How fast was a Motion Camaro

[phaseIII482]

My Motion Phase III Corvette with the Hone overdrive and the ZLX 482ci. 600 hp. engine was gauranteed in writing by motion performance to run mid 11 second 1/4 mile times (in street trim) and still CRUISE at 120 M.P.H. (CRUISE AT ) I also have a Proof of Ownership letter from the first owner stating that he remembers driving this vette in excess of 160 m.p.h since he buried the speedo at 160, with the hone engaged. He also told me this in a conversation we had.

[Pantera]

I don't know physics on this but I have raced my '69 vette at top end speed and I can tell you that it gets pretty scary when you get up in the 160 and plus range. Things are going by dammmmm fast. If you ever spun a car at over a 100 you can be sure that you will wish the dam thing would slow down soon. Everything seems to be in slow motion when you are sliding sideways when in fact it isn't. Perhaps it's your life flashing in front of your eyes.

I do know that there is a point that the wind resistance overcomes the horsepower you have and you just can't go any faster. There used to be a top end speed list of the top sportscars in one of the car magazines and none of them were over or even at 200. It has been years since I kept up with the list so I am sure that they have raised the top with some of the cars that have comeout since. I would beleive 175 to 180 with a stock body vette but they are not that stable at that speed.

I remember one night at 3 am, coming back from my mothers in Dallas and laying the ears back on my Pantera. Now that is not the fastest car ever made but it is no slouch either. All I could get was 168 and I thought the tops of the tires were going to come through the tops of the fenders. Felt like it would drag the undercarriage on the pavement any second.

My '70 Phase III Vette would not go faster than 140 but that was with a 4:11 rear end and some tall tires on the rear. At that speed the front end is a litte light feeling.

I think there is a barrier that you hit around 180 that you just can't go any faster unless you have 200 more horsepower and better aerodynamics.

200 it a little hard to beleive, and trust me I am a big fan of Motion cars. I think phaseIII482ci's car is as top end fast as any that Joel ever made.

Pantera

[Xplantdad]

I agree with Pantera...

[ QUOTE ]
I do know that there is a point that the wind resistance overcomes the horsepower you have and you just can't go any faster. There used to be a top end speed list of the top sportscars in one of the car magazines and none of them were over or even at 200. It has been years since I kept up with the list so I am sure that they have raised the top with some of the cars that have comeout since. I would beleive 175 to 180 with a stock body vette but they are not that stable at that speed.



[/ QUOTE ]
Please see the link below for an interesting discussion on this very subject.
Z06 Corvette Top Speed

Pretty interesting reading about Chevrolets 'race Vette for the street'

Bruce

[JoeG]

This is just some info--Motion built this MarkIII Vette for this fella in'68---It had a 3.55 rear--est. top speed in street trim 160mph --maybe a tad more------------

[Xplantdad]

Here's another link to a Z06 site. The site is owned and operated by a friend that I met right after high school. He had 5.0 Mustang with nitrous back then...now he has a Z06 (or two), and shoots video from inside the car...at different tracks. His name is Rick Bailey.

Here's the link: Rick Baileys Z06 site

Warning: You need a high speed connection to view this site, as the video files are very large.

Bruce

[GMH454]

[ QUOTE ]
This is just some info--Motion built this MarkIII Vette for this fella in'68---It had a 3.55 rear--est. top speed in street trim 160mph --maybe a tad more------------

[/ QUOTE ]

Unless it ran an overdrive tnis may be more an example of Joel's abilty to promote his product rather than make fast cars.

15" wheels on a Vette with 3.36 gears at 6500rpm is around 150mph. With 3.55s doing 160mph its gonna be turning a lot of revs for a lot of time, not just a momentary blip thru the gears.

And Pantera thanks for the reality check, 200mph was something a Greenwood wide body running a mag cross ram used to do. Not a street bodied car with a 4 or 3 barrell carb.

[JoeC]

not sure of the mph but an owner of a 68 Motion Camaro told he was on the highway testing his Camaro back in the day and the glass stinger hood split in half and blew off over the roof of the car. He thought he forgot to put the hood pins on but when he stopped and checked the pins were still in place but the hood was gone.

[Motion Camaro]

<font color="blue">I had the glass hood blow off my car on the Hutchison River Pkwy.
Never used a 4 hoodpin setup again, always 8 after that.
</font>

[JoeG]

Well like I said this was just some info --Motion didn't offer overdrive in '68 .--The way the engine was set-up ,it was making HP past 6500rpms---They were using 15" rims, but I don't know how tall the rear tires were(L-70 INDY)---Anyway this fella just wanted to go 160mph , not do laps around Walmart.-----------------

[JoeC]

Some of the Motion cars went to Saudi Arabia. I bet they had some good high speed runs with cheep gas and plenty of open road. As long as they didn't run into one of those "fuelie head" horses.