Archive for the ‘Muscle Cars’ Category

Shipka & Pozzi Win Class w/ One Lap Camaro!

Wednesday, May 12th, 2010


Our friends Jim Shipka and David Pozzi just finished driving the 2010 One Lap of America with Jim’s Optima Batteries sponsored 1967 “One Lap” Camaro. The car is a technological tour de force, including a Racepak heads-up display, a killer Katech Gen IV engine, a sophisticated suspension system tuned by Pozzi racing and more. As you can see in the post below, the car also came in for one last-minute addition before the event: a Spectre Pro-Fab Cold Air Intake.


The race itself is a grueling 3500 mile cross country trek, bouncing from track to track and pitting competitors against each other and the clock on some of the fastest road courses in the world. There’s a new track to drive every day, which sounds fun… until you consider that after a long day of driving hard in a race car with a fire suit on, you have to drive 500 miles to the next track! After nine days and races at Road America, Mid America Motorplex, Hallett, Tulsa Raceway Park, Gateway International Raceway, Mid Ohio, New Jersey Motorsports Park and Nelson Ledges, the team finished FIRST in the Vintage American class with 295 class points. We couldn’t be happier for Jim, who built this car chasing a dream, and David – who helped tune and drive what is considered by many one of the finest pro-touring cars in the world. Nice work guys!

Here are some videos from the event:

The One Lap Camaro visits Spectre Performance

Friday, April 30th, 2010

Jim Shikpa’s One Lap Camaro is perhaps the most high tech and hardcore pro-touring Camaro on the racing scene today, so when he asked if we could set the car up with a ProFab Cold Air Intake, we were happy to oblige

Over the past few years, the Spectre team has travelled the country with our truck and muscle cars visiting a variety of car shows and autocross events. In our travels we come across a lot of cool cars and hundreds, if not thousands, of high-tech pro-touring Camaros. One of the slickest 1st Gen F-Bodies we have ever seen is James Shipka’s “One Lap” Camaro. The dark red ‘67 features a Racepack digital dash, custom racecar suspension, a built Katech powerplant, HRE Wheels, bodywork designed for maximum downforce and more. Jim built the car with racing champs David and Mary Pozzi to compete in the prestigious One Lap of America event, originally founded by Brock Yates as a successor to the Cannonball Run.

We were talking to Jim and the Pozzis a few weeks ago at Run to the Coast, and they commented that they felt the car was losing power because all it had for an intake system was a conical filter stuck on the end of the throttle body. We agreed to engineer a Cold Air Intake for the car based on our ProFab system, so they towed the car over to the shop.

The end result is actually closer in design to our 5th Gen Camaro Cold Air Intake then our 1st Gen Camaro model, since the car has a Gen IV small block and pretty exotic sheetmetal. A polished 4″ intake tube capped with a hpR filter draws cold air from around the radiator through a hole in the core support, as opposed to the old setup that sucked air from directly behind the radiator. Should be good for at least a little extra power. By the time you read this the team is likely participating in the opening of the race, and you can follow their progress at OneLapCamaro.com . Good luck!

GoodGuys Del Mar Event Video

Tuesday, April 13th, 2010

We just got back from the 10th Annual GoodGuys Del Mar Nationals, and had a fantastic time with the Spectre El Camino in the autocross. We’ll kick off our event coverage with a recap video, but stay tuned for a full photo gallery, on-site interviews and more!

Spectre 341 Challenge!

Tuesday, April 6th, 2010

When: June 25-26, 2010
Where: Nevada Highway 341, South of Virginia City, NV

Spectre Performance is proud to announce the return of road racing competition to one of the most infamous and challenging mountain roads in America – Nevada Highway 341 – for The 1st annual Speed by Spectre 341 Challenge. The race, scheduled for June 25-26, 2010, will pit the world’s fastest street cars against the clock in a full-throttle blast up a mountain road, which will be closed to the public for the event. The challenge will include Pro-Touring Street Machines, European Exotics, and Highly-Tuned Imports competing for a chance to be crowned King of the Hill.

