1977 IROC Camaro Race car info needed.

[Camaroz]

Hi Al,

Haven't had any updates for a while. How's it all going? I need your advice if my ex-Gardner Camaro was to go onto the market!!!

Cheers, Rowan.

[Al Weyman]

Hi Camaroz,

Funny I just logged in because I was going to contact you, found this on ebay uk may be of interest to you.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...112010385&rd=1

The old Camaro 2nd gen (the historuc not the IROC)is coming on good, I have dropped the rebuilt unit in and just fabricated an exhaust system so she should be ready to fire up in a couple of weeks, bit of cosmetics and she will be ready to rumble.

Never heard a thing back from thatorangething who apparently has the sister car to my IROC racer which is a shame as I was hoping we could have shared notes etc.

[Steve Holmes]

Camaroz. Are you selling the Camaro?

Al, how's your back?

[Al Weyman]

Back is a lot better thank you for asking.

[thatorangething]

HI Al,
Just had an email from Bolide re this thread. As I think you are aware, I have the other one, car 10! Presumably both our cars had the same glass fibre bodywork job done when brian brought them in. Do you still have the glass panels? I'm planning to restore car 10 to some sort of race trim in the future, but for now it has to wait. I have copies of a Custom Car article from 1982 where car 10 ws featured as cover/ centrefold car, when it ran as an Ascar. I can post you a copy. I also have two thundersaloon programmes that came with the car, looks quite mad as a thundersaloon! Would be great to speak to you. Very good to see this subject brought to life again.

[Al Weyman]

Hi,

I have stripped off the panels but yes I still have them, I also bought a new front spoiler from the original manufacture Diversfied Glass Products who still have the original moulds or did up to a couple of years ago. I really do not understand what they were thiking about when they changed the rear quarters for glass, they were only lightweight steel skins anyhow and would have saved maybe 20 or 30 ibs max and weight saving on the rear which is not where you want it, lot of expense and bother for very little gain I would have thought. The whole front end was glass anyhow apart from the bonnet which was orignally steel as was the boot lid. Just changing these and leaving the quarters would make more sense to me. They also changed the door skins from steel to fibreglass (must have saved another 10 lbs max, big deal) I am going to change everything back to original as soon as I have finished my other 2nd gen historic off and that is well underway now with new engine installed. I reckon on a car weighing well over 3000ibs this buchery saved about 40 ibs max and at the end of the day would have not made any difference especially as I said it was 100% off the rear end, the mind boggles.

What seat do you have in yours? Some doughnut decided on mine that he diid not like the beautifully fabricated seat mounts that are integrally welded to the main space frame and bolted it direct to the thin skin (not orignal chevy all fabricated) lightweight floor panel.

I am in the signs and graphics business and will be doing a full set of period decals for the old girl if I ever get to that stage, so if you want to do a proper restore and ever get to that stage let me know I may be able to supply you.

Do you still have the dry sump gear or has that disappeared. Mine had a wet sump motor installed that has been rebuilt and gone in the classic prepared car. I got lucky on ebay and bought the orginal Weaver sump, period Mooneyes tank, sump pan and all the Aeroqup from a buyer in the US.

[thatorangething]

Hi, no seat in mine, been converted to floor mounting as well. Also the upper door bars have been removed, and the forward facing roll cage tube in the cabin has been removed, i suppose to fit UK regs, maybe weight. Shame that, seems stupid to mess with a spaceframe that's probably stronger than any other big car thats ever been made here. I had a chat with a very helpful chap at Laughlin racing, while I was trying to find out what i'd bought! Laughlin made the later IROC, what they called a "front-steer" chassis i.e. the steering box ahead of the front axle, as opposed to an earlier Banjo Matthews "rear-steer" chassis. According to him, the floorpan in our cars, and the dimensions, and some of the parts, are taken from an early sixties Ford Galaxie. That explains why the floor looks like one from a production car, only it's not a camaro! I dont have any of the dry sump stuff at the engine end, I do have all the aeroquip, the dry sump tank, Bag tank and lines, one oil cooler, a gearbox electric oil pump/lines/cooler, and one engine oil cooler, and a huge radiator. Engine and gearbox are missing, but all the rest of the drivetrain is there, and the complete braking system. Apparently in thundersaloon guise this car ran with 670 BHP, that will be why the engine is missing then?! Car has Norris Industries wheels on front, with huge split rims on the back. Car is 6'11" wide at the rear tyres! Carlos Fandango super wide wheels...

