69 Malibu Pro Touring build

Summer of 2021 I decided with all the uncertainty in the world, I had to do some things while I still could... I didn't want to be that old guy in 40 years saying "I wish I would have..."

I registered for my first Ultimate Street Car Association event at Road America. I put my old tires back on for Road America, so I could save the Yokes for KOTM. This hurt my times quite a bit, but being my first time on a big roadcourse, I was more concerned with being smart and keeping the car together than my finishing position. Of 21 cars in GTV class, I finished 11th overall. 6th in the Autocross, 7th on speed-stop, 13th on the road course, and dead-last on Design & Engineering judging... that was kind of a kick in the pants, but I knew having no radio, horn, or reverse-lights would hurt the score there.

My best lap at RA was a 2:56.379 (full course + the "bend" motorcycle chicane instead of running the "kink")
My last lap, I was finally comfortable enough to put down a flyer, but accelerating up the hill out of T5 the car started billowing smoke. I thought I blew it up, but oil pressure was good and no knocking sounds... I had less than a week to fix it before KOTM, but hadn't really figured out the problem yet. I thought I filled the catchcan and burped oil onto the header, but was wrong about that...

One other highlight of the Optima event at Road America for me was the karting enduro. My team didn't win it, but I narrowly beat out pro-driver Billy Johnson on lap-time, scoring the fastest lap out of everyone!

The night I had to load up and leave for UMI King of the Mountain 3.0, I discovered the real reason for all the smoke. The rear seal on the T56 was leaking really bad on acceleration, and the driveshaft was throwing trans fluid onto the exhaust. I didn't have a new seal, but I loaded up anyway and headed to Pennsylvania. Thinking about the problem on the way, I realized I'd be driving right past Summit Racing in Talmadge OH, and would have no problem getting a new seal on short notice there. I replaced the seal at UMI Motorsports Park, but also discovered another problem. The lower brace connecting my 3-link upper frame mount to the lower mount was starting to buckle. I had made it out of too thin of metal for the stresses I was putting it through, and braking into T5 at Road America from 135mph had pushed the driveshaft too far into the trans, wiping out the seal.

It was too late to fix the brace, so the decision was made just to replace the seal and run it for the weekend and weld in a new brace when I got home.

I finished 14th of 33 in the vintage class at KOTM among some really fast competition, being the fastest A-body there.

Absolutely love this thread and that front end.

Congrats and wow. Awesome.

I had a similar idea for a hood but the humps extend towards the front of the hood and then open up with a square opening.
They vent into a dual hose air cleaner.

Wow you're hooked up on that corner.

This is good stuff here.

Shaner said:

Absolutely love this thread and that front end.

Congrats and wow. Awesome.

I had a similar idea for a hood but the humps extend towards the front of the hood and then open up with a square opening.
They vent into a dual hose air cleaner.

Click to expand...

The idea started with a plan to make a Dick Harrell style hood, and eventually morphed into the heat extractor idea, to help reduce air pressure (lift) under the hood.

77cruiser said:

Wow you're hooked up on that corner.

Click to expand...

That's my favorite picture... lots of tire flex, a little bit of counter-steer, and a wheel in the air all at the same time.

You have a G meter?

77cruiser said:

You have a G meter?

Click to expand...

Not yet. I plan to start logging data this year with a GPS receiver and Solo Storm app.

Your car is in last months HR right?

Yup, in their coverage of Optima at Road America.

Derek69SS said:

The idea started with a plan to make a Dick Harrell style hood, and eventually morphed into the heat extractor idea, to help reduce air pressure (lift) under the hood.

View attachment 3311

Click to expand...

Well there goes my original idea.
Dick thought of it first.

Cool hood!

The decision to run KOTM with a buckled chassis brace probably wasn't a smart one, but I had already towed 14 hours to get there before it was discovered... When I got home after the event, the brace had fractured on both ends and was laying loose on the floor of the trailer. Putting the car up on the lift revealed that repeated flexing was tearing the rear crossmember away from the frame rails. The rain on Saturday, with the last runs of the weekend being in the wet probably saved me from more serious problems.

I built a new brace out of much heavier material, and added some gussets. I now paint all of my chassis modifications in light colors (white or silver depending on what I have on hand) to make inspections for cracks easier.

The end of the 2021 season was an awesome local event in Wisconsin Dells. It was a 2-day event with a "CAM Challenge" shootout at the end of each day, and some of the fastest CAMT cars in the upper midwest were in it. The host club used a picture of my car from the previous year on the "big check" to the winner.

On Saturday I qualified for the shootout, but in Round 1 went too hot into one element, lost the back end, and wiped out a wall of cones, so I didn't make the final.

On Sunday, I qualified, went top-2 in round one, and ran my best lap of the day to win the final, taking home the "big check" for $25, making me a semi-professional racecar driver.

Now who Da Man? Kiefer!

Way to go! We're in your corner!

Who was in the car with you? Your wife?

I like to joke about the big check, because it barely covers the tire cost of a single run.

According to my calculations, I had $464 in tire wear on that single weekend, not including fuel, hotel, entry fees, etc.

Still, I am proud as hell to have won it!

My tires last season cost $16/run if I go to the cords, $24/run if I swap them as soon as they start to get "slow". This year, they will be 20% higher cost.

You need a tire sponsor !

But you won, and that's what counts.

Yeah, it costs money, but it's for fun and sport, so it's still a win.