The Speed by Spectre 341 Challenge is a rare opportunity to drive flat-out on some of the most aggressive and challenging mountain roads in the country, without the worry of oncoming traffic or law enforcement. The course is 5.2 miles long with 22+ turns, a 1,216-foot rise in elevation, steep drop offs and no guardrails! Vehicles must be street-legal and registered; no purpose-built kit or race cars will be allowed. Tires must be DOT legal with at least 3/32″ tread depth and a minimum 100 tread wear rating. Qualifying is scheduled for Friday, June 25th. Racing is set for Saturday the 26th.

“We are always looking for ways to go faster, to prove our parts at maximum velocity,” says Spectre Performance founder Amir Rosenbaum. “We autocross and road race our muscle cars and set a 330mph Land Speed Record at Bonneville last year; but to this day one of the most demanding and exhilarating events I’ve ever participated in was the Virginia City Hill Climb. The Speed by Spectre 341 Challenge will bring that excitement back, but with the addition of muscle, exotic and import cars competing against each other it will be an incredible event. We are also very lucky to have FM3 Marketing onboard to ensure everything runs smoothly.”

The original Virginia City Hill Climb was founded in 1972 and ran through 2002. Rosenbaum holds the all time record for the event, running the course in three minutes, ten seconds in a modified Ferrari F40. The Speed by Spectre 341 Challenge will also include a Media Shootout, pitting magazine editors against bloggers and forum members in a project car challenge. Invites will be issued soon and more information will be posted on the website in the coming weeks.

Speed by Spectre at the 2010 Grand National Roadster Show

Friday, February 19th, 2010

For several decades, one of the best indoor car shows in the world was the Oakland Roadster Show. Since Spectre used to be based in the Bay Area, it was always a great way to scratch the car show itch in the middle of January, when the weather was still miserable. Then several years ago we moved Spectre Headquarters to sunny southern California, and lucky for us the Roadster Show followed us a few years later and is now called the Grand National Roadster Show.

We displayed at the show for the first time this year, and the event took place January 1 – 3, 2010. The Los Angles Fairgrounds were packed with killer kustoms, incredible hand-crafted roadsters, land speed cars, dragsters, traditional hot rods and even a few muscle cars. Over the course of the three day event we met some incredible people and saw some amazing cars. We also showed off several Spectre vehicles, including our ‘70 Camaro and ‘70 Mustang Mach 1. People who passed through our booth also got a sneak peak of our new prototype intake for GM LSX motors.

Take a look at the photo gallery below, and get ready for car show season! We have a full calendar this year, so look for the Spectre cars and rig at GoodGuys shows, on Power Tour and more!

COLD AIR = MORE POWER

Wednesday, February 17th, 2010

Over the past year we have conducted extensive dyno testing on a variety of high-performance vehicles to determine exactly how much power you can gain by reducing inlet air temperature. Frankly, the power gains are stunning – particularly on older muscle cars that typically have a round air filter on top of the carburetor that draws air that has been pre-heated by the radiator and exhaust.

By ducting cooler ambient air to the engine, you can dramatically improve performance. The more powerful your engine (and therefore the more air it requires, since engines are basically big air pumps) the more it is effected by inlet air temperature. Here are some examples.

On a typical hot summer day, underhood temps in a classic mucle car can be as high as 190 degrees. By reducing air inlet temperature 50 degrees - to 140 - the engine gains 25 horsepower and 26 lb/ft of torque. Dropping air inlet temperature to ambient (in this case 80 degrees), the formerly 300hp engine becomes a 360hp engine!

Performance improvements are even more impressive on a 350hp engine - which gains 70 horsepower and 75 lb/ft of torque when air inlet temperature is lowered from 190-degrees to 80-degrees. Think about that... there are very few ways you can add 70 horsepower to your engine without tearing into the internals or adding nitrous.