[Al Weyman]

I guess I should be thankful they left the cage intact in my car then, everythiig else is there. Funny enough I have the axle cooler and pump but not the gearbox cooler, they are a Jabasco Water puppy stocked by Think Automotive so should not be a problem to replace. 670bhp engine eh, sounds ambitious, I have a full roller motor built by Clive Bond of drag racing fame in the black car with a lot of nice bits in it and I would rate that at about 580bhp. I have an aluminuim fuel cell in my car not a bag tank, the ali tank is the original fitment. I have the Norris Industries wheels alround plus a spare set of 16" Compomotives. I have the same huge radiator and the Harrison oilcooler.

[thatorangething]

Hi Al, i've just had a look through this thread properly, it seems i've been missing out! Just been bogged down with work. That BHP figure sounded huge to me too. Have just had a look through the copies of Rolling Thunder I got with the car, shows a qualifying lap time of 51.3 on a dry Brands Hatch in June 1989. I suppose anyone who knew that track well at that time would have an idea of how quick that was, or not! I have just had another look, and in the race best lap was 0.3 seconds quicker than the Marshall/Lanfranchi Escort BDG,. Cant be too bad for a big-un! By the way the brake mods done in the UK on car 10 were to alter the pedal/balance bar setup, and fit different master cylinders, all the Hurst Aerhart callipers etc are still intact. Nasty business with your back, Hope you're up to full strength now. Well done on developing the thread this far, all sorts of interesting stuff.
I hate the stupid names thing too. It sort of stuck when we had a rather unlikely bright orange Citroen sprint/trackday car,that would occasionally cause quite a stir.
Cheers
Peter

[thatorangething]

Hi again,
is it the case that, at the moment at least, the only known remaining cars are our two, and the IROC one. That's presumably the orange car you can find a pic of on Google, at the Earnhardt museum? Also I'd been led to believe by someone that these cars ran for a season, but posts on the thread suggest that there was only ever one batch of cars constructed, to run '77 - '80. is that right?
Cheers
Peter

[Al Weyman]

I have spoke with the crew chief at Penske Racing and also to George Signori who's brother started the whole thing I believe, both via email. They restored the oe in the Earhadt Museum for their 25th anniversary in 2001 at Daytona. They kindly sent me a great shot of the car and then current Firebrd with their chief test drive longtime race Marquis (sorry first name escapes me), I will did the photo off the puter at the shop and post it, it is a great shot. According to the IROC people they had the orange car (incdently that has the wrong wheels on it whiich I delighted in pointing out to them), and another in bits but all the other cars went to a NASCAR race school exept for the two (ours) that Brian Rice imported here. He was under the impresson that all the school cars had long since expired and I have looked at many photos on the net and even some that Jeff Barley kindly forwarded to me and none of them are the real McCoy. They raced Camaros n a Sportsman catagury in that perod so there were a lot of outwardly simlair cars around but once you start delvg you can see they are not genuine. Also gettng back to the car in the Earndard Museum, Earnhadt only diid one race in the series and it was more a shakedown session than a race as I understand t and guess what it was in an orange car, (surprise suprise).

As for the seasons they raced if you go to www.irocracing.com you can see all the history there. The dates are a bit confusng because the seasons say 77 go other 77 and 78 not like over here, as I understand it our cars were used for three full seasons then retired when the championship finished in 1980. In 82 they restarted with the newer cars likein my avatar. If they had not had the break they probably would never have sold off the cars but just rebodied them like they did the 3rd gen cars into Dodge Daytonas and we would not now them now. I have a bit of video footage with Mario Andretti loosing it and taking out half the field. Have you done a scape back on the roof to find out the original colour, mine was biege (yuk) but that is what I will have to repaint it as. I have a copy of a Road & Track article which was very informative and can run you off a copy if you like.

