Tag Archives: Z28

Hi Wing Body Kit – Chevrolet Camaro Z28

Most of the news around the 1997 Chevrolet Camaro centered on the white 30 Anniversary edition, 108 of which were fitted with 330hp LS4 engines, of which today’s featured car is not an example.

Chevrolet Camaro Z28, Redland, Bristol,

Neither does it have the tri coloured rear lights introduced to some markets, nor the new for ’97 five spoke polished alloy wheels, but it probably does have the new for 1997 interior.

Chevrolet Camaro Z28, Redland, Bristol,

This ’97 Z28 is powered by a pushrod 5.7 litre / 350 cui LT1 which with the introduction of OBD II compliant engine controls and twin catalytic converters in 1996 produced 285hp, up from 275hp in 1993.

Chevrolet Camaro Z28, Redland, Bristol,

This particular car appears to have been fitted with a non original equipment or even option body kit that includes new front spoiler, side sill panels, wild rear wing and wider alloy 5 spoke wheels, if you know who made this kit please do not hesitate to chime in below.

Chevrolet Camaro Z28, Redland, Bristol,

This Camaro, seen in these photographs in Redland Bristol some years ago, was first registered in the UK on the 1st of April 2007.

Chevrolet Camaro Z28, Redland, Bristol,

At the time of writing it’s MOT, certificate of road worthyness, had expired and Road Tax was about to run out suggesting it might be up for sale somewhere if it is not sitting unloved in it’s garage.

Thanks for joining me on this “Hi Wing Body Kit” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow for FIAT Friday, don’t forget to come back now !

Closest Thing To A Vette – Chevrolet Z/28 Camaro

Leave a Reply

When Chevrolet revealed it’s Camaro pony car in 1967 it envisaged most would be sold with either Standard, Super Sport SS, or Rallye Sport RS options packages, but to meet the requirements for participation in the SCCA Trans Am series, mandating a maximum engine capacity of 302 cui / 5 litres, a small number of Camaro’s were offered with the Z/28 option package, an option so rare many smaller Chevrolet dealerships did not even know it existed.

Chevrolet Z/28 Camaro, Goodwood Festival of Speed,

For 1968 Chevrolet gave the Z/28 a marketing budget with the strap line “Closest thing to a Corvette, yet” emphasising that that it came “on like a Corvette for a lot less.”

Chevrolet Z/28 Camaro, Goodwood Festival of Speed,

The 302 cui V8 with a 4″ bore and 3″ stroke had a compression ratio of 11:1 which when fed by the 4 barrel Holley carburetor with fuel distributed by a tuned aluminium manifold produced 290hp at 5,800 revolutions per minute.

Chevrolet Z/28 Camaro, Goodwood Festival of Speed,

Handling was aided by either quick or fast ratio steering racks, multileaf rear springs with bias mounted shocks, 15″ x 16″ wheels with Nylon cord Wide Tread GT high performance tyres and power disc brakes to order.

Chevrolet Z/28 Camaro, Goodwood Festival of Speed,

The rear spoiler was an optional extra and the stereo rally stripes were described as having no mechanical function but a great psychological value.

Chevrolet Z/28 Camaro, Goodwood Festival of Speed,

When Car Life tested a Z/28 in 1968 they concluded it was an “easy car to drive very fast”, the ’68 Z/28 seen in these photographs at Goodwood Festival of Speed was first registered in the UK on July 1st 1991.

Thanks for joining me on this “Closest Thing To A Vette” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again for FIAT Friday tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

Frank’s Championship Winner – Chevrolet Camaro Z/28

2 Replies

For 1972 Adrian Chambers Castrol SCA Freight team built a second generation Chevrolet Camaro with Mark Lesueur and Norman Lockwood to replace the ex-Bobby Brown first generation Camaro Z/28 it had been campaigning with Australian Frank Gardner at the wheel.

The car was initially fitted with a 5,736 cc / 350 cui motor and raced in the British Saloon Car Championship while the team saved the first generation Z/28 for selected appearances in the Deutsche Rennsport Meisterschaft.

During 1972 Frank won outright and by definition his class at Thruxton, Silverstone, Oulton Park, Mallory Park and no less than 3 times at Oulton Park to secure a class win in the championship but still had to give way in the overall championship to Bill McGovern driving a George Bevan Hillman Imp to a perfect 11 out of 11 class victories.

Chevrolet Camaro Z/28, Frank Gardner, Brands Hatch

Frank is seen driving the car above to victory at the 1972 British Grand Prix meeting at Brands Hatch in this photograph given to me by someone at school in the mid 1970’s.

The following season Frank drove today’s featured car, now fitted with a 7 litre / 427 V8 to six victories from 9 starts to secure his third British Saloon Car Championship and can be seen driving the car round Oulton Park that year in the clip below.

For 1974 the British Saloon car championship mandated a change to less radically modified Group 1 specification cars and Frank drove the SCA Group 2 spec Camaro with Australian compatriot Brian Muir in Europe where the car always qualified in the top six but frequently failed to start and when it did always failed to finish.

