Race Cars and Motorsports

A lot of message boards have a special section for people to introduce themselves. It occurred to me today that perhaps our British Racecar subforum needs its own Introduction "sticky" thread. It will be be nice to have a place for people to check in and just say "Hi".

Don't be shy! Just tell us a thing or two about yourself and your car. Who do you race with and in what class? Consider posting a snapshot. Maybe tell us how you found BritishRacecar... Or just break the ice and say "hey!"

You're welcome here.

Cheers,
Curtis

My name is Mark and I have been racing since 1994. I started in Autocross and now also race karts with the Manitoba Karting Association. I started Speedworld Indoor Kart Track in Winnipeg, Manitoba in 2004 so a lot of time is spent in and around race tracks. I am married to Briget and we have no kids but two dogs, Sammi and Velcro. Several years ago I got tired of ruining perfectly good street cars to make them competitive in the SCCA Solo Stock class, and decided to build a dedicated race car for EMod. I had never done this before but jumped in with both feet, arms and several fingers. I have recorded the whole build, big mistakes and all, in a build blog and thread on several websites. Here are links to part 1, 2 and 3 of the build on this site:

[forum.britishv8.org]
[forum.britishv8.org]
[forum.britishv8.org]

For me - and strictly via SCCA racing - it all started in the 1970’s.
“Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose.”
Janice Joplin was on hand at some of the SCCA races in Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas in the early 1970’s.
Jim Hall dominated the big bore SCCA races in Texas, and Jack Hinkle dominated the big bore SCCA races in Oklahoma and Kansas. Hall drove Lola’s and Hinkle drove MaClarens – the very latest models – real Super Cars. Frank Carney, the founder and president of Pizza, Hut out of Wichita, drove the latest Datsun factory cars.
They raced on REAL “road race courses” – often around county lakes like Lake Ponca in Oklahoma and Lake Afton in Wichita Kansas – real, honest-to-god SCCA Amateur Road Racing ! There was nothing like it in the rest of the entire USA. Real road racing for god’s sake! All by “amateur” racers. Yeah, right, and all in my back door. I moved from Ohio to Kansas in the early ‘70’s and I found the best racing in the world in Kansas! I’m not exaggerating … in Kansas, SCCA, races were conducted on the last real road races in the entire world – Ponca City and lake Afton. Look it up.
I always thought the best racing in the SCCA – in the ‘70’s and ‘80’s - was going on in the production classes – like the “C” production and the “D” Production classes and the “E” Production classes – Alfa Romero’s, Datsuns, Triumphs and MG’s.
Like most beginners in the SCCA, I raced Bug Eye Sprites and MG Midgets. Rolled a Bug Eye (front-end
over end) one time at Nelson Ledges in Northern Ohio. Left front hub broke off while entering a sharp left hand turn. Walked away from my first Bug Eye and quickly built another. My second Bug Eye was much faster than my first – and much safer.
I made and raced several other SCCA race cars – Datsun 510 B Sedan, Datsun 240Z C Production, Mazda RX3 ShowRoom Stock, MG GT F Production. Loved them all ….. but of all, I’ve always loved the MG’s best.

And now my favorite SCCA race car is the MG Rover RV8. It runs in the SCCA GT2 class and is almost competitive with the Corvettes, Mustangs and Camaros. Not too sure it will ever compete with the best of the GT2 class – the Porsche Cup Cars. Time and more improvements will tell.

I like to ask our Brit V8 group for your good advice on technical issues from time to time ….. and will count on that good advice to bring me through to the answers to many of the issues that confound me when trying to improve the competitiveness of an MG/Rover.

Keep them on the track,

phillip g leonard

I have just bought me one Formula Four a JW4 (I think so at least)
I am trying to find other persons with a simular car and to get pictures to start with to try to be sure of what I got in my garage

Hi,

I'm Chris Marx from Germany and I'm the new owner of ACN01093UCA or bettern known as the canadian Group 44 car.

I'm quite new to TR8 and V8 engines and I need to learn alot about.

2014 was the first season I used the car on several tracks here in Europe. Quite a beast to handle but maybe in 2015 I become a little faster to catch up to front running Porsches.

Cheers
Chris




Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/31/2014 05:12AM by MadMarx.

Hi,
I'm building a Bugeye for racing : hill climbs, super-sprints, regularity.
I've owned it since the late '70's and only now have time to "footie" with it.

I am most interested to understand how to build the simple reverse-gear lockout pin arrangement that Randy Byboth has installed in his Sprite.

Please could someone advise how best to find out how he did this ?

kind regards,
Al.

