[Fot] New Cars, New Parts

Tue Mar 13 14:04:50 MDT 2018

Ken Knight provides more 'why and if' fodder to be digested.  He makes lots of good points.  Another issue is the graying of the original folks who got Vintage/Historic racing going.  They're retiring, if not passing on.  And those coming of age (read acquiring enough discretionary income to allow spilling some at a race track) will want to drive the cars the lusted after in their youth.  That's why muscle cars are HOT.  

My home club, the VSCDA, was started in the late 1970s by a guy named John Kleen.  From the Chicago area, he started the VSCDA as a sort of 'Prairie Region Branch' of the VSCCA out EAST.  Quite frankly, the VSCDA did not want ANY Triumphs at their events. "Too common!!!", they said.  Fortunately, some early, charter members took the position that was ridiculous.  Triumph was a major player in the Golden Age of Sports Car racing and deserved to be involved.  Reluctantly, TR2s and TR3s made their list of approved cars, provided you could prove your car had a 'race history'.  Bob Wismer and I both raced TR3s at the early VSCDA events.  Bob's TR3 was a tired, street car.  He was building a TR4 race car at the time.  He asked John Kleen when TR4s would make the List of approved VSCDA race cars.  John Kleen answered, "NEVER!"  That's the way it was.  John Kleen is actually a great guy, and, as the Founding Father, VSCDA racers owe him a lot.  John had a Bugatti, a Mercedes Gull Wing, a BMW 328, and cars like that.  I guess it is not a surprise he sort of looked down his nose at Triumphs.

But being so restrictive, VSCDA could not attract enough cars to rent a race track by itself.  They had to buy some left over track time from healthier groups like the SCCA or the Midwestern Council of Sports Car Clubs.  Then in the mid-1980s they decided to approve more cars, and especially younger 'vintage' cars.  Natural evolution.  As the result, they were very, very successful.

Bill Dentinger

-----Original Message-----
From: Kenneth Knight via Fot <fot at autox.team.net>
To: FOT <fot at autox.team.net>
Sent: Tue, Mar 13, 2018 12:10 pm
Subject: [Fot] New Cars, New Parts

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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