[jwisjw]

Originally Posted by HyperspaceTurd

Those dampers have me all jelly. Where can I get a set?

These are all custom made to order and will require the front stock struts as donor, which I believe you can buy for under $100.00 each from the GM deliver ship, or we can purchase some locally to possibly save you shipping. Would need to inquire, PM me if you want to know more about pricing.

[jwisjw]

Being street class and all, it is fitting that I change the car before every event right?

This was supposed to be an "off" weekend for us but we some how managed to install a NEW front bar and found 2 events around our area. Ended up installing a Hotchkis front bar (if you guys need one, PM me). Here are some specs that I gathered from my calipers.

Stock Bar:
Bar OD: 28mm
Compressed Arm Thickness: 8mm

SS 1LE Bar:
Bar OD: 29.6mm
Compressed Arm Thickness: 8.2mm

Hotchkis Front Bar:
Bar O.D. 32mm
Compressed Arm Thicnkess: 11.7

I did confirm with Hotchkis that this was a .250" wall thickness bar AFTER we picked this up, which had me worried because other members here are running the Strano bar, which is supposed to be a step down from this at .188" I.D. wall thickness and have been running full soft because anything stiffer causes understeer.

Saturdays event was with Ruthless Racing Events that hosted the event at Camarillo Airport. Unfortunately they are very unorganized and I question the validity of their timing equipment. Data from solo storm and video suggest times to be different than posted. Grip at Camarillo seems to be some what grippy off the bat but didn't really phase the tires after 9 runs (could have had up to 30 runs if we stayed). Car did end up pushing a little bit but adjusted shocks settings and it made things somewhat happier for that surface. The sweeper speeds seemed a little low (avg 28 mph) so I wasn't surface if that was inducing some of understeer steady state.

Sunday, we decided to go to a lower grip surface at San Diego which is very similar to Fontana. The lot used at San Diego was the SE lot, this surface generally isn't used as often as the West lot. I suspect the lot has more grip than the West Lot and possibly Fontana.

The course had 4-5 turn arounds/pin turns that ranged from 25 mph up towards 34 mph and as we all know, the little 8.5" baby wheels/tires were sure grinding off quickly, however, it was hard to gauge if the car really pushed any more or less due to the on/off camber changes. Nevertheless, I ended up taking top pax over Jeff and Zak Kiesel in their EM/FM cars. There were a 6th Gen ZL1 1LE and SS 1LE that I ended up raw timing (very surprised btw) by .5 or so. Will be going up to Crows Landing next week to finalize the testing with this bar but it sure does seem promising.

2/17 Southern California - Camarillo Airport

F-Street 2017 Camaro Bridgestone RE-71R Ruthless Racing 2/17 Jeff
F-Street 2017 Camaro Bridgestone RE-71R Ruthless Racing 2/17 Nicole

2/18 Southern California - Qualcomm Stadium now known as SDCCU Stadium


F-Street 2017 Camaro Bridgestone RE-71R SD Champ TART 2/18 Jeff
F-Street 2017 Camaro Bridgestone RE-71R SD Champ TART 2/18 Nicole

[AdvanSuper]

There were a 6th Gen ZL1 1LE and SS 1LE that I ended up raw timing (very surprised btw) by .5 or so.

This father and son were so proud of themselves in his ZL1 and the sons 1SS 1LE then I took them for a ride at the request of an instructor in my car and they were blown away by how fast I was compared to them... The instructors just wanted them to see what the cars were capable of... They proceeded to brag they only do track days and this is for fun only blah blah blah.. .

[jwisjw]

Here are some recaps of the continuous back to back events.

Going up to Crows Landing, the surface is so damn abrasive that we didn't want to really wear out any new tires because we had an event the following weekend at Fontana which demands higher tread in order to stick to the surface. Ended up purchasing some used 275 RE71R's that only had 40ish runs but never been flipped. The tires did not grip - front or rear, even on the abrasive surface. It took a total of 4 runs in order for any confidence of throttle in the rear. Day 1, the balance for that course felt like it was decent, times were near STX, however Day 2, ended up losing to Mark Scroggs in the D-Street car by a second and decently far from STX. Day 2, the course had a lot of sweepers, which the car didn't want to turn at all. Was very disappointed and wasn't sure if it was the tires or the front bar unfortunately.

