Updated Price and eBay Ad for the ESP Camaro

The ESP Camaro is still for sale after a recent deal fell through (not b/c of an issue with the Camaro) - come get it for $13,750 or make me an offer I can't refuse. I also have lightly used tires that I can work into the race ready package.

eBay Ad: http://www.ebay.com/itm/161641538078?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

Tire Ad: http://www.roadraceautox.com/showthread.php?51274-New-335-30ZR18-Hoosier-A7s-for-Sale-Used-Hoosier-A6s-for-Saled

The ESP Camaro is for Sale!

I'm selling my 2001 Camaro Z28 E Street Prepared as a race ready package with extra wheels, tires, and spares. This is one of the best prepared and fastest ESP cars in the country - ask anyone who has driven it recently (Strano, Brian Burdette, Lane Borg). I am making plans for wheel-to-wheel racing so the Camaro will need to go. 

I have owned the car since Sept. 2011 when I bought it from Sam Strano. Sammy owned the car from new (Sept. 2000) and won numerous F-Stock and ESP ProSolo and Solo National Championships with it. I have finished 3rd, 4th, and 6th at the last 3 Solo Nationals. This year, my pace was hampered by too much inside wheel spin due the diff wearing out so the car is faster than the results show this year. I will purchase a new Auburn Gear Racer's Diff and include it with the car. Other than this, the car is in top shape and ready to race. I recently had it re-tuned by LG Motorsports on their dyno, changed all fluids and had the transmission fully rebuilt by Texas Drivetrain Performance (it had never been rebuilt and too many years of Sammy and I speed shifting had worn out 2nd gear....) so it shifts perfectly now. I can provide dyno sheets if interested. I have won several National Tour and ProSolo events in the car including setting Top Pax at the 2014 College Station Tour. I have setup sheets and notes for the testing I have done in the past three years. Sam has been a great resource in the development of this car too. 

The Camaro is white with a 6-speed transmission. It has 49,500 miles on the odometer. The roof was originally black but I had it vinyl wrapped in white and then applied the blue and orange vinyl stripes to the car in 2012. It is currently not registered or inspected. It is always kept inside my shop and has basically only been used for autocross since I've owned it. In the interest of full disclosure, this is not a show car. It's got some dings and dents, and it was in one accident in 2006 but Sam also won Nationals in it 8 weeks later by a big margin.

$14,250 takes the full package or make me an offer! Car is located in San Angelo, TX. Come buy a fast and fun racecar for one of the most popular autocross classes out there.....one small bonus - no index racing for ProSolo! Please email me if you are interested - DOgburn at gmail dot com. Thanks for the interest!

Here is the parts list (I'm sure I am forgetting something, but this is all of the big stuff):

On the car:

StainlessWorks long-tube headers w/cats
SLP exhaust (will meet sound reqs, sounds good but not overly loud)
Koni shocks, fronts shocks have coil-over sleeves installed
Fays2 Watts linkage
Auburn Racer's differential
Adjustable torque arm
Strano Performance Parts tubular 35mm and 22mm sway bar set
Custom-modified Global West front upper control arms (for increased camber)
1LE lower control arm bushings (front and rear)

Redline fluids in diff, tranny, and engine

Motul fluids in clutch and brake system

Aluminum flywheel and upgraded clutch
Stainless steel brake lines
Lightweight Braille battery to the right rear
12lb Kirkey aluminum seats for driver and passenger (I have the stock seat too) 
Grant F1 steering wheel (not the cheap ones, the nice Momo style 3 spoke type)
Upgraded front sway bar mounts
Complete set of factory service manuals

HAWK DTC-30 pads in front, Hawk HPS in rear

UMI 2-point sub-frame connectors

Upgraded engine mounts

800lb HyperCoil front springs, 400lb HyperCoil springs

TA Performance Diff Cover (more support for carrier bearings)

Spares/Extra Parts:

Stock front upper control arms with StranoParts offset bushings

Brand new Auburn Gear Racer's diff

600 & 700 lb front springs

Lots of rear springs (StranoParts, HyperCoil, Landrum) - basically everything from 150 to 450lbs. Most lightly use (just testing).

