Race results for the Pontiac Solstice

Last week I went to Heartland Raceway in Topeka, Kansas to learn more about how the Pontiac Solstice with the Z0K suspension can be turned into an SCCA-compliant racing car. Well, the formula seems to work -- at this weekend's Sports Car Club of America National Championships in Topeka, a non-turbo Solstice took first place in the Showroom Stock B class, while a turbocharged Solstice GXP took first, second and third place in the Touring 2 class.

Interesting story: The #79 car, pictured at left, was driven by Edward Zabinski, who decided last Monday that he wanted to switch from his Lotus to a Solstice GXP. He bought his car from Phoenix Performance and put it together with the help of the GM Performance Division (warning, link goes to site with music) engineers, who were on site at the National Championships (as they are at many races) to provide technical assistance to folks who race GM cars. (Most of the work is free, by the way.) On Thursday he took the car out on the track for the first time -- and set the fastest provisional qualifying time in the T2 class. Zabinsky and his newly-built Solstice GXP came in third place for the race.

As anyone who has read my 2007 Pontiac Solstice GXP test drive knows, I'm not the biggest fan of the Solstice GXP -- but it is an impressive racing machine, and the fact that GM provides so much assistance and instruction to racers is really cool. (PS -- if you're going to read my Solstice review, be sure to check out the follow-up review, too.) -- Aaron Gold

Photos © Aaron Gold