Last issue, you’ll recall we drove one of the wildest Pontiac concept cars ever: the tricked-out "Firefox" Trans Am GTA [FROM THE EDITOR, October ‘89]. Having sampled this car and another by the same automotive specialties shop—the 20th Anniversary Indy Pace Car—we just had to visit the Farmington Hills, Michigan, facilities of PAS, Inc.

Jeff Beitzel, president of PAS, has his hands full of Firebirds these days, including a car that’s set up for top-speed runs as high as 230 mph, plus a couple of unique Pace Cars: a convertible and an all-out engineering exercise dubbed the 3.8 HO. All the cars belong to Pontiac except for the ragtop, which is Jeff’s personal ride and one of only two topless Pace Cars made. We watched PAS’s drivers put these cars down the strip and around a road course so we could see just what magic has been wrought with these F-platforms.

To begin with, don’t get too excited about what you see here, as we’re told that none of this hardware will show up soon, and some of it not at all. These cars are rolling testbeds for future technology and drivetrain combinations, and what will come of it all remains to be seen. What we have here is a "development exercise," which means taking the stock car and seeing how far the envelope can be stretched before it gives up. However, it doesn’t take much imagination to figure out where some of this work will end up in future Firebirds.

The common denominator of the 3.8 liter HO and the convertible is the same engine the stock Pace Car comes: the Buick 3.8-liter V6, topped off Pontiac’s own 3800 heads (as used transversely in the Bonneville), sequential electronic fuel injection, and an intercooled Garrett Airesearch T3 turbocharger. The Pace Cars run the Turbo 700-4 automatic and the WS6 performance suspension, plus 3.27:1 gears. The PAS folks tinkered with this package to create the 3.8 HO. ADMIN NOTE: Pontiac still possesses this 3.8 HO TTA today.... it is the only car from this article to survive until the present day.

Scott Kelly, technical rep at PAS, says the 3.8 HO is essentially stock with respect to the engine, controlling systems, and suspension geometry. The car was built as an exercise in pushing the relatively stock engine and performance suspension to their limits. How far’s that? "It’s more stable at 180 mph than a stocker is at 150," notes Scott. The car circles the 7-mile Pontiac Testing and Research Center oval at 181 mph.

The HO is slower off the line than a stock Pace Car, but it’s set up for top speed instead. The engine is tuned to 360 hp at 5200 rpm and produces 412 lbs.-ft. of torque at 3000. The extra ponies come via upgraded pistons and rings, plus the kick delivered by an increase in boost pressure. A special set of very secure head gaskets enables the turbo to "run at 22 psi all day long," says Scott. Of course, that’s on high octane—at our test session, the tank was filled with unleaded racing fuel. The turbo and the electronics are the same as any production Pace Car.

But backing the engine is a ZF 6-speed box, as used in the new Corvette. With the 3.8, though, the LuK Dual Mass Flywheel used in the Vette can’t be used, because of engine balancing. A standard 3.8 flywheel is used. Together with the 3.92 gears in the Dana 44 racing series differential, this trans "allows the car to cruise along at 80 mph at 1800 rpm; it just doesn’t care," says Scott. There’s little get-up-and-go in sixth, though; it’s a cruising gear.

  The HO’s suspension is set up to IMSA racing specs, as is the twin-turbo car’s. Jongbloed 16x9-inch racing wheels mount Goodyear ZR5OS P255/50 rubber, and the combo’s good for well over 200 mph. Brembo racing disc brakes, outfitted with full metal pads, are fitted at all four corners, as are a set of Koni adjustable shock absorbers and custom coil springs. The ride is definitely stiffer than stock in this one, but according to the folks at PAS, the tradeoffs can be made according to any person’s likes and needs. Considering the factory ride, it might be wise to leave well enough alone, as the car already handles exceptionally well on smooth roads.

The best part of driving the HO package is that you have the power to pass almost anything on the street— with all the factory options, including cruise control and air conditioning!

Now, there’s truly a wolf in this pack, and it’s the red-and-black twin-turbo racer. It meets IMSA safety specs and gobbles the road faster than most anything else road-legal (or sane) we’ve ever ridden in.

The heart of this car is a fully tweaked 5.7-liter that makes 605 dyno horsepower at 5000 rpm and puts out a massive 700 lbs.-ft. of torque at 3200. Warp speed, Mr. Scott! Fitted to the mill are 16 fuel injectors, three Buick GNX fuel pumps, two siamesed GNX intercooler cores, two air meters (only one of which reads, as mapping both to the chip would be a nightmare), and a long intake runner with short plenum runners that add to the tremendous low-end torque. A factory water pump and a Modine one-off racing radiator keep things cool.

