Messages

I'm still learning and need to learn a lot more about the way the SCCA classes were run but Jon, you mentioned that there was most likely only 2 corvairs ran in the Trans Am series and they were right in the beginning but I couldn't help but notice that you or someone else (wish I could remember the thread I was looking at) mentioned a later model Corvair that Tony Delorenzo owned and/or raced in Trans Am.  I'm not trying to start an argument here.  I just am wondering how many were actually raced in Trans Am classes and if there were any of the later model ones.  Also like I mentioned not being super confident in my knowledge of SCCA classes, did I hear you correctly that the Corvairs ran against the pony cars and not the imports?  Could you point me to some good info on how SCCA classes were run?  Thanks :-)

...I would say that it is wise and proper to give credit to those people whose work (photos, text, knowledge, etc) that you might be using. Always best to use as much of your own stuff as possible and not take from elsewhere.

Absolutely...wouldn't have it any other way but I don't have much material other than what I've found from other sites like yours but this is where I will just link it or at least mention and give a link where it came from.  You guys have already helped me out sooo much and I wouldn't want to betray any trust that's why I'm letting you know about the site.  I've always been a "give credit where credit is due" kind of person and I intend on continuing that through the G+ site.

I also want to make sure everyone here understands that if I happen to ask something on this forum it's because I've done everything I can to find it myself but couldn't.  I "swear on my life" that it's not just to use it in the G+ community or anywhere else for that matter.

[https://accounts.google.com/SignUp?service=mail]

I didn't see this mentioned yet but not too long ago I joined a pretty good T/A site, even though I'm not much of a Facebook fan myself, it was active enough so I joined.  It's called  Historic SCCA Pro Racing Trans-Am Series Fan Group & Here's the link:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/109038482465812/

I have recently become a fan of Google+ because it's a social network without all the ridiculous ads, redirections, difficult processes, etc. and it's integrated with most if not all Google services like Youtube, Chrome, Gmail, Talk, Translate, etc.  It's the second largest social network on the internet and I believe if FB wasn't so old and well established, Google+ would have buried it by now.  Anyway, I waited to see if anyone would open some type of community within G+ that would focus on Trans Am racing so it would get the audience and recognition it deserves but no such luck.  I waited and waited but as a Trans Am racing finatic, I just couldn't wait anymore so I started a community called Historic Trans Am Racing Enthusiasts over there.  

I just want to be respectful here and say right now that I have no intention of stealing attention or material, info or anything like that and if I use something, I will generally just guide people here with a link.  This community I started is not to steal anyone from anywhere but to rather just open up more awareness, conversation and sharing of info for T/A racing.  In fact I've listed sources on the main page and you guys are at the top.  If anything this will guide more people to your site/forum.  Anyway, please come and check it out.  

Having a Google+ account is as easy as opening a free gmail account. https://accounts.google.com/SignUp?service=mail .  I mainly would like you to look at it so you can tell me if I"m doing anything I shouldn't be that will affect you or other sites.  I'm not expecting participation.  I'm also totally willing to accept accountability from you guys or anyone else that thinks I'm doing something wrong that would affect others.

In order to check it out, just click the url below:

https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/113063570193846187414

Thanks so much guys!  Really appreciate this.  Hopefully a lot of other people who might be curious about them is getting something from these great pics and info. 

Yeah, I'm all about accuracy and it's definitely frustrating that I don't have the right years and in some cases right models but...

when it comes to console simulators Forza 4 has got THE most selection of cars that were in the Trans Am series and for that I'm thankful.  For example, it's rival, GranTurismo 5 completely dropped the ball by offering two race pony cars, the '69 Camaro and the '70 Challenger and every other car like the Mustang is not a numbered race car and in fact cars like the early Cougar is just a plain jane car that they don't even offer the right custom rims for.  Not to mention you can't do vinyl work in the sim.  Forza 4 has over 16 of the Pony cars alone not including the under 2.0L class.  Although some of them are not 100% accurate year and model wise, they all are vinyl paintable, race modifiable, tunable etc.

