Topic: Has anyone done a McLaren Pontiac Turbo Grand Prix before?
Asking for a friend.
Re: Has anyone done a McLaren Pontiac Turbo Grand Prix before?
Paging Eric Rood… he’d know for sure.
Personally, I think you’d be the first. I’ve been a car-spotting fiend my whole life, I’ve shared the track with a Mitsuoka and a Borgward, and driven a Humber in a race, and lived in the vicinity of the old GM AZ Proving Grounds when the GM-10 W-body platform was new…
And I’ve never laid eyes on a GP McLaren Turbo. They are not common sightings ANYWHERE.
Tradewinds Tribesmen Racing (The road goes on forever…)
#289 1984 Corvette Z51 #124 1984 944 #110 2002 Passat
Gone but not forgotten, #427-Hong Kong Cavaliers Benz S500
IOE (Humber!) Hell on Wheels (Jaguar)
#289 1984 Corvette Z51 #124 1984 944 #110 2002 Passat
Gone but not forgotten, #427-Hong Kong Cavaliers Benz S500
IOE (Humber!) Hell on Wheels (Jaguar)
Re: Has anyone done a McLaren Pontiac Turbo Grand Prix before?
The early years of Lemons had a handful of this-generation Grand Prixs (Grands Prix), but I couldn't tell you which engines any of them had. The last one I saw in Lemons was 10 years ago and it was not turbo. Odds are that none of the other ones were turbo.
Was just reading about these because I only knew they existed but didn't know anything about them. Pontiac threw the kitchen sink at those first W-Body Grand Prixs/Grands Prix. The short version:
1988 - MOTOR TREND CAR OF THE YEAR (Basically a flag that says "Ideal Lemons Candidate")
1989 - ASC/McLaren turbo 3.1 option
1990 - ASC becomes STE trim with same engine. Also offered a Quad 4.
1991 - Turbo dropped for the 3.4L DOHC engine and GTP trim, same engine in the Z34 Lumina/Monte Carlo
1992 - Quad 4 dropped, Richard Petty Edition offered with the DOHC engine
1993-1996 - Everything standardized finally to the 3.1L V6 & 3.4L DOHC engine.
From 1988-1993, there was an option for a manual transmission, allegedly.
This is some wild scope creep on parts-bin and trim engineering, but honestly, I'd love to see ANY of those 1988-1996 W-Bodies in Lemons. A Turbo STE or ASC would be awesome, but so would a Quad 4 with a stick. Y U RUNE KLASIK
Eric Rood
Everything Bagel, 24 Hours of Lemons
eric@24hoursoflemons.com
Everything Bagel, 24 Hours of Lemons
eric@24hoursoflemons.com
Re: Has anyone done a McLaren Pontiac Turbo Grand Prix before?
Seems like the Mormon Missile was a Quad 4 stick. Granted, for inexplicable reasons it didn't see much track time.
1990 RX7 "Mazdarita" 1964 Sunbeam Imp (IOE 2013 Sears Pointless) 2002 Jaguar x-type (Winner C-Class 2021 Sears Pointless)
Gone bye-bye
1994 Jaguar XJ12 (Winner C-Class 2013 Sears Pointless) 1980 Rover SD1 (I Got Screwed 2014 Return of Lemonites)
Gone bye-bye
1994 Jaguar XJ12 (Winner C-Class 2013 Sears Pointless) 1980 Rover SD1 (I Got Screwed 2014 Return of Lemonites)
Re: Has anyone done a McLaren Pontiac Turbo Grand Prix before?
cheseroo wrote:
Seems like the Mormon Missile was a Quad 4 stick. Granted, for inexplicable reasons it didn't see much track time.
We've had a few Quad 4s. One of my favorites of all time is the Surround Castle to Stay Alive (an old Atari game reference) Honda CRX with a Quad 4 swap way back at Nelsons Ledges in 2009. You could dominate with that. And by dominate, I mean "beat 10 teams." That car is probably still around near Columbus, Ohio somewhere. The guy who built it was 3 Pedal Mafia-adjacent.
