12-Second 4th Gen V6!

and Photos by Scott Doerhing Albany, NYbr My love for driving started a long time ago. I was about ten years old when, one day, my father let me take over the wheel of his car. I couldnt reach the so Dad had to work them for me. When I first took the wheel I almost drove the car into an apple orchard, but eventually I got a feel for the car. It was a time Ill never forget and hence my love for driving began. From that on I dreamed of owning my own car. There were many I liked, but I decided on a Chevrolet Camaro. It has always been my favorite car in terms of appearance. I believe my mother influenced me in this decision. She owned a Camaro back in the 70s. But of course, when I asked her to buy me a seven thousand dollar Camaro at the young age of 12, her answer was no. Since my mom couldnt afford to buy a Camaro for me, I had to my dream on hold until I could afford to buy it myself. a href"http:blog.rickscamaros.comwp-contentrickscamarosuploads201411main-front.jpg"img class"alignnone size-full wp-image-1449" src"http:blog.rickscamaros.comwp-contentrickscamarosuploads201411main-front.jpg" alt"main front" "625" height"439" abr At around age 21, I was working at my first job as a computer in Albany, New York. It took three more months of searching to find what would become my Camaro; a used car I bought at Albany Dodge. It was arctic white, had all of the options that I wanted and only thirty thousand miles, which at the time was not bad at all for a 1998 3800 series 2 3.8L V6. I decided on a V6 to save me some money on insurance. The sticker was very high at eighteen thousand, but I was able to bargain it down to fifteen thousand. So with my dream car and a voucher for a free full tank of gas I was very excited as I drove off of the lot. I remember my mother wasnt exactly comfortable with me spending that much money on a car, but there was no hiding her smile when I up the driveway. Im sure the memories of her once brand new Camaro came flooding back. When I got out of the car her first words were, Its beautiful. I added a new job, a functional SS ram air hood and spoiler, a 3-inch Borla exhaust system, 18-inch chrome Corvette C5 wheels and a custom sound system that replaced the rear seats. It felt great to start and bringing home those trophies. Although entering shows was fun, I really started looking for more of a rush. Now I wanted to see what this thing could really do. Luckily, I did not have to go very far. Lebanon Valley Speedway was only about a 20 minute drive from where I lived. I started spending my Saturdays at the track my launch, lowering my 60-foot time and just getting a better feel for the car in general. It was fun to speed legally, but I have to say that after a while I became dissatisfied with the cars sloth-like 14 mile ETs. At this it was running somewhere around 16 seconds flat. Personally, that was just not giving me the sort of the rush that I was seeking. So, I decided it was time to work on my modification list. I had a few shops in the area who could do work on the car. Van Allen Automotive in Kinderhook, New York, had always done service and repairs on my car so I chose them to go to work on the suspension. I actually kept the factory shocks, but replaced the sway bars, lower control arms, rod and torque arm with stronger aftermarket The largest decision I ever made for the car came next; adding There were several options to choose from and my choice was nitrous oxide. Z1 Racing in Ghent, New York, handled the installation of a NOS dry nitrous oxide system, bottle heater and kit. I had already done a bit of research on nitrous and was very excited to test it out at the track. a href"http:blog.rickscamaros.comwp-contentrickscamarosuploads201411main-side.jpg"img class"alignnone size-full wp-image-1450" src"http:blog.rickscamaros.comwp-contentrickscamarosuploads201411main-side.jpg" alt"main side" "625" height"280" abr My first runs with nitrous the car into the low 14s. Now I was getting somewhere! I started winning races against cars left and right, even against some V8s. Although, I was a bit let down when some told me that Id never see mid-13s in the car and run with the new LS1 Z28s. However, instead of listening to them I began to start increasing the shot size. By the end of that season I had run a best 14 ET of 13.60 103 mph on street tires and the stock 3.08 rear end. It felt great to be breaking into a mph in the triple digits and running with the LS1s in a V6 and accomplishing something that said I would never do. envira-gallery id"1472" Running 13.6 at 103 mph led to talk of my car becoming a 12 second V6. I didnt know if I could really do it. This was my daily driver and the only car that I owned. I took the car to Fredericks Performance in Ghent, New York. They installed a transmission mount, upgraded fuel a 3.42 geared limited slip differential and 30 fuel injectors. I also invested in some BF Goodrich drag radials and HP Tuners tuning software so that I could monitor my engine and PCM. I was still somewhat limited by the car being my daily driver and the fact that I also did not want to run it on the track any different than I ran it on the street. Bragging rights I guess. The car was now running 13.1 with me injecting the nitrous right off the line. I was coming close to maxing out those 30 fuel injectors. Any more nitrous off the line and I was going to break the tires loose, which were already down to 19 and had a limited side wall due to the wheel size. So, I had to improvise. I took a nitrous line and hooked it to my solenoid and then routed it to a second nitrous nozzle in my air box. I now had a second stage at the of a button. I wont say how much nitrous I was using at this but I can tell you it was a lot. It was also just enough to my car into running high 12s. I had finally done it! The car ran a best of 12.82 seconds 103 mph. Twelve second V6 Camaros arent unheard of, but I like to think mine is a little different. It is my daily driver, has the stock four-speed auto transmission, drag radials mounted onto heavy 18-inch chrome wheels and is the stock full car weight. I didnt even remove the spare tire from the car. People ask me now what the best modification is that I did to my car. I always have to say the driver. It takes years of and dedication. After that, you can outrun anyone with more than you if they dont know how to use it. a href"http:blog.rickscamaros.comwp-contentrickscamarosuploads201411TimeSlip.jpg"img class"alignnone size-full wp-image-1459" src"http:blog.rickscamaros.comwp-contentrickscamarosuploads201411TimeSlip.jpg" alt"TimeSlip" "232" height"450" abr