You Wrote:
> Three days after finishing a frame off restoration on my first triumph (73 TR
> 6) I drove it at club time trials at Lime Rock. I now want to build a TR 6
> track car for club events like autocrossing etc. I picked up another TR 6
> yesterday and will be getting started soon and I have a few questions.
Wow, ambitious. _Three days_ after a frame up. Hear that folks? This guy
_drives_ his Triumph. Kudos.
FWIW, I'm doing the same thing - although you're one step up on me as far as
driving at Lime Rock. I have driven mine a NHIS, but not anywhere near the
limit. Right John Lye???
> Does the frame need to be reinforced?
You are not specific about how you want to race this car. It's real
important to target what you want to do. For example, if you autox, then the
Street Prepared SCCA rules limit the mods that you can do. Of course this
only really matters if you compete at the national level - so you need to
target what you want to do. I presume that you ran Lime Rock with EMRA or
CART or one of those organizations... you should look to those organizing
bodies for rules clarifications.
There's nothing worse than building a car that winds up being illegal for
the class that you intend to run in.
And of course - safety comes first. You are going to hack this car up to put
in a cage and so forth, right?
You did not say what year TR6 you purchased. The short answer is: if you
have an early car (pre '73) then you'll need to reinforce the lower A arm
pickup points.
TRF and probably Moss have the parts you need there.
The differential mounting points _should_ be reinforced. TRF used to have a
kit, but I don't see it in their price list anymore. The VTR web site has
some template drawings of the pieces that you'll need to fabricate and weld
in. This is a must - especially if you like to pop the clutch or if you are
building a motor for more than 150 HP...
> Where can I get speed parts?
The pieces that you will need that are Triumph specific will have to come
from British car sources - TRF, Moss and the various "breakers" out there.
The "racer stuff" will have to come from places like Racer Wholesale,
Pegasus and the like. I have catalogues from Summit Racing and some of the
other Hot Rod mail order places. You will have to be "creative" for some of
the things that you'll wind up doing to the car.
I'll also point out that Ted Schumacher of TS Imports is a source for some
Triumph racing goodies and there is a place called Team Triumph (or some
such) in Ohio that advertises in Hemmings for parts... then there's the
local Triumph racers that have hoarded things.
Oh, and Richard Good has a lot of go fast goodies for TR6. I noticed that
TRF seems to be selling Good's stuff now. Good quality parts from what I've
seen and he's a Triumph racer, so he has his heart in it.
> I heard about a 3 stromberg manifold. Is this an afordable alternative to the
> 3 Weber setup?
This comes from Good's collection. As far as affordable, what exactly do you
mean? I might point out that some rules _require_ that you use the Webers,
FWIW. The E Prod SCCA spec indicates triple DCOE's - I'm not sure what
they'd do if you showed up with SU's or Strombergs... I have not found a
reference to a weight allowance or whatever - but you can get some pretty
good power out of the stock motor with the standard induction system. The
Webers only help when you really start building for power (unless you like
the look of Webers like I do! Hi Steve!!).
I'm not sure of any performance issues with the Triple Stromberg setup. It
also looks kool. Good claims to be able to get 175+ HP from engines that he
builds, and those are streetable. One way or the other, you should talk to
Richard Good.
Oh, and build an "air box" for the intake - no matter what carb setup you
use. This is very high on my list of things to do.
> Does anyone have any suggestions?
Yep, target a class and start buidling for it. If your interest is mostly
time trial with EMRA or another local(ish) organization, then make the car
reliable first and then add the fancy speed stuff as you get more confident
driving the car. Safety should be your first priority and that means make a
good cage, follow that with good brakes and follow that with tires/wheels.
After you get some seat time - then you can go nuts on the suspension and
build your motor up.
If you want specifics on what I've done to my cars or what I have seen by
looking at TR6 race cars all over the country, drop me line.
Oh, and make a budget. Then multiply that by at least 2 to figure out how
much you're going to spend on this puppy. I've got a lot into my car right
now, and it's basically a frame with suspension stuff mounted. My car will
likely cost in excess of $10k and it will not be very competitive for that
kind of money. If you want to really go fast, start thinking in terms of
$25k and more to get things right. The really fast E Prod guys spend around
$50k to $100k. Really!
Like they say:
q. how much does a race car cost?
a. How fast do you want to go?
> Dean VanDeCarr
> vandecarr@aol.com
> 73 TR6
Bob Lang
TR6's
'74 SCCA AutoX DSP 40 New England Region
'?? SCCA E Prod?? or A Prepared AutoX Racer/ Time Trailer some time in the
future... hopefully 1999!
|