Jeff Smith of Car Craft Magazine brought his road race prepped 1965 Chevelle road race car to the Spectre 341 Challenge hill climb. From Silver State to countless track events, Jeff and this car literally helped start the pro-touring movement, so it was fun watching the heavy Chevy scream up the mountain.
Ezra Dyer of Automobile Magazine showed up at the 341 Challenge with a brand new 2010 Porsche 911 Turbo, and after acclimating himself to the road, he promptly logged a series of blistering runs that secured his membership in the exclusive 3:41 Club.
Jody Takagi raced up the hill in her modified Porsche Boxster S, and was selected by 6-speed online to represent the online community at the event. One of the coolest competitors at the hill climb, Jody showed all the boys what a woman in a Porsche can really do.
At Spectre Performance, we know what it feels like to call a tech line and get canned responses off a flow chart. Our tech support crew won’t let you go away frustrated, they have a mission to get your vehicle running its best.
We were thrilled to receive this recent letter from Crown Vic owner, Dave Bryant. Dave had a tech question and spent time on the phone with Speed by Spectre Engineering Support Rep, Guy Smith.
Now we all know Guy, and he’s the sort of man you wish you had as a next door neighbor, so Dave’s letter came as no surprise to us! All the same, it is nice to be appreciated.
Thank you for your letter, Dave!
Hello Amir,
I hope this email gets to the proper person!! I just wanted to send you a note regarding Guy Smith in your tech support department. I have a 2005 Ford Crown Victoria LX Sport…which I love!! I had been searching for over a year for a cold air intake kit for this car. It is my third “Panther” but due to the placement of the MAF sensor in this particular year nobody makes a kit for it. I tried many companies, starting with K&N, I have used them before on my other vehicles. They were of very little help, only suggesting the stock replacement “pad” style filter…not what I wanted.
After doing a bit more research your company was suggested to me by someone at O’Riley Auto parts here in my little town. I ordered the kit from one of your suppliers “Diversified Creations” in Brighton Michigan. They were extremely helpful!!! They are a great reflection of what I would want one of my suppliers to be.
Once I finally got it all together I also added Thrush chambered dual exhaust and a Hypertech programmer. So far I have about $1200.00 into the car which is not a lot but for a single Dad in this crappy economy it’s enough!!
I had problems with a “pinging” problem and just poor performance all around after my mechanic had put this all together. Needless to say I was completely bummed out!! My mechanic suggested putting the air box back to stock….not an idea I was happy with. Then I remembered that Guy had sent me some pictures of a Interceptor you guys did so I decided to call him to help me figure it all out.
Now I am no mechanic by any means, I have been in sales all of my life and am now a licensed Bail Bond/Fugitive recovery agent…hence the need for a “sleeper” as you could call it. I just wanted to impress upon you that Guy is AWESOME!!! I pestered him daily for over a week and he was nothing but accommodating every time!! He walked me through everything including helping me diagnose what the issue was. The supplier had me use the wrong mounting bracket that led to an air leak that lead to the pinging and poor performance. Once I got the proper piece which included a small length of pipe with a bracket, and Guy walked me through installing all of it I think I am finally ready for action.
The car is running great and I basically handled it all myself with Guy’s help along the way. We sent pictures back and forth and there were many phone calls but it was an excellent experience as far as a customer satisfaction situation. Guy wouldn’t rest until I had her running properly and went well beyond what anybody else that I have been dealing with (and paying!!!) has done for me. I just thought proper props should be sent to whomever is in charge of your fine company!! I have referred at least 3 other people to you and will continue to do so. Again I have been in sales for many years and have dealt with a variety of “tech support” and “customer service” reps that could not hold a candle to the guy you have there (no pun intended).
So I hope this reaches you and you can rest assured that you have an excellent support team at Spectre. Once I get it all finished off I am sending a few photos that you are more than welcome to post. The Crown Vic’s are VERY popular in this part of the country especially the retired Interceptors. I am going to continue to recommend your company and will stay in touch with Guy until she’s perfect. Just thought you should hear a good story about the people you have representing your fine company!!
Thanks again,
Dave Bryant
Follow-up:
For any of you wondering if Dave and Guy got all the bugs worked out of the big Ford, here’s Dave’s follow-up note.
Hello Amir,
THANK YOU!!! I received the shirt you sent me along with the stickers the other day and I just wanted to tell you how much I appreciate it!! I shall wear it proudly and see if I can sell a few more of these kits for you!!! I will also send you a few more pictures that I have taken with the kit installed and the engine bay all cleaned up and she’s looking good!! Feel free to post them or whatever you like. The car is running EXCELLENT by the way and so far I have taken out 2 Mustang GT’s and a very surprised Monte Carlo SS……the sleeper is running like a true Panther!!