I just choose to look at it that way whenever I can. 

In Forza Motorsport 4 the car is a Z28 with the right hood, badging and all for a stock Camaro including the usually not wanted vinyl top and in some cases unwanted RS trim.  This is the car that I originally created the livery for.  The next Forza game that came out is called Horizon and you are able to transfer paint work you've done from Forza 4 to Horizon.  Unfortunately in Horizon only the RS/SS model was offered hence the wrong badges and such.  All of the actual paint work you see on the car is made from scratch out of shapes.  We can do pretty much anything to a car on Forza paint wise but we're stuck with what they offer us as far as trim and the cars in general usually.  The only reason I'm showing the SS model to you is that's the game my friend decided to surprise me and feature on his youtube page.  I've got other pics of the car on Z28 just not sure if I did video.  The more I think about it though I think I might.  I'm all about accuracy especially with T/A cars but you can only work so much with.  Another great example is that I had to paint the Smokey Yunick Camaro design on a '68 Firebird if I wanted the metallic gold to look right and on the right year car.  I didn't want to but if I painted it on a Camaro it would have to be the '69 and no metallic gold. 

The cool thing about this car is that I hand painted (well electronically) realistic looking hood and "optical illusion" rear trunk pins with chrome look, all the number/font is made from scratch, pinstriping and even painted the gas filler on top of the trunk and emblems again made from single shapes sized, stretched, skewed, adjusted transparency, etc.  The rims is the most frustrating situation for either of these Forza games because they actually do offer a similar wheel to the mini lites but they don't allow it to be painted in color and there's no depth to the wheel.  I'll try to find some more pics of the actual Z28 and get you a link if you still want to see it on a more accurate car model.

I can't thank you guys enough for continuing to help with these pics!  You guys are sooo helpful and I don't take it lightly.  I've been so darn busy for so long now because of work and family, I haven't been able to talk on here but I'm currently not employed now so I thought I'd try to hangout with you guys again.  I was utterly amazed to see that this thread is 7 pages long now...lol!  I'm gonna take some time tomorrow and look through it all.

As far as our racing series went on Forza Motorsport 4 as mentioned in the first post, it went fairly well at first then died very quickly because I couldn't put the time into it that I wanted.  I have alot of photos and possibly a little video of the first three races.  The good news is that a friend of mine who is highly interested in Trans Am racing is teaming up with me to do one big (hopefully EPIC) replica only Trans Am race event on Road America which will include a "best replica" paint contest.  The whole purpose of this race will be to replicate as close to real as possible the real thing for video and pics purposes.  I promise at some point I will post the video here since you guys have helped me sooo much with things. ;-)

I do want to share one video with you that my friend and T/A series co-owner/creator did to showcase my crown jewel of my Trans Am paint jobs that was tranferred over to Forza Horizon on an SS model Camaro which consequently took 3rd place in one of the paint contests.  They did some great modeling of cars in Forza games but unfortunately the '69 Camaro didn't get the most accurate treatment and there really were no rims that I could use that looked like the right rims so I had to improvise.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=un_mpUXfayc

I also painted the nose chrome on one of my '69 Trans Ams to try to recreate Jerry Titus's #13 car but I need to perfect that paint job before I show it off. ;-)

[Thank you SO MUCH guys!!!]

Thank you SO MUCH guys!!! 

[I'm just wondering if anyone has even a general knowledge of any lap times that were run in the under 2.0/2.5 class on Laguna Seca, Road America or Sears Point (Infineon)? I've been spending hours trying to find that info and I just can't seem to. We're planning on having both A & B classes on the track at the same time and since I've matched up the performance on the Pony cars, I'm just waiting to find out how fast the little guys were. Thanks in advance for any info/pics.]