Stock parts for basically every aftermarket part that was installed including seats

Assorted used brake pads

Diff rebuild parts

Extra fluids/fuel

Stock rear ARB

22mm hollow Strano ARB (non-adjustable)
Koni Single Adjustable Rear Dampers (on-car adjustable)

Wheels:

Four 17x11 Forgeline RS-Competition race wheels

Four 17x9 Camaro SS wheels (used for rain tires)

Four 17x9 WS6 Stock wheels - I have an old set of rains on these for street/"roll around" tires

Tires:

Three sets of used 315/35ZR17 Hoosier A6 tires (good enough for locals/practice). 

One set of 275/40R17 Hoosier Radial Wet H2O -  Rain tires purchased in March 2011 and only used once (I won with them at 2013 Spring Nats)

Also see here for more tires for sale (they can be worked into the deal if interested) - http://www.roadraceautox.com/showthread.php?50650-Hoosier-A6-Tire-Sale-New-and-Used

More Photos Here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/yaw_moment_racing/sets/72157649698100478/

ESP Camaro from 2014 Solo Nationals

ESP Camaro from 2014 Solo Nationals

ESP Camaro from 2014 Solo Nationals

ESP Camaro from 2014 Solo Nationals

17x11 Forgeline Wheels, Used Hoosier A6s

Bolt-on Camaro Hitch

Koni Single Adjustable Rear Dampers

Hoosier Rain Tires, 17x9 Wheels

Tuning Parts and Factory Service Manuals

Chrome 17x9 WS6 Wheels w/ old Hoosier Rain Tires

2014 SCCA ProSolo Finale and Solo Nationals

Well, this is the time of year I usually get pretty lackadaisical about writing blog posts. It's been a few weeks since I competed in my 5th Solo Nationals and my 2nd ProSolo Finale. As with most things in racing, there was good and not so good, but overall it was a fun week in Lincoln with my family.

Dad and I in grid for the Pro Finale

Making a spring adjustment during the Pro Finale

The Pro Finale turned out to be a 2-Heat event (rained on Sunday), but a 3rd day would not have affected the outcome. Greg McCance was unstoppable en route to his 2nd consecutive ProSolo Championship in ESP. I was the "best of the rest" and the fastest RWD car but at 1.5s back from the Subaru, I had no chance. I finished 2nd for the season ESP ProSolo points - on to next year!

At the starting line during the Pro

Pro Finale Results

With Monday as a test/rest day, we kicked things off in Heat 1 of the 2014 Solo Nationals. As I have done in three out of my five Solo Nats trips, my first run on Day 1 was my quickest, I hit a cone, and it would have put me in first or less than a tenth out of first. I got kick this habit next year! I finished the first day in 3rd place 0.4s back from Billy Brooks and Greg McCance in the Subaru. This issue was the diff was on its way out. It had started to act up during the ProSolo but I thought it would be OK for the rest of the event but I was starting to get more and more inside wheelspin. With 0.4s to make up on Day 2, the differential decided it didn't want to "differentiate" anymore. I nursed the car through three runs, but I anytime I looked at the throttle with lateral load in the car the inside rear tire spun up and I couldn't control the attitude of the car with the throttle at all. Frustrating end to the season, but it's just a hard lesson for future racing. When it's the biggest race of the year, make sure the car is in top order....on to next year!

West Course Map

East Course Map

Solo Nationals Final Results - Congrats Billy!

Here is some incar video:

A lot of A-Stock Jackets in this group

Getting ready for the Solo Nats rockin a new sleeve look

Good thing we bought her a dog bed..........

ESP is back on the ground!

Thanks to Josh and Joe for all the help getting the transmission in and back out of the Camaro. We got the car on the ground Monday night and it ran great. I can actually use 1st and 2nd whenever I want which is a nice change. The Camaro will be going to the dyno this weekend for prep for Nationals which is just right around the corner. 

Trans is back from TX Drivetrain Performance

Up and back trip to Weatherford yesterday and I have the transmission back from being mended. 2nd gear and selector ring both head heavily worn engagement teeth which was the cause of the 2nd gear shifting issues. After a full rebuild it will hopefully feel better than new. Trans will be back in and the car will be driveable again by Wednesday.

