Australian Trans-Am Association

[Ellis]

This is a great photo. What an awesome car! I love those Firestone Indy tyres. They're still available, but very expensive.

The Parnelli 70 Trans am cars were Schoolbus Yellow and not Grabber Orange which is often thought and were the old 69's with upgraded sheetmetal to 70 specs...and to top it off were not Boss codes . They were factory M codes which =390 as was Moffats.

Edit....make that 390 read 351 4V...see below

[STG69]

The Parnelli 70 Trans am cars were Schoolbus Yellow and not Grabber Orange which is often thought and were the old 69's with upgraded sheetmetal to 70 specs...and to top it off were not Boss codes . They were factory M codes which =390 as was Moffats.

Correct on the colour and 69/70 upgrade but M stands for 4v 351 not 390 which had reinforced shock towers like the bosses and cobra jets.

[STG69]

Parnelli Jones has often said they (ford) would have won the 69 series if on equal rubber to Donohues Camaro. Firestone must have got something sorted for 70 because the cars had to weigh 3200 lbs up from 2900 lbs in 69.
I guess that's an advantage of control tyres in our current trans am HMC and CMC classes.

[John McKechnie]

The Camaros won because they introduced 4 wheel disc brakes, Ford still had drums on the rear

[STG69]

The Camaros won because they introduced 4 wheel disc brakes, Ford still had drums on the rear

Hi John. I think you may be referring to the 68 season. In 69 they ran Lincoln Continental discs all round.

[John McKechnie]

Aw heck, installed 4 wheel discs and still cant beat those pesky Chevs, tsk, tsk.
There is always a reason why some one wins.
Ford had a hard time with tyres, look at Bathurst and the GTHOs

[Steve Holmes]

Chevrolet didn't need to beat Ford in the 1968 Trans-Am. Ford did a pretty great job of beating themselves, with their powerful but chronically unreliable tunnel-port 302 motors. Shelby Crew Chief Lew Spencer was quoted years later as saying every weekend in the Trans-Am for the factory Mustangs was a 6 engine weekend. The two factory cars would each blow an engine in practice, qualifying, and the race. That was a bit of an exaggeration, they did finish races, but you get his point.

[Ellis]

Correct on the colour and 69/70 upgrade but M stands for 4v 351 not 390 which had reinforced shock towers like the bosses and cobra jets.

Not sure why I wrote 390....knew it was 351...thanks for the correction

[Steve Holmes]

The Parnelli 70 Trans am cars were Schoolbus Yellow and not Grabber Orange which is often thought and were the old 69's with upgraded sheetmetal to 70 specs...and to top it off were not Boss codes . They were factory M codes which =390 as was Moffats.

Yep, the two Bud Moore Mustangs in the '70 Trans-Am were Schoolbus Yellow. I'd be interested to know if Bud Moore got a say in what the colour schemes would be, or if the decision was made at Ford. I've been researching various articles for an upcoming story on the factory Plymouth Cuda's and Dodge Challenger's that ran in the 1970 Trans-Am, and it was Chrysler who told Autodynamics they would run the green coloured Challengers that year. The manufacturers had the final say, and it all came down to marketing.

[STG69]

Steve,
My understanding is that Ford wanted a colour that stood out more for colour TV than what they ran in 69. The rational behind school bus yellow was that it was cheap and stood out! I believe this was Bud Moore's decision.
Look forward to the upcoming article. Those Mopars often qualified well but had more reliability issues than Ford, GM or AMC.
When u say the fords kept blowing engines. Do u know specifically what was letting go? I know the rocker gear was a weak point even in 69/70.

[DewiAusTransAm]

Great video coverage - thanks for sharing. But shame about the atrocious, bloody annoying music (I think it's called music)!

Can completely agree John, that is what I wanted! I tried to put the music in only as a background, so you can hear the tones but the movie program was lagging heaps and it wasn't working.. well definitely have it fixed for last time!!! i'm getting a lot of feedback from different people, will try something different for the next round, which i'm sure you will all like!!!!

Next round was to be Wakefield Park in September but that has been cancelled, it is likely to be replaced by a Lakeside round, but i'm not sure if that is a replacement in september, or an additional round in November or December.. keep checking this thread for more news!!

[DewiAusTransAm]

Yeah, unfortunately Dewi I have to agree re the music. I am a frequent griper to other forums (fora?) when for some reason the Poms in particular mix naff music over fruity exhaust tones : their favourite is to defile the music of the V12 Merlin with computer pop : tragic. For what it's worth, I reckon music works over the intro and even the interviews, but when we're in the car or trackside during the race, the engine noise does it all, for me anyway.
I feel like a bit of a curmudgeon whinging about this, because your camera work and editing, and even more so your enthusiasm for the task, are clearly top-drawer, so please accept this as a constructive criticism, rather than a gripe.
And keep the vids coming, apart from this they tick all the boxes and the TransAm guys are lucky to have you on board.
Well done.

Thanks for that!!, that's basically what the majority of the feedback has been, I've been messing around a bit (with the longer videos + interviews when the HMC was over for QR and Lakeside, to shorter ones... am trying something different again for the next one, which is in september or october, so stay tuned!!

I think the problem for the videos so far is that i'm making it as if I was at the round, heard all the engines roaring, and want to see a review, but I should be (and will be from now on) thinking as if I wasn't there at all, and with these muscle cars.. the noise is what attracts the fans!!!

Your feedback was great!! I first started doing these because I thought.. "i'm going to be at the track anyway (helping out Dad racing his Mustang last year.. we weren't racing this year, but have been building another one to race next year or year after), so I may aswell do something productive while the car is on track and I have nothing to do!!"

