Road Course Testing
Raceway Park's new 1.35-mile road course is not for faint hearts-or weak brakes-in the best of conditions. On top of that, a big rainstorm the night before our test left wet spots around the course, the most prominent of which was a line of draining water right before a banked, high-g left-hander bordered by an intimidating wall. And E-Town's blower vehicle was being serviced, which threatened to leave gravel and dirt on critical sections of the 13-turn track. Thankfully, E-Town's outstanding staff improvised and was able to clean up most of the dangerous spots. On our part, some shop broom elbow grease to sweep up the racing line left us with a usable track, though it took a couple dozen laps in our company van and the Camaro before some good numbers were seen.
The suspension and brake install, brake testing, and street tire road course testing are complete. That's a nice braking improvement for the price, and 3.4 seconds is huge on a small road course!
But we're not done yet. Check out our next issue for overall driving impressions, as we put this new setup to the test on America's worst roads. Check out the appearance difference between the old setup and the new one. Follow along as we install a few more modifications to help the Z stand up to hardcore road course use. And with a brand-new set of Nitto's NT01 race tires all mounted to the stock 16-inch rims, it's time to see just how quick our hardtop LS1 can lap. Don't miss it!
Sam cranks up the spring compressor, which makes short work of the spring. He grabs a 15mm wrench and some PB Blaster for the upper shock nut. This can be stubborn, and it will be a real headache if the nut won't come off, so it takes some patience. | 
The nut comes off, as does the upper mount and spring. Here's the original shock with the spring perch and indexer. | 
Dual-purpose street/road course F-bodies should look no further than a set of Koni shocks. A shock is only as good as its valving-stock is bad. Koni does its homework and it shows. Konis are famous for great build quality, and great valving. Their adjustable shocks have a range of rebound adjustment built in, which will work with many spring rates. Sam recommended PN 8241 1139SPORT for the front, and PN 30 1265SPORT for the rear. The 1139s are a single-adjustable, twin-tube for fourth-gen applications; the 1265s are a single-adjustable, monotube design created for '82-'92 F-bodies. "I wanted the monotube 1265s for your car because you'll be putting a heavier rearend in soon, and the bigger piston and quicker reaction of those shocks will suit your application better," he explains. |