[GRM+ members read this article first. Subscribe and gain access to more exclusive content for only $3/month.]
Arnie Gonzalez calls it Pink-X. It suits. The truck’s pink, and he autocrosses it. Plus, others take a look at the truck as if there’s a pink X on it.
“They provide me the ‘Oh actually?’ look,” he says of those that first encounter his 1990 Chevrolet C1500 Sport. “They begin speaking crap earlier than they even see the truck run.”
Arnie doesn’t thoughts enjoying into their preconceived notions. “We do one thing on function,” he says. “The primary session, we line up within the again. When it’s time for the second session, let’s say there are 25 automobiles and we’re thirteenth. We make certain we’re nearly the final one to drag up on the grid.
“They see this truck,” he continues, “they usually’re like, ‘Excuse me, are you misplaced?’ I’ll go, ‘No, however are you able to learn? You might wish to take a look at the occasions. My truck is quicker than your automotive.’ They’ve this look of ‘You bought to be kidding me.’”
Arnie loves driving a wild card.
“If you bought a Corvette, you understand you’re going to be up entrance,” he explains. “When you will have a Miata, you understand you’ll be towards the again. The truck is the unknown. That’s one of many allures of it.”
Champagne Goals, Beer Finances
Arnie grew up in Miami. His father took him into the paddock of the Grand Prix of Miami as a child, planting the seed of his ardour for all issues with motors.
“Being round Porsches and people forms of automobiles, I knew I couldn’t receive these issues,” he says, “however I knew I may receive a truck. A pickup truck is just not that costly. It nonetheless has a motor and 4 wheels. We have now a weight concern, however we are able to work on that.”
In his early years, Arnie had two profound influences. He turned wrenches for Pettit Racing, which fielded Mazda RX-7s for driver Cameron Price within the previous Grand-Am sequence. Arnie additionally labored for California Customized Sport Vehicles in Fort Lauderdale.
“These are the blokes who fashioned me,” Arnie says. “I began to determine that I like my vehicles, however the problem was, how may I make my truck deal with like a few of these RX-7s or Miatas that I used to be surrounded by? It took me some time to determine it out. You couldn’t do that within the ’90s–the elements weren’t accessible. You weren’t going to compete with a Corvette or Camaro–it simply wasn’t going to occur.”
Arnie raced Spec Miatas, however it didn’t excite him as vehicles did. As an alternative, 15 years in the past, he opted to construct Pink-X.
“Once they invented the Miata, it wasn’t meant to be a Spec Miata. It was that as a result of the potential was there,” he explains. “I figured on the market was potential in that exact truck I run.”
Why the C1500?
Arnie loves many vehicles. Nonetheless, the 1988-’98 Chevrolet C1500, aka “previous physique model” or OBS, appeared like the proper truck to switch for racing.
“When in comparison with the 1973-’87 C10, the ’88-’98 C1500 is a better-designed chassis,” he explains, “and most of it’s firewall ahead.”
The C1500 makes use of a stiffer, light-weight, hydroformed body; the older vehicles don’t. And the place the C1500 bought a welded entrance crossmember, the one within the older truck is riveted collectively.
Arnie says he may have gone with the mannequin that got here after the C1500, the Chevrolet Silverado, aka “new physique model” or NBS, however he went together with his private desire.
“The NBS vehicles even have a hydroformed body and have an LS motor, so sure, it might be a extra logical technique to go,” he says. “Nevertheless it’s like, why would I take a Porsche 911 over a 928? Each are Porsches. Any Porsche connoisseur has a 911 inside their storage. It’s a love of the physique model. I grew up with the C1500. I wished that truck when it was brand-new. Plus, the newer vehicles are heavier.”
Arnie admits the truck isn’t for everybody. It’s not essentially the most reasonably priced automobile on the market; he estimates it might take somebody $25,000 to $30,000 to construct one like his. It’s definitely not the best to arrange, both, and Arnie did most of that work on his personal. However vehicles are his factor, a lot in order that he promotes a truck-only Professional-Touring Truck Shootout at Beech Bend Raceway Park within the spring.
Creating Pink-X has been a protracted course of, however Arnie has found out the best way to make the truck quick. Immediately, it beats Spec Miata and 944 Spec lap occasions. In a latest NASA occasion, it bested a BMW M3.
“You bought to have a love affair for the truck,” he says. “You bought to have the eagerness to be the underdog and attempt to beat the BMWs, Porsches and Camaros.”
Arnie took us for a tour round his truck throughout a latest NASA Mid South occasion at Nashville Superspeedway.
Rear Suspension Swap
Arnie creates a lot of his personal elements by his enterprise, OBS Chevy Racing. This package replaces the leaf-spring setup with a three-link suspension and coil-over shocks.
“The automobiles are usually extra even-keeled,” Arnie says of the load steadiness of automobiles versus vehicles, with vehicles having most of their weight within the entrance. “With the vehicles, that’s a serious drawback. We attempt to transfer a whole lot of weight off the entrance. Within the rear, we make up for it with mechanical grip.”
Arnie’s truck now weighs 3340 kilos. He says it initially weighed about 4250 kilos.
He continues to experiment with the anti-roll bar, typically operating with out it. He hopes to develop a brand new setup quickly.
Including Traction
Extra rubber usually equals extra traction, and Arnie moved to a beefy 315/30ZR18 dimension. He’ll both run Hoosiers (pictured) or Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tires. To accommodate the broader tires, he makes use of a Belltech spindle, wheel spacers/adapters, and a wheel supposed for a Corvette. On all 4 corners, Baer 6P brakes–six-piston calipers, rotors and pads–up the truck’s stopping energy.
Framing
The OBS Chevy Racing body braces exchange the crossmember that holds the spare tire. This enables Arnie to shave weight but preserve rigidity within the rear of the body.
Catching Air
Up entrance, Arnie added a splitter that his OBS Chevy Racing firm makes. Within the rear, a prototype rear wing catches some air and provides some downforce to the rear of the truck.
“I wouldn’t drive as quick as I’d with out the entrance splitter,” he says. “The rear spoiler is best than nothing.”
Serving to Geometry
The OBS Chevy Racing coil-over package up entrance, which incorporates billet aluminum higher management arms, permits Arnie to simply regulate caster and camber and set up coil-over shocks.
Keep Cool
This warmth extractor hood from OBS Chevy Racing does what it sounds prefer it does. It takes away warmth from underneath the hood to maintain the powerplant cool and completely satisfied.
The Energy
Below the hood, Arnie constructed an engine from a 6.0-liter GM LQ9 block. The cast-iron engine was utilized in vehicles from 2002 to 2007. On high, it has GM 243 aluminum cylinder heads, which Arnie ported. He estimates that it places out someplace between 450 and 475 horsepower.
Shifted the Shifter
Contained in the cockpit, Arnie stripped out many of the inside. He needed to transfer the shifter as a result of he opted for a Tremec T-56 six-speed handbook, which was broadly utilized in autos from GM, Ford and Chrysler. Arnie says he made the change for sturdiness, because the truck initially got here with a BorgWarner T5 five-speed handbook.
Trending Merchandise
