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Re: Radiators in street prepared

To: William Schenker <schenker@mediaone.net>
Subject: Re: Radiators in street prepared
From: Jay Mitchell <jemitchell@compuserve.com>
Date: Fri, 02 Jun 2000 15:56:20 -0700
William Schenker wrote:
 
> I'm afraid that I already know the answer to this,

You do.

> To wit:  am I allowed to put in a different, in this case, "race," radiator?

No. You can update/backdate your car to the _stock_ radiator from any
other car on the same line in Appendix A in the rule book, but you can't
fit any other radiator, unless it's allowed in IT and you enter a car
that is _fully_ IT-legal. I don't know about the IT rules, so you'll
have to research that yourself.
 
> If I can't change the rad., why?

Because it's not specifically allowed in the rules.

>Last week at a track event in Vegas the car was over heating >a lot- no fun 
>wearing a suit & helmet in a closed car with >the air temps @ +115 degrees and 
>the heater turned on full >blast.

There are several driver-cooling systems avaliable that are not
expensive and very effective. That may be the best solution to your
problem.

>  It surely will have no performance
> enhancement for an autocross,

Au contraire. If I'm allowed to fit an alternate radiator, I'm gonna put
the smallest, lightest one I can find in my car. I'll wait to crank the
engine until I roll out of grid. I'll turn off the ignition as soon as I
get back to my grid spot, and I'll spray everything down with cold water
to cool the engine off before the next run. Now, if I can reduce my
car's weight by, say, 30 lbs., by doing this, isn't that a performance
advantage?

> and may save my engine at the track, or at
> least let my run longer before having to cool off.

I know at least one Miata driver who ran in Showroom Stock, and he never
mentioned overheating problems. Are you sure you don't have something
else wrong?

Jay


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