By now you have likely heard about the huge fire that the iconic Big Red Camaro suffered during preparations for the car to compete at Pikes Peak. The good news is that the team has determined the case of the blaze and has vowed to rebuild the car. The bad news is that the car was just freshly rebuilt and it was in prime fighting shape before this inferno struck. While there is no official timeline given in the story below we think that these guys are going to get after it pretty hard to see that the car is back up and running.
If anything let this story serve as a sobering notice to all of us out there beating on our stuff. You can never be too careful, can never check stuff too many times, and never be overly anal about anything before hitting the race track. We are certainly not accusing this guys of doing anything wrong, just throwing it out there that if guys at this level can have issues, no one is immune.
Here’s the official word from Team Big Red along with photos –
The unfortunate fire that almost completely took Big Red has been identified.
After a 29 year run without a complete rebuild it was time. In November last year, we started tearing Big Red apart. Just four weeks ago we had finished the complete rebuild of Big Red, every single component on the car was rebuilt, updated, replaced, and/or modified. It was a six month thrash to essentially build an entirely new car with the latest and greatest of materials and components. We knew it was going to be a tight schedule between finishing the build and the running of Pikes Peak in Colorado on June, 26th. There were going to be bugs and growing pains as there are with any new fresh build, so testing was critical.
We had four substantial testing sessions: 1) on the engine dyno, 2) a track day test at Buttonwillow Raceway prior to Pikes Peak Test Weekend, 3) on a chassis dyno for final tuning with full exhaust system, and 4) a two day Test Weekend at Pikes Peak. We took the car home to California and wanted to get one more session before going back to Colorado for the race, which ran last weekend. On our 5th test session we took the car back to Buttonwillow Raceway. That’s when tragedy struck.
After a 14 day examination we have concluded that a fuel rail failure (not a manufacturing defect), possibly due to unusually high engine temps and loose fuel rail bolts, was the cause of a major fuel leak in the engine compartment. With a high-pressure fuel pump, a small leak can turn into fuel spray. Hot components under the hood ignited the fuel. The fire quickly spread to the wiring and hoses, then to the rear of the car where the rear tires caught fire and got out of control.
The quick action of the Big Red Team and Buttonwillow Raceway Emergency Personnel prevented a total loss.
It has been officially decided that Big Red is salvageable and repair work will begin immediately. It will however take many months.
Its tough see Big Red looking like a crispy critter. Glad to see it being rebuilt and hopefully no repeat.
I clicked the story off after your first paragraph which failed to summerize or identify the cause.
Its’ NOT A F*CKING NOVEL, GET TO THE GODDAM POINT.
The teams story is too long to even begin with. It’s just not that important.
I still do not know or now care what happened to that thing and will ignore all future pots about it.
Try and get it together. Not all your readers are numbskulls. You must have a Junior College nearby ? Take some Journalism 101 courses.
You’re Welcome.
WOW! Someone is having a bad day !
Go home,and throw away that box of cornflakes (it’s obviously contaminated!!
And refrain from posting if all you can do is come here & shit on people….
And you will receiving a certified cheque in the mail for DOUBLE what you paid for all the entertainment provided by the posts here on BS, so stay close to your mailbox (but away from your keyboard:):)
Your Welcome
Wow! Obviously doesn’t work on cars. Please go back to your House2Home articles and leave us be.
Good to see RJ is still standing. BigR1 will be rebuilt, bigger, badder, and redder.
This isn’t about bow-tie, blue oval, or pentastar, its about the hard work and sweat that goes into these cars and the heartbreak when something like this unexpectedly happens, and the determination to bring it back. Looking forward to BigRed2.0.
ADD much?
Hmm, yep, since your time is so important why don’t you self-ban and save yourself some more of it.
Who gives a flying whatsit what caused the fire – one less hunka Chevy shit to pollute the finest hill climb course on the planet!
I want to know in case it is something that i have neglected or need to replace to prevent something like this happening to me.
You say the same shit over and over…so you hate Chevy’s…we get it. Dumb. Try saying something useful for a change and then go back to working on your Prius collection.
Glad to see it’s being rebuilt.
I’ll keep this short, so we don’t loose him.
Wow, 3 generations of ass-hats. Sad. I’ve heard that every new geneation becomes even more moronic.
No Dale, its just with social media these days, we are just finding out how many people are morons!
Georgie from the UK is the #1 moron of the bunch. Just one question Georgie, WHAT do you own/drive/wrench jackass? Some POS 4 cylinder, wrong wheel drive, Euro-crap? For anyone who follows the hobby, Big Red is an iconic hot rod with an incredible history. You sir, are a brand loyal asshole!
Why no onboard fire suppression system?
shame, I am a fan since the donovan engine.. the old big red. I see the door still closes, body did not lose the steel shaping. As obd2 came out in 96, 55psi fuel was an “oh my god”… we wondered back then if there could be a volume shutoff, not just psi. As cars at their worst are squeezing to single digit fuel, the volume is very small. There could be a trigger to shut off pump at volume flow exceeding too much per second. Problem solved. It is actually the last scary thing in modern stuff. Crazyass pressure.
Not hard to find it was a fuel problem, a fire that quick !! Maybe some type of fuel shut off should be mandatory
Alot of people dont think of alot of safety stuff till someone gets bit in the ass from it!
Things Happen.. I Love Big Red and what they do for there Fans ! Hope they get it back together soon.
I crashed my Vega that Dave built which was an emotional experience. when I see the pic’s of Big Red I see all the creativeness that Dave poured into her and it’s beyond sad. The comment made that no one is immune to such a result goes a long way to help the little guy’s, like myself, to have an understanding of “it’s not just me”. The big positive here is that R.J. was unhurt, “everyone went home”.
I guess the fact that Dave is going to be focused for sometime is a gross
understatement. There is no one else that is up to that task although I can’t help believing that as he progresses he will say to himself “I’v been here before”.
Blackboldt
Amazing car.. I’m a Ford man through and through, but even i can admit that there is NO other car out there that even comes close to how inspirational and cool this car is.. This rather larger Blip is just one more Battle Scar that this car can wear with pride.