[LeMans70Sport]

Just got this months Hot Rod mag which featured a shoot out with cars running on 93 octane gas. The vast majority were big block Chevy's running in the 9-10 second range. Are there no street legal Pontiac's out there that can compete on 93 octane? There were no Buicks or Olds either. Either we can't compete on the street or Hot Rod is biased.

[LeMans70Sport]

Just got this months Hot Rod mag which featured a shoot out with cars running on 93 octane gas. The vast majority were big block Chevy's running in the 9-10 second range. Are there no street legal Pontiac's out there that can compete on 93 octane? There were no Buicks or Olds either. Either we can't compete on the street or Hot Rod is biased.

[pchris]

IMHO, Hot Rod is more like Cheby Rod.

[mikeb]

I was also looking for ponchos and saw none. Just chevys and fords, the occasional chrysler product, and I think one GN. I know there have to be some clean ponchos somewhere that could compete quite well in those drags.

[Brian Baker]

You mean people still read this mag?

I heard Frieburger was holding the reins now, I'll have to check it out. In the recent past though, it was only suitable for coffee tables at nursing homes.

[tikiklubracing]

Brian; they lowered the price to 10.00 a yr. It's hard to pass that up after 20 yrs. of subscribing. I did like the LT-1 article.

[Junkyard Dog]

They had a Cadillac!

[Steve C.]

Even if a piticular magazine is not your exact cup of tea with the subscription prices Soooo cheap they can become of interest no matter what brand of car you like. And if your really a car nut there is something worth reading, especially tech articles, in all of them.
Under a buck, they are cheaper than that glass of ice tea you bought and pissed down the drain

[Hot Rod]

"BWR"Butt Wiping Rag! Why bother I can buy a bottle of Ripple Wine and go brain dead reading that Mag....

Rodney

[mikeb]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Brian Baker:
You mean people still read this mag?

I heard Frieburger was holding the reins now, I'll have to check it out. In the recent past though, it was only suitable for coffee tables at nursing homes. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

They just revamped it and it actually is more "in touch" now with some good articles. I was just about to let my subscription lapse when the change in format happened. So far I like the changes.

You can definitely tell that Frieburger is making some decisions there now.

[bmpmdf]

I'm still wondering what they are going to do with the Ventura. I wouldn't be surprised to see them make it a nova under the hood in some screwed up way, either a sbc or a newer versin of it. What they should do is put a cool Pontiac in it and trick the car out instead the same ole #$%% low buck because it's a Pontiac. My bet is they won't want to show a Pontiac in a very good light or higher end type ride.

[DiamondJim]

Last I read they were putting a Olds motor in the Ventura. Why did they even bother to vote? Clueless, I have no respect for HR. They are in love with Fulper. -Jim

[Tom McQueen]

Hot Rod Magazine is a lot like the old Columbia House record deal where you subscribed and they sent you a bunch of bad music every month. A couple times a year you actually got some music that you kept.
I still buy an average of ~2 issues a year off the news stand. On occasion they have some article I find relevant and want to have, but it aint very often.

[Stuart]

I do like Freiberger as the editor. He's a down and dirty gearhead plus he's a decent writer, which is a pretty hard combination to find in motojournalism these days. Hot Rod has run a fair amount of Pontiac-related articles in the last couple years, although I suppose they do have to play to the majority (as in small block chevy) to keep their advertisers happy.

The best guy out there today, at least in mainstream media, is Peter Egan (Road and Track, and Cycle World.) That guy can write.

[ventura7211]

FWIW Hot Rod had an issue out a month or two ago with alot of the entrants and there were a few b.o.p. cars in it that did not make the cut. I dunno how they selected the cars to compete but it was not based on the fastest car entered as there were a few low 9 high 8 cars. Perhaps they had an et limit and then selected from the combos they thought were most streetable under that et limit.

Hey if ya don't like it build your car to compete then enter the contest. Who knows you could be chosen and can show everybody what's up. But you have to realize that the bbc was going to dominate this competition from the start, but this is true with most form of competitions involving the internal combustion engine.

I figured Hot Rod would have a lot going for it since King came on board. I loved the SuperNova series in car craft. You don't have to like chevy's to appreciate the info presented in thier tests of suspension compenants, tires, etc... To be honest I like to see build ups of other makes too see if I can learn something new. If I want to see a ponitac based combo I'd buy HPP or PE that's what these mags are for.

Steve's correct you can almost always find something worth reading in almost every magazine. Even some of the import mags can spit out a good tech article on turbos on occasion. I no longer subscribe to mags instead I make a trip to BAM mid month and buy they mags that have articles I want to read or will prove useful in the future.

[Stuart]

That's right, they moved Matt King to Hot Rod from Car Craft. I was even thinking about subscribing to CC until they kicked him upstairs.

Given the choice, though, I'll still pull one of my '50s or '60s Hot Rods off the shelf and read it instead.

[73LeMans]

Hate to admit it, but Ventura is right: We had to expect Chevy to dominate this competition. I didnt think a nataurally aspirated car would do it, as Turbos and Superchargers are so popular now, but Im still impressed by the relative simplicty of the car that took it.

So let me play devils advocate (somewhat). Do we all think a pump gas powered Pontiac can fall in the top five of this class? Seriously--900+ RWHP is what it takes to win here. Can Pontiacs do that with reliability and 10.0:1 CR? Youre talking to a kid who took the hard way to only 575 HP - i.e. 408 CI / 12.5 CR so Im not quite convinced, but with the stoker kits out there, 500+ CI is available to us Pontiac guys now; Can it be done? And even if it could....what would this cost? $25,000?

[FantomPoncho]

I'm surprised at some of the responses to this thread. There are other threads on this BB where egos try to outdo each other with their 8-9 sec street cars. I'm Pontiac to the bone, but I read all the "corporate" mags to know how the others think.

It so easy to blast the source of the article by saying you wipe your a$$ with HR. However, if the article was done by any other rag, it still brings to light the stark reality that HR, in my opinion, defined what a really fast street car is.

Every car that competed was required to drive 30 minutes in stop-and-go traffic, without shutting off (or you are dq'ed). Once at the track, they are given 30 minutes before making 3 passes. They were NOT allowed to have their hoods up prior to making passes. All of the cars were tech'ed prior to the 30 minute drive and were required to drain their fuel and were watched as they filled up with 93 octane.

How many of you on this board who claim to have 8 sec "street" cars could do this? I wonder...

As far as I'm concerned, this only presents a challenge to the Pontiac lovers of this world. Anything is possible with the right motivation (and lots 'o $$$).

[Ray Cox]

I dont have the article so I have no clue of what the rules are, but is it a no power adder race??

[pchris]

Ray I think it was. But then again I thought I sat a turbo Nova too. I'll have to check it when I get home.