F-Street 2017 Camaro Bridgestone RE-71R AAS Round 3 2/24 Jeff
F-Street 2017 Camaro Bridgestone RE-71R AAS Round 3 2/24 Nicole

F-Street 2017 Camaro Bridgestone RE-71R AAS Round 4 2/25 Jeff
F-Street 2017 Camaro Bridgestone RE-71R AAS Round 4 2/25 Nicole

Approaching the Fontana event with a lot of doubts it was really hard to erase everything that happened. We have practices the previous day and championship the next day. Riding with a lot of people on the practice day, it made me realize that the Camaro was just a massive car that is hard to efficiently get through the course (Haven't ridden in anything since September in our FR-S). Going back to Fontana on "good tires" it seems that the balance ended up working out very well both days. Championship day did actually favor the Camaro quite nicely because the course was opened up from the practice day. Was nice to get both flavors of course and according to PAX within our local competition the car seems to be getting faster or I'm just driving it better.


F-Street 2017 Camaro Bridgestone RE-71R AAA Speedway Practice 3/3 Jeff
F-Street 2017 Camaro Bridgestone RE-71R AAA Speedway Practice 3/3 Nicole

F-Street 2017 Camaro Bridgestone RE-71R AAA Speedway Champ 3/4 Jeff
F-Street 2017 Camaro Bridgestone RE-71R AAA Speedway Champ 3/4 Nicole


This past weekend we had the opportunity to fly out to Florida and attend the Fort Myers Pro Solo. Instead of the usual F-Street Camaro, Nicole was driving a C7 Grandsport in L3 under the SSR index. Local member Greg Shumaker was nice enough to let me run his A Street SS 1LE in Cam C. Having consecutive runs in the car, it was interesting to feel the differences in suspension modes. The hardest thing that I couldn't wrap my brain around was how the car handled in the rain. Having ran track suspension mode, the car felt sharp. You could oversteer it in transitions if you were too aggressive on the wheel, which made me believe that in the rain, I would want to run touring suspension mode. I was wrong and the amount of roll and the way the car felt like it set made the tires very unhappy when giving larger angle steering inputs or braking/turning. Track mode, in my opinion based on feel was better but still had huge flaws. Running the car in PTM Wet, that allowed me to load the car up more than both modes but throttle was severely cut. Maybe I was going so much slower into the features that was why it felt better? LOL. Greg complained that this was the worst that the car has ever been in the rain. They had one event on the stock tires and said it was magical. Maybe that is what it needs? Unfortunately, driving in the rain has changed my views on the SS 1LE and almost ruined my weekend. I really hope if Greg and Terry run the car in the wet again, they can find a happy suspension/tire setting for it. Thankfully it was dry Sunday to turn my frown upside down.

CAM C 2017 Camaro SS 1LE Bridgestone RE-71R Fort Myers Pro Solo 3/10-3/11 Jeff
L3 SSR 2017 C7 Grandsport Hoosier A7 Fort Myers Pro Solo 3/10-3/11 Nicole

[FNxR3DNECK]

Originally Posted by AdvanSuper

This father and son were so proud of themselves in his ZL1 and the sons 1SS 1LE then I took them for a ride at the request of an instructor in my car and they were blown away by how fast I was compared to them... The instructors just wanted them to see what the cars were capable of... They proceeded to brag they only do track days and this is for fun only blah blah blah.. .

I wish I could have seen that Benny! You are really quick, I think I was faster than you on Saturday but then you edged me out on Sunday at the November event. Next time you should get them to let you drive one of their cars lol

[MatthewAMEL]

Originally Posted by jwisjw

This past weekend we had the opportunity to fly out to Florida and attend the Fort Myers Pro Solo. Instead of the usual F-Street Camaro, Nicole was driving a C7 Grandsport in L3 under the SSR index. Local member Greg Shumaker was nice enough to let me run his A Street SS 1LE in Cam C. Having consecutive runs in the car, it was interesting to feel the differences in suspension modes. The hardest thing that I couldn't wrap my brain around was how the car handled in the rain. Having ran track suspension mode, the car felt sharp. You could oversteer it in transitions if you were too aggressive on the wheel, which made me believe that in the rain, I would want to run touring suspension mode. I was wrong and the amount of roll and the way the car felt like it set made the tires very unhappy when giving larger angle steering inputs or braking/turning. Track mode, in my opinion based on feel was better but still had huge flaws. Running the car in PTM Wet, that allowed me to load the car up more than both modes but throttle was severely cut. Maybe I was going so much slower into the features that was why it felt better? LOL. Greg complained that this was the worst that the car has ever been in the rain. They had one event on the stock tires and said it was magical. Maybe that is what it needs? Unfortunately, driving in the rain has changed my views on the SS 1LE and almost ruined my weekend. I really hope if Greg and Terry run the car in the wet again, they can find a happy suspension/tire setting for it. Thankfully it was dry Sunday to turn my frown upside down.

