[fighting irish]

So I took my car to the local SCCA Solo event this weekend. A little background about me: I have 0 experience driving in a competitive environment. I did 5 laps at exotics racing in Vegas once, but that is it. There was a test and tune event which was unofficially timed on Saturday, followed by the points event on Sunday. It was the first event of the year, and the weather was near ideal. What was not ideal was the course- it does not play to the Camaro's strengths. Very small course, tight turns. I was easily the heaviest vehicle there, and nobody else in my specific class (FS). I got 12 runs in on Saturday, and 6 timed runs on Sunday. Now for my inexperienced review!

Interior: I had about half a dozen other competitors/instructors sit in it during the 2 days there. Most were very impressed with the interior quality and comfort. Almost every one brought up limited visibility which plays a slight role for a novice. I was always trying to look ahead, and never went off course though. I did hit quite a few cones (20) which I partly blame on visibilty, but almost always in the slalom portion mostly due to the size of the car and the tiny course. Most cones were hit by the back end of the car. The car was extremely comfortable with MRC even in track mode and very bumpy pavement. I never felt sore or punished from a run EXCEPT my left knee was bumping against the gray light strip area instead of the padding. Small bruise on my left knee this morning.

I am 6', and headroom was limited with a helmet. I did have to recline slightly more than normal in order to fit with my sunroof. None of the people who sat in the passenger seat complained about headroom, most were around 6' also. The steering wheel felt great in my hands, the clutch felt just about perfect as well. The seats were slightly less bolstered than I would have liked, but this should be fixed with the 1LE. Overall, I was very happy being inside the car during my 18 runs. I felt comfortable, secure, and confident other than slight visibility issues.

Driving Impressions: As a novice, I was really trying to get comfortable with the driving characteristics of the vehicle. I have been driving subcompacts for a while, and their predictable nature and lack of power made exploring the limits of the vehicle fairly easy. The camaro was a completely different experience being RWD, heavy, powerful, and with excellent handling. It took me until the end of the second day to understand precisely what was going on during most of my runs. Handling felt good, but it took me until the end of the second day to realize that the car was understeering in many of the really tight areas of the track. That is completely my fault, and an experienced driver would have recognized it right away and probably lowered the front tire pressure. I had the fronts pumped up to 42PSI and should have gone lower. The steering and suspension were relatively communicative, but it took some time to determine when I was sliding. I had the car in competitive mode the entire weekend, and this made for an interesting and fun time.

For braking, I felt that the initial bite was mildly spongy, but that braking performance itself was excellent. I still have the initial DOT3 fluid in. I'm not sure if I really need to change it out because the runs are so short (<45 seconds) and there is plenty of cool down time in between runs. Acceleration is amazing when the rear tires hook up. And the sound with the NPP on track mode is great too!

Overall, I am very happy with the performance of the vehicle. Most of the issues I can sort out over the next few events. As I get better, I may be able to benefit from better tires, brake pads, and a sway bar. I probably won't do that until next year though since driver mods would improve more time at this point anyway. Thanks, Chevy!

The only video I have is me plowing into some cones. I'll try and get it uploaded to youtube and link it. Any recommendations for recording in car video? I was going to do track addict likely with a spare iPhone 5 I have lying around. Any recommendations for mounting and bluetooth OBD data?

Short video of me killing some cones:
https://youtu.be/xCAaX8ChT-Q

[Imp]

Good job.

I'm sure you probably heard it out there, but if you can get more than 50% of your turning done before the next cone in a slalom, you'll be faster. You want to be on almost the immediate backside of a slalom cone....



Just something to think about next time. Notice in the top pic, you're on the 'back side' of the cone and that allows one to open up the slalom cones and be more planted, faster, and have a bit more wiggle room for error if you're ham-fisted with the wheel.

And smooth is fast. You can turn the wheel quickly, but make sure it's fluid and not a jerk.

--kC

[BigEnos]

This ^