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]

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.

[Al]

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.

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]

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]

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.