CAM C 2017 Camaro SS 1LE Bridgestone RE-71R Fort Myers Pro Solo 3/10-3/11 Jeff
L3 SSR 2017 C7 Grandsport Hoosier A7 Fort Myers Pro Solo 3/10-3/11 Nicole

Hey! I was there, too (and at Match the weekend before). Running my 1LE.

I was shocked Greg had 4 drivers for his car during the Pro. You could really tell the RE71's had enough during the last CAM-C runs.

There has been spirited debate about modes to run during events. If you are who I think you are, we had a conversation about PTM-Race and pulling power.

I used nothing but Track (Race in the dry/Sport 1 in the wet) for the weekend.

I was surprised by how often the launch control beat all the guys running 'all off' in the 60'.

Also of note is I run the GY G3's and raw timed everyone in Greg's 1LE in the rain.

BTW - I am slow. I run with Greg, Terry and Robert on the regular and they too, will tell you I am slow . Still having fun, though.

[apexit53]

Honestly for autoX PTM needs to be off. Granted im talking 1ss non 1LE here but PTM is just to invasive for the quick transitions and turns to keep up and just thinks you're crashing. Thats me though and if people dont feel comfortable running with everything off I get it, better be safe than sorry. Its kinda like when the R35 first came out, other than a few SM cars people said it was too computerized to run autoX and it could keep up.

[MoreSpeed]

Originally Posted by apexit53

Honestly for autoX PTM needs to be off. Granted im talking 1ss non 1LE here but PTM is just to invasive for the quick transitions and turns to keep up and just thinks you're crashing. Thats me though and if people dont feel comfortable running with everything off I get it, better be safe than sorry. Its kinda like when the R35 first came out, other than a few SM cars people said it was too computerized to run autoX and it could keep up.

I find the same thing with the ZL1. Race is not bad, but anything below race is too invasive and will not keep up with very rapid transitions.... like accelerating out of a very tight corner. Best is everything off. I just have to be smooth with the throttle.

[JRL1LE]

Originally Posted by jwisjw

Here are some recaps of the continuous back to back events.

Going up to Crows Landing, the surface is so damn abrasive that we didn't want to really wear out any new tires because we had an event the following weekend at Fontana which demands higher tread in order to stick to the surface. Ended up purchasing some used 275 RE71R's that only had 40ish runs but never been flipped. The tires did not grip - front or rear, even on the abrasive surface. It took a total of 4 runs in order for any confidence of throttle in the rear. Day 1, the balance for that course felt like it was decent, times were near STX, however Day 2, ended up losing to Mark Scroggs in the D-Street car by a second and decently far from STX. Day 2, the course had a lot of sweepers, which the car didn't want to turn at all. Was very disappointed and wasn't sure if it was the tires or the front bar unfortunately.

F-Street 2017 Camaro Bridgestone RE-71R AAS Round 3 2/24 Jeff
F-Street 2017 Camaro Bridgestone RE-71R AAS Round 3 2/24 Nicole

F-Street 2017 Camaro Bridgestone RE-71R AAS Round 4 2/25 Jeff
F-Street 2017 Camaro Bridgestone RE-71R AAS Round 4 2/25 Nicole

Approaching the Fontana event with a lot of doubts it was really hard to erase everything that happened. We have practices the previous day and championship the next day. Riding with a lot of people on the practice day, it made me realize that the Camaro was just a massive car that is hard to efficiently get through the course (Haven't ridden in anything since September in our FR-S). Going back to Fontana on "good tires" it seems that the balance ended up working out very well both days. Championship day did actually favor the Camaro quite nicely because the course was opened up from the practice day. Was nice to get both flavors of course and according to PAX within our local competition the car seems to be getting faster or I'm just driving it better.


F-Street 2017 Camaro Bridgestone RE-71R AAA Speedway Practice 3/3 Jeff
F-Street 2017 Camaro Bridgestone RE-71R AAA Speedway Practice 3/3 Nicole

F-Street 2017 Camaro Bridgestone RE-71R AAA Speedway Champ 3/4 Jeff
F-Street 2017 Camaro Bridgestone RE-71R AAA Speedway Champ 3/4 Nicole


