Roger Bolliger’s famous Trans-Am. It started life as a fairly rare, original 1971 455 H.O. Firebird and was then modified, inspired by the Jerry Titus Firebird that competed in the 1970 Trans Am series. Instead of building an accurate clone, true to the original, things got a little out of hand though.
Powered by a massive (496ci) Pontiac engine, this beast is said to pump out up to 730 horsepower at 7000 RPM which on some tracks have taken it to a top speed of 311kph (193mph). With a mind-blowing 860Nm of torque (634 ft lbs) it gets up there rather quickly too. The bodywork is all custom made and the incredibly big wheel arches, housing those massive slicks, look incredible.
I filmed the car at the V8 only edition of the Colmore YTCC during Jack’s Racing Day and during the Tabac Classic GP at TT-Circuit Assen, 2023. These events I think were pretty rare occasions though as normally the car competes in the Histo Cup which takes place mostly on tracks nearing the border between Western-, Eastern-, and Southern Europe. Unfortunately the car was not without some issues/ incidents meaning I didn’t get to film it anywhere near as much as I would have liked, so here’s to hoping Roger will bless my local track with another visit in 2024!
#pontiac #transam #firebird #racing #v8 #scca