dom

RealTime Racing, the most successful team in the history of SCCA Pro Racing’s SPEED World Challenge Touring Car series, will put five Acuras on the track at each of the 2005 season’s 11 races. “Our goal this year is to win an unprecedented fifth Manufacturers’ Championship for Acura, and a ninth Drivers’ Championship for RealTime Racing’s drivers,” said team manager Nathan Bonneau.

To achieve the dual goals, RealTime is fielding three Acura TSX cars and a pair of RSXs, all equipped with Acura’s A-SPEC performance and handling package. Two of the TSX performance sedans will be driven by SPEED World Challenge veterans Peter Cunningham and Pierre Kleinubing, who rank first and second in Series Career Wins and Fastest Qualifier categories, having earned a collective 49 victories and 54 pole positions. They will be joined in a third TSX by 19-year-old Denver University Freshman Brandon Davis, who made three starts for RTR last year and will be gunning for the 2005 top rookie prize. Returning RTR team members Eric Curran (1999 SCCA American Sedan National Champion) and Nick Esayian (2004 SPEED Touring Car fourth highest rookie) will race the nimble Acura RSX entries.

“We’ve already had three test days since the end of the 2004 season, and there will be two more before we get to Sebring in March,” Bonneau noted. “This is the strongest lineup RealTime Racing has ever had, and that excites us.” “Pierre is a known quantity in World Challenge racing,” team principal Cunningham added. “It would be difficult to remember a race where he wasn’t a major factor. “Eric made a great teammate in 2003, and last year both Nick and Brandon showed a lot of potential,” he added. “This isn’t the first time RealTime has run five Acura Touring Cars – we did that in 2000 and 2001 – but this is the deepest talent pool we have ever had.”

The RealTime Acuras have been noted for their eye-catching neon orange & white paint schemes since 1997, but even that has been upgraded for 2005. “We’ll still use the same color combination,” Cunningham said, “but otherwise it’s a brand new look, yet unmistakably a RealTime Acura.”

The 11-race schedule for the Touring Car Championship begins March
16-18 at Sebring, Fla., but this year, for the first time since 2003, includes street races. “The race in St. Petersburg, Fla., with the Indy Racing League will be a homecoming of sorts for Pierre,” Cunningham said. “The 1997 season opener there was his debut with us, and led to his winning not only the Rookie of the Year award but the Drivers’ Championship as well.”

The second street race will be in Denver, Colo., where the Touring Cars are joined by the ChampCar series.

The RealTime Racing Acuras are sponsored by the Acura Division of American Honda, A-SPEC, Red Line Oil, Eibach Springs, BOSCH, Sparco, Hawk Performance, Brembo, SPORTCOMPACTCAR, Memphis Car Audio, Valley Graphix, PACT and YES.

CGTSX2004

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Guess Cunningham got tired of losing in the Sentra...

dom

He was quick at times but the car just wasn't good enough. This should be a great year for the TSX's.

dom

Actually I think there are 2 SRT-4's running this year as well. They might be tough to beat.

MADCAT

Why the hell did that Sentra have Nissan ALtima written on it?

dom

Yup.

http://www.world-challenge.com/news/05press6.html

dom

Dan, we were pretty close to losing the Mosport race this year.

http://www.world-challenge.com/news/04press170.html

CGTSX2004

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CGTSX2004

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The only other forced induction car in the series, the C230 Coupe hasn't had much success so I wouldn't expect these to be successful right off the bat. They do have a great deal of potential though in the hands of the right driver.

dom

This is the first year they have allowed FI. I don't think the C230 ran last year. I certainly don't remember it?

I also noticed that a Volvo S40 2.4 has been entered. Although I'm not sure if its the T5 or NA engine?

EDIT: The T5 turbo is a 2.5L 5 cylinder if I'm not mistaken.