This past weekend we had the opportunity to fly out to Florida and attend the Fort Myers Pro Solo. Instead of the usual F-Street Camaro, Nicole was driving a C7 Grandsport in L3 under the SSR index. Local member Greg Shumaker was nice enough to let me run his A Street SS 1LE in Cam C. Having consecutive runs in the car, it was interesting to feel the differences in suspension modes. The hardest thing that I couldn't wrap my brain around was how the car handled in the rain. Having ran track suspension mode, the car felt sharp. You could oversteer it in transitions if you were too aggressive on the wheel, which made me believe that in the rain, I would want to run touring suspension mode. I was wrong and the amount of roll and the way the car felt like it set made the tires very unhappy when giving larger angle steering inputs or braking/turning. Track mode, in my opinion based on feel was better but still had huge flaws. Running the car in PTM Wet, that allowed me to load the car up more than both modes but throttle was severely cut. Maybe I was going so much slower into the features that was why it felt better? LOL. Greg complained that this was the worst that the car has ever been in the rain. They had one event on the stock tires and said it was magical. Maybe that is what it needs? Unfortunately, driving in the rain has changed my views on the SS 1LE and almost ruined my weekend. I really hope if Greg and Terry run the car in the wet again, they can find a happy suspension/tire setting for it. Thankfully it was dry Sunday to turn my frown upside down.

CAM C 2017 Camaro SS 1LE Bridgestone RE-71R Fort Myers Pro Solo 3/10-3/11 Jeff
L3 SSR 2017 C7 Grandsport Hoosier A7 Fort Myers Pro Solo 3/10-3/11 Nicole

Jeff,

Congrats on your results, thanks for the report.

What did you think of the ELSD on the 1LE?

[jwisjw]

Originally Posted by MatthewAMEL

I was surprised by how often the launch control beat all the guys running 'all off' in the 60'.

Also of note is I run the GY G3's and raw timed everyone in Greg's 1LE in the rain.

Solo Live results have moved onto the Dixie Tour but looking at them earlier today, I saw that I had 2.1 to 2.2 60 ft's which was faster than you. IIRC, you had 2.2 and 2.3's?

Raw times in the rain during the same group of cars, Greg was dirty but did have faster raw times than you. I *believe* that my runs had more rain/standing water so I don't think they would be comparable. Regardless, thinking about it, the Goodyear G3's are only regional approved. I don't think you would be able to run those at Solo Nationals... However, I think everyone competing in a SS 1LE should rent a water truck and test out a rain setup... at least on the magna ride suspension.

Originally Posted by JRL1LE

Jeff,

Congrats on your results, thanks for the report.

What did you think of the ELSD on the 1LE?

One thing to note about Greg's car, which he wasn't aware of was the lack of front camber. Peters' SS 1LE was able to get -2.8 degrees of negative camber in the front. When he showed me the alignment final sheet, it showed -2.1 square. The "before" alignment showed -2.6 and -2.3 degrees. I suspect the front increase in camber would change the cars ability to put down power on that course but we will never know. The course only had 1 real turn around, which in the 5-6 non consecutive runs that I've had in a SS 1LE, corner exit typically was the main concern from the ELSD. I will say that the "1 real turn around" I was very tentative on exit.

[Norm Peterson]

Originally Posted by jwisjw

The course only had 1 real turn around, which in the 5-6 non consecutive runs that I've had in a SS 1LE, corner exit typically was the main concern from the ELSD. I will say that the "1 real turn around" I was very tentative on exit.

Is this a matter of eLSD behavior being hard to predict, too abrupt, or is something else entirely suspected?


Norm

[jwisjw]

Originally Posted by Norm Peterson

Is this a matter of eLSD behavior being hard to predict, too abrupt, or is something else entirely suspected?


Norm

Comparing it to the 1SS, I feel that throttle steering the rear end around sweepers or corner exit is definitely easier to feel the limit. The SS 1LE feels as if there is a slight dead spot and trying to be more aggressive on the next run, it just steps out. Take this with a grain of salt though as I'm still learning how to drive a high horsepower RWD car.

[JRL1LE]

Originally Posted by jwisjw

Comparing it to the 1SS, I feel that throttle steering the rear end around sweepers or corner exit is definitely easier to feel the limit. The SS 1LE feels as if there is a slight dead spot and trying to be more aggressive on the next run, it just steps out. Take this with a grain of salt though as I'm still learning how to drive a high horsepower RWD car.

Good description , my experience also, 2015 SS1LE compared to 2017 SS1LE. I've tried different rear camber and toe settings to help with corner exit. I heard the GM guys with the CAM-C 1LE car at Nationals changed the LSD to work better for autox, instead of track work.

[apexit53]

Originally Posted by JRL1LE

Good description , my experience also, 2015 SS1LE compared to 2017 SS1LE. I've tried different rear camber and toe settings to help with corner exit. I heard the GM guys with the CAM-C 1LE car at Nationals changed the LSD to work better for autox, instead of track work.

yeah I think they had it reprogrammed. Legal in cam and they had talked about making it available for public purchase but idk if that has happened.