Stevenson Camaros Win Final Grand-Am GT Race With 1st and 2nd Place! - Page 5 - Camaro5 Chevy Camaro Forum / Camaro ZL1, SS and V6 Forums

MyIBMssRS · 09-14-2010, 09:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SMPdude

I believe there are some die cast stuff in the works.....just keeps you eyes on our website for more info

That's awesome, I'd definitely pick up a die cast of the race cars!

spratleyea · 09-14-2010, 08:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by "prima"Donna

Way 2 Go!!!...

I am so proud of the entire Stevenson organization...

They did a great job this season racing those Camaros with some exciting and nail biting finishes...

So glad they had a 1-2 finish for the season finale!!!...

Watch out, next year!!!...

I thing I got a tear in my eye, sniff, sniff...:(

Matt'sSS · 09-14-2010, 08:37 PM

Yep, from what I remember their last year cars were Pontiac Solstice & that chassis happened to be the same wheelbase as the Camaro. I'm sure there was a lot more involved than just swapping body panels though. Unfortunately when I did get to see them in person at Homestead I didn't make it to the pits to check out the cars up close, so I haven't seen their construction myself yet. I was hoping to this year but since the season's over I'm guessing I wont be seeing them there at the Indy race again this year :(

Camaro68 · 09-15-2010, 01:16 PM

WOW one two punch, great team work out there.
One word Awesome

PfadtRacing · 11-11-2010, 06:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Matt'sSS

Yep, from what I remember their last year cars were Pontiac Solstice & that chassis happened to be the same wheelbase as the Camaro. I'm sure there was a lot more involved than just swapping body panels though. Unfortunately when I did get to see them in person at Homestead I didn't make it to the pits to check out the cars up close, so I haven't seen their construction myself yet. I was hoping to this year but since the season's over I'm guessing I wont be seeing them there at the Indy race again this year :(

Quote:

Originally Posted by Libertyforall1776

Supposedly they are all tube framed Riley chassis. Camaro in name and look only. No more a Camaro than a Nextel Cup car is an Impala...

Kind of correct on both accounts. But not totally.

(sorry digging up an old thread)

The Rolex GT cars are designed and manufactured by Pratt and Miller Engineering. They are the go-to engineering-build company for all of GMs factory racing efforts. You may be familiar with them from their fantastic reputation for the Corvette Racing effort.

The Current 5th Gen Camaro chassises that Stevenson runs is an updated design that dates back to the GTO (late model) racing days, ran by TRG. That chassis design was then optimized and built to suit the Pontiac GXP-R race program. This involved some wheelbase and suspension modifications, on top of the drastically different body panel and aero package.

So, when it came time to develop the 5th Generation Camaro race program, they went to a known winner, and optimized it even further for the Camaro accordingly.

The Continental Tire Challenge Camaros are the Riley built cars, IIRC.

The only thing that its unfair to paint a comparison of these cars to Nascar. We all know that NASCAR has nothing to do with actual "stock" cars. But these Camaro race cars are much more similar in construction to their production counterparts than NASCAR. There are a couple of major reasons.

The first being that the foot print is always very close. The second is that the aero performance (based on frontal area) is very close as well, due to the bodywork being VERY similar (especially in the Camaro's case). The engines are also very similar to the production engines, and in some circumstances, are actually de-tuned to race trim! That on top of running similar suspension architecture, and pick up points, and you can start to see why NASCAR (which has none of the characteristics I just mentioned) is a different category when it comes to "likeness to production cars."

With that said, the Riley built Continental Tire cars ARE production based cars, unlike the tube chassis of the Rolex GT builds.

Hope that helps clear some of that up!

Cheyne · 11-14-2010, 02:21 PM

In Grand-Am Rolex GT most of the cars are tube frame. The exception is the Porsche 911GT3's, the Ferrari's and a couple of the Corvette's. The Mazda's and BMW's are tube frame also. The Camaro doesn't have a Prep 1 listing, Prep 1 is a Unibody and Prep 2 is tube frame, in the rule book. While the Corvette does have a Prep 1 or 2.

Here are links to the rules:

Rolex GT
http://admin.grand-am.com/assets/2010GTRules1.pdf

CTSCC
http://admin.grand-am.com/assets/Det...201013docx.pdf

When I started in racing the conversion to tube frame was well under way. In 1986 the team I was working for built a tube frame IROC Z Camaro for the Trans-Am series. In 1990 we changed the car to a Olds Cutlass body. That year GM started paying contingency money for the Cutlass and stopped for the Camaro in the IMSA GTO series. We had to rebuild the top portion of the cage to fit the different roof, but the rest was still the same. At that time we still had to run the stock roof, but the rest was fiberglass. I later bought the car and in 2000 converted the car to a Camaro body and when i sold the car a couple of years ago it was converted to a C6 Corvette body. While the center section was for unchanged over the years the front and rear clips have been changed several times. The final change was to clone a Riley & Scott Trans-Am chassis's front clip.

