CTS VR's at Sebring today - diff pics and more

markh · #1 (**permalink**) 03-15-07, 09:13 PM

Spent the day at Sebring. Watched Speed GT practice, the CTS VR's looked and sounded great! Had an opportunity to look under the rear to see what diff they are using. There it was, big as sh!t, a stock Getrag!

I asked the mechanics how they make that thing live, cause my street V is on the 3rd diff. The chief mechanic for Aschenback laughed at me and said they had gone through 4 diff's since they came to Sebring! I got some details on what they run. It is a stock Getrag case, but the internals are special built (cryo treated, etc, etc). I asked if the parts were available to purchase and he said not really, and it would cost more than our cars anyway. The diff is mounted using the stock case mounting points (2 in rear and 1 offset on front) but of course the have no rubber bushings... solid mount. No special bracket on the front ala BMR or Kars. They do run a diff cooler (and trans cooler) that are both mounted in the trunk/spare tire well. Both coolers have fans and exhaust through a carbon fiber duct in trunk that exits though, what would be the license plate (stainless mesh on the VRs). Mechanics say they run Mobil 1 gear lube, but thin viscosity that wouldn't be good for the street.

Talked with both Lawson Aschenback and Andy Pilgrim. Both super nice. Lawson has a new street V (driver perk probably). Said he is waiting for a wheel hop kit and other parts from Mallet and Katech. They race tomorrow at 4:45 PM. Go Caddy!

Pics of the car, diff, cooler set up, Pilgrim and Aschenback follow: (I hope)

1QUICKV · #2 (**permalink**) 03-15-07, 09:32 PM

Nice pic's. look at the wheel hop kit on this one... look at the rear subframe bushings (3pic)

**heavymetals** · #3 (**permalink**) 03-15-07, 09:38 PM

Thanks for the info and pics.

Art138 · #4 (**permalink**) 03-15-07, 10:04 PM

And here's the list of winners!! CTS-V beating the Vipers&911s:

2007 55th Annual Mobil 1® 12 Hours of Sebring
Provisional Qualifying Results
Printable PDF

