Bone stock TTA vs WS6. Ever wonder what is faster?

[Bob Cosby]

Originally posted by fast86gn
I'll take quicker over faster any day. I have beaten many cars faster than me but not quicker!

As a long time drag racer, so will I.

 

[Hammer231]

I thought we were comparing the fastest stock LS1 WS6 to the TTA, which would not necessarily mean the competitors have to be optioned similarly. Even so, the A4 cars are plenty quick on their own and would likely 60 ft. better than a 6sp car with factory rubber although they generally don't trap as high . Personally I'd prefer the A4 LS1 for 1/4 mile blasts but the stick shift cars have the potential to be quicker when properly motivated.

 

[cool 84]

Originally posted by fast86gn
The GN's have 10 bolts, you had a 11second GN you should know this. Did you ever break the rearend?

I know anything can happen anytime but I still have the stock rearend in my GN with plenty of mid 7 second runs in the 1/8 mile on slicks with no problems.

If you are still running a stock rearend in your Cobra, that 10 to 1 ratio vs the GN will come true.

7.5" 10bolt vs 8.5" 10bolt.

 

[cool 84]

To add a little more, the WS6 beat an LS1 Z28 that same night. The TTA beat a crappy running GN with a PTE52 and a frontmount. I won't try to make sense of it.

 

[TurboJunky]

Originally posted by Hammer231
I thought we were comparing the fastest stock LS1 WS6 to the TTA, which would not necessarily mean the competitors have to be optioned similarly. Even so, the A4 cars are plenty quick on their own and would likely 60 ft. better than a 6sp car with factory rubber although they generally don't trap as high . Personally I'd prefer the A4 LS1 for 1/4 mile blasts but the stick shift cars have the potential to be quicker when properly motivated.

I'm sorry, but I read the original post by cool 84 as a comparison of a BONE STOCK LS1 vs. a bone stock TTA. To make a fair comparison between the two it would only be logical to compare two equally equipped vehicles. TTA's only had 2 options with those being; leather interior and/or T-Tops. Logic dictates you'd find an LS1 equipped as close to the TTA for fairness.

If you want to play semantics GM made a FACTORY STOCK TTA with 6 speed that exceeded 200 mph. So, if you want to use the standard of "the fastest stock LS1 WS6 to the TTA" you'd need to find a production LS1 made that'll go over 212 mph....stock. I have a photo of this car and several magazines have done stories on it. You can tell the difference cosmetically by the TURBO TRANS AM emblem on the fender. It's much lower than it should be. Otherwise it's completely identical to a regular TTA other than the 6 speed manual transmission. GM reasoned it wouldn't be offered to the public because 1/4 mile suffered, the tranny wasn't strong enough to handle the torque and the turbo lost RPM during shifts as compared to the auto trans. As far as pacing the Indy 500 the TTA had plenty of power and speed with the auto trans. Pre-race testing on the actual pace car (which were 100% identical to those offered to the public) indicated a top speed of 171.3 mph on Indianapolis Motor Speedway with a professional driver...in totally stock/production form.

 

[Bob Cosby]

Originally posted by TT/A1233
If you want to play semantics GM made a FACTORY STOCK TTA with 6 speed that exceeded 200 mph. So, if you want to use the standard of "the fastest stock LS1 WS6 to the TTA" you'd need to find a production LS1 made that'll go over 212 mph....stock.

No offense, but I think that analogy is pretty silly. All he was trying to say was that he interpreted the original post to mean a regular production WS6 vs a regular production TTA. Nothing was said about options. If you interpreted it differently, then that is ok. Some of us had a different point of view.

 

[NEARING]

You're not saying a stock TTA went 200+ with the only addition of being a 6spd.?

 

[Hammer231]

It is inherently "unfair" to compare a car with 10+ years more technology to an older car anyway but that doesn't stop us from doing it. That the TTA holds up as strongly as it does is a testament to it's performance and to the little 3.8 Buick mill. But if you must compare 2 identically optioned TAs then I still feel the A4 WS6 would take the win light most of the time.
As far as top speed is concerned, I think most of us gearheads could care less. I'll probably never see the top speed of any of my vehicles. Once that needle starts creeping much over 115 my right foot starts getting the jitters

 

[TurboJunky]

Originally posted by NEARING
You're not saying a stock TTA went 200+ with the only addition of being a 6spd.?

That's what the article indicated. I'll try and find it.

 

[ViciousV6]

Originally posted by fast86gn
The GN's have 10 bolts, you had a 11second GN you should know this. Did you ever break the rearend?

I know anything can happen anytime but I still have the stock rearend in my GN with plenty of mid 7 second runs in the 1/8 mile on slicks with no problems.

If you are still running a stock rearend in your Cobra, that 10 to 1 ratio vs the GN will come true.

I'm very aware of what rearend was in my Buick. Certainly spent plenty of time under the Buick, as well as my '00 SS, to know there are different 10bolt rearends. Thankfully, cool84 cleared it up...

7.5" 10bolt vs 8.5" 10bolt.

The rearend in the F-body is a glass jaw; that's certainly not late-breaking news. A few have had great luck with it, but many have blown it up with little more than stock power.

I'm not too worried about the rearend in my Cobra. Since you're probably referring to the scattered horror stories of breakage, you should know that the problem doesn't exist with the differential. The breakage occurs with the halfshafts. There have only been a couple of documented differential failures. Those were on high-horsepowered cars with upgraded halfshafts, running nasty 60' times. There is already a differential brace on the market that has been tested on cars with 700+ rwhp, upgraded halfshafts and running on slicks. Mine is in my trunk, waiting to be installed this week. Bracing the differential cover is nothing new. People have been installing TA Performance girdles on Buicks for many years.

 

[Raven]

In a heads up race and if both cars are factory stock, I would bet that the majority of the time the LS1 MN6 car will win. It would be close but seeing a lot of those cars run and having owned 2 of them, I have no doubt if all things were equal that the LS1 would come out on top.

I love the TTA but it is not invincible at all. No car is - there is always someone faster.

 

[tracy]

Count me as someone who believes this is a driver's race.

Both cars posted similar times according to some research I did.

I've seen plenty of stock LS1 cars and they're all running running mid-upper 13's around Byron Drags where I go. Although I have seen a few on slicks post some ultra low 13's. As often as I go you would think I'd see a stocker run high 12's like some claim = nope. My neighbor's modded LS1 does not even run 12's. Cold air kit- Ypipe and exhaust. They're 13 second cars in stock form period - just like the TTA's. However, If you ask someone that drinks alot of LS1 Kool-Aid they'll have a different perspective.

According to Car and Driver - the TTA is still the quickest Trans AM they have tested. All the road tests of both cars seem to support the fact that the cars are evenly matched.

 

[TurboJunky]

My TTA ran a best of 12.93 with only 3 mods over stock original (4 including the tires). With only a chip, 3" downpipe, no cat, Firestone Firehawk tires (on standard PSI) and 94 octane gas it cranked out that time with a standing 35mph headwind on the track. The car had 12,000 miles at the time and no scan tool. Just those bolt on items and driven. A 1.83 60' was the key....

Agreed, it'd be a driver's race but have to put the marker in the TTA's lap due to it's ability to dig out of the hole better than any stocker LS1. LS1's aren't noteworthy for their low end torque like the LC2. That results in a better 60' thus lower ETs. The LS1 conversly has higher HP #'s which result in higher trap speeds.

The end of my bench racing and $.02

 

[Sinister87]

Don't have the answer too this question, just opinion's like everyone else but I will say you can't go wrong with either car as they are both badass from the showroom.