Ted Schumacher wrote:
>
> Greg Solow wrote:
> >
> > I believe that part of the essence of "Vintage Racing " is the
> > preservation of historically significant cars. It should also be for the
> > preservation of any real race cars from the era that we want to designate as
> > significant.
> > So if you can show that a car was really raced in a certain form with a real
> > sanctioning body, then I would say that it would be fair to race it that
> > way. Fender flairs certainly change the appearance of a car. Whether they
> > improve or detract may be a matter of personal opinion, but I don't think
> > that they alone are going to make a significant diference in a cars
> > performnance. What bothers me are Dry sumped engines, oversize valves,
> > oversize carburators (like MG-Bs with 2 inch SU carbs, they should run the
> > 1 3/4 inch carbs that were optional in the mid 60's), oversize engines,
> > super lowered suspensions, altered suspension pickup points and radically
> > altered geometry. Also non original transmissions, like datsun 5 speeds in
> > so called "sprites".
> >
> > Regards, Greg Solow
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: R. John Lye <rjl6n@server1.mail.virginia.edu>
> > To: <fot@autox.team.net>
> > Sent: Thursday, September 23, 1999 6:56 AM
> > Subject: Re: "Were Raced"?and Vintage Racing
> >
> > > At 08:21 AM 9/23/99 -0500, Jack W Drews wrote:
> > > >Thanks for the breath of fresh air. My car is almost 1967 legal and
> > > >I'm proud of it.
> > >
> > > <snip>
> > > >> Greg Solow (or was it Stewart) wrote:
> > > >> My personal preference would be for the SCCA rules in force in the
> > 1967
> > > >> GCR be used as a guideline for car preparation.
> > >
> > > I'm no longer involved with vintage racing, so maybe my opinion
> > > doesn't really matter. However, I do have a bit of a problem with
> > > this simple solution - and that is during that time frame, the SCCA
> > > wasn't the only game in town. There were several non-SCCA race series,
> > > especially in California I am told, that used slightly different
> > > preparation rules. So, insisting on 1967 SCCA legality is actually
> > > re-writing history by dis-allowing some "correct" vintage cars.
> > > For example, my TR-4 has steel flares that, according to the story
> > > told by a previous owner, were installed on the car in 1965 and it
> > > was raced that way in non-SCCA races in California. The stricter
> > > vintage clubs would make me take those flares off the car, even though
> > > they are, in fact, historically correct for that car in that time frame.
> > >
> > > Any comments?
> > >
> > > John Lye
> > >
> > > '59 TR-3A, '62 TR-4, '70 GT-6+
> > > email: rjl6n@virginia.edu
> > > homepage: http://avery.med.virginia.edu/~rjl6n/homepage.htm
> > >
> this has been a great dixusion. what we all need to remember is not
> that many cars were raced in the time period most groups use as a
> shutoff point. if all vintage race events were limited to cars that had
> actually been raced at a given time period, there would be SMALL fields
> and 1 or 2 car classes. vintage events by the major sanctioning bodies
> such as hsr, svra, etc are for profit events. they have only a passing
> interest in "love of the sport". without large fields, no revenues. no
> revenues = fewer events and so on. also, there is obviusly a fairly
> large cottage industry that has sprung up in the vintage race market.
> service groups, parts suppliers, etc. point is without thecars that
> have been "built" to be vintage racers, this form of motorsports would
> be relegated back to a sport for the few. ted
> --
> Ted Schumacher
> TS Imported Automotive
> 404 Basinger Rd.
> Pandora, Ohio, USA 45877
> Ph. 800/543-6648 USA/Canada FAX 419/384-3272 24 hour
> Ph. 419/384-3022 - tech./general information
> Web page http://www.tsimportedautomotive.com
> New-Used-Rebuilt-NOS-Performance British car parts.
> 200 - 300 parts cars in our British-only salvage yard.
Ted has hit the nail on the head. Dan Davis of Vintage Motorsport and I
were discussing this very thing this afternoon. It ain't a lot of fun
going to Savannah knowing that in the TR-6 I'll be racing against the
Brumos Porsche 914-6 which pumps out about 260 HP, with carbon fiber
body panels, 935 brakes and ......get this folks.....a Hewland gearbox.
The old Group 44 car is pretty much the same as it was in 1975, except
that instead on fiberglass flairs on steel, we made all fiberglass.
Why? Because I'd get clipped by someone about every third race
(including Mid-Ohio this year). It makes for easier repairs. We use
Webers instead of the injection (advise from Bob T and Lanky) and ran
the modified SU's....or were they Strombergs...I forget....anyway they
had parts of both inthem.....a special design by Brian Fuerstenau....and
we could not keep them in sync. The car has a Mazda Alternator.....the
old generator was undependable. On the other hand, we can't get
cantilever tires anymore, so we run a tire 3/4" narrower than what they
ran in 1975.
I don't have a problem with mods that add to the dependability, but I do
have a problem with building brand new "vintage" race cars. Face
it....if you brought back a 1966 tech inspector, nothing would pass. It
has to be a balance of originality and dependability. Additionally, I
am not sure how one drives 8/10ths. One drives carefully, but how is
that measured? These arguments will go into the next generation. Go,
have fun, but if you must win at all costs, go to the SCCA and run
Nationals.
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