Camaro transmission in for a rebuild

Thanks to Josh and Joe for helping me pull the trans. Hopefully picking it back up soon and will actually be able to shift it into 1st or 2nd!

Super long extension!

ProSolo Points Update

I'm guaranteed a tie for first with max points going into the ProSolo Finale after the win at Toledo and Dad is sitting in 6th with 24 points. The ESP Camaro is set for a battle in Lincoln.

Toledo ProSolo in the ESP GT500!

With a business trip putting me in Ohio in late June, I was able to run the Toledo ProSolo for the first time this year thanks to Jeff Cox and his high horsepower Mustang GT500. Thanks Jeff....it was fun man! We had 16 drivers in class sporting mainly V8 muscle car variants except for reigning ESP Champion Greg McCance and his Subaru WRX.

Photo Courtesy of Perry Bennett @ AutoXPix.com

We lucked out with three dry heats despite being threatened by rain all weekend. I arrived at the track Friday night just in time to run practice starts in the new-to-me equipment which proved very helpful over the weekend as I was cutting 0.500 - 0.650 lights all weekend....better than I do in my freakin' Camaro! I finished P2 after the first heat about 1s behind McCance who clearly had the strongest pace all weekend. Car issues put Greg out of the 2nd heat but he was able to hang onto 1st place in class. I picked up pace in the GT500 but a few others improved even more dropping me back to 4th place.

Lined up for Sunday Morning

This setup a show down on Sunday morning as we had good conditions and a surface that normally picks up grip throughout a ProSolo weekend. Unfortunately, Greg had to drop out after his 2nd run with further drivetrain issues leaving the door wide-open for one of the Mustangs to take the top spot. With a half-second gain on my first left-side rum, I moved into 1st place and came away with a very surprising 0.111s victory Bitter sweet due to competitor car issues, but a win nonetheless meaning two Hoosiers for my man Jeff Cox and two ESP class wins heading into the ProSolo Finale!

Onto the Super Challenge where the field was incredibly tight - I think the qualifying delta was around 0.2s! I had my best Challenge to date marching to the Final Four as I got even more comfortable with the heavy, high horsepower muscle. I came up against Jason Frank in the Final Four round and scored a come-from-behind victory by 0.2s.....except for hitting the last cone on the course which bounced me out of the Finals! I tagged another cone in the 3rd-place round to put me in 4th overall.

In-Car video: LINK

Here is the SoloMatters.com writeup: LINK TO FULL ARTICLE

SoloMatters ESP recap:

Once again, Greg McCance drove his E-Street Prepared 2002 Subaru WRX over half way across the country to compete. He held the lead in ESP after Saturday morning over Dave Ogburn III, who was co-driving Jeff Cox’s 2010 Ford Mustang GT500 on Hoosier Tires. Greg suffered a broken hub during the Saturday afternoon session, but still managed to hold onto the lead as Dave continued to work on the handling of the Mustang. McCance was able to get the car ready for the Sunday session, but suffered a broken differential on his first run of the day. Dave Ogburn III dialed in the car and was able to laid down times to win ESP by 0.111 seconds, Dave Heinrich finished third only 0.031 behind McCance.

SoloMatters Super Challenge recap:

All of the close class battles meant a low margin to get into the Super Challenge; you needed to be within 0.263 seconds of the class winner to qualify. There were lots of very close battles and very few red lights throughout the challenge rounds. The final four drivers in the Super Challenge featured Dave Ogburn III from ESP versus Jason Frank from STS, and Chris Harvey from CS versus John Vitamvas from SPB. In the first matchup, Jason Frank held a lead after first runs, but Dave Ogburn III laid down a smoking fast run beat Frank back with enough time; however, a cone awarded the win to Frank. Chris Harvey was able to defeat John Vitamvas to move into the finals. The final round didn’t disappoint, Jason Frank held a 0.124 second lead after the first run, they switched sides and Chris Harvey was first back on the second run, but not enough to make up the margin; Jason Frank took the Super Challenge win by 0.055 seconds.

Ogburns are 1 and 2 in ESP ProSolo Points right now....

