Everything You Need to Know About Pro-Touring

If you hang around car enthusiasts for long enough, there are certain words you become familiar with. Now, being familiar with a word doesn't mean you understand it. There are fewer places where that's true than with car-affiliated words. The first time you hear the words pro-touring, it's almost natural that you'd think it's some kind of car racing tournament, or perhaps, an umbrella word for several car racing tournaments. You'd be very far from correct.

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Pro-touring refers to a specific kind of muscle car that has been enhanced to meet or surpass the standards of a racing performance car. Yes, you guessed right this time. Pro-touring cars are typically used for racing. For ease of understanding, think of it as taking an old muscle car and changing the internals to enhance its speed, handling, and cornering.

Restomod vs. Pro-Touring

Restomod is another word you must have heard if you've been around car junkies. Now, if you know what restomod means, you might be getting a bit confused.

For the uninitiated, restomod is derived from two root words – restoration and modern. It refers to restoring a classic car to its original aesthetics and making significant performance improvements. Restomods are typically for people who love owning classic cars, but can't contend with the bugs of traditional vehicles.

Restomods are generally better for the driving experience than originally restored cars. It's typical to see restomods with improved interior design. They are also improved to meet the current exhaust emissions standards.

Take, for instance, the 1966 Mustang GT convertible from Revology cars. The Mustang is an ideal candidate for restomods because it retains its appeal when it's new and in old age. The standard 271-hp/289-cu.in. V-8 engine is replaced with a Ford GEN 3 5.0 L Ti-VCT "Coyote" DOHC V8, rated at 460 hp. That's a considerable improvement in output. The original Mustang came standard with a three-speed manual floor-mounted transmission with optional 4-speed. On the other hand, the restomod version allows you to switch between a six-speed manual and an electronically controlled ten-speed automatic transmission.

Regarding their self-adjusting brakes, they are replaced with power four-wheel disc brakes with ventilated rotors and four piston calipers. The interior of the car is cut and sewn leather with wool carpets. You can find out more about Revology cars at https://revologycars.com/

Similarities Between Pro-Touring and Restomod

The similarities between both restomods are immediately apparent. They can both be considered as car restoration and improvement. While regular car restoration seeks to get a car back to its original condition, these two methods do much more.

Truth is a lot of the vintage cars that we grew up knowing and loving can't compare with average vehicles of today, especially when it comes to performance. Many of them are also very unsafe, considering modern standards. For example, most old cars had drum brake systems that are tiresome and slower than those available today. To meet up with current safety standards, you have to upgrade the brake system to disc brakes.

Differences Between Pro-Touring and Restomod

While the similarities may be apparent, the difference may not be yet. This is because there's a very thin line between restomod and pro-touring. Although they are both restored and improved cars, one gets more done from a performance point of view.

Pro-touring cars are so named because they match up to and sometimes even beat modern performance vehicles. Restomods, on the other hand, don't necessarily need to meet up with the standards of performance vehicles. Tuning a car to the performance standards of an everyday vehicle is sufficient to have it named a restomod.

There's also a little trend that's found among people that tune their cars up to pro-touring standards – they're almost always race drivers. They don't have to be professionals, though. However, the point of doing a pro-touring is typically to outrace other people in style, whether at an autocross or road course challenge.

Restomod drivers can be regular people with love for classic cars. They are typically improved to the level of street-driving cars and left as is. Many people prefer to think of pro-touring cars as restomods with high-performance specs.

While everyday people can decide to carry out a restomod project by themselves, it would be near impossible to do so for pro-turning. Pro-turning cars are typically built by competition-oriented shops, and most of the chassis and suspension are custom-built for on-track safety, optimum geometry, and chassis stiffness. In most cases, they can't even be used for street driving, except if you're a professional driver.

When it comes to pricing, pro-touring cars are usually more expensive. The reason for this is that performance enhancements, which are often custom made, are usually more costly than bodywork and changing the interiors.

An example of a place to find a pro-touring car is the Optima Ultimate Street Car Series. The event is typically a place to highlight the best pro-touring vehicles across the country. In last year's edition, an enhanced 1967 Chevy Camaro took the title of fastest car amidst competition from other pro-touring cars. The car is rumored to have up to 1100 horsepower, anti-lock brakes, and 50-50 bodyweight distribution. It has rightly been described as the wildest street-legal first generation F-body on the planet.

As you can see, it's a great leap from the original Camaro, which had a modest 295 horsepower on a then powerful V8 engine. If you put both cars to any performance test, the pro-touring version would outdo the original by a mile.

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Conclusion

Restoring cars can be a fulfilling thing to do. Apart from having the satisfaction of driving in something you've always loved, you also get to customize it to your taste. The choice between pro-touring and restomod all boils down to what you want. Regardless of which you're going for, it's always best to have experienced personnel guiding and advising you on your best options.