It's been 5 days and I still can't wipe the big grin off my face! I think the El Camino truly earned it's G-Machine wings last Wednesday at the Brainerd International Raceway (B.I.R.) in Minnesota. It was an open track day/driving school hosted by the Suburban Corvette Club of Minnesota.
B.I.R. is a 3.1 mile long 10 turn road course with a 4700' long main straight. This was my third time road racing and the first time with the El Camino. I figured the car would do okay but i was shocked at how well it did. Along with a few other people judging by their comments. Many Vettes were passed.
Mike Miller, the event coordinator: "we don't see many of these here." My guess is that he's "never" seen an El Camino at one of their events. He rode with me my first time out to help me learn the course. After seeing how much the front end wanted to lift at 140+ mph he suggested putting a spoiler on the front end.
After that first session a guy who was a passenger in a C6 Vette came up to me and said he couldn't believe it. He said they could keep up on the long straight but not in the corners. I figured it would have been the other way around!
The event didn't go without incident. Two cars went off the track. One was a 69? Corvette that ended up in the ditch. I have it on video. The other was a brand new Ford GT/GT40!! I have in-car video being passed by the GT before it happened. There was a Mitsubishi EVO in hot pursuit. I can't say for sure but I suspect the GT driver's nose may have gotten a little out of joint not being able to shake the Mitsu and probably pushed his car a little too hard. It was sickening looking at the damage to the GT. What a beautiful car.
Mechanically, the El Camino performed flawlessly except for a blown header collector gasket. It ran cool, didn't use any oil or leak any fluids. It was running a little lean in 5th on the long straight. Not dangerously lean but it looks like some fuel system upgrades may be warranted. I was very pleased to see that all the suspension modifications actually work! And work well "out of the box". There is still room for improvement though. Unfortunately, it did sustain some minor damage. I was dogging a ZR-1 for several laps. For some reason, the driver wouldn't let me go by and on one of the laps, he kicked up a rock at 120mph which skipped off my hood and left a quarter sized star on my windshield. The ZR-1 was running racing slicks so I suppose the rock stuck to one of the rear tires.
I have about 45 minutes of in-car video shot in Hi Def. widescreen. I'm working with Scott on getting some of it posted.
Anybody who hasn't been on a road course, you gotta get your car out there and try it. It's a frickin blast!
Some stats from the day:
37 laps for a total of 114.7 miles
~90 mph average speed
143-147 mph on the long straight
27 gallons of gas used
4-5 mpg
Brian Hobaugh SCCA National Tour June 2014
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Short clips: Goodguys Pleasanton autocross and pit videos
El Camino Tears Up The Road Course
WOw 147 on the straight!! 
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