John Ware Trans-Am Camaro

[MO]

That has been the general feedback from everybody looking in here on the forum. Hat's off to Karman for returning it to it's
original color scheme. The easiest thing to do was leave it as is or repaint it in orange but he bit the bullet and returned it
to its beautiful original green and the result is a simply beautiful car. I can't wait to see it next weekend in person.

I completely agree. The car looks great in it's original colors. Not that there was anything wrong with the Orange. It's just nice to see it restored back in Green.

[Trans Åm]

I have a question about the tires and wheel setup.

Is there any chance you could give me the wheel specs and also the tire specs that you'll be using on the track(type, model, whatever)?

Are the tires going to be the same as the ones in the pictures above?



I did some research and found that finding good track or even hi performance street tires for these old wheel sizes is almost impossible. I'm wondering if I ever use Minilites or Torq-Thrusts if I'' even be able to find a tire for them. So I want to know what the REAL GUYS use on the track in Historic TA. If it's good enough for them, it's good enough for me. They drive those cars as hard today as they did back then, it seems.


Thank you!

[Jon Mello]

The Historic Trans-Am group pony cars are limited to 8" wide rims, 15" in diameter. The cars are using the bias-ply vintage Goodyear Blue
Streaks in the G7 tread pattern. 6.00-15 for the front and 7.00-15 for the rear is the predominant tire combination on the West Coast HTA cars.

[Trans Åm]

Are these "vintage goodyears" still available to average joes like me?

[mike343sharpstick]

The historic TransAm group does there own thing to some degree. In other series like VSCDA it's a bit different.
I am restoring an old ex-IMSA RS car so I've been looking at what is used commonly, and basically there are good tires available for 15" and 13" rims.  

Vintage racing is popular enough now that the low-volume tire makers can support the hobby. Sizes however are somewhat limited, so you need to know this as you are building the car.
Hosier makes good 15's, and many of the small displacement cars at Road America Vintage races this year were on Toyo's. For example the Toyo Proxes RR comes in 2 15" rim sizes, 205/50 and 225/50, but that's it.

I hadn't paid much attention to what the TA guys were using, but they were burning them up like they are going out of style

[Jon Mello]

Are these "vintage goodyears" still available to average joes like me?

Yes, they are. You can find them on Goodyear's website... http://www.racegoodyear.com/tires/sports.html

Roger Kraus at http://rogerkrausracing.com/pages/pricing.html is an independent retailer that sells lots of brand new vintage racing tires. I'm sure there are others who also offer the Goodyears.

[oldtransamdriver]

Also check out HTA racer Michael Eisenberg's  MAECO Motorsport.  They sell vintage race tires.  Michael has owned several HTA cars and currently races the rare 63 Falcon.

Robert Barg

[Trans Åm]

Thank you guys very very much for the information. Of the many things in my future, I had planned for at least two things: to keep 15" wheels, and to track my car for fun every so often.

I was rather surprised when I found out just how limited it is to find off-road 15" tires, much less trying to find a variety of them! I thought with all of the wild stuff they have available for vintage muscle cars nowadays, old school racing tires should be a piece of cake.......WRONG.

Them things are actually going out of style, literally. I wouldn't doubt if HTA alone might be the only thing keeping off-road 15" tires in production in the first place!

[oldtransamdriver]

Don't forget the DOT approved street/race tires like the TOYO Proxes RA 1's.  During the last 15 years, several race cars have passed thru my hands - I did not race them, but others did.

Mostly Datsun 510's, American Sedan Firebirds and Camaros, Player's GM series Camaros, and some others.  On many of them we used those RA 1's - lots of racing miles for the buck.

Robert Barg

[Jon Mello]

The Toyo tires Robert mentions are used on newer era cars and are not legal in the Historic Trans-Am Group. My understanding
is the bias-ply Goodyear Blue Streaks (mentioned above in the G7 tread pattern) are the only legal tires in that group. I'm making
an assumption that you don't have a car that raced in the '72-earlier Trans-Am series but are trying to equip your car in the same
manner that the HTA group does for your own personal reasons. If you are using the car for fun track days, there's probably no
reason you couldn't use any tire you saw fit to use including a radial or a pure slick.

Getting back to Karman's car, here are a couple of photos from this weekend at Monterey...

[kdcrmms]

Hi Jon, It handles differently due to the rear end being narrowed. There were spacers in the rear end and had a wider track. It's like a completely different car. Before it seemed like it was on rails and we were using wider rims and tires. It was more forgiving for sure.  All that had to be changed. It's still very drivable and once we get it sorted it will be much better. I'm looking forward to this weekend.

[firstgenaddict]

I love it in BRG...
Just wondering.... Are Watts links on the rear end legal for Historic Trans Am?

[Jon Mello]

.... Are Watts links on the rear end legal for Historic Trans Am?

Yes, a Watts Link set-up is legal in HTA and they were used on a number of cars back in the pre-'72 era.

[Jon Mello]

Here are a few shots of Karman's car on the track during the Saturday morning practice. This is on the short straight between turn 4 and turn 5








A shot of the engine. A repro cowl plenum air cleaner has been purchased but is not yet installed.

[Jon Mello]

Heading to the pre-grid for Saturday afternoon's race...