Not all our cars are nice and shiny. In fact, some of our most fun cars have very little shine to them at all. Our track Camaro is a case in point.
This car started life as one of the early production Dynacorn reproduction bodies – one of the very first coupe bodies, to be exact. It occured to us that it would be fun to learn a bit about the new coupe body by building a hot rod we could have some fun with – beating on it at the track and autocrosses and so forth. So the first version of the Camaro got a nice little 383-inch small block, an OEM subframe with a few bolt-on suspension goodies and a smallish set of disc brakes. Out back we had a couple of leaf springs. We didn’t worry too much about an interior – we just put a couple of race seats in it and a roll bar. The car was fun to drive, but we thought a little underpowered.
Around 2006 or so, we were invited to build a couple of cars to take part in the Forza Motorsports Showdown on Speed Channel. The show would pit some late model cars – a Corvette, a couple of 350Zs and a late-model Mustang – against our poor little ’69 Camaro and our ’73 Challenger. We saw the writing on the wall, and decided to do a little work on the car before the show. Actually, about a week before the show! Out came the small block, and in went a warmed up big block. We also added a nice Tremec 5-speed, and upgraded the Brakes to Baer 4-wheel discs all the way around. We swapped in a Detroit Speed QuadraLink rear suspension system, and went racing. We did OK on the show but ran into some new car bugs. One thing was for sure, though, we’d fixed the power issue!
After the Forza show, we again took the Camaro all apart and made some changes. We added a Detroit Speed hydroformed front subframe, and swapped one 427 (a traditional big block) for another 427 ( a late-model carbureted LS7, complete with dry sump oiling system, titanium rods, and custom Comp cam and valvetrain). We upgraded brakes yet again to Baer 6-piston calipers with 14″ rotors, and mounted a set of 18″ Fikse 3-piece wheels.
We’ve kept the Camaro in this state for a while now. It’s great fun on and off the racetrack. With around 600 horsepower and weighing in around 3000 pounds, the car performs, uh, really well…… If you’re the type of enthusiast who likes to play at track days, we can highly recommend a package like this one! In fact, we’ve used the Camaro as a test bed for our rolling chassis program (see the specs below.)
And speaking of bottom – the bottom line is that while we’ve built quite a few cars over the last few years, not all of them are pretty and shiny. We have a few, like our Camaro here, that have no business on a show field. But that’s OK, our ugly cars might just be the most fun ones we’ve built.
Want a Camaro Track Car? We can build you one…….
Cars are available as basic rolling chassis, specs listed below, through complete track-ready vehicles. Pricing and options are available for quote on an individual, per-car basis.*All YearOne Track Cars are intended for off-road closed course use only. All chassis’ include a YearOne chassis number, but DO NOT include Vehicle Identification Numbers.
Basic Rolling Chassis Specifications:
Body: New reproduction 1969 Camaro coupe body shell mini-tubbed Doors mounted Deck lid mounted with latch assembly hinges Fenders mounted with extensions Inner fenders mounted Core Support mounted Cowl hood mounted with latch assembly hinges Header panel mounted Cowl panel mounted Valance panel mounted |
Rear Suspension: Detroit Speed & Engineering QuadraLink 4-link rear suspension tubular adjustable upper/lower control arms tubular adjustable panhard rod Koni adjustable shocks 250-lb Eibach coilover springs Moser 31-spline 12-bolt rear axle assembly 3.73:1 limited slip differential. |
Front Suspension: Detroit Speed & Engineering hydro-formed front subframe tubular upper/lower control arms splined stabilizer bar DSE billet aluminum coilover shocks 475-lb Eibach springs forged aluminum spindles power steering rack |
Brakes: Baer 4-wheel disc system 2-piston PBR aluminum front calipers 13-inch rotors single-piston aluminum rear calipers 12-inch rotors adjustable brake proportioning valve |
Wheels/Tires: Reproduction 17×8 steel Rally wheels BFGoodrich 215/50-17 Traction TA tires |
Miscellaneous: Flaming River reproduction steering column Grant Challenger steering wheel |
All specifications and pricing are subject to change