It gets a little confusing, in that cars with continuation body styles can
update within a 5 year range any engine used in that body style. What this
means is, an early square body Spridget could upgrade to a 1275. It also
means, "legally", a Bugeye could not run a 1275, since they stopped
production in 1960, and applying the 5 year rule, you could upgrade to a
1098 found in a 1965 Sprite, but not the 1275. But, since the rules didn't
get enforced, no one gave a sh*t. When Ron bought his car, it had a race
948, and some spares. He made a decision to have a mild race 1275 built,
under the guise of reliability, and cost.
And, before anyone thinks I'm ragging on Ron... he's a friend of mine. He
has been (mostly) upfront about what's in his car, unlike some folks.
So, a 1275 in a Bugeye in our organization is not legal, yet it is allowed
to run. Currently, it's bumped up a class within Group 2. If the VSCDA is
serious about applying its rules more vigorously, in my opinion, it would be
moved to Group 8, to run with other 1275 Spridgets. The issue with that, is,
the possibility that Group 8 might become oversubscribed. If oversubscribed,
preference would have to be given to legal Group 8 cars, not bumped Group 2
cars.
The humorous portion of this, for me, is all the gamesmanship, white lies,
tall tales, etc. that seem to take place between us. One racer has $2000
invested in his motor, or $20,000 depending on who you talk to. Ron used to
say he raced a nearly stock 1275 for reliability, yet came back this season
with a much more prepared motor, in a desire to go faster. Net result of
that, is more hp + more heat = less reliability. The desire to go faster
outweighs the desire for slow reliability. If you try to make a 948/998 run
with the mild 1275's, you already know about the horsepower/heat/reliability
equation. When my regular motor pulled up lame, I had to try to get a back
up motor together on short notice. I told Ron that this particular motor was
a 998 cc motor, with .020 over pistons... making it about 1020cc. "You can't
do that... GCR says 948!". Yeah, well, this motor is intended for an FIA
spec car... which I have 4 of, with a top, lights, 2 seats, etc. A car that
back in the day, would have been prepared for Sebring or LeMans as the
factory did it. It could legally run fiberglass panels, a Weber, etc. If I
could have got it together in time to run for Blackhawk, I'd already made it
clear what it was. I suppose I could have put together a 1275 just for
Blackhawk..., but I figure my money was better spent assembling a motor that
will be used in another car of mine later, for this one race.
Wm. Severin Thompson
wsthompson@thicko.com
www.thicko.com <http://www.thicko.com/>
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