Frank retired to Australia at the end of 1974 where he continued racing into the the early 1980’s and running Australian Touring Car programmes with success for BMW.

Today’s featured car was then bought from Adrian Chambers by Stuart Graham with the intention to run it in Super Saloon races alongside his Group 1 Brut 33 Camaro British Saloon Car Championship program but the car proved to heavy to be a competitive super saloon.

Stuart sold the car onto Dutchman Rob Slotemaker who raced the car in Group 5 spec with a 7,443 cc 454 cui V8 up until his death at the wheel of his Group 1 spec 1974 Camaro at Zandvoort in 1979.

Rob bequeathed today’s featured car to current owner Bert Moritz and Bert’s son Patrick recently failed in an attempt to crowd fund an estimated US$200,000 restoration of the car.

Thanks for joining me on this “Frank’s Championship Winner” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again for FIAT Friday tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

Changing The Numbers Around Again – Chevrolet Camaro Z/28

Leave a Reply

In 1968 Roger Penske’s Trans Am team turned up at the Sebring 12 hours with two Trans Am spec Z/28 Camaro’s one a lightweight car that had been very successful in 1967, and the other a new car that had not had a weight saving acid bath.

Mark Donohue is reported as saying the Penske Team put the heavy #15 car through tech inspection first and then went back to their garage and swapped the #15 decals for #16 decals on the heavy car and put the car through tech inspection again.

Chevrolet Camaro Z/28, Concours on the Avenue, Carmel By The Sea

Having successfully pulled off this stunt for tech inspection Mark says the process was successfully repeated again during qualifying so that both the Penske driving crews qualified using the single lightweight car, which allegedly never went through tech inspection.

I believe Mark and Canadian Craig Fisher then drove the lightweight #15 Penske Godsall Camaro to a third place finish from 13th on the grid 6 laps behind two works prototype Porsche 907’s while the heavy #16 Penske Hilton Camaro driven by Joe Welch and Bob Johnson with Craig also taking a stint behind the wheel finished 4th from 17th on the grid 10 laps down.

Chevrolet Camaro Z/28, RMMR, Laguna Seca

Penske pulled off a remarkable feat and the SCCA deserved their comeuppance because as can be clearly seen from this linked period photo showing the Penske team cars bore different logo’s on the front wing panels Penske Hilton Racing for the #15 and Penske Godsall Racing for the #16 as seen in this photo.

It should also be noted that the acid dipped lightweight car can be distinguished by the absence of side marker lights which were mandated for US road vehicles in 1968 as described in paragraph six of this linked article.

Chevrolet Camaro Z/28, Concours on the Avenue, Carmel By The Sea

Evidence that the race numbers were swapped between the subtly different cars during the meeting is confirmed by this linked photograph from the Revs Institute showing the #15 running with Penske Godsall sponsorship on the front wing and without the side marker lights, and in this second linked photo from Car and Driver clearly showing a #16 during a pit stop with the ’68 side marker lights.

Today’s featured Camaro is believed by the owner to have been the 14th Z/28 to have been built, rolling off the assembly line on December 30th 1966 and into the Gorries Chevrolet-Olds, LTD dealership in Toronto where, the son of the GM-Euclid distributor for eastern Canada, Terry Godsall purchased it.

Chevrolet Camaro Z/28, Concours on the Avenue, Carmel By The Sea

The owner believes this car was raced for Terry Godsall by Craig Fisher and followed Craig to the Penske Team mid way through 1967, he also believes this is the lightweight car Craig and Mark Donohue drove to 3rd place overall and a well deserved class win at Sebring in 1968.

After Sebring the car returned to Godsall in Canada is believed to have appeared in Trans Am events up until 1972, the current owner identified the car as the much raced lightweight Camaro by an obviously acid dipped wing / fender, an unusual rear axle housing which turned out to be one of only 22 and a one off brake master cylinder that had been shipped by GM to Penske for the Penske Godsall Racing Camaro.

Chevrolet Camaro Z/28, Concours on the Avenue, Carmel By The Sea

My thanks to Geoffrey Horton for sharing his photo’s taken at Carmel by the Sea Concours on the Avenue and the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion a couple of years ago, note the engine shown is not in the same car as seen at Carmel by the Sea.

Thanks for joining me on this “Changing The Numbers Around Again” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow for FIAT Friday. Don’t forget to come back now !

PS I hope you will join me in wishing Geoffrey Best Wishes and a Happy Birthday today !

’69 Spoiler – Chevrolet Camaro Z/28

Leave a Reply

No sooner had Chevrolet announced the arrival of it’s Camaro model in 1967 to compete against Ford’s Mustang than racers in the USA were lining up to challenge the Mustang’s hegemony in the Trans Am series with the 302 cui / 5 litre Z/28 variant like the example seen here at a Silverstone Classic Press Day a couple of years ago.