I spend hours at a time just soaking in the information on this site because classic Trans Am racing is my PASSION and just want to know EVERYTHING about everything T/A!!  I know I've said this before but I'm so thankful I found this AMAZING site with an abundance of information that I just haven't ran into anywhere else and for that I am truly grateful and never take this site or the hard work that goes into posting all the pics and info for granted.  That being said though so many questions arise in my head every time I research Trans Am racing and I do my best to find the info myself in here or other free/cheap sources (The most expensive resource I have been able to afford is that popular DVD for around $30).  I've said this before on here but I'm a great driver and in my opinion would be a great Trans Am racer but due to being 40, having a wife and three kids and chosen the wrong career (missed my calling) I can't even come close to the real thing so I've made Trans Am racing my passion/hobby when it comes to trying to relive the past through pics, video and historic facts/info.  As I have stated before I am a "realistic racing gamer" because I have nothing else to enjoy car or racing wise and I have now founded and co created 2, going on 3 game Trans Am racing series that are based as much as possible on the real thing.

Why say all of this and somewhat repeat myself again?  Because I literally feel bad asking for information on here and don't want in any way to take advantage of anyone's time/resources and furthermore don't want anyone to think that I'm just doing it for a game.  I am seeking information solely because of the passion I have to learn about, recreate and bring as much awareness as possible to the greatest racing series in history!!!  (Sorry, I get worked up a bit)  

Therefore, if it is OK with everyone here, I'd like permission to post such questions I have about classic Trans Am racing in this thread with the understanding that I'm not pirating info, I'm not afraid to do the work myself to find it if I'm given a direction and I don't in any way expect anything from anyone here, just asking.  Furthermore, I'd be more than happy to post pics/video of the game series' as it unfolds including my painted T/A car projects.  Most of my questions are just "knowledge of the series" questions and have very little if any thing to do with game T/A series' but the first one I have is related to my upcoming Forza Motorsport 4 T/A series (just to be honest).

I'm just wondering if anyone has even a general knowledge of any lap times that were run in the under 2.0/2.5 class on Laguna Seca, Road America or Sears Point (Infineon)?  I've been spending hours trying to find that info and I just can't seem to.  We're planning on having both A & B classes on the track at the same time and since I've matched up the performance on the Pony cars, I'm just waiting to find out how fast the little guys were.  Thanks in advance for any info/pics.

[Somehow, I missed your post Joe...sorry. Thanks for trying but its OK, I was only hoping to see some if there were easy pics to find but if its hard work to find them, I would rather not put anyone through trying to. The main thing is that I get the general idea of what they looked like...thanks guys! Oh btw, I'll have to dig through those pics you gave me a link to Jon but I found another light blue first gen Cougar pace car in the actual pace lap and somewhere in one of the T/A videos I saw the first gen Javelin one a little better as well.]

Somehow, I missed your post Joe...sorry.  Thanks for trying but its OK, I was only hoping to see some if there were easy pics to find but if its hard work to find them, I would rather not put anyone through trying to.  The main thing is that I get the general idea of what they looked like...thanks guys!

Oh btw, I'll have to dig through those pics you gave me a link to Jon but I found another light blue first gen Cougar pace car in the actual pace lap and somewhere in one of the T/A videos I saw the first gen Javelin one a little better as well. 

[Very nice and thank you for the pics guys!]

Very nice and thank you for the pics guys!

[That Jon that helps alot and just confirms that the one I saw on that GMP scale model site for the '69 is fairly accurate. Still curious how it works though. Is it just hinged from the back and how does it stay shut? Sorry if I'm off topic here just wondering because just like you I want to learn everything I possibly can about classic Trans Am.]

That Jon that helps alot and just confirms that the one I saw on that GMP scale model site for the '69 is fairly accurate.  Still curious how it works though.  Is it just hinged from the back and how does it stay shut?  Sorry if I'm off topic here just wondering because just like you I want to learn everything I possibly can about classic Trans Am.

[I'm not sure if this one has been posted yet but I found it today looking through many videos on youtube. Some of the sound has been dubbed over and it looks like they sped up the film at certain points but its pretty good footage nonetheless of the 1970 Lime Rock race.]