[carrera]

Hi Al. Are you thinking of Dave Marcus?

[Ol'_Motorhead]

Hi Al:
Could you post the Month & Year (Vol.?, No.?) of the R&T article. I likely have the issue buried in a box somewhere around here.
Thanks. Take care.

[Al Weyman]

Yes Carrerra that was the guy.

Hi Rob, I only have a photocopy unfortunately and there is no date on t. The article is titles 'IROC CAMARO vs Z28' and they do a back to back test with the latest Z28 (1978 model). The car iis tested at Riiverside and is decalled as car Number 11, interestingly enough my car is car Number 11 on the chassis number but I think they must have mixed and matched the race numbers as there was a pool of 15 cars with 12 to a race and two spares. So I would assume the mag article would be late 77 early 78 period. Actually I don't even know how I know it was Road & Track as it does not say, I think the guy who sold me the car must have told me, I think he may have the original or at least a reproduction in a complilation magazine, he did say he would give it to me, I will have to chase him.

Oh and Orange thinghy (Peter) the article says the Traco engines only produce 450bhp as the cars were hitting 190mph at some circuits with the original spec and they felt it prudent to slow them down a bit for the none oval racers. The car also weighed 3280ib race weight, so as I said taking a plasma cutter to the things to save a few pounds was really academic and I would say achieved very little.

[thatorangething]

Hi, that BHP figure sounds about right, I was quoted 440 as the figure for the original motors, but that apparently proved to be off the pace here, and the engine was replaced with a big budget job. The only information I have is what I have been told by IROC, the guy who owned it and raced it, and the guy who fixed it for him for two years.

[Al Weyman]

Maybe he stuck a big block in it that would have produced big numbers and would have bolted straght in. Do you have any headers with your car, the article says it was fited with 180 degree headers but where you source them theses days who knows.

[Ol'_Motorhead]

No problem - I've got all those back issues. I'll dig them out and see what I can find. Later.

[Ol'_Motorhead]

While you chaps were asleep (?) I found the article. It's from October, 1978 - pages 49-53. Unfortunately, the photos are B&W. I never saw these cars race but the Trans-Am series in the late '60s was awesome. Parnelli Jones and the Ford Mustang Crowd (Shelby & Holman-Moody) chasing Donahue in Penske's Camero. Door to door through the corners - exciting stuff! One of the most competitive series ever run over here with huge budgets from the Big Three NA factories.

[Al Weyman]

Nice one Rob, with your past knowledge and 'libary' you may be able to help Jeff Barley on another thread, he has an ex Rob Potter car he believes was an ex-TransAm racer and is looking for info on it. I like your signature incidently, just about sums me up as well.

PS my page numbers are different but I thnk mine was reproduced from a Camaro compilation magazine.

PPS You have 5 pages in your article I wonder if I am missing a page?

[Ol'_Motorhead]

Al - check your Yahoo email.

[Al Weyman]

Ok Rob thanks, I will check at the shop tomorrow.

[Al Weyman]

Got those Rob really appreciated, thanks.

[Al Weyman]

If interested in this project please refer to this thread here: http://tentenths.com/forum/showthrea...92#post1927292

[ascarboy]

Hi there,
My name is Shener Dervis I have come across your 10 Tenths motorsport Forum on the internet and noticed my name was also included in IROC Camaro Racing.
One of the reasons that I joined in is so that I can contact you.
If I am not mistaken, I believe that you need some info about IROC Camaro Racing.
I can help you with some of the info from 1984 till 1989. I was racing a Camaro alongside my brother who was also racing a Camaro.

[Al Weyman]

Are the whirling dervis's as Mr Sheridan used to call you guys I believe, I was at a meeting once and you were there I think it was a white 2nd Gen, was it one of the Brain Rice imports?