Still more on Road Test "ringers".....

I guess the magazine writers and engineers-being gearheads at heart sometimes just want to see what potential a certain vehicle has. And the manufacturers like it-it helps sell the cars. But it does create confusion for the public. They wonder why the showroom examples can't come close to the magazine test cars or prototypes performance. Here's a few more examples. # 1. 1973 Trans-Am. Hot Rod and Car and Driver both tested an SD-455 T/A prototype. Hot Rod recorded a 13.54 1/4 mile e.t. and C/D recorded a 13.75. The 2/10ths difference may have just been track conditions, or wind, or driver technique. It was the same car-in the pictures of both magazines the licensce plate number is the same! The reason I say this car is a "ringer" is early SD455 prototypes had the Ram Air IV cam which had 308 / 320 advertised duration and .470 lift. The cars barely passed smog with this long-duration cam. Pontiac engineers thought this was too close for comfort with the EPA and for production examples the cam was swapped for the much milder RAIII cam-which had 301/313 advertised duration and only .414 lift. Hp was down-rated from 310 to 290 as well. However-Pontiac also had trouble with the connecting rod supplier and with EGR valve function. This was why the engine wasn't EPA certified until April 1973, and in the Firebird line only-( initial 1973 sales literature listed the SD-455 as available in the Grand Am, Gran Prix, and GTO as well ). this is why only 295 were built-252 in T/A's and another 43 in Formulas. Further-although the road tests were published in the April and May issues-the actual testing ws done in January-with the red T/A that had the RAIV cam and a 3.42:1 axle ratio. Production TH400 examples,besides having the milder cam also had 3.08:1 gears if ordered with A/C. No one knows what happened to the Hot Rod / C/D test mule. Some say a Pontiac executive bought it, others say it was crushed. Regardless-other magazines that tested other SD455 T/A's in '73 or '74 ran low 14s. Great performance for a 3,800 lb car with 8.4:1 compression-but nowhere near the blistering times of the red "prototype".  # 2. 1973 Olds 442. Motor Trend had a 1973 Performance car comparison. The silver and red Cutlass 442 blew the doors off all comers which included an SD-455 Trans-Am, a 454 Corvette,a 440 Dodge Charger,a 429 Torino, a 351CJ Mustang and a 401 / 4-speed Javelin AMX. The MT writers were shocked by this and did some checking. One of the Olds engineers let it slip that the badass 442 in fact had the super-hot 328 duration "W30" cam out of the 1970 442-and also had a 2,800 rpm torque converter, a Hurst shift kit in the TH400 and 3.42:1 gears. This one ripped off a string of 14.01s with the best run being a 13.82. Production models that had a much milder cam, a converter with 1,000 rpm LESS stall speed and 3.08:1 gears could only run 14.90 and 14.65 in other magazine tests. # 3. 1978 Z/28 Camaro. Popular Hot Rodding raved about their Z/28 test car that ran a blistering 14.34 in the 1/4. However-DKM incorporated who had great success selling the "Macho T/A's"-decided to do a Camaro. This test car was a "Macho Z" prototype-and had the full "Macho T/A" treatment-which included a re-curved distributor, a re-jetted carb, and Hooker Headers with real dual exhausts and 2 catalytic converters. This is why production examples could only run times ranging from 15.21 to 15.60!!   The Mecham brothers sold about 300 Macho T/A's a year from '77-79. For some reason Chevy dealers weren't interested like Pontiac dealers. As far as I know this prototype is the only known "Macho Z" to exist. Car Craft also tested a Corvette that the Mecham brothers "Macho-ized"-with the headers and tuning, and a Doug Nash 5-speed that they called the L82-S. The magazine raved about it's performance-but again I've never seen an L82-S anywhere else. # 4. 1987 Buick Grand National. Most GN's ran 14.30s in road tests. Awfully quick for a 3,500 lb car with Turbo V6. However High-Performance Cars magazine ran a blistering 13.85 at Englishtown. This was accomplished by swapping the 195 degree thermostat for a 160 degree unit, and changing to a switch that kicked the fan on at 185 instead of 220. They also filled the tank with 104 octane unleaded racing gas and put wet towels on the intake between runs. The 104 octane gas meant no detonation-which meant the knock sensor and the ECM wouldn't retard the timing-and the cooler, denser fuel mixture-180 versus 220-also helped immensly. This is why other magazine testers-running at 220 degrees on 87 or 91 octane gas were half a second slower!!  What's the old saying-"It's only cheating if you get caught..."  Mastermind