SUNOCO CAMARO DEBUTS IN SOUTH AFRICA

[HEINRICH]

SUNOCO DEBUTS IN SOUTH AFRICAN MOTOR SPORT

South African racing legend, Willie Hepburn, has teamed up with SUNOCO to race one of the most remarkable cars during the Execuline Springbok Series at Zwartkops this coming Saturday. The Hepburn-built Camaro Z-28 is an exact replica of the 1967 “Lightweight” SUNOCO/Penske car as raced in the 1967-1969 Trans-Am Series by Mark Donahue. Running the Camaro on SUNOCO 260 GT Plus Race Fuel – for the first time in SA – is also bound to give Hepburn an “Unfair Advantage”! (See story below)

1967 Sunoco Camaro : “The Lightweight”

In 1967, Roger Penske had teamed with driver Mark Donohue as they began an assault on the Trans-Am Series using Chevy Camaros. Mark’s background as an engineer gave him a unique perspective and during this period he changed forever the way racing cars are developed. Roger meanwhile brought the art of sponsorship to a new level.

The secret was a special set of body panels of very thin steel that Chevrolet had produced. Even though this was a very expensive process it was very effective. In addition, Roger contracted with an aircraft manufacturer to dip all the removable panels and the resulting car made its debut on the West Coast with just 4 races left in the 1967 season. This car, forever known as “The Lightweight”, now with sponsorship from Sunoco, won two of those last four Trans-Am races (Las Vegas and Seattle). At Seattle, it lapped the entire field in what was the final race of the year! Tipped off to the unfair advantage, organizers weighed the car post-race only to find it 250 lbs. shy of the 2800 lb. minimum weight. Only Roger’s not-so-veiled threat that Chevy might leave the series convinced the organizers to let the win stand. SCCA stewards told Roger that the car would never be allowed to race again and in 1968 all cars would be weighed during pre-race technical inspection.

For 1968 Roger and Mark had a “body-in-white” acid dipped and prepared an all new 1968 car, adding the weight back in choice areas to balance the car and make the minimum weight. In its debut at Daytona it suffered two cracked cylinder heads and lost to a Mustang. Chevy strongly suggested that Penske enter two cars at Sebring, the second Trans-Am race of the year, which would be a 12-hour event within an event. Not having time to prepare a second car, Mark retrieved “The Lightweight” and fooled the tech inspectors by putting 1968 grille and taillights on the 1967 car and painting both cars identically. Then they sent the legal 1968 car to tech twice, once with Number 15 and once with Number 16. This worked so well that they repeated the process in qualifying and “The Lightweight” actually qualified them both! These events are all documented in Donahue’s book “The Unfair Advantage”.

“The Lightweight” went on to win the Trans-Am and finish 3rd overall in the Sebring 12 Hour against a strong international prototype field, losing only to a pair of factory Porsche 907’s. The team went on to win 10 of 13 events in 1968 and claimed the Trans-Am championship for Chevrolet, repeating the feat in 1969.