1987 Camaro
IROC-Z ET Bracket Race Car

Previous season results:

2010 Season Results

  • Jan 11 - This is the start of my 13th year of racing and 11 years with the Camaro. It sure has come a long way since I bought the car in 1999 as a perfectly good street car. The goal this year is the same as last. I want to get an 8 second timeslip at altitude. I doubt the winter projects will do it but it's still my goal. Since I fired the car up today, I figured it would be a good time to start a new year page. I had the engine running for a while tonight to check out the datalog system. Fuel and oil pressure were not working properly. I tracked down the fault with 2 wires mixed up at the sensors. I don't have the proper tools at home to switch the wiring pins around in the plug so I'll retest tomorrow. The sensor wires are color coded so I don't want to cut the wiring to the harness plugs or switch the wiring at the electrical panel. The O2, RPM and MAP sensors were working fine and the readings looked good. The fuel cell is now empty and I'll need to open the new barrel of fuel I picked up at the end of last season so I can run the engine some more.
  • Jan 12 - Fixed the sensor wiring and retested. Oil pressure is fine but there was no noticeable fuel pressure. Engine was idling rich so after a bit of testing I shut it down and did some more research.
  • Jan 13 - Adjusted the throttle blades and barrel valve. Engine now idles around 1150 and it's not idling as rich. The reason fuel pressure wasn't registering was because I was testing it in neutral. The barrel valve hardly opens when there's no load on the engine. Did a quick brake stand tonight and fuel pressure registered. This weekend when I can run the engine longer to build enough heat, I'm going to do a couple of transbrake tests to get some base readings.
  • Jan 20 - I've been working on fabricating a rear disk brake system using OEM style components. So far 99 Jimmy rear PBR calipers and modified rotors are working out well. I've spent most of the week designing adequate caliper mounts. After a few different bracket designs, I think I finally have a system that will be strong enough. If everything works out, I'll finally be swapping the Ford 11" drum brakes from the 9" and installing disk brakes this weekend.
  • Jan 21 - The driver's side rear disk brake is complete.
  • Jan 23 - The passenger side rear disk brake is complete. My car now has rear disk brakes from a 99 Jimmy. Total weight saving from the old drum brakes is 16.5 pounds of unsprung weight. Cost to do the conversion was less than $200
  • Mar 6 - I haven't been doing too much to the car. There's still a couple of small things to finish. The weather was nice today so I decided to fire up the engine and burn off a few gallons of fuel. The car is still sitting on jack stands so I couldn't take it outside. After warming everything up, I did a couple of transbrake stalls and it sounds real good. Chassis certification date is Mar 27. I probably won't fire it up again until then. If the weather co-operates this year, I may get onto a scale on that day also just to see if I'm back under 3000 pounds again.
  • Mar 16 - Replaced the rear tires. Changed from MT 32x14 to MT 32x16. Local speed shop actually had a set in stock. A height change would be nice but I don't have the clearance. New tires have 8-9/32" of rubber.
  • Mar 23 - Changed the oil. Cleaned the filter. Nothing unusual in the filter. I'm good to go. Chassis cert is this weekend and the weather looks favorable.
  • Mar 27 - As of today, the car now has an NHRA chassis tag good for 8.50. I also got across the scales today. Race weight has been knocked down to 3020 pounds.
  • May 29/30 - First race of the season. Rained/snowed out. Yes snow at the end of May. High on Saturday was +2c. Next race is next Saturday June 5 for a one day event. If it's an evening only event, I can't attend due to a previous commitment. For a day race, I need to be home before 5pm. The next race after that will be the Father's day weekend. I still need to do some licensing passes and was hoping to do them this weekend but that got shot down due to the weather turning crappy. Not getting on track until mid June is becoming the norm around here. By then the track is warm and dry enough .
  • June 5 - Weather looked threatening but they got the evening race off around 7:30 and finished around 11pm. I was out of town and couldn't attend.
  • June 9 - Looks like the AHRA has screwed Calgary out of the Father's day race. The CDRA is now trying to get a race program together for that weekend. If the AHRA isn't going to be our sanctioning body, I may try to race another season without a competition license. If I'm hastled about it, I'll make a trip to Edmonton, join the IHRA and make some licensing passes there. As much as I'd like to have an NHRA competition license, the NHRA really screws Canadian racers with their high cross border membership fees. If I could get an NHRA license without the extra cost to get National Dragster shipped across the border or a membership that doesn't include National Dragster then it wouldn't be so bad. We don't need a mailed publication to see rule changes etc. That's why they have a web site. Our short season just doesn't justify the high fees.
  • June 20 - Finally got to the track. 2 time trial runs and then screwed up and lost in the first round. Things are not perfect but I did set a new personal best on the second time trial run. Didn't set a new 60' record although it was close but I think I tripped the timers with the back wheels.
  • July 3 - Race day. Evening race. Good night for racing but barometric pressure was low. Had some minor problems with the car but not enough to keep me from racing. Made 4 passes down the track. Won first round when my opponent broke out. Lost the second round to a car with a .028 package. Hard to beat that. I got some datalog info and it looks like the engine is running slightly lean but not serious enough to cause damage. I'll fatten it up for the next race plus fix a few of the other issues.
  • July 24 - Hot, hot, hot. I haven't gone over the race data yet but I leaned the engine back to where I originally had it. We started off at over 6000' DA. My last pass was at 9:45 and I think we were still over 5000'. I got 2 perfect lights tonight. OK, neither were during eliminations. The first one was during the second time trial run. I then lost in the first round and went back for a test and tune pass and nailed another perfect light. 2 perfect lights in 4 passes. The first time trial run was a -.009. The first round of eliminations, I was paired against a 12.0 truck so I had to sit and wait for almost 3 seconds. I only had a .071 which was still better than his .091 but my 2-step screwed up and I lost the round. The guy in the time slip booth gave me a high five as I picked up the second perfect light timeslip. He was happier about it than I was.