What kind of cryptic title is this?

Ewe(go), Black Widow, Goat

It’s to describe the variety of vehicles I saw participating at the SPOKES autocross event this past Sunday.

I witnessed a very aggressive, high modified Yugo.  You could see by the big tires & hearing the turbo blow- off valve during his runs to know this wasn’t your average Yugo.  His times seemed very competitive.  Here are some pix…

 Stealthy Yugo, ready to pounce

Yugo waiting in formation

Yugo zipping through the course

When one thinks of bringing a vehicle to compete in autocross, it is usually of a recent vintage.  Russell brought this highly modified ’57 Chevy.  I’m guessing it was his first time out, as he seemed to be sorting out some handling issues.

Spider in waiting

Spider waiting on the grid

Later, I found out the truth beneath that over 50 year old GM shell.  It has a modified C4 Corvette chassis with an awesome 1994 Chevy LS1 Corvette motor (354HP)!  Check out Hot Rod Jim’s Website for the full story.  Here is a teaser chassis picture - WOW!.  I ‘m sure he’ll be back for more autocrossing…

The Black Widow Corvette chassis 

To illustrate the truly international flavor of vehicles in attendance, Zac brought his ’04 Pontiac GTO (the original GTO’s nickname was the Goat).  These vehicles were developed and built in Australia off of the Holden Monaro model from GM.  Click to look closely & see the Holden LTD. proof on the VIN sticker…

GTO VIN sticker 

Thanks to Bob Lutz, the USA had a three year run (2004-2006) of the Pontiac GTO model.  Unfortunately, it didn’t sell as well as GM would have liked.  Oh well, its still a fun car & Zac is enjoying modifying an already potent vehicle to the ESP class.  This is what he has done so far:
- coil over shocks
- KW suspension
- SLP headers
- SLP chip
- SLP mass airflow sensor

 Just oozing speed

Subtle, lowered stance

Zac’s GTO is now up to 410HP (stock was 350HP).  All that remains to upgrade are his wheels & tires.  He was running on the factory units, still!  Looking good Zac!!!

 Cone hairpin sign

If you can drive it & think it is worth competing with, even if you know you won’t win, go ahead, have fun.  Bring your daily driver and autocross it.  It will give you a taste of what racing is all about – this is just one way to get to be Racing Ready!

Dan