By reading everyones thoughts on this subject, it is easy to see that
there
are no bright line rules and easy answers on the topic. It appears that most
frown upon 'non-period' modifications made primarily to enhance performance.
The real dilemna is the authenticity vs. practicality issue. For myself, I
try to stay authentic until I see that the authentic piece is unsafe or
unreliable. As an example, I had a stock clutch in my Honda S800 for years.
After losing several race weekends in one season due to clutch problems, I
finally gave in and had Quartermaster prepare a racing clutch for me. It's
much lighter and probably a performance enhancement, but I never would have
gone to it if the original had been up to the job. So I fully understand
using lexan when a glass windshield kept breaking.
I also have a set of slide-throttle carburetors made by Kei-Hin for 4
cyl.
racing motorcycles. When my car was new, Honda equipped it with Kei-Hin
carbs and even offered a slide-throttle racing carb option. I even had the
opportunity to put some of those original race carbs on my car. I was
tempted but I decided not to b/c it would be impossible to get different jets
and other parts to tune or repair them. The motorcycle carbs are the closest
things to the original racing part. It's not 100% authentic, and I didn't do
it for safety or reliability reasons. I did it because I want to race the
car without unnecessary headaches and problems.
I enjoy vintage racing for a lot of reasons. One of the primary
reasons is
the racing. If a practical solution will make the car easier or more fun to
race, I'm in favor of it. I'm not in favor of the anything goes approach or
'silhouette' vintage racing because I think is not good for the racing aspect
of vintage racing. If given the opportunity, racers with cubic dollars will
take advantage of trick and expensive methods to make their cars go faster.
That tends to string out the field and drive away a lot of vintage racers
who just want to have a good dice and don't care if they are running up front
or mid-pack. If the cars are required to be period authentic (& I know that
is not always easy to define) I feel that my car (& others) can remain
competitive year in and year out without spending a ton of money.
Doug Meis - Team Escargot
1967 Honda S800
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