Photos From the Recent Hotchkis Track Test

[Hotchkis]

While the rest of the country is buried in snow, we are very fortunate to have sunny Southern California weather nearly year round. We took advantage of the sunshine in early January and had our first track test of 2010 at Willow Springs.

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The big event of the day was a complete before and after validation test of the new Hotchkis Total Vehicle System (http://www.hotchkis.net/7074_dodge_challenger_tvs_system.html) for E-Body Mopar. Elana Scherr brought her stock 1970 440 Challenger out to the track, where our test driver Mark Hotchkis ran the car hard through all three tests. Then the team went to work, stripping off the old suspension and installing the Total Vehicle System. By the end of the day, the car was back on the track with new Hotchkis A-Arms, front and rear sway bars, geometry-corrected leaf springs, steering and strut rods. Mark hustled the big block muscle car around the track so quickly our Corvette Z06 chase car had a hard time keeping up!

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Other highlights include Carl Casanova and his Hotchkis TVS equipped, supercharged 1968 Camaro screaming around the track at full speed as we tested our latest upper and lower A-Arms, and a 4th Gen Camaro TVS test where the car pulled over .9G on the skid pad. Our C10 pickup Total Vehicle System is coming along nicely, and we secured a clean C10 hot rod for "before" tests. The truck will get a full compliment of the latest Hotchkis underpinnings and will be back on the track in about a month for the "after" numbers.

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Steve Wall from Moparts.com and Pro-Touring.com observed the Challenger conversion and track test, and Mopar restoration legend Julius Steuer made some hot laps in both his own Dodge Magnum and in the Hotchkis "E-Max" 1970 Challenger. Rocker Kenny Wayne Shepherd joined us in his new 2010 Challenger SRT8, which is getting Hotchkis springs and sway bars. We also worked with the Super Chevy and Car Craft crews on a few different magazine stories that we can't reveal quite yet.


Overall it was a fantastic day at the track, and we want to thank the car owners and journalists who made the trip. We feel that thorough and rigorous track testing sets us apart from our competition, and we're lucky to have the weather to test all year!

We'll be posting videos soon, and you can check out more pictures in the photo albums on our Hotchkis Sport Suspension Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/hotckkis1) page.

[expat_dude]

Nice Pics!!

[Hotchkis]

Thanks! We have so many more to come!

[thedodgeboys]

I wish I was closer so I could have you all play with my car.

[CarlC]

What a fun day! It was easily the nicest weather day I've ever had at Willow. I really look forward to seeing the suspension-cam video! At one point I think there were five cameras attached to the car.

That Challenger was freakishly good after the suspension swap given the tire it used. If a real set of tires was used it would be hilariously good. Drew and the guys worked their collective butts off to git-er'-done in a very short time window.

Hats off to the Hotckis crew. A class act all the way.

[Motorcitydak]

Did you guys put the E Max on the skid pad to see what it could do? Or the other '70?

[Rick Dorion]

Cool!

Carl, what was fitted up to your car? Any permanent changes?

[CarlC]

They have skidpad numbers for the '70, before and after. Before the mods it was truly challenging (pun intended) to drive aggressively. Afterward was a whole different story. Myself and the guy who owns the yellow C5 stood there and were very impressed by the progress made by just swapping parts.

Hotchkis has lap times, slalom times, and skidpad numbers for all the cars at the event. I have not seen all of the numbers, but the few that I did get a glimpse at made me pleased with the performance of the car. My car on the skidpad was the last run of the day for me. Too bad I found out afterward that the aft-LH side alignment shim pack had fallen out.

I try to make nothing permanent. The car now has Hotchkis A-arms, front sway bar, and their Bilstein valved shocks. The ride, both on the street and track, is much better, mainly attributed to the better shock setup. Coming into T1 (uphill slight RH after the main straight) not under hard power the car would drift nicely to the outside. Out of T3/uphill under full throttle it would again drift all the way to T4. As the track warmed up the car got better, and by the end of the day it was not easy for me to pull it into the pits. It's way too much fun to be legal.

[Bryce]

very cool. I want to see all the data!!

[sik68]

Wow. I can't wait for the results. I really commend Hotchkis, Super Chevy, Carl Casanova, etc. for putting the time and effort into this project. I think we can all appreciate when our hobby to "make old cars handle" is validated with a huge track test like this. I am on the edge of my seat!

I also want to see how the new Camaros did as well:
http://www.camaro5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=60855

[Hotchkis]

Hi all, here are the testing numbers from our first test. We ran clockwise on the Streets of Willow. Streets is a configurable track, and we did not run the full course. Cars were on stock wheels and street tires, and the surface temp never was more than 50deg F during the tests. The surface varied from 38 deg when we started driving to 50 deg mid day. This is why the skid pad numbers for the stock 2010 Camaro are lower than many others tested.

In our tests, we are not comparing these numbers to any other skid pad or slalom numbers, we are looking at the improvement for each car over the stock performance. If you have any questions about specific vehicles, post them up, or PM me, I’ll be happy to answer you.