Inside the block you’ll find Carillo steel rods, forged pistons, three-stage rings, and the piece de resistance: a pair of Brodix high-port aluminum heads with stainless steel valves and dual springs. The compression is a modest 8:1, but don’t try to feed this hairy mill any octane less than 100.

The black Firefox GTA we drove at Pontiac 1990 model introduction is much like the red-and-black car, without the turbos. It’s still our favorite setup for the street.

Like the HO, the twin-turbo and Firefox are both equipped with the 6-speed ZF, which delivers buttery-smooth shifting The twin-turbo is currently running 3.73 gears in its Dana 44, and at the strip it turns in 12.80s at 122 mph. The turbos don’t kick in hard, so PAS doesn’t brag about 0-to-60 times. But they do brag about top speed and handling.

On their last outing at TRC, they brought home a 184-mph timeslip. Taking all the parameters of the engine and gearing, together with the airflow capabilities of the stock body, Jeff Beitzel projects the top speed of the car to be 226 mph. Watch for this one to try for some speed records.

Like the HO, safety is paramount aboard the twin-turbo. It’s built to meet all IMSA specs, including a fuel cell, chassis-mounted roll cage, harnesses, on-board fire extinguishing system, rear-mounted battery, and racing disc brakes and suspension.

According to Scott Kelly, "You’d never know this car would do 200 mph. But just shift into third at 85 mph and it’s still pulling like crazy!" The ride quality is pretty decent, but the car tends to lose its composure a bit when the road surface gets rough. The low-sidewall tires and stiff shocks contribute to this problem.

So what does the future hold for cars like this? We asked Jeff and Scott, as well as Pontiac’s product engineering manager George Collins and public relations rep Randy Fox, who showed up for our test session: Will we see these drivetrains and suspensions in production?

The Pace Car is history. Fifteen hundred were made, and that’s that. Two were convertibles, but because the convertible components belong to Chevrolet, those will probably be the only two. Some owners of the Pace Cars are stretching for the limits, adding aftermarket goodies in their search for additional performance. And there will not be a PAS-built 5.0-liter or 5.7-liter twin-turbo GTA—"not now, not ever!" emphasize Beitzel and Collins in chorus. The reasons are simple: They can’t warranty such a car; they don’t know what its life span would be; and they just don’t want or need to put such an animal on the road.

Pontiac stresses that the PAS cars are factory upgrades built for the purpose of testing the strength and durability of various suspension components. Until the next generation, Pontiac will make the best of the solid rear axle and A-arm front suspension system, making refinements as they go along. In 1993 or ‘94 we’ll see a whole new Firebird package, quite probably with an independent rear and a bevy of other tech tricks. And GM is testing various derivatives of 3.1- to 4.5-liter engines, many with multiple valves per cylinder. These could play a big part in both normally aspirated and turbocharged versions. With the various turbo cars coming from Chrysler Corp. and the Japanese over the next year, the Firebird will be pressed to answer the challenge with equal performance and durability.

  What we may see soon is a production version of the Firefox—.just the one we want to see on the dealer floor. A 350-cubic-inch, 330-hp V8, the 6-speed ZF, and Dana differentials are readily available from off-the-shelf pieces. The car is beautifully balanced and seems to be well worked out. The prototype we tested gets to 60 mph in 5.6 seconds, which is what it takes to compete with the new crop of Japanese and German supercars now arriving. Our drag-strip tests posted a best run of 13.38 seconds at 108.5 mph.

"Out of all the specialty cars we ye done for Pontiac, this [the 5.7-liter TPI car] is my favorite," says Gregg Palm, development engineer and director of operations at PAS. "It’s a real-world car; you could use it every day. It’s not temperamental, and you won’t have to go to the airport for gas. And with the 6-speed and the 4.10 rear end, you can run the stoplight grand prix and then shift into sixth to drive cross-country, and you’ll get reasonably good fuel economy."

The black Firefox also gets around the corners with style. The Goodyear 255 shaved S-compound tires get the car well above 1 G on the skidpad, and Gregg believes an experienced driver could get 1.2 to 1 .3g, since the car is set up much like a showroom stocker. Brakes are Brembo racing discs and stopped the car from 60 mph in 137 feet. More work in this area is expected to get the deceleration figure down to 1 .5g from its current level of 1.02.

It’s feasible that this dream Pontiac could become more than just an engineering exercise—and if it does, the line begins right here. The black Firefox embodies all that Pontiac has stood for since 1964, and as the reins are given to a new generation in ‘93, it would be appropriate to leave an indelible impression of the great F-3 on the automotive world. Indeed, as new emissions and economy regulations loom on the not-too-distant horizon, the Firefox could possibly be the last of the purebred musclecars. Don’t forget that.