The Ultimate Pontiac GTO Picture Site
by Sean Mattingly. 2004 Bondurant Test Drive of the 2005 GTO
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Another view of the Arrowhead Performance 2004 Yellow Jacket GTO. Check out more details on this car when it was at the November 2004 SEMA show as covered here on UltimateGTO.com. CLICK->
Orange "455" 2004 GTO brought by Arrowhead Performance. This one has a big 7.5 Litre engine connected to that vintage style shaker hood scoop. CLICK->
There were plenty of cars at the event waiting to be driven. Rear shot of the orange "455" Arrowhead Performance 2004 GTO. The exhaust outlet pipes cannot be seen in this photo. They exit behind the rear wheel like the early GTOs did. If you walked around to the side of the car, you could see a chrome splitter that points down toward the ground. CLICK->
Again, the 2005 GTO test drive is over at this point. But I thought you might want to wander around the track facility with me. Here is a sign for the Bondurant SuperKarts.
On another day, there was an opportunity to try out the Bondurant SuperKarts. After a short orientation session, they turned me loose on the Briggs & Stratton-powered karts.
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Bob Bondurant came out to personally give some safety instructions for the fast SuperKarts.
It was a pleasure to meet Bob. Many consider him to be a living legend. He told the Pontiac representatives and I how to make the most out of our SuperKart driving time. By the way, between SuperKart driving sessions, there was a delicious trackside buffet of barbeque ribs. You gotta love a place that has fast cars, great instructors, and good food! CLICK->
Here we are, ready for some night racing. All lined up and ready to go. I'm the guy in the red fire suit. CLICK->
This is the best go-kart track I've ever seen. The karts are well-made and fast. See the scoring monitor in the upper left portion of the photo? It will automatically score the racers. You can stand in the pits, eat from the barbeque buffet, and watch the laptimes and positions of all the racers. CLICK->
Round and Round. Some night photography showing a couple SuperKarts negotiating the final two turns so they can cross the finish line. The event was videotaped. Maybe they'll show it on ESPN? I doubt it. CLICK->
I took second overall! The karting was especially interesting because of automatic scoring. Current data about the racers was displayed on overhead TV monitors. Then, after each race, an employee would pass out these scoring sheets. You could learn what all the lap times were, and see a graph showing relative position and lap times. I got to race against some other people who will only be referenced by their nicknames. I'm listed on there with the nickname of "Ultimate".
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Before leaving the facility, I just had to take a better look around. The school has a large garage building. They maintain hundreds of cars that are kept onsite. Here is Bob Bondurant's silver Cobra Daytona Coupe that was being prepared in some way. Look how clean the underside components are. Looks like it could belong in a museum. The Cobra Daytona coupes were originally conceived by Carroll Shelby to compete with Ferrari GTOs on the longer European tracks. I'm pretty sure this is a 1965 model. CLICK->
This is a Cobra, seen on the opposite end of this multi-bay garage complex. The previous silver car with a roof was developed an as alternative to this open-cockpit car. These open-cockpit cars were not as aerodynamic. So they had to have more horsepower to get up to speed. To race successfully on the long European road courses, the cars needed to be more aerodynamic, and most had rear wings to generate downforce. This car is from an era when cars were designed on-the-fly by pit crews and racers. Aerodynamics engineers were just beginning to have an important role in designing faster cars based on more efficient shapes. CLICK->
This car is under construction in the Bob Bondurant garages. Bob designed this series of 1,100 pound 110 horsepower formula racers. The finished cars have a
1.6 litre Ford Cortina engine. Other features of the car are:
Custom Jet Hot coated header, Nology ignition system, Crossle 35’s and 50’s, Halon fire suppression system, Hewland 4 speed gearbox,
Fuel Safe fuel cell, American Racing 15x7” wheels, and Goodyear Eagle GT II tires. CLICK->
That's all the car photos in this article. But if you take one of the drift courses in Phoenix, I'd recommend staying close to the track. This place is right across the street. It's called the Wild Horse Spa and Resort. It's built in the desert with a surrounding of beautiful landscaping, several swimming pools, water slide, a riding stable, restaurants, and a free boat that makes trips back and forth to a casino. Not a bad way to spend a weekend. This is a view from the main lobby, looking out onto the beautiful mountains. That big building in the lower center is a snackbar that serves drinks right next to one of the pools. CLICK->
The luxury hotel is built to blend in with the surrounding land which is owned by an indian reservation. The indians also run the nearby casino. I snapped this photo the day before the drifting class started. The track is fairly close. I could hear the squealing GTOs over at the track practicing for drifting class. Maybe you'll think I was over-anticipating driving the cars on the track when I tell you that the sound of the tires was making me salivate!
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Here's a readable sign. The place is built on a desert. Since I'm from grassy Indiana, the surroundings were quite a change from what I'm used to. This sign refers to the stargazing. Yep, the sky was clear and the stars were brighter than I'd ever seen. PICTURE SET CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE ...
Here's a comment from a recent visitor...
Says Larry Parks (deuceguy.@city-net.com) - "I have not had a car in 15 years and would like to get back into the game. I can't tell you how many cars used to just follow me home. However I've been out of this for a long time and times have changed."