Eric Rood
Everything Bagel, 24 Hours of Lemons
eric@24hoursoflemons.com
Everything Bagel, 24 Hours of Lemons
eric@24hoursoflemons.com
6 2023-06-26 06:11 PM (edited by mk1spyder 2023-06-26 06:12 PM)
Re: Has anyone done a McLaren Pontiac Turbo Grand Prix before?
Count me in then. Last time I ran a Lemons race was 2010 with a Lexus ES350 and I was so pissed that I had to compete with Kyle Busch and other mega rich cheaters I gave it up. But sufficient time has passed, and I have a 1990 McLaren Grand Prix Turbo and I'm going to officially ask the CEO of McLaren to sponsor my race efforts with a true McLaren race car! If you read up on them (it's hard to find) McLaren put legit effort into these things and considering the 60 degree GM V6 is one of the biggest POS ever made (the transaxle isn't far behind) it is a surprisingly good driving car though the brakes are dangerously bad. The interior is awesome though it has more buttons than any production car ever and a roller lock on the glovebox lol.
Is it ok to race with a functioning A/C system or do they frown on that because of the water?
Re: Has anyone done a McLaren Pontiac Turbo Grand Prix before?
mk1spyder wrote:
Count me in then. Last time I ran a Lemons race was 2010 with a Lexus ES350 and I was so pissed that I had to compete with Kyle Busch and other mega rich cheaters I gave it up. But sufficient time has passed, and I have a 1990 McLaren Grand Prix Turbo and I'm going to officially ask the CEO of McLaren to sponsor my race efforts with a true McLaren race car! If you read up on them (it's hard to find) McLaren put legit effort into these things and considering the 60 degree GM V6 is one of the biggest POS ever made (the transaxle isn't far behind) it is a surprisingly good driving car though the brakes are dangerously bad. The interior is awesome though it has more buttons than any production car ever and a roller lock on the glovebox lol.
Is it ok to race with a functioning A/C system or do they frown on that because of the water?
Catch as, CATCH CAN? Shouldn’t be too hard to collect the condensate from the HVAC?
Tradewinds Tribesmen Racing (The road goes on forever…)
#289 1984 Corvette Z51 #124 1984 944 #110 2002 Passat
Gone but not forgotten, #427-Hong Kong Cavaliers Benz S500
IOE (Humber!) Hell on Wheels (Jaguar)
#289 1984 Corvette Z51 #124 1984 944 #110 2002 Passat
Gone but not forgotten, #427-Hong Kong Cavaliers Benz S500
IOE (Humber!) Hell on Wheels (Jaguar)
Re: Has anyone done a McLaren Pontiac Turbo Grand Prix before?
mk1spyder wrote:
Is it ok to race with a functioning A/C system or do they frown on that because of the water?
I am pretty sure the 'Cheap Thrills' Cadillac Eldorado ETC out of Kentucky has working A/C. Condensate wouldn't be a problem - how wet are the roads around you in the summertime when everyone is driving around with their A/C on?
Semi-Sentient Centenarians
1996 Buick Century - we upgraded our crappy GM sedan with parts from a crappy GM minivan.
"It's got a van motor, a 220 cubic inch plant, it's got van tires, van suspension, van shocks. It's a model with the catalytic converters ripped out so
it'll run good on regular gas. What do you say, is it a racecar or what?" - Blues Brothers, Probably
1996 Buick Century - we upgraded our crappy GM sedan with parts from a crappy GM minivan.
"It's got a van motor, a 220 cubic inch plant, it's got van tires, van suspension, van shocks. It's a model with the catalytic converters ripped out so
it'll run good on regular gas. What do you say, is it a racecar or what?" - Blues Brothers, Probably
Re: Has anyone done a McLaren Pontiac Turbo Grand Prix before?
I don't disagree, I just know at drag strips for example they wont let you run your A/C on the track. Slightly different scenario though.