Cheyne

SMPdude · 11-18-2010, 06:46 AM

PfadtRacing is pretty spot on with the GT cars. That is why Ford does not run in the GT class. They want to run a P1 car, but know it will not compete with the P2 stuff. Same with BMW. Know we all know there are BMW cars racing in the GT class, but they are not backed by BMW. BMW wants a P1 car and is not backing any of the current P2 cars, right now.
The GS (Continental Tires) cars are Riley built. That is only because Grand-am mandates that any Camaro that runs in that series has to be built by Riley, or purchased in kit form with certain items pre-installed and final assy to be done by the customer.
The GS cars are a factory Camaro. They are NOT a tube chassis design. The run factory suspension other than sway bars. They are allowed some bushing changes as allowed by Grand-am, for reliability.

No for Libertyforall1776 request for a response to the LS1 tech post.
Yes......the suspension on the Camaro SUCKS for road racing. It is an extremely heavy car and GM could have done a much better job at building a car for racing. But remember, the Camaro is not and was not built to be a race only car. It was built for the average joe customer. Something that would ride good. Handle good (under NORMAL every day driving) and that you mother could and would drive. And from the Sales results they did just that.
Ford has spend way more years and has had many out side companies (Roush, saleen etc) spending Millions on developing their cars. That will happen with the Camaro as people like Mr. Stevenson continue to spend the money to R&D these cars to make them more competitive.

09-15-2010, 01:16 PM	#60
Camaro68 Drives: 68 Camaro 327ci 2SS/RS 376ci LS3 Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Prince William, VA Posts: 2,703 View My Garage	WOW one two punch, great team work out there. One word Awesome __________________ 6000 Vehicle Delivered to Customer 6-23-10

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09-14-2010, 08:37 PM	#59
Matt'sSS From 2 door to 5 door Drives: C5 Vert->CGM SS RS M6->SRT8 Magnum Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Florida Posts: 600 View My Garage	Yep, from what I remember their last year cars were Pontiac Solstice & that chassis happened to be the same wheelbase as the Camaro. I'm sure there was a lot more involved than just swapping body panels though. Unfortunately when I did get to see them in person at Homestead I didn't make it to the pits to check out the cars up close, so I haven't seen their construction myself yet. I was hoping to this year but since the season's over I'm guessing I wont be seeing them there at the Indy race again this year :(

11-14-2010, 02:21 PM	#62
Cheyne Drives: None Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Iowa City Posts: 1	In Grand-Am Rolex GT most of the cars are tube frame. The exception is the Porsche 911GT3's, the Ferrari's and a couple of the Corvette's. The Mazda's and BMW's are tube frame also. The Camaro doesn't have a Prep 1 listing, Prep 1 is a Unibody and Prep 2 is tube frame, in the rule book. While the Corvette does have a Prep 1 or 2. Here are links to the rules: Rolex GT http://admin.grand-am.com/assets/2010GTRules1.pdf CTSCC http://admin.grand-am.com/assets/Det...201013docx.pdf When I started in racing the conversion to tube frame was well under way. In 1986 the team I was working for built a tube frame IROC Z Camaro for the Trans-Am series. In 1990 we changed the car to a Olds Cutlass body. That year GM started paying contingency money for the Cutlass and stopped for the Camaro in the IMSA GTO series. We had to rebuild the top portion of the cage to fit the different roof, but the rest was still the same. At that time we still had to run the stock roof, but the rest was fiberglass. I later bought the car and in 2000 converted the car to a Camaro body and when i sold the car a couple of years ago it was converted to a C6 Corvette body. While the center section was for unchanged over the years the front and rear clips have been changed several times. The final change was to clone a Riley & Scott Trans-Am chassis's front clip. Cheyne

11-18-2010, 06:46 AM	#63
SMPdude Drives: 2010 Camaros and more Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Jacksonville, NC Posts: 115	PfadtRacing is pretty spot on with the GT cars. That is why Ford does not run in the GT class. They want to run a P1 car, but know it will not compete with the P2 stuff. Same with BMW. Know we all know there are BMW cars racing in the GT class, but they are not backed by BMW. BMW wants a P1 car and is not backing any of the current P2 cars, right now. The GS (Continental Tires) cars are Riley built. That is only because Grand-am mandates that any Camaro that runs in that series has to be built by Riley, or purchased in kit form with certain items pre-installed and final assy to be done by the customer. The GS cars are a factory Camaro. They are NOT a tube chassis design. The run factory suspension other than sway bars. They are allowed some bushing changes as allowed by Grand-am, for reliability. No for Libertyforall1776 request for a response to the LS1 tech post. Yes......the suspension on the Camaro SUCKS for road racing. It is an extremely heavy car and GM could have done a much better job at building a car for racing. But remember, the Camaro is not and was not built to be a race only car. It was built for the average joe customer. Something that would ride good. Handle good (under NORMAL every day driving) and that you mother could and would drive. And from the Sales results they did just that. Ford has spend way more years and has had many out side companies (Roush, saleen etc) spending Millions on developing their cars. That will happen with the Camaro as people like Mr. Stevenson continue to spend the money to R&D these cars to make them more competitive.