A day at the track with the Pontiac Solstice

I'm just back from Heartland Raceway Park in Topeka, Kansas. The folks at the General Motors Performance Division brought me out there to promote their new book, Solstice Performance: How to Go Fast and Have Fun. The book details how to take a Pontiac Solstice -- either normally aspirated or turbocharged and with or without the Z0K handling package -- and turn it into a fully SCCA-compliant racing car.

While at Heartland Raceway Park, I watched Solstices qualifying for the SCCA National Championship Runoffs and even got a chance to run the track myself, both as a passenger and for a couple of all-too-brief laps in the driver's seat. What's interesting is that while GM Performance is out there to support the teams, they aren't actually running any cars. So whether the Solstice proves itself as a successful racer is largely up to the merits of the car itself (and, of course, the skill of the drivers). Non-turbo Solstices will be running in the Showroom Stock B class against cars like Mazda Miata, Honda Civic and BMW Z4, while the turbocharged Solstice GXP is competing in Touring 2 against Subaru STIs, Ford Mustangs and Nissan 350Zs.

I'll write more about the book and the racing Solstices soon -- meanwhile, if you're ready to build your own racing Solstice, you can order Solstice Performance at your local GM dealership; its part number is 88958697. -- Aaron Gold