While Nascar fans waited for the rain to abate in Daytona yesterday, a group of auto writers also hoped for a break in the weather at another race track, the European Rally School and Motorsport Park, which happens to be located just 100 miles from Daytona.
Of course road racers race in the rain, so we were not too worried. We were set to get rides in the Kia Forte Koup that won the driver’s and team championships in the Street Tuner (ST) class of the 2011 Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge and witness the second test session for the all-new Kia Optima race car that will participate in the SCCA’s Pirelli World Challenge series this year.
Getting a ride in a race car is always a thrill and a useful learning experience. In my career I’ve been fortunate to experience everything from a WRC rally car to a Nascar stock car to a Le Mans winning Prototype. However this was my first time in a stock four-cylinder sedan racer. I guess my expectations were low. I was amazed at how well the car handled, at how noisy it was and at how well the brakes worked. The track was still damp when I hitched a ride with Nic Jonsson, one of the team drivers. The car was shod with intermediate tires and there were some damp parts on the track so he was prudently cautious. Nonetheless I came away impressed at the acceleration and stopping power.
An hour later the track was dry and I was able to actually drive a Kia Rio B-Spec race car. This is Kia’s offering in the newly formed racing class that is also being well supported by other manufacturers such as Ford, Honda, Mazda and Mini. There are plans for several races this year organized by different sanctioning bodies.
It is a very (relatively speaking) low cost way of getting into showroom stock racing. You purchase a base 2012 Rio 5-door for around $13,000 and then buy a kit from Kia’s racing partner, Kinetic Racing which costs about $14,000. You can install the parts yourself or have Kinetic assemble to the car for around $6,000.
The kit includes everything needed to transform the 2012 Rio 5-door into a proper race car: roll cage kit, racing seat, quick-release steering wheel, racing harness, race shocks, lightweight wheels, spec-series tires, oil sump pan expansion kit and complete build instructions.
Nothing can be done to the engine or transmission. Because of this I was not expecting the car to be very fast or much fun. I’ve driven road cars on race tracks and aside from high performance sports sedans most regular sedans are not a ton of fun on a tight race track. I managed to put in four laps in the B-Spec Rio and by the end of the first lap I was amazed at how much fun the car was. Since the track is fairly tight I only really needed to use second and third gear. On several occasions I hit the redline as the engine revved so freely.
Since it uses a stock manual transmission there was no learning curve required for smooth shifting. Okay the braking was not as dramatic as I experienced in the Forte but it still stopped much more rapidly than in an unmodified Rio. But it was the modified suspension, combined with racing slicks, that made this car so much fun to drive. I found myself confidently going into corners experimenting with different lines and literally chucking the car around 90 degree turns. It was much more akin to driving a go-kart than a stock hatchback.
Based on my brief experience with the Kia’s B-Spec Rio I predict this class of racing will prove to be tremendously popular in the coming years. You only need to look at the popularity of Mazda’s Spec Miata series, where a ready-to-race car costs about $20,000 more, to realize that a B-Spec car should prove to be an economical way to race. Aside from body damage repair and tire wear the running costs should also be low since no mods are made to the engine or drivetrain.
Related posts:
- Driven: 2012 Kia Soul
- Kia Wins its First Ever Race
- 2011 SEMA Show Preview: Kia Introduces a B Spec Race
No comments:
Post a Comment