I'm not sure if this one has been posted yet but I found it today looking through many videos on youtube.  Some of the sound has been dubbed over and it looks like they sped up the film at certain points but its pretty good footage nonetheless of the 1970 Lime Rock race.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0qgchd5zHA&feature=related

[Very interesting about the fueling rig. I also am very curious about the '69 Penske Camaros fuel fill reservoir/opening. I honestly have just never seen any good pics of it up close but have seen the earlier ones (i.e. '67, '68). I hate to ask for more pics but I have looked through many pics on here and although I've definitely found glimpses of them, I've never seen a good pic of the whole thing. I'll be completely honest, I do want to see this because I'm trying to recreate it on a project but I'm also just very curious to know how they work so if anyone has any pics/video of it, thank you in advance. I wanna thank you guys because I am learning so much about something I've been very passionate about for years and just didn't have enough money and/or information. I don't take it for granted and I'm VERY greatful!]

Very interesting about the fueling rig.  I also am very curious about the '69 Penske Camaros fuel fill reservoir/opening.  I honestly have just never seen any good pics of it up close but have seen the earlier ones (i.e. '67, '68).  I hate to ask for more pics but I have looked through many pics on here and although I've definitely found glimpses of them, I've never seen a good pic of the whole thing.  I'll be completely honest, I do want to see this because I'm trying to recreate it on a project but I'm also just very curious to know how they work so if anyone has any pics/video of it, thank you in advance.  I wanna thank you guys because I am learning so much about something I've been very passionate about for years and just didn't have enough money and/or information.  I don't take it for granted and I'm VERY greatful!

[Sorry I haven't gotten back to anyone here lately. I've been extremely busy with Family. I can't tell you how much I appreciate all the Pace car pics and guidance to such an amazing collection of original Trans-Am pics. Does seem like the pace cars are really hard to catch in the pics but I can at least see what they generally looked like. I now own an XBox 360 and Forza motorsport 3 and due to there being pretty much as real as you can get paint job creations, I went looking for that one famous T/A car that nobody has really done an accurate enough job on paint job wise to do it justice. I was quite shocked and amazed that there pretty much isn't one #6 or #9 '69 Penske Sunoco Camaro that anyone has taken serious time to recreate so I've done just that and have at this point about 40 hours or so already into re-creating the Mid-Ohio vinyl top version of the #6 Donohue Camaro and I'll post pics soon. Thanks again guys for taking me seriously and helping me. We (the club I mentioned above) are highly anticipating Forza 4 and have now learned that they are going to allow painting of headlights, removal of bumpers etc. to give a true classic race car look to those cars that apply. I along with alot of help am going to set out as soon as the game comes out to recreate as accurate as possible the dual class Trans-Am race series that we all know and love!!!]

Sorry I haven't gotten back to anyone here lately.  I've been extremely busy with Family.  I can't tell you how much I appreciate all the Pace car pics and guidance to such an amazing collection of original Trans-Am pics.  Does seem like the pace cars are really hard to catch in the pics but I can at least see what they generally looked like.  I now own an XBox 360 and Forza motorsport 3 and due to there being pretty much as real as you can get paint job creations, I went looking for that one famous T/A car that nobody has really done an accurate enough job on paint job wise to do it justice.  I was quite shocked and amazed that there pretty much isn't one #6 or #9 '69 Penske Sunoco Camaro that anyone has taken serious time to recreate so I've done just that and have at this point about 40 hours or so already into re-creating the Mid-Ohio vinyl top version of the #6 Donohue Camaro and I'll post pics soon.  Thanks again guys for taking me seriously and helping me.  We (the club I mentioned above) are highly anticipating Forza 4 and have now learned that they are going to allow painting of headlights, removal of bumpers etc. to give a true classic race car look to those cars that apply.  I along with alot of help am going to set out as soon as the game comes out to recreate as accurate as possible the dual class Trans-Am race series that we all know and love!!!