Chassis mods for racing...

["Storhok, Eric (E.M.)" <estorhok@domain.elided>]

Naturally, this is an interesting subject for me...  Right now, I dream of making a multi purpose car- one for IT, Solo II, and Vintage racing.  Of which, I probably would not end up competitive in any.

Interestingly enough, the base chassis comes out pretty close.  Heavy springs (W&D, Rough, Beck, whatever), good shocks (yellow koni, or Spruell for big $$), panhard rod (or other axle locating device), and sticky tires.  The problem is in the details- IT and Vintage both allow spherical bushings, autocross does not.  Autocross does not allow interior stripping to the degree track racing pretty much requires.  The answer, of course, is to compromise- use the stiffest bushings you can get, and leave the interior in a state that it can be removed.  But that still leaves the cage as a problem- one could make a IT legal cage, and still get in and out pretty easily, but I might not have that much confidence in it.  These are details I'll need to work out soon, as I'm trying to get a more appropriate track car than the one I use now.

Engine wise, now that is the real problem.  Vintage- pretty much open to the pocket book.  Of course there are rules, but I have friends who know how to get around them.  Autocross, for the most part, only intake and exhaust can be changed, which does help.   On a local level, I'm also allowed cams...  For a Bosch car, one must change the computer to really pick that thing up- mostly from more revs.  I think 7000 on occasion is safe.  IT- almost stock engine, very restrictive.  So if I were to do all 3, I would want 3 different engines.  Oh.....  I think 2 might work...

As for the modified engine in California, that is perfect for Street Mod- all of the changes are very legal in that, and you can even add a turbo (am doing that right now).  Oh, only if the car was a GTV, if it is a Spider, you run in SM2- same car, different classes, no sense.

If you were concentrating on AROC autocrosses only, I would even consider which engine to start with.  If you were careful, you could do a 1300 normale engine, swap it for a 2000, and still end up in a reasonable class.  I love those rules!  Really- the more open rules in the AROC code REALLY make you think what is the best- add more cam, take away some tire- same points.  Where you need to be really careful is not to end up in class C- George runs there (you WILL get beat), and John Hoard runs there in the GTA on race tires (you WILL get beat, again).  D is good, and B is good, FTD has been in C for a few conventions now...

This summer- Ines and I will be sharing John's GTA out in California- he will be using our race tires... fun, fun, fun!!!!


Eric Storhok
Core Emissions and Fuel Economy Team
Advanced Powertrain Engineering
(313)33x75011
MD 35, FPC-B
Ford Motor Company

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