Attack on the cones and "new" CAMT "build"

What's old is new again -- autocrossing a thirdgen F-Body in a street-tire class again. Let's hope this works out better than last time.

Where there's smoke, there's tire! "Loosing" my way in my old STX 1990 Pontiac Formula.

I had signed up for the Pro Solo at FedEx Field Northwest Stadium in R3, which would mean I would be running on Hoosiers on the CP index. But after driving in CAMT at the first event of the year, then doing an event on the Shenandoah Circuit at Summit Point (again on street tires), I decided to switch to CAM for the Pro. R3 is likely to get bumped anyway, so why not just drive in CAM against other 'Merican V8s?!

Which means I needed to get a few things. Namely carpet and door panels. I still had everything else -- A-trim plastic, center console and passenger seat -- from when I stripped the interior a few years ago.

I had trashed the door panels and carpet, though, because they weren't worth saving, so I needed to find replacements. Preferably new.

Messaging Polish Oborski about trying to find stuff, he mentioned LRB Speed that carries aluminum door panels for thirdgen F-Bodies (and second gens, too, which is why he knew this). I ordered a set -- built to order, but they came in less than three weeks.

The interior ready to be installed.

I ordered the cheapest replacement carpet I could find and then set about installing everything.

In CP, the minimum weight is 3,000 pounds without driver, and CAMT minimum is 3,180 with driver. Going by the bathroom scale, I would be adding about 70 pounds to the car with the passenger seat and all the interior stuff. However, I had added a 50-pound block of lead to make CP minimum (and I might add, never did a national event but figured I'd be legal anyway for local events), and I could take that out. So I was basically only adding another 20 pounds to the car. 

In theory, the car is 2,970 now, and I don't weigh 210 pounds anymore, so it should be over the minimum 3,180 with driver for CAMT.

I'm pretty sure this is the only time I've "built" a car for a class by adding weight but not any performance parts.

And everything was ready to go for the second WDCR of the season on Sunday. 

Last time, Dr. Phil and Big Mike were there with there CAM pony cars. This time, nobody else really. Unless I wanted to compare to Cody Hunt in a CAMS (that only has one cam) Corvette.

The forecast called for rain in the morning then tapering off before noon. As luck would have it, I ran in the last heat. Heat one ran in the wet, and heat two was in drying conditions. The course was almost entirely dry by the time heat three started.

Rain and surrounded by Miatas. Fortunately, the rain went away. The Miatas will never go away.

It was a fairly straightforward course, other than a NINE-CONE slalom. And that would be my downfall. I hit cones on every run, and at least one came in that slalom. I smacked those cones good, though, because they deserved it.

My last run was my fastest, 37.1. Plus one, of course. So woulda-coulda-shoulda been 11th in PAX without the cone. I felt 36s were do-able, though.

Next event is the Pro, and there are 11 others signed up for CAM -- CAMT, CAMC and CAMS all run together on an index, so I gotta sharpen my math skills. Other than Dr. Phil and Big Mike, no idea about the competition. It will be my first Pro since 2014, and my first national event since 2016.

Oh, you want more vintage photos of the ol' Firebird?