Adam Auerbach’s
From time to time, we see projects begin on trucks that range from the simple modification of bolt-on parts or pushed to the extremes with major motor overhauls and suspension modifications. From these projects, most owners share the one common interest, to go as fast as possible in a straight line. But what happens when you get bored of the same standard goal as everyone else?
Adam Auerbach, a resident of Nevada, didn’t just set his goals to extreme and stop there. His dream was the maximum pinnacle of SyTy ownership; the baddest and fastest road racing GMC Syclone to hit the course. But it hasn’t come easy…or cheap.
Article & imagery courtesy of Adam Auerbach
My fixation with the GMC Syclone started even before the official release of the truck in the early 90s. My friend purchased a pristine Buick Grand National with some minor bolt on performance mods in the late 80′s. It was the coolest car around at the time with it’s sinister Darth Vader like black appearance and V6 turbo power. Who would think a T-Type Regal could look so cool. I was hooked! Then less than a year after I graduated college I heard talk about a GM compact pickup that was planning on being released with similar upgrades including all-wheel-drive. After further research I found about the limited production GMC Syclone based on the regular cab GMC S-15 Sonoma. I really dug pickup trucks and the idea of fusing together a pickup and a Grand National was just unbelievable.
Fortunately for me I was living in Oakland, CA around 1990 which turned out to be the Syclone Capitol of the Universe btw. There were more Syclones and Typhoons sold by Oakland car dealerships than anywhere else in the country so there was a pretty good chance I could find one on a dealer lot despite the rarity of the vehicle. There was a GMC/Olds dealer literally next door to my father’s office and I decided to drop in to see if they had a Syclone on the lot. Sure enough there was one sitting near the rear of the lot next to the sales office.
Unfortunately, being 23 years old and not having a pot to piss in at the time, things weren’t looking too good for me. The closest I got to driving off in that Syclone was the dealer sticker shock. $26K! Holy Shit! So it would have to wait. Around 1996 I started making a little money and researched the possibility of a used Syclone. After much research I stumbled onto a nearly pristine low mile Syclone from Oregon. It had a torn driveshaft boot which would cost nearly $1,500 from the dealer to fix, so I was able to negotiate the purchase price down to $16,500.
Initially, I slowly began to modify the truck with the intent on increasing performance and reliability while keeping the truck as stock appearing as possible. I began to drag race the Syclone to test it’s straight line acceleration and a little later I autocrossed since the truck to test the limits of it’s handling. Everything was going great until a few years later the transmission began to go south as well as a string of aftermarket suspension failures. This was the beginning of the turning point where I got a bit carried away with the mods. No matter how I tried to build up the factory transmission or the aftermarket front tubular coilover suspension, they both proved unreliable and I was becoming frustrated with the fact that half of the trucks existence was relegated to jack stands and that I could no longer enjoy it as daily driver. This was the turning point where I decided to make it into more of a race truck. It was a slow, but steady progression from where it started to where it is today. Many folks can’t believe the truck is street legal, but to me it just morphed slowly over time so it was no big deal to me.
One of the biggest things I liked about the Syclone was it’s sleeper role. Just for shits and giggles I would take out the Syclone for a drive and give other drivers of supposedly faster sports cars fits of rage. Nobody expected to get waxed by a little pickup truck. Then the Fast and Furious movie came out and ruined everything. Driving fast on the street was no longer any fun as the risk was much greater than the reward. I was bored with drag racing and the little seat time offered while competing in autocross, so I decided I wanted even more thrill and test the handling limits of the truck even further. It was then I decided to embark on the project to transform the Syclone into a track day vehicle.
Autocross is one thing, but road racing the Syclone is a totally different scenario. There are so many factors involved in making a car competent and reliable on the road course, particularly a pickup truck. I was up to the challenge and I had a second chance to create fits of rage for other drivers, but this time on the roadrace track!
My goal at the time was simple. Build a Syclone that was capable of outrunning a stock Corvette Z06 on the race track, but still keep the Syclone concept intact as much as possible. No tube frame silhouette racer, but maintain the factory frame, cab and v6 turbo engine concept. Much simpler said than done of course. My recommendation for anyone who wants to build a roadracing truck out of a Syclone is don’t and just go get yourself and older Corvette Z06 and be done with it. If you decide to ignore my warning then continue reading.