CGTSX2004

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http://www.world-challenge.com/compe...ppendixa-1.pdf

The MB is listed. However, it looks like they've been using the 2.4L engine from the C240 sedans. Guess it wasn't FI.

savage

would realtime be a allowed to use FI on the TSX? also what kind of power output are they getting from their TSX? i am guess its up there...300hp?

CGTSX2004

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Domn, it'll be the NA motors on the Volvos.

CGTSX2004

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Only factory forced induction is allowed. If a vehicle does not have forced induction from the factory, it is not allowed to race with it.

The RTR TSX has an estimated power output somewhere in the 250 to 270 hp range. All competitiors pretty much run around that much power.

dom

No, the engine has to remian the same size and type as the production model. We spoke to team members at last years event near Toronto and were told it was pushing ~240HP and cost 100K to build.

The SRT'4 that are entered have 230HP which cannot be changed. The engine are apaprently sealed to prevent tampering with HP/TQ figures. Not sure how though.

savage

ok that 240Hp figure is pretty impressive...but it makes me wonder how much power we would actually see from a ECU upgrade like hondata, maybe just 10HP?, especially since this race TSX probably has a computer system better than the hondata and upgraded internals and is pushing about 240HP...

dom

He did say there wasn't much more to get out of the 2.4 so

And I'm not sure if that 240 was at the wheels or not? If it is, they got alot of the engine.

CGTSX2004

iTrader: (1)

240 at the wheels sounds feasible. I've always heard the Touring Cars were making around 270 hp for the FWD and around 250 hp for the RWD cars. Assume they have a very efficient drivetrain with only 10% loss, then 240 to the ground sounds about right if they're making 270 at the crank.

savage

oh yeah if its 240 at the wheels that is pretty nice...

mantis23

sweet post!

Glad PD is back in the Ack.

Will Team RTR still be around?

And what about the Rookie of the year, Matt Plumb? I thought he was pretty good for Realtime after winning a few races. Did he go somewhere else?

EDIT: I guess Matt P. went to http://www.jmbracingusa.com/ in the GT Class in the Grand Am Series. But no World Challenge involvement.

xizor

I don't think the SRT-4s will be too tough. although they have turbo's and good torque, the field is evened, and if a TSX and 3-series go head to head, what makes you think a neon will keep up? I guess I don't give a whole lot of credit to the SRT4, its a decent machine, but a race car? Realtime will be kicking some major butt next year w/ PD and Pierre, probably 2 of the top 4 drivers in the series. I'm sorry to see Plumb go though, that would be an incredible trio.

sauceman

Holy crap! Noooo!

I'm trying very, very hard to be there for the whole week-end this year. I miss the ALMS races a lot.

dom

By PD you mean Peter Cunningham?

Team RTR is Real Time Racing but I guess your reffring to his Nissan entry, I don't thin it will be around, its not listed as an 05 entry.

dom

Now that there HP is restricted to 230 you maybe right. I figured the car would be pushing much more than that (Since its so easy) at least initially until the SCCA added weight or restricted power.

mantis23

PD = Peter Cunningham. Thats what the announcers call him for the most part.

From what I understood, Team RTR (Nissan) and Realtime Racing (Acura) were the same guys, just 2 separate manufacturers with slightly different names.

But we all knew the RTR in Team RTR stood for RealTime Racing, it was just never explicitly stated.

Edit: Domn, I totally fucked up your post by clicking edit, I think its all back to normal now.

dom

Didn't know PD was Peter. And ya, he's actually the owner of Real Time Racing and the RTR team, when it was around.

F23A4

Any chance PD = Petey?? ( I missed most of the broadcasts.) As a Nissan guy, I'm sorry to see the Spec V go but they definitely didnt have the performance edge the TSXs had.

Should be an interesting year though.

mantis23

you could be entirely right, and probably are.

BJdelta

"PD" is his actual nickname that he picked up along the way, I'm guessing initials.

mantis23

But his name is Peter Cunningham