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I know you guys have been busting it working on 3 cars but come on!!!! We need updates!!!!
JH
TR8
260Z
Pictures! Dyno charts! The more you post the closer I get to building a Tiger for Vintage!!!!!!!!
AB
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Andy Bettencourt
New England Region, R188967
www.flatout-motorsports.com
Vintage??? Sounds like a great GT2 car to me. 2280 lbs. Motorsport block permitted.
http://ITForum.ImprovedTouring.com/smile.gif
Jim
And a teensy-weensie restrictor plate...ask Patton! Ya win it once and buh-bye.
AB
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Andy Bettencourt
New England Region, R188967
www.flatout-motorsports.com
Andy, the racing Gods have been bad to us this season. No luck whatsoever. Here's the scoop:
We spent the offseason doing gasket matching work on the TR8, plus tracking down a special set of headers run on the car in the Playboy Endurance series in the late 80s/early90s. We also did a bunch of exhaust work. We probably had 50 hours or so in the first round of improvements. All of these were AFTER the 158hp/178tq results you saw last fall I think. I also had to get some body work done after a test day nose into a tire wall on cold tires.
First race this year at CMP, we ran a few sessions and car was AWESOME. Got a comment from a fellow competitor about how the car seemed much faster than last year.
In practice of the race, I broke the tranny.
Put in new tranny. Go to VIR. You know what happened there.
Spent the next 6 weeks tearing the motor down and doing a full IT build -- .5 compression bump and .020 pistons. Put that baby in and....ran three laps on Friday in qual at 4500 rpm and then...no oil pressure.
I'm mystifyied, frustrated and p/o'ed but committed to the car. We expect to have the problem licked and the TR8 back on track in July.
Note that the new motor felt FANTASTIC and even running only 4500 rpm I qualified 5th in ITS on the VIR Grand Course. The car TEASES me with potential.
The Z. We finally got the Z running decent at VIR in March (the one Nick came down to run). Since the TR8 was still under construction, I took it to Savannah in April. Got 4-5 laps in during qual, and qualified 10th out of 26 ITS cars. Lap one, I get taking out by a start jumper (see "Roebling Carnage" thread). Car is messed up pretty bad in the left rear quarter.
The Jensen-Healey. Car is about 90% done. The head came back from the machine shop with the valves screwed up, and had to go back. That is now corrected.
Biggest issue now is trying different springs to get the car down to the right ride height. The problem is that the front a-arm suspension requires you to use 3.5" OD springs -- try finding those at Pegasus, etc. So, we have had to have springs made custom. Not been fun. We are hoping the car makes it to the track in July as well.
Not been a good year. Fortunately, I own half a Spec Miata, which amazingly enough starts and runs every time I take it to the track.
BUT, the 8 and the Z, and I think the JH will be as well, are just so much more fun. More power, more character I guess. I really love racing the older cars against the new ones.
Build the Tiger -- in fact, get it classed in S. You'd be like the 8. A torque monster with no brakes and iffy handling, but it would be fun.
Andy, e-mail me re: BMWs. Interesting results this weekend with the ARRC winning BMW vis a vis the black RX7 (Steve Echerich) that Nick had the great battle with in March.
[email protected]
Thanks man.
Jeff
Andy, we're trying but there just aren't enough hours in the day.
Jeff's post pretty much says it all - bad luck. Add in there some other things such as buying the Z and making it track worthy, car fire, motor R&Rs, acquiring an enclosed trailer, etc. and it has been a full season without a lot of racing. I sort of got burned out on everything and now am of the mindset "Do it once, do it right, do it slow - it'll be ready when it is ready." I'm learning a lot in my rookie season though and I'm getting some races in too.
Still, I am hoping to race the JH in July. I could probably push like hell and make CMP, if I forsook everything else in my life, but it'd be a disaster I think. July is more manageable and might even allow enough time to get it street titled for some debugging just driving around - that'd help a lot to sort issues.
The TR8 does entice one with performance. I'd be willing to bet it will out-drag any other ITS car given even starts, corner launches, etc., even the mighty BMWs until aero gets the 8 on the triple digit speeds. But like Jeff said, a torque monster with no brakes and handling that will scare you to religon. I drove it for a 20 min stint at CMP and while I thought it was fun I think it'd take a lot skill to master and really make fly.
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Ron Earp
NC Region
Ford Lightning
RF GT40 Replica
White Jensen-Healey ITS
Silver "Skull" 260Z ITS
[This message has been edited by rlearp (edited May 09, 2005).]