Charger R/T runs Watkins Glen International Racetrack

The annual run of thunder road took place monday May 30th, 2011. This years old mopar entry was Black and Blue 1970 Charger R/T. Real B7 car. Automatic with lots of converter. I built this car for some one else as a high speed driver. In today's world the best place to wring something out is the roadcourse as it's safe and you don't worry about red light's chasing you in high speed pursuit.

The car survived the laps, the handling was superb. "Amazingly flat" was the way it was described. I got reprimanded for driving at speed with my arm out the window because it drove so easy it took one hand. We were top speed limited due to fuel and engine venting issues, but nothing broke and the brakes were superb.

The car has lot's of "stuff" done to it that you can't see, but that's about all I have to say at this point. It's a wonderful car to drive as a normal car and it has factory cruise control.
Enjoy the pics

Be sure to note the 69 Camaro spoiler and brake cooling ducting

That's a fiberglass hood painted organisol black, original vinyl top.
Real seats and 5 pt seat belts
Lot's of welding
16 inch wheels
4 wheel disc brakes
Firm feel level 3 power steering box-the best!!!

The car drew a lot of attention. Nothing like 440 cubic inches barking at 4000 rpm thru an x pipe and good mufflers.

Note the mud flaps

The car was driven to the track and home again. 200 miles round trip

Do they make you run with the windows down to slow the car?

Cool car!

I like the front air dam what make model is that? Does that keep a ton of air from getting under the car? And why the pass driver? Still think that thing would look better w/ a chrome grill and painted hood. man I cannot wait to get mine painted. Looks like a fun day.

I would love to do something similar with my 68 charger....Tim

Kick a$$!

Thanks for sharing.

Damon

nice job.im not to far from watkins glen about 40 minute trip.9 sec phil lives just around the corner from there.mike

69 camaro spoiler-it bolts on with ease- is to improve the air flow around the car. What you can't see is the black screen across the 22 inch 3 core radiator which keeps the big air out but allows the radiator to do it's job. There is foam sealing on the core support. The brake cooling intakes are in the front of the wheel well bolted in place of the factory shields. They work. There are no cooling issues

The "passenger" is an instructor as this is a high performance driving school not race day.

There were 2 drivers of the car, so it ran in 2 different run groups, hence the 2 different colored dots. I am allowed to drive solo as I have been running thunder road for almost 20 yrs now.

Windows are down per the rules.

Passing is by invitation only and not allowed in turns. You are racing only against the clock.

This is the most fun you can have with a fast car.
We brought along a back up vehicle.
2005 SRT10 pickemup. A real handful on the track esp without 5 pt seat belts. It took a bit of work to coax the speed out of it but I managed 130 mph on the back straight. It was very squirmy going up thru the esses.

Many thanks to my good friend for the use of his vehicles.

Looks good.

What kind of brakes are you running (rotor size, power or manual)?

Mopar large rotors on tall spindles with the wilwood calipers/polymatrix pads & ducted air
The pads make a large difference

Rear-Dr Diff rotors calipers and pads

Manual pedal.

This is the turn that the manly men who run the full road course always talk about with a glazed look in their eyes...toe of the "boot"
A downhill hard right that goes uphill at exit of turn.

Bad line for a big fat great handling car. Outside line works best.
PS: that's not me

Car "rotates" well on street tires.
This pic shows all of the "stuff" working well together.

Remember this is a nice riding-driving road car with 40 pounds of sound proofing in it and cruise control.

I am very pleased with the end results.
Thanks for your interest.

Beautiful car! What kind of speeds were you hitting on the back stretch with the charger?

Great pics Tom and thanks for sharing

Anything you want to share with spring rates and anti roll bar diameters

Does it have a keisler auto OD unit?

Awesome car, and great build. Road Courses are the best. Congrats on a fine build of a fine car.

Tom, questions your about basic setup.

Torsion bar size:?

Shocks:?

Rear leafs:?

Tire type/model and size:?

What do you think of the loose converter on the road course? Good, bad, indifferent and why?

Quote:

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Does it have a keisler auto OD unit?

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Too funny....no K junk in this ride, my builds require high speed stability and parts made with pride & integrity.

As for the set up there is no exotica underneath.
This is part of it but not all of it. The secret is how & where I did the extra welding

Hemi leaf springs and torsion bars.
Car is lowered via the front spring eye
QA1 shocks
RMS upper control arms and rod end strut rods
Boxed lower control arms
Firm Feel sway bars and steering

I applied the same wheel tire formula
16x8 wheels, 4.5 backspace 255-50-ZR16 tires.
This works, works well, works best, anything else is a compromise. Take note!

Top speed was limited by fuel and engine venting issues 115 mph for now.

The loose converter is excellent esp coming out of the turns. There are no temperature concerns. With competition tires I expect it to be a real beast next year.

This car has the most incredible on center steering, like it has a rack and pinion steering box. Thanks for the interest.

Thanks to the people over on the Dodge Charger forum for the technical help with the idiosyncrasies of a Charger.