Among those racing Z/28’s in 1967 way Bobby Brown whom records show raced a Penske Z/28 with George Wintersteen and Joe Welch in the 1967 Daytona 24 hours where they qualified 22nd but retired.

Chevrolet Camaro Z/28, Silverstone Classic Test Day,

Bobby also raced a Robert Chevrolet entered Z/28 in the 1967 Sebring 4 Hour race in which he finished 6th from 9th on the grid.

Records show Bobby racing a Z/28 on two further occasions at Lime Rock in 1967 winning his class in a SCCA event in mid May.

Chevrolet Camaro Z/28, Silverstone Classic Test Day,

Today’s featured car is believed to have been raced by Bobby in 1967 before being shipped to the UK in 1968 where Malcolm Wayne drove it in the British Saloon Car Championship the following season Mike Kearon did likewise.

In 1970 the car went to Bill Davis Racing where it was part of a two car stable that included a Z/28 built from scratch that was driven by Roy Pierrepont.

Chevrolet Camaro Z/28, Silverstone Classic Test Day,

Adrian Chambers acquired the car in 1971 for his SCA Freight team that was joined midway through the season by Australian Frank Gardner who won two British Saloon Car Championship races with it.

Frank also raced the car in a couple of rounds of the Deutsche Rennsport Meisterschaft 1972 finishing a best 2nd at Diepholz.

Chevrolet Camaro Z/28, Silverstone Classic Test Day,

After it was replaced in the SCA team by a second generation Camaro Frank had today’s featured car sent first to New Zealand and then to Australia where he raced it into 1973.

John Pollard appears to have been responsible for fitting the larger ’69 spec rear spoiler in preparation for his entry into Australian Super Sedan races somewhere around 1976.

Thanks for joining me on this “’69 Spoiler” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again for Ferrari Friday tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

The Super Hugger – AJ Rivers Simoniz Chevrolet Camaro Z28 Replica

1 Reply

While I was whizzing up to Castle Combe in the teaming rain a couple of weeks ago, I went flying past a rumbling cloud of spray that turned out to be this Chevrolet Camaro like the one once owned by former saloon car driver and race team owner Richard Lloyd.

It turns out the wide tyres were having trouble cutting through the water lying on the motorway and the Chevy was aquaplaning at speeds far lower than those I was travelling at in my borrowed Kia Picante with skinny tyres.

This is an early second generation 1970 Camaro,

fitted with a 5700cc / 350 cui V8 rated at 360 hp as part of the

Z28 performance package, a peak in the story of muscle car performance which with the onset of the 1973 fuel crisis would never be matched in the remainder of the 20th century.

The Chevrolet Camaro Z28 had a successful career in British Saloon Car racing, Frank Gardner used one to win the 1973 British Saloon car championship outright.

For 1974 the British Saloon Car Championship was open to vehicles in a much lower state of tune known as Group 1 regulations and several Camaro’s and one Plymouth Barracuda fought for top class honours, some of the Chevy’s including one run by Richard Lloyd, if I remember correctly, ran with either a 7 litre / 427 cui or a 7.4 litre 451 cui motor.

Back in 1973 while Richard was still running his car with a 5.7 litre / 350 cui motor he was scheduled to run in an event called the Avon Tour of Britain, that went round the entire country taking in races at many of the best circuits, rally stages and even a drag strip.

Richard fell ill prior to the event so he drafted in his team mate from the Spa 24 hours, up and coming British Grand Prix driver, James Hunt into the Simoniz Camaro at the last minute, James promptly ended up walking away with the victors trophy.

The car seen here is a replica of Richard’s AJ Rivers entered car that was built up for the 2005 Tour Britannia a mini Avon Tour of Britain for mostly historic vehicles.

Richard and his former entrant Alan Rivers competed in the Tour Britania from 2005 – 2007, but in 2008 Richard lost his life in a tragic plane crash that claimed the lives of several other well known figures from British Motorsport.

In memory of his friend Alan Rivers used the car one last time in the 2008 Tour Britania, before it was acquired by Stuart Scott and Steve Wood.

Stuart and Steve have entered this vehicle in every Tour Britannia since,

clocking class wins in 2010 and 2011.

Stuart hopes to take the Camaro to the Historic Festival at Lime Rock CT in September.

Thanks for joining me onto day’s Z28 edition of ‘Gettin’ a lil psycho on tyres’, I hope you’ll join me again tomorrow when I’ll be going Dutch. Don’t forget to come back now !

Gettin' A Li'l Psycho On Tyres

Art Tidesco blogs on all things motoring

Tag Archives: Z28

Hi Wing Body Kit – Chevrolet Camaro Z28

Closest Thing To A Vette – Chevrolet Z/28 Camaro

Frank’s Championship Winner – Chevrolet Camaro Z/28

Changing The Numbers Around Again – Chevrolet Camaro Z/28

’69 Spoiler – Chevrolet Camaro Z/28

The Super Hugger – AJ Rivers Simoniz Chevrolet Camaro Z28 Replica