1967 Camaro for OUSCI

[ironworks]

Originally Posted by Stielow

I sold Red Devil because people are not as interested in a 3 year old car as they are a new build. I know it sucks but it is true. I was at the OUSCI last year and the design judge asked me "so, is this is the same car as last year?". I knew that was less style points. The magazines also want fresh cars (preferably not Camaros). Everyone expects me to build a new car better than the last.

Sorry I'm being a bit guarded on what is in the car but this is still a race and I do need to have a few tricks up my sleeve. I could be paranoid but I think people are gunning for me.

I could do an ultra light weight car that would be a track only car but I don’t want to own a car like that. I like to drive my car back and forth to work and on Hot Rod Power Tour if I wanted to. So things like side glass, sound deading, Air Conditioning, windshield wipers and a radio make it a “real” car. If I put the same time effort and money in a C-6 Corvette it would crush any Pro-Touring 1st Gen. Camaro. I know folks want to believe the their $100+K Pro Tour Camaro can whip a C-6 Z06 but it is hard to do as Danny Popp showed everyone. A late model Corvette has better: Aerodynamic, Center of Gravity, Weight Distribution, Polar Moment of Inertia, Track Width, Full sorted ABS, Traction Control. MR shocks, Air Conditioning, and you can buy one today that will kick most Pro-Tourings cars butt.

But I love old Camaros….I’ll keep trying to close the gap but it is hard. I do this as a hobby and for fun. I love designing new engine parts then running a engine on the dyno, sorting out shock valving, working on the technical issues on how to make ABS brakes work. This stuff is fun. With all the great products out there now from DSE and others these cars are fairly easy to build compared to 10 years ago. I’m sure someone will build an all carbon fiber, 2000lbs, AWD, 1200 HP Camaro someday and that will be very cool. It’s just beyond what I could do in my 3 car garage in my spare time.

When I was in college we had a competition called Formula SAE. OUSCI is like big boys and girls FSAE. We work on cars after class and on weekends for one race. Humm sounds like OUSCI but now we have work in place of classes. Formula SAE had a subjective engineer design portion; OUSCI has a subjective style portion. Formula SAE and OUSCI have track events. The big difference is FSAE and OUSCI both had one page of rules when it started. Now FSAE has about 20+ pages of rules…. So you folks wanting rules just look at FSAE.

Sorry that is off topic, but it is related to this build. My buddy in college who did the engine development on our FSAE car is the same guy doing my engine for this car: Dave Mikels. So there is a lot of continuity. Dave and I talked daily about our FSAE car in college and now we talk daily about OUSCI. Without Dave’s help I could not do well in OUSCI. On a side note on FSAE when I left University of Missouri - Rolla our next team caption for FSAE was Kyle Tucker…..Humm. Kyle is a great engineer and driver and he picked some or that up with FSAE.

These cars are more than the sum of their parts. It is the way they are tuned and tested that make the big difference. From 2010 OUSCI to 2011 OUSCI I shaved 3 seconds off my road course time with the same car with the same parts just by tuning it.

We should have the new engine on dyno next week. This is where the theory meets reality. Dave and I have modeled it and talked about it all winter. Now we will find out if it will make the numbers we think it will. This is fun stuff. I’ll never forget when Dave and I were in college and our FSAE engine cleared 100 HP in an open air dyno with no dyno cell. We sat 6 feet from it with no wall with it wailing at 10,000 RPM and the turbo system cherry red. As we spooled it up we could see our team mates backing up. People could hear it run all across campus on a Friday night. Good times. So when we fire up our latest creation it is the same but with bigger numbers and a wall.

Anyway I’ll drop some more information, maybe a rendering and a car name on this project soon. For now I just posted a few photos for fun and to get you guys talking.

Mark

The thing with tuning is how much work did it take in that year to get that 3 seconds? I'm sure a ton.

Lots of interesting info there, thanks Mark.

[camcojb]

Originally Posted by Stielow

I almost roll that Mustang one time and that's all people remember.

Mark

that is NOT a third gear corner............

[Stielow]

Originally Posted by camcojb

that is NOT a third gear corner............

Yes, but at least it was the out lap with Charley watching and you riding shot run. Sorry about that. Glad we didn't flip it. In my mind that was a slow third gear turn, I mixed it up with another turn. Very embarrassing. At least all my friends remember years later and still give me crap about it...