With only 4 events so far this year, this is sure to change...but it's kind of cool for now. 

Missed Shifts at the Mineral Wells ProSolo

With the drag starts of SCCA ProSolo, shifting is especially the 1-2 shift at the drag start is kinda important. The ESP Camaro was not too happy with 1-2 shifts this weekend. For the first time in the car, my Dad and I both had trouble with getting the car into 2nd gear. I had to double stab it on half of my runs which was extremely frustrating and didn't help the lap times at all.

Here are the Bump class results. Korry Berger took home the win in the ESP battle clipping me by 0.05s. Grant Watkins took home the Bump class win in his SMF Civic. Congrats! I really struggled on the right side all weekend and couldn't get into the 39s for the life of me. With my 3rd place finish and being 0.8 back from Grant, I barely made the Super Challenge for the event which makes it 2 for 2 events this year. I was the 31st qualifier based on my gap to Grant in Bump class so I had a tough road to go. Despite this, I had two decent runs and barely lost by 0.2s. With a missed shift on both sides (common theme....), I could have moved into the next round...oh well.

Our next National event will be the Pro Finale and Solo Nationals in September. Despite the transmission troubles, I took home 2nd place points for the ProSolo championship this weekend and will take a 1st and 2nd into the Pro Finale which gives me a shot at the ProSolo Championship if I can hang with the AWD cars. For now, time to pull the transmission which won't happen until sometime over the summer, but I have to get it fixed before pulling the car up to Lincoln. I will be putting the lift to good use this Summer!

Mineral Wells ProSolo This Weekend

Arrived a bit late in the Mineral Wells Paddock

We are in Mineral Wells, TX for the our 2nd ProSolo event of the year. This is the closest National SCCA solo event of the year to my house so I enjoyed just having a 3 hour drive after work instead of 12! We only have 3 entrants in ESP unfortunately so we will be competing in the indexed Bump class. We should have over 5 drivers in Bump class so it will be possible for us to qualify for the Super Challenge. It's going to be a hot one this weekend, but at least there is no rain the forecast.

The car is basically in the same trim as my last event in College Station except for the new front upper control arms I installed to gain front camber. They are Global West arms modified by BlaineFab and look to be nice pieces. We will see how they fair on the old Mineral Wells asphalt this weekend.

You can following the action here:

Live Timing: http://sololive.scca.com/MW/index.php

Live Audio: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/SCCASolo

Finding more speed....

What do you do the weekend after consecutive National event wins in ESP....

pull the front suspension apart in the pursuit of more speed and some bigger "angles."

The ESP Camaro was Workin' at the College Station Championship Tour

The 2014 College Station Tour wrapped up last weekend. The event was a huge success and reached it's goal of over 200 entries which should help secure it's future on the SCCA calendar. Big congrats to all involved in planning especially Todd Farris who I personally saw work his a$$ off all weekend. Our weekend started with the Friday practice day before the Tour where my Dad took the Evo Advantage class and got some quality (very very very high quality) seat time and instruction in the Camaro. I instructed along with Brian Burdette and Dave Whitener at my first Evo School. I really enjoyed it and appreciate the opportunity by Junior and the Evo School team. I instructed students in a wide variety of classes - AM, STR, BS, STU, and DS with some students taking home some hardware at the end of the weekend! Great job guys. 

Got to drive this amazingly fun and loose A-Mod car

ESP lined up in Heat 1 along with CP and SM. We only had 4 in class with one driver dropping out or changing classes last minute. We didn't find out until we got to grid so there went the chance to win some more HoHos...oh well. Some overnight rain made for tricky conditions in Heat 1. The CP guys did a great job of clearing as much water as possible before we started running but the track was still pretty wet as you can see in the video. This meant the competition was basically a one-lap shootout on Run 3 as it would have much better conditions than the 1st. Luckily, I was able to get a flyer in on my 3rd run with a 66.528 which surprisingly ended up being good enough for top PAX for the day. Like in Blytheville, the ESP Camaro was dialed in. My Dad had a great 3rd run to finish in P3 after Day 1.

