Buttonwillow Raceway - New Personal Best

[Orange Crush 1LE]

I headed back to Buttonwillow Raceway, where Speed Ventures was holding the Pony Car Challenge, the Corvette Challenge and the Cadillac Challenge. We ran configuration 13 clockwise, which is one of my all time favorite courses- very technical and safe in the event of an oops, as there's almost nothing to hit. This weekend held a lot of firsts for me. First time running Hoosier A6s, first time running aero at this track, and first time competing in a time trial.

Pony Car Challenge
The way these time trials work is very simple - everyone competing has a transponder, and your fastest lap of the day is ranked against all others' fastest laps. The cars are divided into classes, my class was second to the top, Class PC2 because of my suspension, engine, tire and aero upgrades. Out of the roughly 70 cars at the track, unfortunately there were only 5 pony cars that entered, but it was still fun to participate. Clearly this competition is in desperate need of a friendly rivalry, LOL. Maybe we can get a Mustang club to compete against Camaro5, the SoCal Racing Team, and some of my NorCal Camaro buds.

Out on the Track
The reason why I added a wing and splitter is because of this track. My goal was to break into the sub-2:00 club. I could turn respectable laps, but the cars at the top of the charts were always those with big aero. And the cost of aero compared to my other mods was small, about the same as a set of track tires. So I thought, why not? After running aero at Willow Springs and being amazed at how planted the car is, I returned to Buttonwillow. In my first session Saturday, I was running in the Red Group (top advanced group), and I was third fastest while just feeling out the car. Between the Hoosiers and the aero, man this car was on rails!

Saturday
In all sessions but the last, I was able to turn 1:58s. My best of the day was a 1:58.14, which made me fastest Pony Car (out of 5, LOL), so it was cool to win one for Chevy Nation. My car was third fastest overall for the day. The fastest car of the day was a race-prepped, gutted, winged ZR1 that ran a 1:55.14, driven by a well known driver Stephanie Cemo. She came in on a trailer with a crew, ran a couple sessions to win the Corvette Challenge and then packed up and headed home. A friend of mine told me that she's been racing since she was 15 and her car weighs in at about 3,000 pounds, a good 850 pounds slimmer than mine. Very cool lady, I chatted with her for a while. She said it was an "off day" for her. I asked her what an "on day" is like. Her personal best is a 1:52!

Sunday
On Sunday, a large number of Cadillac CTS-Vs rolled in to compete in the Cadillac Challenge, some in the neighborhood of 1,000 HP at the flywheel. These guys came in with enclosed trailers, motor homes and support staff from a tuner company called D3. When on track with these guys, I had no problem overtaking them in the corners, but the only way you can pass them in the straights is if they let you! My car pulls pretty hard with about 560 HP, but those 4,300 pound Caddies can just walk away in a straight line from anything short of Stephanie's ZR1.

On Sunday I was feeling confident with the new set up, and turned my new personal best of 1:57.47, which made the Camaro the fastest car of the day. I have to admit, it felt good to drive to and from the track, beat the uber-dollar Caddies as well as all of the Porsches and Vettes, many of which came in on trailers. Considering my previous best was 2:02.9, this was a good day for me. Travis, a new owner of a fine ZL1 came out to watch on Sunday. His car's not yet broken in, but will be sure to be a blast on the track. Also good to hang out with my friend Mike in his bad ass Viper ACR and Sean Southland, who pilots a Camaro in various racing series.

[Ragnar]

WOW, Now that is putting it out there

[Deftones]

Congrats man.

[Novie LE]

Sick video sir.

[Dropspeed]

Awesome....Congrats on the PB

Yeah there is something very fulfilling about rolling up in just a Camaro at the track and laying the smack down!

Love the pics....2nd to last is my new work screen saver.

-Matt

[Orange Crush 1LE]

Originally Posted by Dropspeed

Awesome....Congrats on the PB

Yeah there is something very fulfilling about rolling up in just a Camaro at the track and laying the smack down!

Love the pics....2nd to last is my new work screen saver.

-Matt

Thanks Matt. It's almost like they defy physics, I just can't believe the Camaro is so good against the other lighter cars with high dollar mods. The Chevy engineers really scored a bulls eye with the 1LE.

What's also very interesting is the variety of cars at the top of the chart. Fastest cars of the weekend: a 2,200 pound race prepped Civic, a late model M3 with a wing, a modded GT-R, Sean's black Camaro and a Porsche GT3-RS that were all turning 1:58s, and of course Stephanie's 1:55 ZR1 dream machine. I believe the fastest Mustang of the weekend ran a 2:01. My friend Mike's 2008 Viper ACR ran a 1:59, his personal best, and the fastest CTS-Vs were running 1:59s. Go Bowtie!

[Orange Crush 1LE]

Originally Posted by wadewatkins3

WOW, Now that is putting it out there

Originally Posted by Deftones

Congrats man.

Originally Posted by Novie LE

Sick video sir.

Thanks Gents

[Dropspeed]

I am sure you posted it before......and I know you are running a wider track tire/wheel combo, but what are you alignment settings from and rear. Most specifically camber and how is the tire wear (inside edge, outside edge, even?)

Thanks,
Matt

[Orange Crush 1LE]

Originally Posted by Dropspeed

I am sure you posted it before......and I know you are running a wider track tire/wheel combo, but what are you alignment settings from and rear. Most specifically camber and how is the tire wear (inside edge, outside edge, even?)

Thanks,
Matt

Yes, 315s on 18x11 front and 18x12 rear. Camber: -2.9 degrees front, -1.1 degrees rear. I would have gone more in the rear if I hadn't been running the wing, which squats the car quite a bit. Tire wear is funky, the edges of the Hoosier A6s wore big time, both inside and out. I went to cord on the outside front after 7 sessions, so I won't be running those again. I may have run my tire pressure a little low for Hoosiers, about 34 to 36 psi hot. I think I need to be 36 to 38 psi hot. I'll probably try Hoosier R6s next time. When I ran the same set up with Nitto NT-01s at Willow Springs, wear was much more even, a little heavy on the outside fronts, but I ended up cording the inside of one of the rears. The A6s are so soft that they wear in no time.

[cornerspeed92]

Looks pretty cool Todd,those track decals in the 3rd pic look very familiar .That must be quite a sight to see your baby on the road pulling a trailer.

[Cuda7050]

Thanks for the report. Your video and pictures are awesome. I was pretty disappointed to not be able to participate, but family comes first.

Orange Crush 1LE said...."Clearly this competition is in desperate need of a friendly rivalry, LOL. Maybe we can get a Mustang club to compete against Camaro5, the SoCal Racing Team, and some of my NorCal Camaro buds." This sounds good to me.

[JDP Sales]

Congrats on the PB and thanks for sharing. Great pics as usual.

Best regards,

Tyler
888-308-6007

[jksynergy]

Congrats!! Car looks great. I will ask again, though, as we talked before. How are the center splitter rods mounted at the top? Hard to tell from the pic. The car just looks so wicked all track ready.

[Orange Crush 1LE]

Originally Posted by cornerspeed92

Looks pretty cool Todd,those track decals in the 3rd pic look very familiar .That must be quite a sight to see your baby on the road pulling a trailer.

Yep, three tracks now in the Camaro. I'm hoping to add two more -Sonoma later this year, and hopefully the new Thunderhill 5-mile course.

Oh and the trailer, people give you the strangest looks, LOL. The kids get the biggest kick out of it.