From an engineering standpoint there are so many things wrong with trying to build a competitive road racer out of a pickup truck. For starters there is practically nothing bolt on or off the shelf so everything has to be custom made. This means cubic dollars. Then there is a lot of labor fabrication involved and unless you have the facilities, equipment and fabrication skills then this means even more cubic dollars. Here are some engineering issues that had to be addressed to get the truck to a point where it could potentially be competitive as a stock Corvette Z06:
- Increase power reliably – The factory mill is underpowered and heavy. With the lack of aerodynamics and additional weight compared to a Z06, a lightweight and powerful engine and cooling package capable of a 10 second 1/4 mile power was necessary and had to be able to handle the constant high revs and heat generated. Getting the power to the ground efficiently is another issue I’ve had to deal with over the years. Hydramatic automatic transmissions and road racing seem to be a bad combination. We completed a full built T-56 6 speed manual conversion while keeping the all-wheel-drive which will be a lot more fun and faster on the racetrack and lighter than the 4l80E automatic that was recently removed.
- Improve handling – This is by far the hardest thing to do with a pickup, although keeping the all-wheel-drive will hopefully be an advantage. So many things are wrong to begin with. Lack of torsional rigidity(truck is made for vertical loading such as hauling manure) higher center of gravity, with truck body on top of frame compared to a unibody sports car. Lack of ability to sufficiently lower stock suspension without adverse suspension geometry issues. Chuck wagon leaf spring rear suspension. Poor weight distribution. We ditched the heavy torsion bar and stamped steel front suspension on favor of a totally custom coilover setup. The Syclone vendor kits are ill equipped to to handle the task as I found out with multiple suspension failures so we re-engineered it from the ground up. The rear leaf springs were ditched in favor of a custom 3 link/panhard bar setup. The safety structure was tied into the suspension pickup points and additional triangulation was added to further stiffen the chassis. The combination of the aluminum V6, moving the radiator to the rear, lightweight body panels, lightweight suspension and wheels helped shift roughly 5 percent of the total trucks weight rearward as well as helping reducing the polar moment of inertia. There are still certain pitfalls we will have to live with that keep the Syclone a truck. Body on top of frame means a higher center of gravity still and we would have to tube frame the truck to fix this. Not an option. Also the Syclone is a single cab so the driver position is more forward and upright compared to most race cars. Nothing can be done here either without ditching the factory cab. A couple good points about the Syclone is you can fit some pretty fat tires underneath for added grip and the cab area above the doors is smaller than most cars, reducing polar momentum and slightly offsetting the body on frame issue. Problem is without all the chassis stiffening and suspension mods the truck would twist, flex and lean all over the place. Increased grip from super wide 315 35 17 R compound tires on all 4 corners increases additional body roll and frame flex, so stiff springs and custom adjustable sway bars were built in addition to the frame stiffening mods.
- Better brakes – The factory brakes plain suck ass. They would overheat and explode after 1 hard lap at Reno Fernley Racetrack. A complete brake system swap was done. Ditched the useless ABS and rear drum brakes, ditched the vacuum assist and stock proportioning valve in favor of a custom dual clevis balance bar manual brake setup from Tilton. Big Alcon B Type calipers and 13.5″ 2 piece rotors up front and PBR disc brakes in the rear along with in cab bias adjustment allow the truck to slow down and stop with confidence repeatedly without fade.
- Improved aerodynamics – Here’s another situation where we’re kind of limited on what we could do without disrupting the essential look of the Syclone. We decided to go with a wide body kit that maintained the factory lines as much as possible, but allowed us to stuff some massive tires underneath. A SCCA Grand Am spec rear wing, front splitter, hood and fender venting were built to add downforce and keep the truck planted at higher speeds.
- Improve safety – The Syclone has no rollover protection. I’ve seen photos of rolled trucks and the cab was crushed down to the doors! A complete safety structure, race seats, 5 point restraint harness and fire suppression system was installed.
There are other mods planned including better controlling air flow under the car and through the intercooler into the engine compartment as well as installing stronger rear axle shafts and eliminate the axle c clips. I actually have had very little seat time since so many changes had to be made. As soon as the manual transmission conversion is complete I’m going to make an effort to get as much road course tuning in as possible so I can start fine tuning everything and get the truck competitive.
Mojave Mile, Syborg
Adam pilots his HPT Syclone “Syborg” at the Mojave Mile September 26, 2010.
Speed posted: 165+mph @ 5700DA 95*F
Tranzilla Magnum T56, Syborg
Tranzilla Magnum T-56 AWD Initial Testing
Sacramento Raceway, 10-30-2011
Best ET 11.527
Best MPH 123.744
Best 60′ 1.651
Syborg/Tranzilla SCCA Time Trials
First time out on a racetrack with the 6 speed manual transmission at the Reno SCCA Time Trials at Reno-Fernley Racetrack, Tilton pedal box, custom remote shifter and custom steering column setup. Ran a 2:02.483 on configuration H which is about 6 seconds quicker than my previous best with the automatic transmission.