Oddball Cars- Input Please

[Ron Earp]

One of the things I miss about IT is the creativity in the cars that are run. I love making something work that no one else thinks is possible. I also understand this is a lonely and expensive path to take.

Good that you feel that way because it is the truth. I've done an oddball (ITS Jensen Healey), mostly failed, and it put a hurt on racing for a long time.

I can give you some ideas on these cars based on either working with them closely or seeing the results of some of the cars.

- ITA 1988 Fiero GT- seems to have good power, aero, and Lotus suspension with minor weight penalty?
Benspeed built one of these on the board but sold it. I think that car that he had built showed tremendous promise and his was far from 100% developed. Seemed I remembered like 135rwhp but around 175 rwtq and the open ECU rule had yet been broken out and there were many other items to develop on the car. Seems like it'd do well in A. He'd know a lot more, but from my vantage point the car showed promise and was begging for more development.

- ITS Triumph TR8- good power?
Jeff Young races one of these now and I work on it. Fast, capable, and relatively easy to maintain. Brakes require regular maintenance and are not cheap. Jeff or I can give you more information on these if you want to go that route. Power isn't that great, torque is phenominal, but using that torque in the chassis with solid rear axle is challenging. Torque is hard on gear boxes too. Definitely racable, but the development of the car has been expensive and time consuming.

- ITS 300zx- weight?
I didn't think the weight was too bad on these. Brakes, aero, motor are great. You'll need to do some R&D on the rear suspension I think because it isn't 240/260/280 Z like at all. What is the weight, 2725? Given the advantages plus the modern ECU rule I'd be all over one of these. There are a few under construction now.