Thanks again,
Dave Bryant
Vegas native Dean Smith gives Spectre Performance the run down on his 1952 Desoto. This is Dean’s rookie appearance at the Spectre 341 Challenge, however he is a veteran road racer, having driven in the La Carrera Panamericana six times. Enjoy the little tour around this gorgeous 1952 Desoto.
New custom semi truck transforms into a mobile showroom, is honored at Goodguys Rod and Custom Nationals in Columbus, Ohio
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Ontario, Calif. (July, 2010) – Transforming high-performance big rigs are no longer relegated to big-budget summer action flicks. Spectre Performance debuted a brand new custom transporter at Goodguys Rod & Custom shows across the country this year, and it hasn’t gone unnoticed. At the Goodguys Nationals in Columbus Ohio, the Spectre team proudly displayed its new mobile showroom and was awarded the 2010 Goodguys Outside Display of the Year award.
“We looked at every vehicle and every display,” said Goodguys’ Ed Capen. “We were very impressed by the creativity of the rig and awning. Having the product displayed in the back invited people in to look at the parts and it felt very futuristic.”
The Spectre rig features a step-in shop space, automated folding awnings that are actually the sides of the truck, rolling product displays with interactive screens where customers can watch videos look up intake systems for their vehicles and even a mobile merchandizing store filled with branded t-shirts, jackets and hats. The clean, high performance design also includes parking spaces for Spectre show and race vehicles.
“We spend a lot of time on the road,” says Spectre founder, Amir Rosenbaum. “We attend all the Goodguys shows, and we needed a display that was quick to set up so our team can spend more time racing and talking with our customers. We also wanted our presentation to be different. Spectre Performance is all about innovative automotive solutions, and we wanted our display to represent that. Our parts are high quality and easy to setup, and so is our show rig. We’re very proud to receive the 2010 Outside Display of the Year award.”
Celebrating its 27th anniversary, Spectre Performance designs, manufactures and sells high performance hpR® air filters, ProFab™ cold air intakes and automotive accessories engineered and tested in the most extreme conditions on earth for maximum performance, durability and style. Look for Spectre products at all major automotive parts stores and performance part retailers. To learn more about The Speed by Spectre 341 Challenge or to find a dealer near you, visit us online at www.SpeedbySpectre.com or: Spectre Performance, 1720 S. Carlos Ave. Ontario, CA 91761 or call (909) 673-9800
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It’s been a crazy month here at Spectre Performance. We just wrapped up the Spectre 341 Challenge hill climb in Nevada two weeks ago, now we’re heading to Columbus for the GoodGuys Rod & Custom Nationals in Columbus this weekend! In the meantime we have one more video from the Midwest Muscle Car Challenge in Illinois and Indiana, so enjoy!
It has been a very busy summer so far for the Spectre team. A few weeks ago we attended the Midwest Muscle Car Challenge in both Indiana and Illinois, and had a blast flogging our green ‘70 Camaro on the autocross and road course. Then we did the Long Haul on the Hot Rod Power Tour, with company President Amir Rosenbaum driving our ‘70 El Camino with four more Spectre project vehicles in tow. Now we’re prepping for the 1st Spectre 341 Challenge hillclimb in Virginia City, Nevada, next weekend.
While we’re putting the final touches on our own Midwest Muscle Car Challenge video, the crew at Ride Tech did a fantastic job on their own video, so we thought we’d share it here. Nice work guys, and thanks for the great shots of our own Brandy Morrow in the Camaro!
We take our recently revamped 1970 Camaro to Indiana and Illinois for Autocross, Road Race and Speed Stop Challenge action.
You can tell car show season is in full swing – we just got back from an action packed weekend of muscle car racing in the midwest, and we leave again tomorrow for the 2010 Hot Rod Power Tour!
We spent Memorial Day Weekend at the Midwest Muscle Car Challenge, where we sponsored the Speed by Spectre Top Speed Challenge and competed with our 1970 Camaro SS. The first stop on our trip was to pick up the Camaro from our friends at RideTech in Jasper, Indiana on Friday and give it a little tune-up. We recently had Hotchkis Performance install its latest Total Vehicle System, then we had our own crew install a new set of Baer brakes, new lightweight forged Weld Wheels and most importantly a new set of Yokohama Advan Neova 180-treadware high performance tires. We had to patch up a few little issues on the rack, so our friend Greg Schneider was on site to help by fixing a hole in the exhaust with some custom welding.
