The Consulier GTP is an American sports car that was produced by Consulier Industries between 1985 and 1993 and successfully used in professional racing. Consulier Industries spun off their automotive division into Mosler Automotive which then rebranded the car as the Mosler Intruder and Mosler...
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Challenge with C4 Corvette
Warren Mosler was so confident in the performance of the GTP that he offered a $25,000 bounty to anyone who could pilot a street-legal production car around any U.S. racetrack faster than his car.
Car and Driver took up the challenge, racing a 1988 Consulier GTP Series I Sport against a stock
1991 Chevrolet Corvette around the
Chrysler proving grounds test track in
Chelsea, Michigan. Arthur St. Antoine and
Csaba Csere took three laps each in the Corvette and the GTP. They were able to obtain a best lap of 1:21.01 in the Corvette versus the GTP's best of 1:22.56. Reviewer St. Antoine opined that the GTP was "difficult to handle" with "anemic brakes".
When
Car and Driver confronted Mosler with these results prior to publication, Mosler noted that the test car was three years old and worn out due to heavy use: the GTP obtained by Car and Driver was borrowed from a Track Time driver's school: it had worn tires and brake pads, no interior trim, and three cigarette lighters which were specially installed so Track Time could plug in their computer and portable radio equipment. Mosler offered to rerun the test using his company test driver and after installing new brake pads in the GTP, and agreed to pay the $25,000 if the GTP still didn't lap faster than the Corvette.
Car and Driver refused, saying it might be faster because of the new driver. Mosler responded that they could use any driver they wanted for their car, but to have them drive the GTP and get paid if it lost due to a conflict of interest.
Car and Driver subsequently published the Consulier GTP road test article in a negative and sarcastic light, where they ridiculed the borrowed car's lack of interior fit and finish and the three lighter plugs (failing to mention these were modifications made by the driving school), and compared the overall fit and finish negatively with a new
Nissan 300ZX. They also claimed that Mosler defaulted on his promise. Supporting Mosler's position that the GTP should have won was the 1991 auto race in
Lime Rock Park, with a Series II Consulier GTP. This car defeated Hurley Haywood's factory
Porsche 911 Turbo, Boris Said's
Callaway Twin Turbo Corvette, and Jim Minnaker's factory ZR1
Corvette; the race would be the GTP's last before it was banned from the IMSA series. To further back up his statements, Mosler raised the challenge to $100,000, however no production car was able to best the Series II Consulier GTP; it has been claimed that
Chet Fillip bested the GTP, however he was in a modified RUF Porsche GT1 with racing slicks during his run at the
Sebring International Raceway.
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Car and Driver has historically been extremely objective when evaluating cars from the Detroit cabal
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