This past weekend I attended my first autocross of 2016 and first autocross in 3 months. Of course it was at one of my new favorite events, the San Diego SCCA. There are a great group of CAM compeititors that battle it out each event as well as for the season's points. In fact I think this past Sunday may have been a record with 16 CAM T drivers and it for sure is the first time I've seen 3 first gen camaros show up (myself included).

I was actually quite rusty the first lap or two out but put down a 4th lap that I was happy with and was good enough for 2nd place overall in CAM T. As another competitor said I need to point out that I lost to a guy wearing pink corduroy driving a mustang II. In my defense Alcino can drive is consistently a contender for first in any given Sunday.

Here is a video of my best run and what the San Diego Autocross courses can be like.

Congrats again on the win at the NMCA event Chad!

I finally got around to editing all the videos from NMCA and Del Mar. I chose a cleaner run than the pitched sideways full opposite lock video.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRvqZmGGVaw

Man I've super neglected my poor thread. However, a post by USCA reminded me that one of the things I'm most proud of this year is back to back podium finishes in overall GTV class at the two Optima USCA events I've attended. I've had first place finishes in NMCA autocross and local SCCA autocross events in 2016 but the USCA series is such a harder test on car and driver that getting on the podium at one of those events is an amazing feeling.

At the February USCA event at Thunderhill I placed second overall and at the April Vegas event I placed third overall. Given the level of competition at these series and the seriousness of the cars I feel pretty damn good to be in that company. Especially, since my car is truly a street car that I drove all the way to each Optima event and back home and continue to rack up a ton of miles a year!

http://i1380.photobucket.com/albums/...psw3otizx4.jpg

Bingo!!! I was just gonna comment on that before i read it the whole way thru. You DRIVE to the events and DRIVE home, that alone should be worth extra points, you have a STREET car, ultimately. You inspire me to have bigger Kohenes driving mine too and fro at more events....now thats is finally running.

Cheers, mike

Stoked to see you doing so well Chad and kickin butt out there and having a great time. Keep it up bro :thumbsup:

The car is awesome, but you are an amazing driver Chad, and one top notch guy. Highlights of my Optima experience so far is meeting great guys like you.

Congrats on your success this year, you totally deserve it.

Sean

Thanks Mike. I certainly don't blame anyone for trailering or hold it against them but just because trailering might be a prudent choice it doesn't mean I can't take a little pride in my Camaro competing and not needing the trailer :) Hope to see you again at another event.

Thanks Dave! I can't wait for you to get your race car finished :p I've had more fun with my car and attended more events than I can count (6 autocross events in the month of June alone lol) since getting it mostly sorted at the end of 2014. It sure makes the painful build up a distant memory. I'm looking forward to the day you can say the same. Its great to see some real progress pics in your thread on a somewhat consistent basis too!

It was great meeting you Sean and you are no slouch in the driver's seat either! You started off strong and have only improved since that first event. I totally dig seeing all the track days you have been attending in your truck. It's fun when I attend a track day in the Camaro and can raise some eyebrows with the car's performance so I can just imagine how much surprise you and your truck create at a typical track day where it is all modern cars.

Chad,
Are you running the mast or autokraft oil pan?

I'm running the autokraft pan (made by champ FYI). I debated between the Mast pan and the Autokraft pan but decided on the Autokraft pan because it uses trap doors while the Mast ban uses baffles. I've had no oil starvation issues in any of the tracks I've run. Though on street tires I see a maximum g load of about 1.2.

Trackspec hood louver install.
 

I've been eyeballing hood vents for quite a while and was stoked when Trackspec released a set of vents specifically designed for the 67-69 Camaro cowl hood.
http://trackspe.nextmp.net/1st-gener...d-louvers.html

I just installed a set on my painted steel cowl hood and wanted to share the install. Detaolils beliw and a howto on my blog. Trackspec Motorsports 1stgen Camaro hood vents.

Here is the hood off the car with the supplied templates taped down. The template is the same outer diameter as the vent and has "cut line" cutouts where you need to cut. Trackspec recommended using a grinder with a "thin cut" cutoff wheel.

http://i1380.photobucket.com/albums/...psppw2uhfr.jpg

I decided on hood vent placement based on three variables. 1) I wanted the vents placed inboard towards the center of the hood to avoid cutting the strength rib running down the sides of the hood.

See this pic for the rib:
http://i1380.photobucket.com/albums/...pska4z9za3.jpg

2) Placing the vents closer to the front of the hood but behind the radiator fan shroud opening and 3) far enough foward so that the inside front rivet would not have to pass through the small bump in the below circled area and instead be flat.
http://i1380.photobucket.com/albums/...pst0ngyndn.jpg

The angle grinder worked well. The paint about 1/8" from the cut line was burned in spots but is easily covered by the hood vent. I did some basic edge prep and taped off the cut openings about 1/8" back on top and bottom and hit it with touch up spray paint to keep it from rusting. Also, because my hood understructure was body color this helped pain some of the now exposed understrcuture so it would be red when looking though the vent from the top of the hood.

Following the template means you have about at least 1/4" larger hole than the louver part of the vent. This gives you room to position just right. We then taped it down and proceeded to drill and rivet the louver. My louvers matched the slop of the hood perfectly side to side. However front to back the vent was slightly bowed more than my hood. Therefore, when drilling and riveting I started at one end and installed one at a time so that as the vent laid down and conformed to the hood I didn't have to worry about the last set of holes getting out of alignment which might have happened if you drilled all the holes and then installed the rivets. Drill slow and apply light pressure! Will help minimize any jagged metal on the hole exit.
http://i1380.photobucket.com/albums/...psvg4vyd5i.jpg

Here are some pics of the finished product.
http://i1380.photobucket.com/albums/...pswettgeoz.jpg

http://i1380.photobucket.com/albums/...psjli34tiq.jpg

http://i1380.photobucket.com/albums/...psvvamfx9f.jpg