# Nickey Xa Equipped Camaro tested at race Track



## dms (Jun 27, 2005)

Due to the late release of the Camaro by GM Pedders is behind on our Xa Coilover production. We held up production of our Xa coilovers until we could get under a couple of production vehicles to confirm fitment. Our high profile installations with a couple of Dealers and GM at the Proving Grounds were great opportunities for this. The Xa coilovers fit perfectly, are produced and waiting for the boat to ship out.

Radius rod bushes are good to go.
Differential bushes are good to go.
Sway Bars are being revised for clearance.
Endlinks are good to go.
Sub-Frame Inserts are being revised.
Trailing Arm Bushes are good to go.
Upper Control Arm Bushes are good to go.

We expect to have stock for all these bits when the first Pre-Order of Xa coilovers arrive in the USA is about five weeks. Now allow me to make the wait interminable.We have air freighted, at considerable expense, a handful of Xa coilovers for magazine cars with Nickey, Hennessy and Fesler Moss. With the Nickey car we did the fitment of the Xa coilovers, eXtreme Radius Rod Snubbers, eXtreme Rear Camber and Toe Adjusters and a Pedders alignment at the Autobahn Country Club in Joliet Illinois with TEAM Stradale. Our first test was to establish the base line performance with stock tires, wheels, suspension and alignment. The head of the Autobahn Track Driving School Francesco Abate was our designated driver. Typically he is driving track prepared BMWs and Ferrari's. Last Thursday it was a Camaro SS. his initial drive was solid, but a bit uncertain. There is substantial lean and roll and a significant amount of understeer resulting in solid lap times.

We brought the Camaro into the shop and installed the VERY first 2010 Camaro Radius Rod Snubbers originally developed for GM High Performance. Unfortunately that project was been dropped, but we still have the parts so the Nickey Camaro was a logical place to test them. They take up space and remove compliance making the radius rod bush eXtremely stable. This part is one of the very few bits Pedders makes that will be sold for Track Use Only.

Installing the Xa Coilovers alters the spring rates with 8Kg coils up front and 10Kg coils in the rear. Damping set to full soft starts where the OEM dampers end. We tested at 25 or 5 off full hard upfront and 15 or in the middle in the rear. This was done to minimise the push created by vehicle balance and a staggered set of OEM tires. The alignment is the same as the one we use on my four door Camaro / Pontiac G8.

*Front*
Camber -2.2
Castor -- it is fixed from the factory on the Camaro -- well at least until Pedders releases front Castor eXtreme Adjuster Bolts and Washers.
Toe -.25

*Rear*
Camber -1.1
Toe 0.02 
Thrust Angle 0

We lowered the Camaro SS quite a bit. I am waiting on some data from Francesco, but from memory we dropped the front 30mm and the rear 40mm. The transformation on the vehicle was incredible. Our first lap, Francesco was uncomfortable. The car just didn't feel right. Then we noticed that the Traction Control had not been turned off. While still running at speed, I turned off the traction control. The car felt more than alright. It felt fast. It still had too much push which can be further reduced by lowering the rear. That was my fault. Being a Nickey car, it should look like Nickey Camaro with the traditional Muscle Car stance so I left it a bit too tall. We need to bring the rear of the vehicle down another 15mm. Moving to 10.x20 rims all around with something like 295/35/20/XL or 305/30/20/XL should balance out the car with more grip up front and be balanced front to rear, but I digress.

The Nickey Camaro with Pedders Radius Rob Snubbers, Xa coilovers and a Pedders Alignment was a blistering 2.41 seconds per lap faster on our worst Pedderised lap. We feel that with ONLY suspension upgrades to include sub-frame bush inserts, upper rear control arm bushes, trailing arm bushes, bars and endlinks we have another 1.5 seconds. That would mean you can take a Camaro SS and find 4 bullet proof reliable seconds with nothing more than a few suspension upgrades. There is no motor upgrade that could deliver this improvement, because we were at the limits of the OEM suspension with OEM RWHP. Adding HP would do nothing for lap times.

As for Francesco, he is now an American Muscle Car addict. As we continue to work with Nickey Chicago at the Autobahn with Francesco we will continue to update this thread. Our next session should take place in about a month when we finish the suspension with our revised bits. Following that, will be a matched set of tires and wheels. Following that will be more RWHP. As time allows, we will be working with Hennessy and Fesler Moss on similar projects that will all receive national media attention.

Orders and retail sales of our Xa coilovers have been staggering. I never expected to sell coilovers in this volume for the Camaro, GTO, G8 and other platforms. Volume is good. Because we are running production at this level we are LOWERING the retail price for our coilovers across the board. They will not be as low as the December Dollar Days, but they will be going down based on volume. I can't thank the online communities that are the driving force behind these orders enough. We haven't had delivery on the first pre-order and we have already sold out the second order and while neither the first of second orders have arrived in the USA, we are on our third order with a production schedule that is eXtremely different than it looked 60 days ago. 

Aside from that, I don't have much new information to share with you. 

What a great parking place. These are the rides that normally would be found in the Stradle Stable.










What happened to the Castor Adjustment slot on the Camaro ZETA II chassis?










The front Camaro Xa Coilover is hung,










We talked about the Camaro project so much that we were pressed for time to complete our work and get out on the track for session II. It was all hands on deck to get the job done.










The gold rear strut washer goes on top and the silver washer on the bottom.



















The verys first set of eXtreme Rear Camber and Toe Adjusters is installed on the Nickey Camaro. There are benefits to being close to Pedders Head Office.










TEAM Stradale has great facilities. Thier state-of-the-art drive on alignment rack made the Peddersised Camaro alignment a breeze. It must be something iabout Illinois becuase the first drive on alignment rack I used was at Waukegan Tire and they have four of them.










Pictured from Left to Right: Pete Basica Pedders USA, Stafano Bimbi Nickey Chicago and Francesco Abate TEAM Stradale. Yes, you have to love Italian food to hand with this crew.


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## dms (Jun 27, 2005)

This is a great shot of the OE suspension running at speed on the track.










These are on track with the Camaro Pedderised.


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