Operation Torch: Proving What an Ultimate Street Car Really Is

What makes a car an Ultimate Street Car?

For Operation Torch, the answer came during the 2025 season.

Our 1998 Camaro Z28 competed at seven different events, including Ultimate Street Car Association stops at Sebring, NOLA Motorsports Park, Road America, Pitt Race, Barber Motorsports Park, and the Ultimate Street Car Invitational at Spring Mountain. It also competed at Camaro Fest.

Torch earned two top-five finishes in the GT class and finished 45th out of 80 competitors at OUSCI.

The bigger accomplishment, though, happened between the events.

Torch covered more than 7,000 street miles during the season, including driving from Tampa to Las Vegas for OUSCI and then back to Tampa afterward. The car made the entire trip, competed, and returned home without a failure or issue.

It may not have won the Ultimate Street Car title, but it proved that it truly is an Ultimate Street Car: a Street Beast with track-capable manners that can be driven anywhere, raced hard, and driven home.

Here is what makes it work.

Powertrain

Torch is powered by a GM LS3 430-horsepower crate engine using an LS3 intake manifold and fuel rails along with a Holley Sniper EFI 92mm single-blade throttle body.

The naturally aspirated combination keeps the car simple while providing more than enough power for both street and track use.

A Turn One HP2 power steering pump handles steering assist, and a Speed Engineering dual exhaust completes the engine package.

Suspension and Chassis

The suspension is built around UMI Performance components and Viking Crusader coilovers.

Up front, Torch uses UMI's Road Race A-arm package with boxed lower control arms and adjustable upper control arms, along with UMI's bump-steer adjustment kit.

The rear uses a UMI manual-transmission torque arm, double-adjustable lower control arms, lower control arm relocation brackets, an adjustable panhard bar, and UMI's competition panhard lowering and leveling kit.

Tubular UMI sway bars are used front and rear, while three-point bolt-in subframe connectors help reinforce the chassis.

The Viking Crusaders use 600 lb/in front springs and 200 lb/in rear springs. Those rates were chosen specifically because Torch is a dual-purpose street and track car. The suspension remains compliant enough to be comfortable during long street drives, but stiff enough to control the car under hard braking, cornering, and quick transitions on track.

The adjustable dampers allow the setup to be fine-tuned without relying on excessively stiff spring rates to make the car handle.

The result is a suspension package that keeps Torch usable on real roads while still giving us the geometry, adjustability, and chassis control needed for autocross and road-course use.

Brakes

Stopping power comes from the OSS Front Big Brake Kit.

The package uses Wilwood SLC5/6 front calipers with UMI C5/C6 conversion brackets and Wilwood BP-28 pads.

The goal was a brake setup capable of repeated track use while still retaining good modulation and street manners.

Wheels

Torch runs custom Forgestar 18x11 wheels in a square configuration.

The wide square setup gives the front of the car significantly more tire than the factory configuration and helps improve overall balance and front-end grip.

It also gives us the same wheel width at all four corners, keeping the chassis setup focused on balance rather than relying on a heavily staggered tire package.

Interior and Safety

Inside, Torch uses Sparco fixed-back competition seats.

The driver side uses a Sparco Sprint 2019, while the passenger side uses a larger Sparco Sprint L. Both are mounted with FIA-approved steel side mounts, Sparco F-body seat bases, and double-locking sliders.

An SFI-rated five-point harness provides the restraint system, and a four-point bolt-in track-day roll bar provides additional protection and proper harness mounting. The bar is designed to fit both third- and fourth-generation F-body applications.

Built to Be Driven

Operation Torch was never intended to be a trailer-only race car.

The goal was to build a fourth-gen Camaro capable of running competitively at major events while still being something we could actually drive.

The 2025 season proved that combination works.

Seven events. Two GT top-five finishes. A respectable run at OUSCI. More than 7,000 street miles. Tampa to Las Vegas and back.

No failures. No excuses.

Torch may not have left Spring Mountain with the Ultimate Street Car title, but after a season like that, it proved the point anyway.