It has been far too long since I have updated this site and I apologize! 1st thing is I am now the General Manager at Red Hill Toyota in Hamilton Ontario! I am very excited to join this winning team!It has been 2 1/2 years since we sold the RX7 and started with the Camaro. It hasn't been easy to say the least. The further we got into the car the worse it got. We were so lucky to meet Matt Savini from MT Motorsports and without his help we would have never got the Camaro running well. Matt built the Mega Squirt stand alone engine management system and also built a surge tank style fuel system. The 2 changes finally enabled us to get the car working. We also met Wei Lin from Neo Motorsports who provided us with the best brakes I have ever driven on! These brakes enabled the 3500lbs Camaro to stop better than the 2200lbs RX7! Everything was on track finally until May 8th 2016. We were testing at TMP and like I said above the car was finally working..........until a 3/4 upshift on the front straight. Just after hitting 4th gear the engine let go in spectacular fashion. It wasn't until we started taking apart the engine when we saw why. This was supposed to be a "modified race engine" and was actually a stock early 4th Gen Camaro LT1 with a Chevy hot cam. I could go into more detail but at this point we can say it blew up good lol. Matt at MT Motorsport is building us a proper LT1 with all good parts and we hoping to be able to get in some racing this summer! We hope to be able to compete in the October 2016 CS3 race at Mosport and possible co-drive in some Chump Car racing.
ABOUT ABR
The team principal and driver is Alan Balinsky. Alan is also the General Manager of Woodbine Toyota/Scion in Toronto Ontario. Alan has been involved in motorsports since the age of 17. He has competed in everything from autocross and circuit racing to drag racing in the last 35 years. ABR currently races in our own newly formed series and may run a few selected Vintage races for 2015 Alan has signed on with DriveTeq.ca in 2014 as one of their advanced driving coaches which also will continue for 2015! DriveTeq.ca is one of Canada's premier driver coaching programs and ABR is proud to be a member of their team! Our biggest victory was the 2009 BEMC Spring Trophy races where we started last (40th) in the field of the first race of the day. We moved up 20 positions in the 20 minute race and started the afternoon race 20th overall and 3rd in class, finishing 12th overall and 1st in class. The organizers had decided that the Spring Trophy would go to the largest class which was our class GT4. The "Spring or Dunlop" Trophy has been around since 1950 and has some of the great Canadian racers such as Bill Brack, Eppie Wietzes and Richard Spinard as winners of this most prestigious trophy! Truly this was our proudest moment as a team to date. Having started a new job with Woodbine Toyota in December 2009 left us little time to compete in 2010, 2011 and 2012 at which point we sold the RX7. After a year and a half of preparing the Camaro we are ready to attack the track again!
ABR also raises money for The Hospital For Sick Children in Toronto and the Make A Wish Foundation, through various on track events and ride alongs each year.
THE TEAM
The team is directed by crew chief Chris (Coneman) James. His knowledge, patience and countless hours have made ABR the success it is today! Chris has overseen all modifications done since the purchase of the original RX-7. Now moving onto the Camaro the team of Chris James, Curtis James and Kris Dickson perform all the fabrication and race day preparations and race setup, and have been an integral part of the team since its inception. We have been lucky enough to meet Matt Savini from MT Motorsports and his knowledge and expertise have been unrivaled in getting this Camaro sorted out. Kris Dickson has done an amazing job of repairing the chassis, building a new exhaust system and seat mounts, and installing the Carbon Fiber dash for the Camaro!
2016 SPONSORS
Our new sponsors for 2016 are Neo Motorsports who have provided us with amazing race brake package and MT Motorsports who provide us with just about everything lol. Millennium Graphics and Fourway Auto Body are forever faithful in keeping the Camaro looking the best!
HISTORICAL/RACE INFORMATION
The Camaro is actually quite a rare find, it is one of 135 factory built 1LE Camaro's for 1994. Total 1LE production for the 4th generation Camaro (1993-2002) was only 464! The 1LE package for 1994 consisted of Koni Shocks, stiffer suspension bushings, stiffer springs, larger sway bars, heavy duty oil cooler, fog light delete option, the LT1 5.7 litre engine with heavy duty cooling and the T56 6-speed trans. Air conditioning was not available on 1LE cars until later years. Also rare on 1LE cars was the ability to have the roof painted body color instead of black like other Camaro's of its year.The car was orginally built by Trac Motorsports and competed in the Michelin Endurance series, and was later run by Steve Kent in various regional race series including the Touring GT series.
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