>Ever see a 90% carbon fib
> Porsche 356?
>
> >I am intimately familiar with the 356s. They are all steel, not even
> fiberglass >hood or decklid. lots cut.....
>
> Jim Fuerstenberg
> jimf42@mcs.com
>
Jim, are we racing with the same crews? My sources are my own
experience teching at vintage events and hanging around with several of
the guys who run shops that prep these cars.
BTW, I run a Alfa 1600 Veloce, 155 HP @ 7000 on the dyno, a rare GTA CR
gearbox, front disks, carbon/kevlar brakes, "subtle" fender flares,
Panasports & CompTAs. It runs absolutely mid-pack on SVRA Group 3. (I
still lap summit lots slower than Bob Tarzwell!) That means I'm faster
than 2/3 of the Morgans and slower than 2/3 of the Porsches. At NHIS, I
get stuck running with the Jags and beat most of them.
At the Jefferson 500, I sat with a PCA group at the party and traded
stories (like wrenching on a 904 in the 60s, running Sebring with a
ALfa Giulia Spider and working the Can-AM). After a few rounds, we got
trading stories about all the tricks "some people" were using.
Fer instance, I know one Alfa SPider in the midwest that is a 1500 cc
conversion. Another back east has been using a 5 or 6 speed gearbox
custom made from Webster gears with a Tilton carbon fiber clutch and a
custom LSD. Along with a 9000+ rpm engine. I do tech at several vintage
events and I've found Alfas with glass hoods and trunks courtesy of Al
Leake.
The top Porsches are estimated to exceed 170 HP. I've had several that
I should do the magnet test on. Lexan is obvious -"It's a safety
feature". I've had people I'm teching argue that they only changed from
drums to disks because the supply of drums has dried up. And I've seen
Webers. (And while not a 356, one of the RSR owners at the 500 was
bragging that his new carbon fiber bodywork replacement over the winter
helped reduce the weight by 400 pounds!)
But hey, who cares? This is vintage racing. I'm 49 years old and don't
have anything to prove on a racetrack- I want to have fun, dice a
little, and get together with the same crew later and have a beer and
tell tall tales- just like we did 30 years ago when I started! In fact,
I see guys at the races I've known and raced with for over 30 years.
I built my car with every goodie I could scrounge up because I like to
go fast, and one of the things I like about vintage is the lack of
strict rules. Strict rules only encourage cheating - eg SCCA SS and
NASCAR. The idea of making most everything free except requiring a
vintage "look" (eg no flares or areo aids) and tires appeals to me.
But I'm too old to want to get hurt, and I've already done in one car
in a big way with a mechanical failure. So I'm verrrry carefulabout
maintenance and if anyone gets too agressive, well, there's always
others to dice with.
And when I do tech, I'm interested in three things: safety, safety,
safety.
BTW - have you seen Tarzwell's Moke?
Jim Hayes @ fotec,inc. the fiber optic test equipment company
jeh@fotec.com 529 main st.
541-0037@MCImail.com boston,ma 02129
ph:800-537-8254 (US,Canada) 617-241-7810 fax: 617-241-8616
|