After leaving RideTech, we caravanned to our hotel where we enjoyed a beautiful Indiana evening checking out cars and barbecuing with a few of the event sponsors and competitors in the parking lot of the Holiday Inn.
The first leg of the race on Saturday was held at beautiful Putnam Park Road Course in Greencastle, Indiana. Not only is the infield at Putnam nothing but rolling green hills as far as the eye can see, but the track staff was on top of their game making sure everything ran smoothly.
The Spectre team was involved in keeping track of fastest racers down the front straightaway as part of the Spectre Top Speed Challenge. The winner of Top Speed Challenge was Brian Finch in his amazing yellow 1970 Camaro with a top speed of 125 mph that he set on the second to last lap of the day. Brian has been destroying the competition in every event he enters lately, winning both the Run to the Coast and the Optima Faceoff leading up to this race.
After a day at the track we made our way with the rest of the participants on a 99 mile cruise to a park in Vincennes, Indiana to enjoy a rib feast in the park sponsored by Flowmaster. It was a great opportunity to chat with other event sponsors and get to know the diehard racers and pro-touring fans.
After a barbecue induced food coma, we woke up Sunday morning to head down the road to the RideTech Street Challenge autocross and the Baer Brakes Speed Stop Challenge at the Mid-American Air Center in Lawrenceville, Illinois. The autocross course was set up on an old WWII airfield and if you closed your eyes you could almost imagine that the rumbling V8s were warplanes instead of muscle cars.
There was quite a selection of cars on site with everything from Chevelles, Camaros, Tempests and even Greg in the Ride Tech C-10 Pickup. Competitors put the pedal to the metal at the Speed Stop Challenge and used every piston of those calipers to make their big muscle machines stop within the box.
The overall winner of the entire event was – you guessed it – Brian Finch, who took home the overall trophy and a certificate for a Spectre ProFab Intake. Our own Camaro ran really well, and our friend Robert McGaffin – who shoots photos for magazines like Popular Hot Rodding and Camaro Performers – spent a lot of time in the car doing hot laps and having a great time learning how to throttle-induce oversteer to power the green 2nd gen around the course. Overall, the race was a success and everyone had a blast pushing their vehicles to the limit.
We’ll have video from the race soon. In the meantime, look for the new Spectre rig on Power Tour 2010! You can get the directions here.
Flying Editors, Flooding Racetracks make for Challenges and Charity at the Goodguys Costa Mesa and Nashville Nationals
It’s been a busy month for both the Spectre and Goodguys crews. We started the month close to home with a thrilling, cone-smashing weekend at the Goodguys Costa Mesa Editor’s Challenge. After a day in the office it was straight to Nashville where unveiled the new Spectre hauler and raced for charity as part of the Bridgestone Nashville Nationals.
The Orange County Get Together in Costa Mesa had the biggest Goodguys Street Challenge Autocross turnout since the start of the series and it was a wild and wonderful weekend for Spectre Performance. We saw old friends like Mary Pozzi, who won the participant class with the lowest time of the weekend and Deanna Marengo who drove her Spectre CAI- equipped ‘67 Chevelle Super Sport to several low-30 second passes with four people in the car! Brandy and Mike Morrow drove the Spectre Mid Engine El Camino in its first event on the new Yokohama tires, and the Spectre Mach 1 Mustang made more runs than ever before as 11 different automotive editors ran it through the cones as part of the 2010 Editor’s Challenge Cup Autocross.
This year’s Editor’s Challenge required that each of the 11 editors drive one lap in a Ford, a GM and a Mopar. The cars included the Detroit Speed & Engineering ’69 Camaro, a stock 2010 Dodge Challenger and our very own Speed by Spectre ’70 Mustang fastback. Editors had the option to substitute one lap in the provided vehicles with one lap in their personal car. Since not one editor drove a Ford, the Spectre Mustang made a lot of laps! Driving ranged from fast and skillful to just plain scary as cones and finish line flags took the brunt of over excited automotive writers. Thankfully at the end of the challenge all the editors and all the cars were still in one piece and Nick Licata of Camaro Performers narrowly held his title over 2nd place finisher, Car Craft’s Jeff Smith.
Licata, logged a 32.295 in our ’70 Mustang, a 34.396 in the ’10 Dodge Challenger and an impressive 29.955 in his own 2001 4th generation Camaro he calls ‘Black Betty.” Licata’s 3-lap average was 32.2153.
Car Craft’s Jeff Smith finished second with a 3-lap average of 32.2313 – just about .200th’s of a second off Licata.
