Hi Everybody. Check out this video on Youtube.
It is an old Motorweek '89 segment.
They compare a 1989 Production IROC-Z to an IROC race car.

 

Very Cool! Thanks for posting.

 

13.9 quarter mile for a stock 305 5 speed iroc? That cant be true..

 

It's not unheard of, but it is unusual.

Nice video.

 

LOL 13.9 for a stock LB9 is hard to believe. The best stock L98's rarely go faster then 14.0. Something is up with the time they posted. Either a glitch in the equipment, or some cheating by the crew. A typical time for that car is almost a full second slower.

Notice that they didn't run the cars on an actual drag strip...

 

Did Motorweek ever test a L98 car? Any links if they did? I have one and I would like to see performance figures for the 350 V8/automatic combination.

 

Try searching Youtube and find out. There was a '91 GTA with a 350 on the lower RH side of the link posted above.

 

Notice you said "typical" rather than "always"

Some cars are simply faster than others, for basically no reason at all. Couple a freak car with a very good driver and you get your really good time that is not typical. Also remember the car in question was not old and wore out like what we are used to.

 

Would you rather I state it differently? How about in 15 years on this forum I've never heard or seen any evidence or claim of a stock LB9 running that strong. It's common knowledge that LB9 5spd G92 cars are lucky to run better then mid 14's. New or old (tired) doesn't make that much difference either. Lots of magazines tested these cars new and didn't even get them into the mid-14's. People regularly run better times with 100k mile cars then the test times published back in the day. Believe what you want, but either they goofed when they calculated the ET, or someone cheated.

Check this out... http://www.albeedigital.com/supercou...0-60times.html
The list is chopped up on a couple different pages...
1982 Chevrolet Camaro Z28 9.7 N/A
1983 Chevrolet Camaro 9.5 17.5
1983 Chevrolet Camaro Z28 H.O. 6.7 15.0
1984 Chevrolet Camaro Berlinetta 9.3 17.0
1985 Chevrolet Camaro Berlinetta 10.0 17.0
1985 Chevrolet Camaro IROC-Z28 7.0 15.2
1987 Chevrolet Camaro IROC-Z 6.6 14.9
1987 Chevrolet Camaro IROC-Z L98 6.8 15.3
1988 Chevrolet Camaro IROC-Z 7.0 15.5
1990 Chevrolet Camaro IROC-Z 5.8 14.4
1990 Chevrolet Camaro Z28 6.5 15.0
1992 Chevrolet Camaro Z28 6.7 15.2

1983 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am 9.2 17.0
1984 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am HO 7.9 16.1
1987 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am GTA (auto) 7.1 15.5
1988 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am GTA 7.4 15.9
1989 Pontiac 20th Anniv. Trans Am 5.1 14.2
1991 Pontiac Firebird Formula 6.5 14.8
1991 Pontiac Trans Am Conv. 7.0 15.4

Notice that none of those times come close to breaking into the 13's. You can go ahead and search the forum, and read all the magazine articles from the late 80's and early 90's if you want, you still won't find anything to indicate there are really any factory freaks.

 

Cool video.

 

I don't remember who it was, but there was a member here with a '92 Z28 that was low miles and bone stock that ran well into the 13's. I don't even remember if it was 5.7/auto or 5.0/5speed, but with a good driver there's not too much of a difference. I personally don't have the facts to back it up, but I don't care enough for that to bother me

 

it's funny, i remember my brother had a 1984 Z/28 5.0 h.o 5 speed...and his freind had a 1976 trans am with 6.6 and 4 speed,,,my brother beat him in the quarter mile every time...the camaro would take off faster with little wheel spin...and the t/a would fish tail on take off..

 

i would like 2 have those see-thru louvers @ 1:34

 

Here goes another debate. Whos gives a crap about the time! Just enjoy the video guys, we know the LB9s arent that fast.

 

Thanks for posting that....very cool. Dale Earnhardt dominated that series. I miss not seeing the Iroc race in February during the speed week kick off to Daytona

 

LOL "Suprisingly the Iroc beat the IROC Racing car off the line" Did you see how long that race car burned out... if that had hooked up it would have been no contest

 

exactly, that's why my brother's 305 ho 5.0L beat the 76 trans am with 400 6,6L 4 speed...the trans am would spin and burn out and then take off while my brother had a small burn and took off quick...his freind with the trans am coudn't believe it!..i guess the torque arm prevents big burn outs and quick launches off the line like the video?

 

Yeah, that is funny. If you look closely, the reason the production car had a lead, in the beginning, was because it took off about a 1/2 second before the race car. (That and the lack of traction that you mentioned.)

My favorite part is between 3:05 and 3:25. They say they're not really pushing the race car, but it looks like they're going pretty good!

 

140 mph top speed.....I believe this to be true. For a 305 at least. If they did a 350, they would have had to list 120 mph as the top speed, since these cars wouldn't do the WOT 3-4 shift from the factory.

 

Just so you know, the two cars are similar in hp ratings. The 84 Camaro had 190hp while the TA had 185. The Camaro torque was considerably lower at 240 while the TA had 310. There's your tire spin right there, but even if the TA hooked up, it would still be a close race.