I had a healthy lead going into Day 2, but you never know with the stiff competition in ESP. There was no rain overnight so all of the high horsepower cars of SM, ESP, and CP had much better conditions Sunday morning. I laid down a really solid 2nd run with a 67.231 which would have been quick enough to win CP had it not been for one darn cone. For my 3rd run, I was not able to get back to my 2nd run pace as the tires had cooled during an extended break to remove a broken CP car from the course and I just needed a solid, clean run in the bank to preserve my ESP lead. I finished with a 67.917s run with no cones. This gave me the win in ESP by 3.2s win due to some cone trouble by my competitors. I also just snuck away with Top PAX for the event by 0.080s over Lane Borg my former co-driver in his B-Street Corvette. This was my first Top PAX finish at a National Event. 

Here is onboard video from my quickest runs on both days:

Day 1: www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5gdVWz5ij4

Day 2: www.youtube.com/watch?v=nb5p2rqZp9w

Despite the success we have had over the past few weeks, the College Station Tour and the bright yellow 99 decals displayed on many racecars were a sobering reminder that there are more important things than being fast between the cones. With the recent passing of beloved, Championship winning driver Tommy Saunders, clearly the focus needs to be on spending the time we have with great friends and family and having some good old-fashioned fun. I did not know Tommy well, but I do know that he was loved by many in the Solo community and it was always great to see him and his family at the races. The best part of the past 10 days was just spending two 12-hour drives with my Dad back and forth to Arkansas. That's the important stuff.

High Winds, Cold Temps, Long Drives....and some racing thrown in at the Blytheville ProSolo

A bit tardy on this one.....

It was windy.....

My Dad and I kicked off the National SCCA autocross season with a fairly last minute decision to attend the Blytheville ProSolo on the weekend of March 22nd and 23rd. With us not being able to attend Spring Nationals this year, we needed another ProSolo event to qualify for the Pro Finale in September. We arrived at Midnight Friday in Blytheville looking forward to mid-40s temperatures and strong winds all weekend. Luckily, the rain we did get didn't affect the on-track action as we had decent track conditions in all three heats.

I put in some work in on the ESP Camaro before the event.....thanks to Josh Pu'u for the help in the shop!

Headless Josh hard at work!

Ghetto turn plates - trash bags and WD40

Drive shaft out for the pinion seal change

New pinion seal in. Still leaks though...gotta figure that one out!

Now the diff covers are free in ESP, this TA diff cover should do the trick

We were 10 deep in ESP which is a big improvement over Blytheville turnouts in recent years. Overall, the event was a huge success. I picked up my first ProSolo class win and my Dad earned his first trophy at a National SCCA event. The car was working great and the courses suited our Camaro as it was fairly high speed for a ProSolo event - more like a Tour course. We made some minor setup changes to the car over the winter and it worked very well. The car has never felt better I'm happy to report. The bummer for the weekend was Jadrice's great looking Boss Mustang having clutch issues with ended his event after two runs. The event may have very gone differently for the Ogburns with Jadrice still in the field. 

10th in PAX - my best finish at  ProSolo

Fancy Stoplight....

With my win in ESP, I made my first ProSolo Super Challenge and was the 2nd qualifier which actually pays some money! Drivers are seeded by their margin of victory and my 2.1s margin was good enough for 2nd behind Mark Madarash's 2.2s victory. I lined up against an STF Mazda 2 in the first round was able to take the victory and move to the second round. I lined up against Chris Harvey in a C-Street MX-5 in round 2 and my cold race tires were no match for his pre-warmed Dunlop street tires (his co-driver drove right before him in the Challenge). Congrats to the Kim and David Whitener who came home with a pair of Challenge victories. 

Lined up the first round of the Super Challenge

Right after the challenge, we hit the road for the 12-hour trek back to San Angelo where we arrived at 6AM....maximize racing, minimize vacation time! The crazy driving trip was worth the results we achieved in Blytheville and it was good to catch up with our autocross friends from all over the country. Next up for us was the College Station Championship Tour which I will have a recap up shortly. 

Thanks to Sam Strano for his advice throughout the weekend and for helping me continue to develop the Camaro. It was good to catch up with you buddy! Visit Strano Performance Parts for your all of your autocross and muscle car needs.