[DewiAusTransAm]

I'd agree with the music comments so far, but more importantly applaud your enthusiasm for these cars Dewi.

This car you and your father are building sounds like a fantastic project. You said it would qualify for Nc as well. Does this mean u r running cast heads and are sticking to Nc rules for the brakes etc? I like the idea of being able to run multiple classes but it will make being competitive in trans am hard work. Not impossible though if u look at Russell's 68. He'd be at the pointy end of trans am going by his lap times.

Agree with Steve on the new 69. Looks great and good to see its competitive in its first run.

Cheers
Kyle

Thanks for posting all the pics etc...

That's exactly right.. it was an idea that just popped up about racing Trans-Am and group N... but Dean Neville has proved that to be a success, in a ex Grant Wilson 69 Camaro, he won two races in Trans-Am in one weekend last year (the only weekend it raced) and then dominated the whole Group N field this year at the Bathurst Motor Festival!! I think he got a 2:26 around Bathurst!!

We are still weighing up the option, to be competitive in Trans-Am.. or have the option to race around Australia.. but with the Trans-Am series expanding, who knows, maybe there will be a Trans-Am round at Bathurst in the future!!

[DewiAusTransAm]

Tenkate Plant Hire Australian Trans Am Championship Points (End of Round 4)

1st – John English – 1972 Chevrolet Camaro Z28 - 364 points
2nd – Ian Palmer – 1970 Pontiac Firebird - 220 points
3rd – Tobias Lord – 1974 'Channel 9' Chevrolet Camaro - 169 points
4th – Shane Wilson – 1970 Parnelli Jones Replica Ford Mustang - 165 points
5th – Anthony Tenkate – 1967 Ford Mustang Coupe - 144 points
6th – Nick Paradissis – 1966 Ford Mustang Fastback - 107 points
7th – Shane Cowham – 1967 Ford Mustang Coupe - 81 points
8th – Col Warrington – 1964 Chevrolet Camaro RS - 75 points
9th – Martin O’Kane – 1972 Chevrolet Camaro Z28 - 65 points
10th – Andrew Knight – 1967 Ford Mustang Coupe - 62 points
11th – Johno Hourigan – 1972 Chevrolet Camaro Z28 - 43 points
12th - Harry Charalambous – 1966 Ford Mustang Coupe - 40 points
13th - Michael Grimes – 1969 Chevrolet Camaro LT - 30 points
14th – John Samios –1969 Ford Mustang Fastback - 26 points
15th – Craig Harris – 1970 Ford Mustang - 6 points
16th – John Lord – 1974 'Channel 9' Chevrolet Camaro - 5 points
17th – Mike Collins – 1965 Ford Mustang Coupe - 4 points
18th – Ross Grimes – 1969 Chevrolet Camaro LT - 4 points

[STG69]

That's exactly right.. it was an idea that just popped up about racing Trans-Am and group N... but Dean Neville has proved that to be a success, in a ex Grant Wilson 69 Camaro, he won two races in Trans-Am in one weekend last year (the only weekend it raced) and then dominated the whole Group N field this year at the Bathurst Motor Festival!! I think he got a 2:26 around Bathurst!!

We are still weighing up the option, to be competitive in Trans-Am.. or have the option to race around Australia.. but with the Trans-Am series expanding, who knows, maybe there will be a Trans-Am round at Bathurst in the future!!

Hey Dewi,

What year Stang are you and your father building? I know the ex Wilson mustang you talked about but have not seen it run against Russell Wrights 68 or Fraser Ross's 67. The times these cars can do show there's more than one way to skin a cat so to speak.
Quite impressive really when you think about the added weight compared to transam. Seeing the transam class grow year by year is really positive.
I've spoken in the past to the organiser of the muscle car masters about them being on the grid for one of their meetings. I think there's the usual red tape but he agreed that they are the type of car the crowd want to see..

Wouldn't that be great to have the Transam / Kiwi cars at the MCM and then run Bathurst a few weeks later....

Cheers
Kyle

[John McKechnie]

This what I said in a post on HMC- a real Tasman Cup for real cars.I would be a starter

[DewiAusTransAm]

Hey Dewi,

What year Stang are you and your father building? I know the ex Wilson mustang you talked about but have not seen it run against Russell Wrights 68 or Fraser Ross's 67. The times these cars can do show there's more than one way to skin a cat so to speak.
Quite impressive really when you think about the added weight compared to transam. Seeing the transam class grow year by year is really positive.
I've spoken in the past to the organiser of the muscle car masters about them being on the grid for one of their meetings. I think there's the usual red tape but he agreed that they are the type of car the crowd want to see..

Wouldn't that be great to have the Transam / Kiwi cars at the MCM and then run Bathurst a few weeks later....

Cheers
Kyle

It was a camaro, here are some pics of it: One is him leading the group N field at this years' Bathurst motor festival.. and then leading John and Woody at QR at the end of 2012

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We will probably build to Trans-Am spec, as we originally planned, and wait for Australian Trans-Am to expand.. which it definitely will!! It's only just the beginning, there are big things planned for Trans-Am!

[Rod Grimwood]

Good work Dewi. Young fella, you just keep on doing what you been doing, good on ya. You will get the vids sorted, along with your home work, and helping dad with new car. Don't let your guard down and look sideways at all those girls that will be hanging around, plenty of time later for them to tie you down.

[STG69]

Thanks Dewi, great pics again. I was thinking of a red 69 fastback that used to race transam. I have seen the 69 camaro race in the past with transam. Tough looking car! Look at the size of the field at Bathurst!

[zombie289]

The Camaros won because they introduced 4 wheel disc brakes, Ford still had drums on the rear

Actually 1968 was the first year the T/A Mustangs ran 4 wheel discs....