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The Nordic Stg III 9-5 Aero ran really well this past weekend on the Putnum Park road course. A friend who places at the top at the SCCA Nationals races a Mazda Miata rents out the track annually for the day and invites others to test and tune.
There were about 25 cars there. Viper, a ZR-1, a C5, a pair of BMW 330i's, a Porsche 944S, a Audi TT, and about handfull of quick economy cars. I was about 2 seconds off the C5's and pace about 1 second off the Porsche 944S. Hoosier Tires were testing with two BMW 330i coupes. I was quite impressed with their performance as they were only 1-2 seconds behind me. They were running 245/40-17 race tires. This course does not cater to high horsepower to get a low time as my friends Miata was running with the C5, ZR-1 and Porsche during the open session.
I had plenty of power spinning the tires coming out of turns but would need more suspension work(read: rougher ride quality) to lower my time. I was using Kumho V700 race tires 245/45-16 mounted on Ronal 25. The brakes on the 9-5 Aero are stock and held up fine on the 50F day. ABS and EBD allow be to go so deep into a turn. I was the only 4-door car on the track and probably the one of few without suspension mods besides the "sports cars". The Aero performed really well considering it was the heaviest thing out there. I talked to the C5 driver later about his car. It had the Z51 handling package and a cat-back exhaust. The owner said they were considering racing it. But if I had the rubber he had on my drive wheels(~315mm) it might have been a different story.
I have not plans to modify my suspension after owning a stiff riding 1999 C5 Corvette with the Z51 handling package. I appreicate what Saab has done to give the car control yet a superb ride quality compared to the Vette. But will contine to reck havoc at the local autocross.
Norm
9-5 Aero
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