Thanks for the pictures! I always wondered what happened to this car. I got to see it run at Mid Ohio in 1988 in the GTO class with a V6. I don't think many people know remember much of this car since it ran for such a short time. I took a pictures of the car and of the semi it had a great painting of this car on it. Did it still have the stock steering wheel on it? The race I was at it ran a stock GT steering wheel. This car spanked a lot of V8 Camaro's and Roush Mustangs. I am glad they preserved this car as originaly was. If I remember it one one of it's first races, Miami I think?
[This message has been edited by hyperv6 (edited 01-24-2004).]
We had a great time looking at this car today. ( Florida Fiero Council) This car is just how it looked right after it stopped racing back in 1987. We have a lot of pictures.
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02:13 PM
Uaana Member
Posts: 6570 From: Robbinsdale MN US Registered: Dec 1999
Great find! Do they plan to do any vintage racing? If I remember it was a 90 degree V6 with a GTP light hewland trans axle in a north south layout as I recall. If I can get someone to scan my Pictures I will post them from the race it was at in the 80's. It looks just as I recall seeing it. Just Cleaner!
[This message has been edited by hyperv6 (edited 01-24-2004).]
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02:28 PM
PFF
System Bot
Proud88GT Member
Posts: 275 From: Central Florida Registered: Mar 2002
I do not think so because the car is important part of history to the Fiero and to their race team. They do not have their Trans Ams anymore, but they kept the Fiero.
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02:34 PM
hyperv6 Member
Posts: 6002 From: Clinton, OH, USA Registered: Mar 2003
Hyperv6... you are correct on the steering wheel. The car started out as a carb engine and ended up with a 90 Degree Pontiac Super duty V6 4.5 272 C.I.D Port Fuel Injection putting out 500 hp @7500 rpm with a six speed gear box. Its last race was the One Hour at Del Mar were it took second place in the GTO Class and the first race was the Miami GT were it place first in its first time out. This was a factory race car so it had to go thru all the race people at Pontiac. They have no plans on bring it back out to the track as of yet....
Mr. Dingman also brought a friend along with him this morning and that was the owner of Diverified Glass Products also know as DGP who built the Stage ll and Stage lll molds and then sold them to IRM and we know where they went from their...It was a GREAT DAY.....
Thanks for sharing. Man would I LOVE to build that car. If only there was a legal class for it today on the pro level.
Are those Fox external reservoirs on the dampers!!??!! I thought we were the only idiots that tried running mountain bike shocks on race cars
There's plenty of similar chassis that you can build legally today....if you've got the dough! That car was no cheaper to build then than it is to build the current chassis now.
You do know that Fox makes shock absorbers for lots of stuff, don't you? I first saw them on a motorcycle, myself, but have since seen them on lots of dune buggies and mountain bikes....oh, and formula SAE cars, of course.
I don't know, there's something romantic about racing a Fiero. I do plan on building a similar chassis for racing in today. It would be nice to have a Fiero skin though.
I know Fox did other stuff. Ken Adnerson was doing doing all sorts of off road and even indy stuff back in the 80s. Really was a pioneer. Today if you call up Fox and ask and ask about race cars, you kind of get hung up on. I know one product rep was all hot to sell me stuff(extra seals and shafts) and do custom valving until he found out the shocks weren't going on a bike. *frown*
quote
Originally posted by Nashco:
There's plenty of similar chassis that you can build legally today....if you've got the dough! That car was no cheaper to build then than it is to build the current chassis now.
You do know that Fox makes shock absorbers for lots of stuff, don't you? I first saw them on a motorcycle, myself, but have since seen them on lots of dune buggies and mountain bikes....oh, and formula SAE cars, of course.
Bryce 88 GT
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04:19 PM
Dragon Member
Posts: 1352 From: Space Coast, Florida Registered: Jun 2001
this car was in the GTO class which was for the bigger cars with bigger engines. Most of the Fiero race cars were in the GTU class and ran with the Super Duty 4. The V-6 was a 4.5-Liter, 90 degree V-6 with 500 bhp. An other note Bob Earl raced this car. It won the Miami Grand Prix on March 1. 1987. (not first in its class, but First overall.) It also won at Lime Rock.
This car was pictured in the 1988 Pontiac Brochures also.
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05:49 PM
RACE Member
Posts: 4842 From: Des Moines IA Registered: Dec 2002
The engine if I recall was the same block as the GTP Corvette that ran in IMSA less the Turbo. This engine is based on the 4.3 stock block but beefed up quite a bit. All the parts were in the GM Power Book. You have to wonder what this car could have done if Pontiac did not drop the program. It was a great car out of the box and Could handle the Pratt and Miller and the Dominate Roush GTO cars that were in the series. The only other car I ever saw that was as good as the Fiero GTO out of the box was the F-40 LM that Ferrari of France and driven by Jean Alesi But it ran in only a couple of races and also never got fully developed too.
Yes it started out as 4.3 and we were told it was capable of 190 MPH but for every hour of racing it reqiured four hours of maintenance ... Here is a little racing history for this car in the 1987 IMSA GTO Class 1st place at Miami, 5th at Riverside 5th at Arizona Camel GT, 5th at Mid Ohio, 2nd at West Palm Beach, 4th at Road Atlanta, 24th at Summit Point, 19th at Portland 2nd at Sears Point, 1st at Lime Rock, 5th at Watkins Glen, 4th at Columbus, 2nd at Del Mar, and only one DNF and that was at Laguna Seca. Bob Earl was their driver for this season...
[This message has been edited by red GT (edited 01-25-2004).]
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11:17 AM
R Runner Member
Posts: 3679 From: Scottsville, KY Registered: Feb 2003
Okay, I'm impressed. That would be great if you could post all of (or email me) the pictures. Yesterday (just by dumb luck) I was at Paul Vanderley's shop. Both doing Fiero Race Hisotry on the same day. I had read about this car but didn't realize that is was still around. Did you say that you guys met the former owner of DGP?! I really need to contact him about the history of my fiberglass body. John (Callies) was able to tell be some information, but DGP would be able to tell me LOTs more. Maybe they could tell me why it wasn't distroyed.
According to John, the longitudinal V6 was a screemer. My guess is that it was the highest performance "Fiero" (all around) ever built. I really love the inboard coil over setup. That would help tremendously with the unsprung weight. Are there any pictures of the rear suspension?
THANK YOU AGAIN FOR THE PICTURES! What a find!
------------------ Paul
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12:28 PM
exoticse Member
Posts: 8650 From: Orlando, Fl Registered: Jun 2003
