How Different Is Driving a Cup Car?

[CWS]

Originally Posted by FTS

So how difficult is it to move from a street GT3 to a GT3 Cup? When you first get in a Cup and you try to go, what happens?

It sounds like a silly question, even to me, but I am sure it is such a different environment, I wonder how much of a steep curve it is to learn to drive it.

Thank you,

Larry: Valid observations but my response was targeted at FTS' question, which I understood to be more about initial impressions and differences when you go from a street GT3 to a Cup and less about what it takes to race and be fast in the car. I think we agree on the suspension and handling differences. As for street tire grip staying consistent, I found MPSC grip on my street GT3 would change significantly over a session and over the life of the tire, albeit without as severe a penalty as slicks when they fall off. Full disclosure: I've only run my Cup on used slicks to date, which have seen their best days by the time I get them. But fresh slicks are inbound and I'm told they're more addcitive than crack so perhaps I'll have a whole new perspective soon....

[Larry Herman]

Originally Posted by CWS

I think we agree on the suspension and handling differences. As for street tire grip staying consistent, I found MPSC grip on my street GT3 would change significantly over a session and over the life of the tire, albeit without as severe a penalty as slicks when they fall off. Full disclosure: I've only run my Cup on used slicks to date, which have seen their best days by the time I get them. But fresh slicks are inbound and I'm told they're more addcitive than crack so perhaps I'll have a whole new perspective soon....

MPSCs are the most "slick like" of the R compounds in that they need to get hot to develop their grip, where as an R6 sticks pretty good when cold, so it is not surprising you have found a significant change from cold to hot. That is even more so with fresh racing slicks.

The other point that I was making is that with its soft springs, a GT3 will track fairly evenly over bumps and undulations as it does a good job of maintaining even grip levels. A cup car will bounce and hop over the same surfaces, and so its grip, thought higher, will change radically as the suspension unloads (no grip) and re-loads (lots of grip). It will require a lot more movement of the wheel to manage that changing grip.