09-14-2010, 03:46 PM | #1 |
Amazing result for Torq and Pfadt at the 2010 LS Fest! Full report inside with pics!
Well after arriving home yesterday from Bowling Green, KY (1100miles one-way) and the first annual LS Fest I put together a short report to share with you all.
First I would like to thank the whole crew at Holly LS Fest for putting on an amazing event! It was the first one so nobody really knew what to expect, plus the weather forecast wasn't the best but they definitely pulled it off with flying colors! We look forward to next year! So getting ready for the event, we teamed up with Pfadt Racing once again and went with a complete suspension package for our shop car. We have been running their Springs and Sway bars previously and actually won quite a few races with just those mods, but to be able to competitive against some of the best built cars in The US some upgrades were necessary. First we went with a set of Nitto NT-05's, 315's in the rear and 275's in the front on our light-weight rims. Even though I was very pleased with them, I would probably go with a different tire for an AutoX only set-up. Reason being is that they don't heat up as quickly as I would have liked. This is very important in Auto X racing since you only have about 1min for a full lap, then head back to to staging lane. My fastest times were all set when I was able to get 2 laps in relatively quickly after each other. But again, I am still very happy with the way they performed and they are a good compromise for a street tire that sees a lot of track duty. For the suspension we put together the following package together with the guys at Pfadt. The sway bars were already installed previously so for a complete package I would make sure to have them in their as well.
Here are a few shots of the parts themselves, the finish and quality of the Pfadt parts are just outstanding. I know I am a suspension geek, but these are simply a work of art! Pfadt Racing vs. OEM Rear Trailing arms + Toe Link Assembly Close-up of front and rear coil-over assembly We managed to get everything installed on time for the long haul up to Bowling Green, and 10 min after the car was corner weighted and aligned I set off for the long drive. When aligning the car we were quite conservative on the negative camber , mostly due to us actually driving the car the whole way there. The 5th Gen Camaro LOVES a lot of negative camber and needs it to really steer in nicely but we set it up so the tires would last the whole way there and back. Remember, absolutely nothing was changed from the cars daily driving specs when arriving at Bowling Green and tearing up the Auto X. We could have had a new set of tires with us, we could have knocked more camber in it, we could have even trailered it but we wanted to show what a full weight 5th Gen Camaro in full street trim could actually do competing against the best of the best. I was extremely pleased with the ride quality of the Pfadt Coil-overs, even on the poor roads we have here in South Florida. Riding on the stiff track setting the car was in no way uncomfortable, and was very pleasant to drive. The "shudder" that you can sometimes get with an aftermarket spring was nowhere to be felt, and when trying out the softer settings she drove almost like a Cadillac! After arriving at the track, it came clear to me what we were up against I and I knew it wasn't going to be easy in any way to finish top 5. Some of the finest, fastest, and most extreme Pro-Touring cars from Detroit Speed and Ridetech were on site to compete in the Auto-x. Both Friday and Saturday called for rain, and boy were they right. It wasn't until Saturday afternoon when the track started to dry up (but was still quite greasy) that times started to drop for everybody. Although we did manage to set the fastest time in rain and held that for quite a while! This is a shot to show just how wet it actually was, at times there were puddles so big you could park Queen Mary in one So after all was said and done, my fastest time was set early Saturday morning after being able to almost hot-lap the tires and get them up to temperature. That time ended up giving us 3rd place overall in the Street Tire class! Seeing the competition I never thought it would have been possible, and many other contestants were extremely surprised with what we managed to achieve with Project Cammedmaro. A 4000lb full weight street car on street tires should not be able to run around a tight Auto X cross the way she did. Here is a photo of the final time-sheet, car # 129 would be yours truly driving our Shop Car Cammedmaro in 3rd Place! Notice the lap-times as well! So as an end result, we beat every other 5th Gen Camaro, 4th Gen Camaro, Corvette etc (50+ cars entered), and only came after 2 of the most awesome Pro-Touring builds I've seen. All this and ours was the only car driven from a distance this far away, both to and from the event, and we still managed to end up in 3rd. To me Project Cammedmaro really sets the standard for a true Street Car! In no way is 2200miles and 3 days of serious beating easy on any car, but with the right parts and built the right way anything can be achieved. I contribute this "win" to two things, Pfadt Race Engineering and and their superior suspension parts, and to our own team here at TORQ for putting together an amazing package, and spending hours and hours at the track and on the dyno testing every single part. Stay tuned as Project Cammedmaro will be attending many more Road Course and Auto X events in the near future! Or mission to build the best handling Street Driven 5th Gen Camaro is proving to be fully achievable, and soon to be a reality. We learned that with a few minor things we could have taken the win, but we are extremely pleased with the outcome and will be back even stronger for the next event. Here are a few more shots of The Camaro on the track! Braking HARD from high speeds to zero with a very aggressive pad and slotted rotors = lots of sparks How something so big can look so much at home on track is unbelievable I will be posting some videos as well as soon as I get them uploaded. If anybody has any questions at all regarding the suspension set-up or anything else, just post them here and either a representative from Pfadt or myself will answer them. /Erik@Torq |
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