Someone recently brought up the question of vintage racing an MGA with a MGB
motor & this got me started on wondering what Vintage racing is all about.
There seems to be several takes on Vintage racing, depending upon what kind
of car you have/can afford and how badly you want to cross the line first
{notice that I did not say win}.
Group 1. These people believe that the car must be absolutely authenic to
some period in its history. That means that if the car was never set up for
racing in the past, you race it as a pure stocker. The only modifications
from original would be for safety improvements or because a part is
absolutely un available and you can not get it made. These people tend to
have factory race cars, specials or cars that were mofified for racing back
when & all have a varifiable race history.
Group 2. These I could call the wanabees. They can not afford or locate a
group 1 car of their choice. So, they either modify a factory car to meet
original factory specs, or modify a car to 'period' racing specs. Another
variation of this is to build/purchase a replica of a race car. One company
is producing replicas of McClarans using original molds & specs. Their cars
are so original, Maclaran is issuing valid commission numbers for them.
AC has gone back into production of the AC Cobra. Some people are purchasing
parts met to be used in restoring vintage race cars and are building new
cars out of the parts. There was even some person in the Aptos fourth of July
parade that told me her MGTF kit on a VW was a real MGTF! There are people
who built replica cars out of correct parts, found a missing commission
number, and represented the car as being that car & having been recently
found in South America.
Group 2B These are a subset of group 2 that have replica cars and do not
try to pass them off as the real things. They freely admit that they are not
original whatevers, or that it was a stock car that was made into a 'preiod'
racer. These people would like to do vintage racing too but are not willing
to comprimize their integrity by passing off their hard work as the factory's
work.
These groups can be subdivided into two more major groups. Those who keep their
cars original per a certian period {except for safety or part availability
reasons} and those who want to cross the finsh line first.
I have seen a lot of modifications done to cars to make them go faster or
handle better than they ever did in the past. I can not help but wonder, why
these people are not racing their cars in SCCA races. I thought vintage
races were a chance to see old cars running around a course with their
fellow agemates. I thought the object was to have fun.
At Laguna Seca there were numerous cars that had accidents because they decided
the reason that they were out there was to be first accross the line.
A Cheeta loosing its front end against a wall. A Devin SS slaming its side
into a wall. A Lotus Fjr going head into a tyre lined wall {the wreckage
trapping its driver for about half an hour}, a Lola T-70 hitting its tail
against a wall and loosing the back half of its body. The list goes on & on.
I looked closely at TR engined cars at this years Laguna Seca races. There
was a TR3 {'57} pitted next to a flat nosed Morgan {~'50}. Both cars had
TR4A heads {~'66}. Both drivers told me that they had 87mm or larger pistons
{86mm first became an option in '58}. The TR3 was using a TR6 clutch. Both
drivers told me that they were using new cam grinds because the old
factory grinds {which were very good in their day} were not good enough.
I looked at my programme. Both cars had a listed displacement of under 2 liters!
I ran across a TR engined car at laguna Seca a few years back that was modified
for 92mm pistons.
At the Moss motors Marque day I was talking to Ken Galanders of British Frame
& Engine. He was talking about a TR using an Engine his shop built that
"kicked Ass" at a recent Vintage race in Wisconson. He said it came across
the finish line ahead of three of the four Farraris in the race and all the
Austin Martins. When I asked him about the engine, he talked about all kinds
of new high tech mods made to it. This was evidently the first engine to race
with a new head that they just fabricated {Top half was original & bottom
half that included ports & combustion chambers was new} This is vintage
racing??????
I have looked at the engines that Graig Solo is building for racing Morgans.
latest TR4A heads tricked out with the latest tricks, new grind cams,
special oversize & reshaped for max. airflow valves. The list goes on & on.
Both Ken & Grag are getting more that 150 HP out of these engines! Factory
TR race engines were essentually stock with a good {for that time} cam,
some head work, and tuned SUs. Factory race engines were not producing
anywhere near the power as their modern day equivilents!
Where am I taking this?? Oh yah now i remember.
Maybe there should be types of races in between Vintage and modern day SCCA.
Perhaps there should be something for people who want to run replicas.
Perhaps there should be something for modified vintage racers that are not
competitive with the SCCA racers. Ether way, i think that there are a lot
of cars running in vintage races that should not be there.
TeriAnn
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