In next month’s test we are looking forward to seeing how quick Dan’s 4th Gen Camaro is on the road course.


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[rrunner68]

How can I get me and my Road Runner involved in this?

[Twentyover]

.............. Coming into T1 (uphill slight RH after the main straight) not under hard power the car would drift nicely to the outside. Out of T3/uphill under full throttle it would again drift all the way to T4. As the track warmed up the car got better, and by the end of the day it was not easy for me to pull it into the pits. It's way too much fun to be legal.


You were on the Streets, not the big track?

[autoxcuda]

Hi all, here are the testing numbers from our first test. We ran clockwise on the Streets of Willow. Streets is a configurable track, and we did not run the full course. Cars were on stock wheels and street tires, and the surface temp never was more than 50deg F during the tests. The surface varied from 38 deg when we started driving to 50 deg mid day. This is why the skid pad numbers for the stock 2010 Camaro are lower than many others tested.

In our tests, we are not comparing these numbers to any other skid pad or slalom numbers, we are looking at the improvement for each car over the stock performance. If you have any questions about specific vehicles, post them up, or PM me, I’ll be happy to answer you.

In next month’s test we are looking forward to seeing how quick Dan’s 4th Gen Camaro is on the road course.



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What were the track temps of the modified Challenger compared to teh 2010 Camaro Stock? The Challenger ran the very last test near dusk when it was getting colder.

-Steve Wall

[autoxcuda]

You were on the Streets, not the big track?

Streets

https://www.pro-touring.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=35486&d=1263803130

Carl's Camaro has some great craftmanship built into it. And it's not break the bank start from scratch stuff. That thing was hauling down the straight-a-way. You could just hear that supercharger wind up. :twothumbs

https://www.pro-touring.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=35487&d=1263803130

https://www.pro-touring.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=35488&d=1263803130

[autoxcuda]

How can I get me and my Road Runner involved in this?

We're going to have a huge group of Mopars out on April 15, 2010. And we'll have it setup for newbies with instructors on hand and run groups based on experiance.

Hotchkis is pretty sure they are bringing out the Yellow T/A and the blue test Challenger.

Videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72p5vVwjRkk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w38ruXZiDHs

[Motorcitydak]

The Challenger listed in the results of the before and after, is that the '70 or one of the new model Challengers?

[autoxcuda]

The Challenger listed in the results of the before and after, is that the '70 or one of the new model Challengers?

The blue 1970 Challenger: 440 big block, automatic, 225/60/15 BFG Radial T/A tires on steel 15x7 rims, 11.75 front disks stock calipers, 10" rear drums.

The before and after had the same front Torsion bars which were bigger than stock allready. I believe .94 or 1" in diameter that have a wheel (LBJ) rate of 142 lbs/in and 175 lbs/in respectively.

I'd like to see what some 1.06" or 1.12" size T-bars, and 275/40/17 Kumhos on 17x9's on all four corners would do to it. I think you'd see at least 25% of the gain from the previous mods (complete TVS system)

[Motorcitydak]

Well, Ill be running 315's on all 4 corners so I will be expecting 90% increase... Thank you guys for doing this test. I am going to be running a lot of your parts with a much lighter car. I cannot wait to see how awesome it is going to handle.

[Hotchkis]

It looks like Steve and Carl have most of your questions answered.

rrunner68, you should check out the track day Steve mentioned. It's really fun and supportive.

A little background on the blue 70 Challenger. Elana drives that car daily, and is a fan of a stock look. We wanted to show her, and car guys like her, that the Hotchkis suspension can be used with 15 inch wheels and muscle car tires and still make a noticeable improvement in the drive quality. Obviously, every other car out there had wider, stickier tires but this wasn't a tire test, just a before and after on individual cars.

[Motorcitydak]

Because you mentioned the 15 inch wheels, I know that you have spacers that move the rod end on the knuckle side of the steering down a little to correct the steering geometry. Do those fit inside 15 inch wheels? Or is the wheel not wide enough to cover that TRE? I decided on running 18's just for that reason. I was worried that your spacer would make the steering interfere with the wheel

[autoxcuda]

Because you mentioned the 15 inch wheels, I know that you have spacers that move the rod end on the knuckle side of the steering down a little to correct the steering geometry. Do those fit inside 15 inch wheels? Or is the wheel not wide enough to cover that TRE? I decided on running 18's just for that reason. I was worried that your spacer would make the steering interfere with the wheel

The 15x7 Mopar ralley rims have 4.25" backspace. So they are all in front of the tie rods.

For your 18" dia super wide rims, I'll assume you are going to run like 5.5" or a little more even backspacing. That will get close to the tie rods. So much so, that you can not run the Magnumforce 2" dropped spindles with that much backspacing and a 17" rim. I bet a 18" would still have a problem.

Here's a link that shows the clearance issue with a 17" rim with 5.675" of backspace: http://www.moparfins.com/CLAIRDAVIS/Cobra_Wheel.htm