In a message dated 18/01/01 9:53:35 AM Pacific Standard Time,
S800Racer@aol.com writes:
> I'm sure it was your superior SCCA-level 10/10ths driving that made the
> difference. All kidding & ribbing aside, S800s are not great hillclimb
> cars.
> Our race engines put out 120 HP and 75 lb-ft. of torque. Lack of torque
> can
> be a real handicap in a hillclimb. Where & when did the S800 driver run
> his
> car in hillclimbs?
>
>
Ha ha! My hill climbing career was early on - back in the 70s, at Victoria
Observatory hill and Ioco near Vancouver. I'm not sure I was capable of any
10/10ths in those early days!
The driver was Ian (I can't recall his last name offhand), and I won a case
of beer from him by spotting him 10 seconds and still beating him! Mind you,
he didn't have any 120 bhp, which, BTW, is an astounding specific output,
especially for older technology.
Must have been my 5.13 diff that did it!
I also had a drive in a little flatbed pickup truck owned by the local
Honda/Lotus dealer (but never officially exported) powered by some sort of
Honda engine that redlined at 11,000 rpm. You could drive around town,
revving the piss out of it, having a great time, and nobody would notice that
you were foot to the floor all the time. Sort of like my old Sunbeam Imp, but
with much better audio effects!
BTW - sign that you are getting old - when I bought my MGA, it was 12 years
old. My daily driver Fiero is now older than that!!
Arghhh!
Bill
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