Re: italian-cars-digest V7 #38 Fast 850's?!?!

[Peter Krause <pkrause@domain.elided>]

Yes, it IS possible to make an 850 fairly quick. Our vintage cars (five,
so far...) utilize late 903 cc (drilled center main) blocks decked
.040", PBS's A-6 cam grind (by a better cam grinder), proprietary Arias
pistons, a heavily reworked head with 19 cc combustion chamber volume
with either a 30 DICA or a 34 DMSA carb and end up producing about 78-80
hp out of 930cc (55 ci). With only 1420 lbs to carry around, it's not
too bad. As a matter of fact, I was able to put one on the pole at Lime
Rock on Labor Day (in front of ESPN and everybody, including thirteen
1300 cc Alfa Sprints and Spiders) not once, but twice! Was that better
than blowing off a Mustang in some stupid punk street race? You bet! As
far as what it costs to put together a serious competition motor, it
really is that  expensive. I'm just finishing an A112 motor with an
eight port head with dual side drafts for a 1000 OTR in Florida and with
all new parts (every one of them) and only 35 hours of my time billed
out, it will be close to $7500. Of course, I put together the 903 the
fellow has in his car right now for about $2000 without any charge for
time to put it together. You must realize that people like Ramzi and
Chris Obert and Ed at Caribou do this not only because they live,
breathe, sleep and eat this stuff, but also because it is their
livelihood. Speed costs money, how fast do you want to go?     -Peter
Krause

Absolute power corrupts absolutely...My 1608 cc 124 with a single 34
DMSA manages to put out about 155 BHP in SCCA legal trim with only Int'l
cams and proprietary pistons, and it will do it for 60 hours plus
between teardowns (the difference between amateur and professional
assembly). Won it's class the last two years at Lime Rock Labor Day (in
front of Ginetta G4s, Lotus Elans, Jaguar E-types, etc.) Buy Croft's
book!