(All photos courtesy of Grassroots Motorsports Magazine)
Here at BangShift, as you already know, we are deeply rooted in the world of Drag Racing. That said, it’s no secret that we like our cars to make turns other than onto the return lane of the 1320 every once in a while. One of the best way to exercise these demons is to hit up a local autocross event. A few years ago, yours truly got behind the wheel of a BMW 1-series to navigate the sea of cones for the first time, and it was an absolute ton of fun. Since it was a BMWCCA event, it was saturated with BMW’s, but there were a fair share of Miatas, ToyoBarus (the FR-S, GT-86 and BRZ), and other small FWD cars buzzing around the track. Although I was having a blast, one thing that I kept thinking was how much fun this would be in something with a screaming modern V8 and rear wheel drive. There were a couple cars at that event that fit this mold: a C5 Corvette Z06 and a Coyote-powered Mustang GT. Watching those getting hustled around the track with that V8 soundtrack was auditory and visual bliss.
After that event, I was reminded that autocross wasn’t just for Miatas and small cars, and that the SCCA even has a great series devoted to muscle/pony cars: their Classic American Muscle class, or CAM for short. CAM is divided into a few subclasses, like CAM-T (1955-1989 RWD cars and trucks) and CAM-C (1990-present RWD cars and trucks). If you recall, our own Dave Nutting drove his Monte Carlo SS to a CAM-T event a few years back and lived to tell the tale.
CAM-C specifically is really hot right now, especially since it’s very easy to get one’s hands on competitive modern muscle. And one of the best platforms to run in this highly competitive class is the Fourth Generation GM F-Body twins: the 1993-2002 Chevrolet Camaro and Pontiac Firebird/Trans Am. The best part is that these cars are plentiful and affordable right now, and snagging one on the cheap and making it competitive is a realistic goal.
This is Tony Povletich’s 1994 Camaro with the super rare 1LE package. Instead of it living the pampered life as auction fodder or sitting in some collection collecting dust, Tony flogs the thing regularly during CAM-C events. It runs a LT1 upgraded to LT4 specs, with a sprinkling of other power and chassis upgrades to boot. And it has stance in spades; just look at that thing!
This 2000 Trans Am is campaigned by John and Rhonda Fehring. The Fehrings also happen to own Hoosier Performance Engineering, which caters to the 4th Gen crowd. This car is a test mule of sorts, and showcases parts that anyone can bolt onto their own car. This one runs a 6.2L LS3. Yes, even LS cars aren’t safe from LS swaps!
Through our buddies at Grassroots Motorsports Magazine, I caught up with two 4th Gen owners who are successfully campaigning these cars in CAM-C. Each was built with a different approach, and one of them even started life as a real 1LE car (aka the very rare handling and performance package for Showroom Stock racing), so it’s nice to see it getting flogged instead of sitting idle in a rich guy’s car collection. Both cars are downright nasty!
If you are interested in the world of SCCA CAM Autocross, or just a fan of the venerable 4th Gen F-Body twins, click HERE to check out the story over at Grassroots Motorsports Magazine’s website!
