?I agree with Ken. As long as my car will pass the safety tech inspection,
I should be able to "fix" my TR any way I like if it keeps me interested in
this hobby. If I want to shoehorn in a SBC, just put me in a different
class.
?
On Tue, Mar 13, 2018 at 2:08 PM, Kenneth Knight via Fot <fot at autox.team.net>
wrote:
> It is good to see that other clubs are allowing newer cars into their
> races. VARA has been doing this for several years so that we could
> survive, keep the club solvent and the cost of racing reasonable. The
> future of vintage racing is an expansion to cars from the 80?s and 90?s,
> they are long past their prime in other venues, cheap and they bring in new
> drivers. They are in fact ?vintage?, like our cars were in the 80? and
> 90?s. More important, these are the guys and gals that lusted for a
> certain hot car of the that era and now have older kids and the bucks to go
> racing. Without these folks our sport will pass along with us.
>
>
>
> The same is true of parts. Much of our equipment is worn out and not
> maintainable without great cost and effort any longer. Gear boxes are an
> example. I am down to my last good transmission case for my dog box. When
> that goes, or the gear set is toast, I am making the switch to a modern box
> (same ratios) that I can maintain. Like many of us I have missed races
> because of transmission failures. Tony runs a Ford 8? because he doesn?t
> want to get hurt, and it is bullet proof for racing, even has a weight
> penalty. A gear box switch is inevitable if we want to keep our cars on
> track at an expenditure of time and money that makes sense.
>
>
>
> There are tons of other parts that make engines last longer (and yes they
> make more power). An old TR motor is nothing but half a Chevy Small Block;
> those guys spent hundreds of millions developing motor parts that we can
> take advantage of. Same is true of blueprinting techniques, there are much
> better ways to build engines than ?back in the day? and if you read a book
> and learn how to do it the bloody lump lasts twice as long. Last time I
> had my motor out I could have put the coated bearings with 25 races on them
> back in. At 36 races I had <5% leak down on the rings and valves. Started
> out building the old school way, with old school parts, those days are over
> as I don?t have the time to spend five days in the shop for every day at
> the track.
>
>
>
> Oil. There is no such thing as cheap racing oil. Modern oil is the best
> it has ever been and makes the motor last. I had technical help from Lake
> Speed who is the ?man? for Joe Gibbs Driven race oil. The stuff is $18 a
> quart but will last 500+ miles in the car (4-6 race weekends). Just change
> the filter after every race and add on quart, total cost $30.00. I can run
> all the way down to 27 wt. (mixing) but just run the 30 wt. racing oil even
> at +100 degrees in the desert and the oil pressure is always spot on.
> Tight clearances, light oil and great bearing life, well worth the cost.
>
>
>
> My point in all of this is that ?vintage? racing is changing, both the
> cars and the people. We are going to have to accept and adapt or slowly
> see our sport fade. They will *always* be a special place for those cars
> with a 50 year race history, prepared exactly like it raced in 1965. For
> the rest of the grid, and those of us that don?t have cars with history,
> there are going to be cars with certain changes that get us to the track.
> Besides some of us are just SoCal Hot Rodders at heart with a touch of
> ?good ole boy? NACAR ingenuity. Now I need to get back to work on that 85%
> scale TR-4 body in aluminum, or possible carbon fiber???..Everyone have a
> great 2018 season racing!
>
>
>
> Ken
>
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