Mark

[Track Junky]

It amazes me on what a little insite about someone can change your whole perspective on them. Thanks for sharing the back ground history. Didn't know you and Kyle went to school together.
On another note, yeah, Vettes are fast out of the box but where's the challenge in that.
And of course competitors are gunning for you. Thats just human nature. Who wouldn't want to have Stielow status. I'm pretty sure I speak for all when I say your the top guy among the Pro-Touring competition builds.
As far as the build goes, Im glad to hear you'll be putting sound deadener, AC, etc. All that stuff will add weight and slow you down. Who knows, I might see you at a track some day and I need every advantage I can get.

[camcojb]

Originally Posted by Stielow

Yes, but at least it was the out lap with Charley watching and you riding shot run. Sorry about that. Glad we didn't flip it. In my mind that was a slow third gear turn, I mixed it up with another turn. Very embarrassing. At least all my friends remember years later and still give me crap about it...

Mark

that's what friends do. Hey, I'll ride shotgun with you anywhere anytime.

[214Chevy]

Originally Posted by Stielow

.... I know folks want to believe the their $100+K Pro Tour Camaro can whip a C-6 Z06 but it is hard to do as Danny Popp showed everyone.

I know right? I think it's funny when guys say that. It may be a car somewhere who can do it. But not near as many as some owners of classics might think. Maybe, someone with a 1000 hp/600tq. ft. lbs classic can beat a Z06 in a straight line, but at a track...don't see it.

Originally Posted by Stielow

...I could be paranoid but I think people are gunning for me.

This is true Mark when you are at the top of your game!! It appears you and your builds are what other guys seem to gauge their builds off of

[68SS2]

Talking about your experiences with FSAE for Mark, Scott, and Kyle brought back a lot of memories for me. I led the Iowa State FSAE engine team for a couple of years and worked on the first all aluminum race frame that our school had built (lots of tig welding and then heat treating)

That was a great time racing in Detroit on the autocross and getting the backstage tour of the factories. Ford machined us some billet aluminum parts in their prototype shop that we had broken and I was very impressed with the personnel and their knowledge.

Reading everyone's posts about the next event makes me really excited to get my Chevelle completed and appreciative of all the great information on this site.

Thanks
Doug

[70Nova]

Enjoyed the FSAE story. I watched my son as the chassis guy for a Texas A&M car one year that did well. His team was followed the next year by a car that did well too where the engine guy was named Horace......look what he has accomplished in a short amount of time.....Mast Motorsports.

[David Pozzi]

Mark, thanks for talking a little about your past & perspective on why you are building Camaros the way you do. I think it is SO easy to get caught up in building a "competitive" car these days, but sacrifice too much. I commend you for striving to build the kind of car you will enjoy using, & still making it faster than the last one.

I'd like to ask you what is your opinion on hiding the ECM, ETC under the dash? I see in the last one you had a lot of that stuff in the engine compartment.
David

[Stielow]

Originally Posted by David Pozzi

Mark, thanks for talking a little about your past & perspective on why you are building Camaros the way you do. I think it is SO easy to get caught up in building a "competitive" car these days, but sacrifice too much. I commend you for striving to build the kind of car you will enjoy using, & still making it faster than the last one.

I'd like to ask you what is your opinion on hiding the ECM, ETC under the dash? I see in the last one you had a lot of that stuff in the engine compartment.
David

David

I hid the ECM and Fuse Panel on Jackass and it looked better but was a pain in the butt. I hate digging around under the dash. On Red Devil I wanted to get to stuff quickly because I knew I was going to track the car a lot. It worked great. I had the ECM out of that car at least 20 time for various reflashs or needing it to dyno another engine. No one said it looked bad most said it looked OE. One thing that we spent a lot of time on was the wiring on Red Devil. It was complicated, but due to a lot of forethought it looked great and work correct from the first turn of the key. I credit that to my buddy Ryan Kuhlenbeck who was super detailed on the wiring. I have a complete schematic of the harness down to what wire and color are in every connector. So later if you need to trouble shoot an issue you can go right to the connectors and check it out.

Good luck with the "Wife Beater"

Mark