Final 3-Lap Average Times – Goodguys 2010 Editor’s Challenge
1. Nick LiCata, Camaro Performers, 32.2153
2. Jeff Smith, Car Craft Magazine, 32.2313
3. Henry DeLos Santos, Chevy Hi Performance, 32.489
4. Steven Rupp, Camaro Performers, 33.0043
5. Johnny Hunkins, Popular Hot Rodding, 34.322
6. Kirk Jones, Goodguys Gazette, 34.373
7. Sean Haggai, Chevu Hi Performance, 34.427
8. Dan Ward, Truckin Magazine, 35.341
9. Jerry Hutchcroft, Roddin’ & Ridin’ TV, 36.147
10. Doug Glad, Car Craft, DNF – Spun
11. Courtney Hallowell, World of Rods, DNF – Spun
We’d barely buffed all the cone marks off the Mach 1 before it was time to head out to Tennessee. The 5th Bridgestone Nashville Nationals took place as scheduled May 21-23 at LP Field, despite fears that the flooding earlier in the month might have forced organizers to postpone. We saw photos of the event field during the flood and the entire autocross area was underwater. The clean up crew was actually removing fish from the racing surface! The whole Nashville community was hit hard and Goodguys partnered with Hands on Nashville to help raise money for the victims of the flood. All during the event participants were able to make donations to help rebuild homes and buildings and Goodguys matched every donation to raise well over $11,000 during the weekend.
The Nashville show was great for us for many reasons, not least being able to help a community in need. The show had amazing attendance, it was the biggest crowd ever at the Nashville event. Goodguys debuted their 2010 Give-away Boss Mustang and ran it through the cones. Speaking of debuts, It was the first show for our brand new semi and we can’t wait to bring it out again. With its walk in showroom and rolling displays, the new truck is almost as popular with the crowds as our cars! On the track, Brandy turned some of her fastest times to date in the El Camino. With the new Yokohama tires and the early bugs worked out, the Camino ran like a top. When we weren’t on the track we were able to walk around the show cars and there were some beauties.
The Goodguys events just keep getting better and so do the Spectre cars. We’re thinking there might be a podium finish in the near future. There’s lots of racing yet to come. Look for the Spectre rig and our team in Indiana at the Midwest Musclecar Challenge May 29th and 30th. There will be full-out road course, autocross, and highway driving and it will all be televised on Fox Sports Net in June!
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:
Jeff Williams has been a dominant force on the Southwest Truck Tour this season, including setting a new track record at Toyota Speedway in Irwindale with his Spectre-sponsored race truck. The JW Racing crew recently sent us some video from the last few races, and it’s impressive stuff! If you live in Southern California and want to watch some gritty, grassroots circle track racing head out to Irwindale for the next Southwest Tour event and cheer Jeff on!
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!
Jeff Williams continues his dominating run in the South West Tour Truck series (SWTT) with a third consecutive pole position and win at Toyota Speedway in Irwindale, Calif.
The JW Racing team showed up at Toyota Speedway ready to race. With two wins in the bag, Williams was looking for his third straight victory. The hpR Filter equipped truck has been dialed in since the beginning of the season and after the first practice and a 20.2-second lap time, Williams felt no need to go out in the second practice.
Williams took the number 28 Pick Your Part, Spectre Performance, So Cal Racing Supply.com Ford F150 out for qualifying and laid down his third best lap of the season at a blistering 19.93-seconds! To make the race more exciting for the fans, the Toyota Speedway Officials inverted the entire field for the main event. Some of the rookie drivers opted to stay at the back of the pack, but this still placed Williams a good distance back from his qualifying position.
The 35-lap main event started, but the caution flag flew just before the first lap was complete. A single truck had spun out on the start and the race would start over from scratch. Williams had already worked his way up past many trucks and would have to do it all over again. On the second attempt at of the race, Williams passed many of the same trucks again in just one lap! Within a few laps Williams drove his 28 truck to first place and didn’t look back.
On lap 17 the officials threw the caution flags because someone thought they saw “smoke” coming from the 28. The track officials inspected Williams F-150 and found nothing to be wrong and he was allowed to go back into his #1 position for the restart. This restart eliminated the large lead Williams had earned on the rest of the field. He was determined to get it back. As the green flag flew Williams hammered the throttle and got back out to a comfortable lead and took the checkered flag. Congrats to Jeff and his crew for a fantastic start to another successful season.
Walking the GoodGuys shows we come across some pretty wild combos, but this one was certainly unique. A Datsun 1600 roadster powered by an Ecotec DOHC four cylinder backed by a 5-speed manual yanked from a wrecked Saturn Sky. The intake is a custom Spectre ProFab cold air system Paul built with off-the-shelf parts from his local auto parts store. Nice work Paul!