Ever wonder why your car feels so much faster on cold winter mornings than on hot summer afternoons? The more power you make, the more your engine is effected by the density (temperature) of the air. Cooler, denser air means more oxygen is packed into the combusterion chamber on every compression stroke of the piston. The more powerful the engine, the great the improvement in power. A 500 horsepower engine can see a 100 horsepower gain from a 110-degre inlet air temp drop. But even a modest 30 degree inlet air temp drop picks up 24 horsepower and 25 lb/ft of torque!

Party With the Press!

Wednesday, February 17th, 2010

A few weeks ago we hosted a party for participants of the SEMA Media Trade Show. Basically it’s a showfor magazine and blog editors where they walk from suite to suite, talking about the latest speed parts and trends in the industry. This was our first time at the show, but in typical Spectre style we wanted to show everyone a good time and roll out the red carpet for our friends in the automotive media.

Editors and bloggers having a bite at the Spectre MPMC party

Editors and bloggers having a bite at the Spectre MPMC party

Since we have rolled out so many new cold air intakes for the muscle car market in the past year, we felt this was a great opportunity to show off our latest hardware, race cars and more.

The original plan was to hold an outdoor type car show, but since the weather turned ugly (a rarity in here in So Cal) we moved everything inside, including the dinner, cars on display, a film about the SpeedLiner, dyno runs and more!

We want to thank all the manufacturers and journalists who attended the event, the car owners who supplied Spectre ProFab equipped vehicles for the indoor car show, the editors who brought cars for top-speed dyno runs and of course the entire Spectre Performance staff for all their hard work making the party happen.

Rob Kinnan of Hot Rod Magazine (L) and Matt DAndria of Motorator.com (R) chat in front of the Spectre SpeedLiner

Rob Kinnan of Hot Rod Magazine (L) and Matt D'Andria of Motorator.com (R) chat in front of the Spectre SpeedLiner

Part of the SpeedLiner crew with the record-setting land speed car

Part of the SpeedLiner crew with the record-setting land speed car

Strapping down the Petronix project Camaro SS on the dyno for a top speed run.

Strapping down the Petronix project Camaro SS on the dyno for a top speed run.

Tired of laying on the ground changing your oil?

Wednesday, February 17th, 2010

The Easy Access Oil Changer relocates your oil filter to the top of the engine compartment where it’s easy to change without a mess. The kit also includes a filter relocation bracket that holds an extended oil drain line attached to your oil drain plug, a 12v pump that plugs into your cigarette lighter to help pump out all the old oil without getting dirty on the ground, and a variety of fittings to make it work on nearly any vehicle.

Other advantages include the ability to run large capacity high-performance oil filters and the ability to move your filter away from headers or other heat sources that can cause burns during service.

Click here for more information: Easy Access Oil Changer

Spectre ‘70 Mach 1 Mustang Autocross

Monday, December 14th, 2009

Our own Brandy Morrow is not only a core part of the Spectre Performance marketing department, she is also one of the fastest women in the GoodGuys Autocross series. Here’s Brandy racing the Spectre ‘70 Mach 1 Mustang at the GoodGuys Pleasanton show. The car features a built small block, 6-speed transmission, ProFab Cold Air Intake and custom Spectre aluminum spoilers.

Optima Ultimate Street Car Invitational – Mary Pozzi’s ‘73 Camaro RS

Monday, December 7th, 2009

Mary Pozzi is an 11-time SCCA National Autocross Champion, a GoodGuys Street Challenge Autocross Champion and a tech moderator on several top forums, including Pro-Touring.com, Lateral-G.net and Camaros.net. She took her ProFab equipped ‘73 Camaro RS to the Optima Ultimate Street Car Invitational at Spring Mountain Raceway in Pahrump, Nevada, and competed on the track against some of the fastest street machines in the nation. In the end, Mary’s red Camaro was the 2nd fastest car in the Autocross (the only car that was faster was a race-prepped 427 Cobra) and in the Top 10 on the road course.