New Gen 3 Coupe: Fast Out of the Box

As you know, the new Factory Five Gen 3 Coupe began production in January, and one of the first of these Coupes made its debut on the track at Virginia International Raceway. Factory Five customer John George was selected to be a beta builder of the new Coupe, and in this case, he received the very first R-version chassis (race).

John documented his first track weekend with some really interesting details and play-by-play summary. John would run a very, very impressive 2:00.4 best lap at the storied Virginia International Raceway. We are all excited that the car is so fast right out of the box and has a lot more room to grow. Here are some photos and video from the weekend courtesy of John George and Factory Five forum member boBQuincy. Click here to read John’s full race report with more photos and videos on The Factory Five Forum.


Ride along with John on his fastest lap (2 minutes). More impressive as John was having brake issues (ignore the squeal please) and running quite narrow 245 series tires.


John’s Coupe in tech.


Johns crew consisted of Mark “The Traveling Builder” Dougherty (center), his son Brendan (left) and pit crew Sean Lingle (right).


Photo by boBQuincy.


Brendan repaired a damaged clutch pressure plate during the weekend.


Watch John’s full Friday session (10 minutes).

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