole lot. probably got some current gto owners to buy some RMR parts or whatever, but I dotn think anyone ever went to a formula D event, saw rhys do his thing and said "dayum! I gots to gets me some o 'dat!" then ran to the stealership to pickup a spanking new yellow GTO.

same deal with the solstice. its better, because the solstice is cheaper, and closer to what the average drifter would buy.. but come on. someone needs to do some demographic work here.

[CrazyBadger]

Personally I thinks its unfair to "normal" or "regular" that have limited budgets unlike the factory drviers, but its not like there is any other drift series as big as formula d in the US. I think with time there will eventually be all factory teams and then a more street legal "regular guy" series, at least thats what I hope happens. All-in-all I love this new solstice, everthing except the engine. I think it shows weakness that you would need a 600+ hp car that weighs probably around the same weight as a miata, and everyone says you dont need alot of power for drifting...I guess thats not true anymore, at least if you want to be competitive in FD. I dont care how good of a driver you are, with Rhys driving this solstice your going to have to have power to keep up with him.

[Slapshotnerd]

Originally Posted by J-BloodAE86

explain why i'm wrong. i would be much more inclined to buy the car if they competed with it close to stock. i have no urge to spend money on that car new PLUS full suspension and turbo kit etc just to make it competetive. They arnt going to get any new buyers from the drifting scene if you can still build an S13 up to the same level for half the price.

the solstice already comes turbocharged. And, as mentioned before, GM has a complete build book already to get the same amount of HP out of your EcoTEC motor. The only thing that hasn't been fully documented YET is the steering and suspension modifications that have been done to this car.

And you can't compare building up a 15 year old car to building a brand new car. Obviously, you can fully build a car from 15 years ago for the same price as buying a car brand new. nobody is going to try and fight you on that...

[turbo23]

so when does the new car get to see some action? This year?

[Slapshotnerd]

chicago

the mesasge you have entered is too short. please lengethen it to 10 characters

[FreeThinker]

Originally Posted by J-BloodAE86

explain why i'm wrong. i would be much more inclined to buy the car if they competed with it close to stock. i have no urge to spend money on that car new PLUS full suspension and turbo kit etc just to make it competetive. They arnt going to get any new buyers from the drifting scene if you can still build an S13 up to the same level for half the price.

Oh yea I forgot, a stock 1995 240SX does great in Formula D with STOCK suspension, NA and 155hp


That car is built as a RELIABLE RACECAR, Have you seen any of the pictures of the Enjuku Racing S13 Coupe for 2006? It's the same thing, everything is modified, AN hoses and fittings everywhere, custom seating and pedals.

This car is pretty much a stripped bare Solstice with things changed for:

reliability
ease of repair/access
quick tuning changes
steering angle
safety
power
handling
weight

That's as simple as it is, it's just a well thought-out racecar.

[Double M Star]

Nice ^

I don't think GM has to concern themselves with the sale of the car by any means. The whole 2006 supply is sold. As well as the 2006 Vette Supply.

Pontiac supports Rhys... It's a natural choice for them to hand him this car. It's a new vehicle which is sparking some discussion all over the states. Be it here, from the television spots, trade ad's and write ups, EVEN A COMIC BOOK.

Again, GM seems to be more concerned about puting the car in our faces than selling it via Drifting.

When the Solstice gets put through the motorsports gauntlet this entices enthusiasts and works well for marketing the "WE BUILD EXCITEMENT" slogan.

Pontiac hasn't built EXCITEMENT since the Fiero (sarcastic) ...
But their new direction is bringing it back.

And for a personal perspective, from a solstice owner like myself...
I did not buy this car because it's a race car...or could be a race car.
It's a great platform, solid powerplant (as discussed earlier regarding the EcoTec) it looks nice, convertible, and well priced.
Upon reading further about the pontiac motorsports program plan for this car... including RMR's involvement... adds something to it all.

[madmax13]

Originally Posted by Double M Star

Pontiac hasn't built EXCITEMENT since the Fiero (sarcastic) ...

If you mean excitment by FIREBALL, that is! Anyways, I think its kind of dumb from a marketing standpoint that dealers don't really do "dealership specials." I think a car like the GTO would have benifitted from something like that, but alas, a great set of RMR and GM motorsports parts go to waste, when dealers could build dealer upgradered OEM parts. GM, (and to a lesser extent ford and dodge) is starting to make cars to compete with J-Sports cars. The Turbocharged model is gonna be cheaper then the S-14 was when it came out, with the specs greater then ANY japan S-14. To me, thats gonna make for an amazing ride.

[Slapshotnerd]

Originally Posted by madmax13

I think its kind of dumb from a marketing standpoint that dealers don't really do "dealership specials." I think a car like the GTO would have benifitted from something like that, but alas, a great set of RMR and GM motorsports parts go to waste, when dealers could build dealer upgradered OEM parts.

what do you mean by this? dealership specials? explain...

[foilman]

Originally Posted by Slapshotnerd

Drifting is actually staying much truer to their OEM counterparts, thanks partially to the rules created by bodies like Formula D and D1. They DON'T allow tube chassis one-off fabrication monsters to compete.

One of those key rules is that you must keep the original suspension mounting points. That's pretty common in all production car based series. Actually, FD has an allowance to move them 1" on newer cars (not a allowance I'm for). For some reason the people that built the car (not RMR this time) saw fit to totally ignore that. I'm curious to see what happens.

[110octane]

^^^ME TOO!^^

It will definetly be brought up....

[FreeThinker]

So you've seen the car in person and just happened to have a Jig handy to compare stock locations to the new ones??

What about Ryan Hamptons car??? It clearly violates the OEM front subframe requirement.

I think Formula D just doesnt care as long as it is some well known driver/team. I personally dislike that, if a rule is made it should be enforced. But then again, since this is not a timed motorsport, I am against these kinds of regulations in the first place. What's next intake restrictors ??? People used to say horsepower doesnt matter for drifting.... clearly they were wrong.


What I find more interesting though is GM's "CTS-V" running in the Speed GT series. It is so far from the production car, it's just sad. It even seems to violate a lot of the SCCA rulebook for that class too