Jim Hayes wrote:
>I have an Autosport article by Ted Martin (of Martin engine fame, or
>potentially obscurity) where he discusses the state of the art in
>Formula Junior engines in 1961. He notes that transistor ignition was a
>promising development, but that he wondered about reliability. They
>were definitely using electronic ignition then! They were also making
>special cranks, rods, pistons, and turning 8500 - 9000 rpm on the 1
>litre junior motors, and running dry sumps, gear drive cams, and
>lay-down motors! He was also brazing in new intake ports to the ford
>heads that they used (production based motors were the rule) to improve
>performance beyond what you could get by just porting and polishing the
>stock ports. They did a TON of stuff back then!
Formula Junior was somewhat of a special case. These cars were purpose
built for racing according to FIA rules. They were production based,
but there were very FEW things you were not allowed to do. You were not
allowed to change the stroke, but you were allowed to use special
cranks. You were allowed special cams, but you could not relocate it or
use any overhead cam. You were allowed special rods. You could bore out
or sleeve down to get the desired displacement, again within one of 2 FIA
mandated capacities. Head work was almost entirely free, again with no
overhead cams. Dagrada even cross-ported a Lancia head in a F. Jr.
Originally, FJ cars had to use the brakes from the car they got the
engine from, but this was eventually dropped. Disk brakes were allowed
on any car after the rule change.
In gearboxes, the rule was they had to come from an FIA classified
touring car, but the gears were completely free. This essentially meant
only the gearbox cases had to come from a touring car. This is how
Hewland got started, putting dog ring gears in VW cases.
Back in the early days, FJ teams were not above replacing cranks, etc
between races. The modern materials make them last longer, but very few
crank more revs than they did back then. They just last longer now.
My Junior is pitifully original, which explains why I get lapped at
least twice in a 10 lap race. That's ok. I usually have other older
cars to run with. I still have a Fiat motor with a factory crank and
rods. I still have sand-cast Weber DCO 3's. I still have a VW splitcase
with Porsche gears. I still have Fiat bushings in the suspension.
Almost all the other Juniors are running DCOE Webers, even if they were
built before these were available, most have heim joints, most have
steel cranks, most have sticky tires (except when Steve Earle is
looking). The way I look at it, if anybody was racing one of these cars
late in the very short life of FJ, they would have done all of these
things anyway. If I did all of these things to my car, it just wouldn't
be as unique as it is now. I'd still be a long way from 1st place, so
what's the difference?
If you can't afford to have the fastest car in the field, you better
look damned good coming in last, I always say. ;=)
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