Detroit Speed's How to Build a Pro Touring Car. Tommy Lee Byrd

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      As a NASCAR driver, touring the country, I spend my fair share of time behind the wheel, and it’s where I feel at home. I’ve always been a fan of all kinds of cars. I love muscle cars, old hot rods, and luxury cars.

      Whether it’s on the racetrack or out on the open road, I demand a lot from any car that I’m driving. Many of the same characteristics that I challenge my crew chiefs to provide are what I was looking for when I took my 1969 Camaro to Detroit Speed for a Pro Touring makeover. I wanted them to turn a car that was an old beater into a car that drives, rides, accelerates, shifts, and stops better than any other car I had ever driven. I knew this would be a tough task and never dreamed that they could take a car built in 1969 and turn it into something that outperforms vehicles of the modern era.

      The first time I drove my original 1969 Camaro, it wasn’t a pleasant experience, and even for a professional race car driver it was a rough adjustment. The car drove like a boat—the front and rear floated up and down, and I was never sure which way it was going to go next. The thing bounced from one side of the road to the other, and with an old worn-out steering box, I struggled just trying to keep it in my own lane. With a not-so-smooth-shifting transmission that felt like it had 24 inches of shifter throw, I definitely would never be able to beat another competitor down the strip. With all the up-and-down and side-to-side motion, you’d hope that the thing would at least have good stopping power, but I could write this whole foreword before I got it to stop, especially when slowing down from highway speeds.

      Enter Detroit Speed and the Pro Touring package that turned my Camaro from an old boat into my dream yacht. My list of demands where high: I wanted to go all out with this car and turn it into something I would never want to get rid of. I wanted something that looked cool and drove like a dream, and that’s exactly what I ended up with. After watching this build happen at Detroit speed in Mooresville, close to my KBM shop, I couldn’t wait to get behind the wheel and drive!

      First, it looked amazing! I love the paint colors and all the accents that make this car mine. It truly is a work of art.

      Next, the sound. We fired it up and it came to life with a punch. It got my heart racing with how loud it was and how smooth it rumbled at idle.

      Sitting in it and feeling the sunken seats with leather wrapped around you, the four-point belts holding you in tight, the gauges in your face, and the pedals at your feet is an experience that mixes the practical and safe features of my race cars with the comfort of a high-end sports car.

      Finally, the drive. I grabbed first gear and let out the clutch to something much better than I could have ever imagined. It was awesome to feel it roll. As I turned the steering wheel with the new rack-and-pinion steering, it was responsive and ate up the road as I drove the car away. It felt great.

      Then I had to check out how well it stopped. Wow! On a dime. Again, it actually was better than I expected. It didn’t take a ton of pressure or have a ton of pedal travel to make it stop.

      It was nothing like what it was before. The engine sounds great, acceleration feels great, brakes are awesome. The car had a sports car feel in the suspension that allowed you to have a ton of confidence in driving it in your own lane and going where you wanted to go, not where it wanted to go. It is a smooth and comfortable ride, while also being able to corner hard and keep all four tires under you. It always teases you to drive it harder.

      I can’t thank everyone at Detroit Speed enough for the job they did with putting the Pro Touring treatment on my 1969 Camaro. The thing is a blast to drive and something that I will never part with.

INTRODUCTION

      Because the first-generation Camaro is still the most popular choice for a Pro Touring СКАЧАТЬ