Pos.
Car#

Driver/Hometown
Car/Sponsor

Fst Time
Fst Spd
1
87

Doug Peterson
Bonita Springs/FL
Chevrolet Corvette
LG Pro Long Tube Headers

2:07.679**
104.324
2
30

Eric Curran
East Hampton/MA
Chevrolet Corvette
Whelen Enginering

2:07.744**
104.271
3
28

Lou Gigliotti
Dallas/TX
Chevrolet Corvette
LG Pro Long Tube Headers

2:08.598**
103.578
4
8

Andy Pilgrim
Boca Raton/FL
Cadillac CTS-V
XM/Mobil 1/Motorola/Bose

2:08.939**
103.304
5
1

Lawson Aschenbach
W. Palm Beach/FL
Cadillac CTS-V
XM/Mobil 1/Motorola/Bose

2:08.970**
103.279
6
31

Sonny Whelen
Old Saybrook/CT
Chevrolet Corvette
Whelen Engineering

2:09.435
102.908
7
12

Brian Kubinski(R)
Plainfield/IL
Chevrolet Corvette
Diamond Const/Blackdog Racing

2:09.719
102.683
8
22

Randy Pobst
Gainesville/GA
Porsche 911 GT-3
K-PAX Racing LLC/Jim Haughey

2:10.253
102.262
9
5

Tommy Archer
Duluth/MN
Dodge Viper
MOPAR/Autohaus Motorsport

2:10.296
102.228
10
15

Tomy Drissi
Hollywood/CA
Chevrolet Corvette
Next-The Movie

2:10.423
102.129
11
82

Michael McCann
North Canton/OH
Dodge Viper
McCann Plastics/K&N Filters

2:10.632
101.965
12
14

James Sofronas
Newport Beach/CA
Porsche 911 GT-3
Global Motorsports Group

2:10.802
101.833
13
21

Stu Hayner
Yorba Linda/CA
Pontiac GTO
Trenton Forging

2:10.907
101.751
14
13

Brian Smith
Simpsonville/NC
Dodge Viper
Kicker/Woodhouse Auto Family

2:11.394
101.374
15
23

Michael Galati
Olmsted/OH
Porsche 911 GT-3
K-PAX Racing LLC/Jim Haughey

2:11.630
101.192
16
66

Tim McKenzie(R)
Madison/WI
Porsche 911 GT-3
TR Racing

2:12.114
100.822
17
05

Jason Daskalos(R)
Albuquerque/NM
Dodge Viper
Daskalos Development & Invest

2:12.284
100.692
18
17

Rob Foster
Phoenix/AZ
Dodge Viper
LT1 Contracting/Foster Motorsp

2:12.433
100.579
19
99

Jeff Courtney
Slinger/WI
Dodge Viper
Kenda/MPI/Badger/Karavan

2:13.102
100.073
20
20

Dane Moxlow(R)
Gosse Ile/MI
Pontiac GTO
Deronda USA

2:13.402
99.848
21
51

Lenny Diller
Garden City/NY
Dodge Viper
King Cole Audio Visual

2:13.569
99.723
22
32

Ed Braswell(R)
Key West/FL
Chevrolet Corvette
EG Braswell Construction

2:14.177
99.271
23
7

Brett Pearson
Orlando/FL
Dodge Viper
Ventex/Pearson Motorsports

2:14.262
99.209
24
79

Joel Feinberg(R)
Ft Lauderdale/FL
Dodge Viper
790 The Ticket

2:14.820
98.798
25
76

John Bourassa
Jupiter Island/FL
Porsche 911 Turbo
Team Hurricaine

2:15.058
98.624
26
6

Jeffrey Robbins(R)
Southfield/MI
Dodge Viper
RSIG Security

2:16.352
97.688
27
29

Eric Olberz(R)
La Canada Flintridge/CA
Porsche 911 GT-3
911 Design

2:16.607
97.506
28
36

Kimberly Braswell(R)
Tampa/FL
Chevrolet Corvette
Bandit Racing

2:22.759
93.304
29
03

Al Wicht(R)
Sebring/FL
Chevrolet Camaro
Pool Designs Group

2:23.703
92.691
30
34

Tony Gaples
Libertyville/IL
Chevrolet Corvette
Blackdog Racing/Kleinschmidt

no time

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**The Tony Show** · #5 (**permalink**) 03-15-07, 10:30 PM

I can't wait to get on the road tomorrow morning toward Sebring. I can't imagine taking any better pics than those, but I'll throw my meager contributions up here when I get home.

Chef · #6 (**permalink**) 03-15-07, 10:45 PM

Chef

v-ape · #7 (**permalink**) 03-15-07, 10:50 PM

Thats a huge differential cooler system if I'm looking at that right

Flyboy · #8 (**permalink**) 03-16-07, 09:12 PM

Great pictures...thanks. I met Pilgrim in Canada a year and a half ago....CLASS ACT ! Met Jim Taylor also (GM of Cadillac).....very NICE guy....and a "car guy" BTW.

Just my $0.02.....I like the paint jobs of the last 3 years better than the current one.....(unless it looks great "in person").....Thanks Again.

**The Tony Show** · #9 (**permalink**) 03-16-07, 11:02 PM

Paint looks great in person. Pictures will be up soon of the car, both in the garage and on the track. There's one of me mugging with Andy and Lawson too, but you probably don't care about that one.

Exciting race today, too. I won't spoil it for anyone, but it's a good showing for the V's.

calicadi · #10 (**permalink**) 03-17-07, 02:54 AM

Excellent pics and THANKS!

Wow.. what a set up for those coolers.

**The Tony Show** · #11 (**permalink**) 03-17-07, 01:00 PM

Here's some action pics I took at Sebring Friday:

I have a couple hundred MEGA high res photos if anybody wants a background, just send me your screen size and what type of pic you want (profile, front, rear, underhood or sitting still.)