just a quick update... we've needed the new front wheels before we could get too much more done but they arrived last week and we've mounted up the 305 and work is once again progressing...

a comparison of the old and new wheels and tires:

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/1967%20O...comparison.jpg

and some of the progress on the trailing side of the front fender - the changes will be (mostly) subtle but should be effective

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/1967%20OLCR/shop%20188.jpg

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/1967%20OLCR/shop%20192.jpg

not at ride height yet but you get the idea...

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/1967%20OLCR/shop%20194.jpg

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/1967%20OLCR/shop%20197.jpg

We're still playing with exact fitment on the fronts - we've got a small spacer in back right now and with the 305s we've now got 3/4" more room on the back side so we should have better turning radius. Once we get some testing done we can fine tune that bit.

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/1967%20OLCR/shop%20195.jpg

Now we'll work on tweaking the leading edge and should be getting close to looking like something...

looks great James!
Has this taken the life of two fenders to make one?

Nope - just one (cheap aftermarket) fender per side. Best of Show essentially cut the skin off them, reshaped it, and welded it back together. We wanted a pretty big rework on the lower front of the backside of the fender and it necessitated another cut to pull it off. It would have been nice to go further with it but I didn't want to sacrifice any of the existing rear structure so I can bolt the old front clip back one when we're done.

There is another part of the "Reinventing the OLC" story and that is the "Reinventing the Driver" part of the program. I'll keep it brief since it's more "personal" than "mechanical" but it is part of the project none-the-less. Ask any of the top drivers in our (or any other) community - Mary, Brian, Mark, Kyle, etc. - and they will tell you that seat time is the key to success. Unfortunately it's not always possible to be on the track as often as you'd like - especially here in the Great White North where they are bulldozing the local race track to make room for the dump (don't get me started) ...

I've done some simple driving schools - Racing Adventures here in Calgary and Mario Andretti in Las Vegas - both of which were ok introductions to driving but didn't really do much in the big picture. I've done the Evolution Autocross school which is run by Mike "Junior" Johnson and features instructors like Ann and Andy Hollis, Danny Popp and others and I would highly recommend this course to anyone who wants to get some hands on instruction for autocross driving. I've also done an introductory course with Skip Barber at Laguna which was probably the best road course experience I've had to date but I still have some bad habits which I want to get over before next years OLoA.

I think that everyone has areas where they can improve - and I know that I do - but it's particularly frustrating to know where those issues are but not have "the answer". Seat time is the solution but without the ability to get some in the OLC right now I decided to try something completely different... Rally School.

Over the summer I headed down to Washington State and the DirtFish rally school - particularly their two day "Introduction to Rallycross" course. It's a cool setup they have on old sawmill - some 300 acres of dirt roads, paved lots, and everything in between. They've got a dirt slalom course, a 2 mile dirt/pavement road course, and they've got a great cross section of instructors and top notch equipment. And if you're old enough to remember... the sawmill is also the setting of the old TV series "Twin Peaks".

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/1967%20OLCR/DF1.jpg

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/1967%20OLCR/DF2.jpg

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/1967%20OLCR/DF3.jpg

It was a good experience and certainly helped... lots of time with Left Foot Braking... lots of time learning a completely new way to turn - lift, turn, brake vs lift, brake, turn... and lots of time learning new ways to get around a corner - from E-brake turns to the Scandinavian Flick. Definitely worthwhile and hopefully a step in the right direction

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/1967%20OLCR/DF4.jpg

It didn't solve all of my problems but I have added some new tools to the box...

You should really plan on figuring out a way to block that front tire from the front view even if its a removeable spat just for racing. Take a look at a 2005-200 Shelby to see what I mean, they tie a vertical surface into the splitter and it doesn't look too bad. It might look a little draggy but it will much cleaner than the air hitting the rotating tire. Also, by putting a small dam there and creating a high pressure zone right at the front outside of the tire, it will create a slight bit of low pressure behind it which will help pull air through the wheel well reducing underhood pressure and brake cooling. Some people even fence in these little deflectors to create additional downforce in front although I'm pretty sure the drag:downforce ratio is only 1.1 in that case.

I am sure it is hard to capture full detail but I think it looks very subtle, especially in the pic from the rear looking down the door. In my opinion these are the best kind of mods, if you get sick of it just pull it off and try something different.
It looks great man, I still haven't had the pleasure of meeting you or your car in person. I need to make that effort.

Preston - that's on the list of "next" but we needed the front tires on the car before we could put those together. There are two more treatments for the lower valence that need to be done before we get to the spats/dams but they will come. And you are - of course - correct, although they are somewhat contrary in nature (adding surface area) they are 100% effective.

For the record... we took inspiration from four cars in the design and they are, in order of significance of their influence on the design - the Corvette C6.R, the Camaro ZL1, the Ferrari ALMS and the Shelby that you referred to. We will try to implement the pieces of the four in that order so the degree of how much of the C6.R leading edge we can achieve will determine the magnitude of the Shelby dam that is required.

James, I read a post of yours somewhere and you had mentioned that you had come across some cars that had slightly wider track width in the front than the rear. Any recollection how much slightly is? Any thoughts about a front track width (overall outside to outside) that was 2" or even 3" wider than the rear?

Thanks!

Slightly would be something like 0.25 to 0.5" wider on the front vs the back.

Some slightly dated examples:

Noble m15 89mm wider at front
Ferrari F430 53mm wider at the front
Lamb Gallardo 30mm wider at the front
Porsche Cayman 42mm wider at the rear

I would think (and I may be wrong as this seems to be a bit of a point on contention among some engineers) that if you get "too" wide then you're going to have a car that probably wants to understeer (more than it may do now)... because as you increase track width you decrease tire loading and, at some point, you will lose front traction.

BUT, in actual practice, I think that it is somewhat dependant on your starting point... as think that it will reduce (or at least correct) some understeer up to a point. (I think) that the OLC understeers in some environments because I am overloading the front tires (too much weight from being to close together). My hope is that by increasing track width then the (marginal) weight reduction on the tires will result in a more stable front geometry.

You can look at it this way... By increasing the front track width you should decrease the front end weight. So if you start at 53/47 then you might end up at 51/49 or ??? If you go to far then, in theory (I think) then you will end up with too much weight on the rear...

I honestly don't know where that happens and I may be completely off here...

J