This Corner-Carving 1969 Camaro Hides One Mistake, And Its Builder Doesn’t Care
Classic American muscle cars were engineered to win in a straight line, but Victor Figueroa’s garage-built 1969 Chevrolet Camaro was built for cones and apexes instead. He autocrosses and road-courses it, and nearly every part of the build, from the modern suspension to the 14-inch brakes and square 335 tires, exists to help it turn.
One major component doesn’t fit that plan, and Victor admits it openly during a drive with Autotopia LA. He knows the part is a poor match for autocross, yet it’s the one thing on the car he refuses to change.
The Upgrades That Turn This 1969 Camaro Into A Corner Carver
Victor bought the Camaro out of Phoenix in 2012 as an original survivor, finished in Frost Green with a green vinyl top and a green interior. He drove it for about 10 months until the 327 V8 snapped its cam gear and bent all its pushrods, which gave him the excuse to start the build.
The front end now uses TCI’s Pro Touring IFS, a bolt-in clip that TCI says cuts 120 lbs from the Camaro’s nose. Its custom spindles and dual camber curves were designed with autocross and road racing in mind. Out back, a Detroit Speed QUADRALink replaces the original leaf springs, using a panhard rod to keep the axle located in hard corners.
Stopping power comes from 14-inch Wilwood brakes with six-piston front and four-piston rear calipers. Victor runs 18×12 HRE wheels with square 335 tires at all four corners, and he has rebarreled those wheels three times in 12 years. He also fabricated the 3-inch stainless exhaust himself, learning to weld stainless on this car.
TCI lists Victor among its team members who ran the West region’s GTV class in the 2026 DriveAutoXtreme autocross series at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
The Mistake: The 8,000-RPM LS7 V8 Is The Wrong Engine For Autocross
Victor says plainly that the engine isn’t a good autocross motor. It’s an LS7 built on a sleeved Dart block with PRC heads, a Brian Tooley Racing Stage 4 V2 cam, and an MSD Atomic intake. Victor specified and assembled it himself, with machine work from Wayne’s Engine Rebuilding in Riverside.
The engine is built to rev to 8,000 rpm, and power peaks around 7,100 rpm without dropping off after that. It makes 630 hp at the wheels on E85 and 596 hp on 91-octane pump gas. The factory LS7 made 505 hp at the crank and 470 lb-ft, with a 7,000-rpm redline, in the Corvette Z06 and the 2014–2015 Camaro Z/28.
Autocross courses are tight enough that most are run largely in second gear, so they reward a flat power curve and strong low-end torque for pulling out of slow corners. A peaky, high-revving engine saves its best work for the top of the rev range. That means it spends more of each run below its sweet spot than a big-torque engine would.
Gearing helps close that gap. A Tick Performance T56 with PPG gears and 4.11 rear gears keeps the LS7 closer to its powerband between corners.
Why Victor Keeps The Wrong Engine And Drives It Harder Anyway
Victor loves engines, so he built the one he wanted rather than the one that suits autocross best. He calls himself a “big NA guy,” and he overbuilt the driveline anyway. The 9-inch rear uses an aluminum center section and 35-spline axles that he says could handle 1,200 hp at the wheels, yet he has no plans to add turbos.
The LS7 also makes more sense on a road course, where higher speeds keep a high-revving engine near its peak for longer. On the street drive, the Camaro pulled to about 8,000 rpm in first gear and showed almost no body roll, even with the dampers softened after the previous day’s autocross.
Apart from the Anvil carbon fiber hood, fenders, and wheel wells, the body is exactly as Victor bought it, now covered in 3M’s color-shifting Satin Flip Psychedelic wrap. He never spent money on paint or bodywork, so a scrape or a hit on track doesn’t bother him.
His next target is Laguna Seca, a track he grew up driving in video games. That trip will need a roll cage first, since the Camaro still carries a full interior and air conditioning from its family road-trip days.
Source: Autotopia LA via YouTube
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