Hi, my name is Rob, British and living in Sussex in UK. I have been racing since the 70s first with T/C Escort, then an RS 2000 followed by a 1963 Lotus Cortina. I raced these when I lived in Australia. Now I currently race a 1937 Riley Falcon special with two stage superchargers running at 18lbs boost, which gives about 240bhp. A bit of a handfull! I also race a Fairthorpe Electron Climax with limited success, it had a fuel supply problem that took 2 years to find [the brass T piece wasnt drilled properly] and then head gasket problems because of lean running. But I am nearly there. My latest project is a 1964 Elva courier which I plan to race, but there is a problem that someone might be able to help with. My car is one of the 9 made with a Ford cortina 1500 engine, and to get FIA accreditation I need evidence that a car with this spec raced in period internationally. Does anyone know if one was raced in the states with this engine? I would really appreciate any information. Thanks, Rob.

Welcome Rob!

I wasn't alive in 1964, but I know enough about Elva Couriers to be confident that at least one of nine with Cortina engines would certainly have raced somewhere back-in-the-day. But how to document it? I just took a quick census of www.racingsportscars.com to see if an easy answer might be found there. I found lots of Couriers mentioned, but I didn't find any information on their engines. Here is a summary of Courier drivers reported to have competed between the end of August in 1965 and the Sports Car Club of America Championship race at Daytona on November 27, 1965:

(driver name, date, race venue, and racing class if listed)
Pete Claydon 8/28 Watkins Glen NY
David B. Wild 8/28 Watkins Glen NY
Burt Persus 8/28 Wichita KS
Fred Opert 8/28 Lime Rock CT
Ken Goodman 8/29 Mid-Ohio OH
B.W. Boardman 8/30 Brands Hatch (UK)
Mike Campbell 8/30 Brands Hatch (UK)
Foster Sturdevant 9/4 Road America WI
Ron Wunchel 9/5 Santa Barbara CA
Dave Gott 9/5 Santa Barbara CA
Briad Reeves 9/5 Santa Barbara CA
W.G. White 9/12 Brands Hatch (UK)
R.S. Skilbeck 9/12 Brands Hatch (UK)
William McKemie 9/19 Mid-America
Troy Clem 9/26 Riverside CA
William McKemie 10/3 Green Valley TX
Bill Coyle 10/3 Green Valley TX
Charles Reynolds 10/3 Bainbridge GA
John Heyer 10/10 Reading PA EP
Joseph Bincarowsky 10/10 Reading PA EP
Pete Claydon 10/10 Thompson CT EP
Fred Opert 10/16 Lime Rock CT
Ian Karns 10/16 Lime Rock CT
Frederick Reel 10/17 Virginia
Carl Reinsch 10/17 West Palm Beach FL
Dave Gott 10/30 Riverside CA
Foster Sturdevant 10/30 Meadowdale IL
Dave Gott 11/6 Vaca Valley CA
William McKemie 11/7 Juarez MX
Wes McNay 11/7 Vaca Valley CA

Only one Courier raced in the 1965 SCCA Championship on 11/27. It was driven by William McKemie of Austin Texas. He competed in the E-Production class, which was pretty well dominated by Porsche 356s but also included some Lotus 7s. MGBs and Triumph TR4s mostly ran in D-Production. (I would expect a Courier with Cortina engine to be competitive with MGBs, despite having a 300cc displacement disadvantage.) MGAs mostly ran in F-Production.

For Elva racing history in UK, I wouldn't hesitate to call up AJ Barnard - [ajbengineering.com] - I'm sure you know them, as they're right there in Sussex too. (Robertsbridge) I very much enjoyed meeting them and inspecting two of their Couriers at Snetterton a couple years ago.

Hullo -

Been involved in car racing and sponsoring for many years


Thanks Stewart



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/17/2018 11:13AM by veight.

Congratulations on your new purchase, Stewart! --- What a profoundly, profoundly cool racecar.

(If anyone else is interested, a horde of cool vintage photos of it appear here: [www.tjmetcalfe.com])

Hi folks. I am Steve, in Portland Oregon, 60 years old and want to get back into racing after a 20 year absence (raising kids). I debated buying a prepped race car or building one. I've decided to build up a 67 MG midget sitting in the corner of my shop, for F production. My first question is the wheels....any issues with racing vintage with the wire wheels/knockoffs? None of my past race cars had wire wheels. Thanks,
Steve

Hi Steve, I know they look vintage/cool, but will likely "flex" more than non-spoke= slower lap times and likely more maintenance. If you "must", I would contact Dayton Wheel, for skilled input. Good Luck, art.

Hello -

I've been vintage racing a 1957 Austin Healey 100-6MM with SOVREN, SVRA, HMSA, VSCDA throughout the US and Western Canda over the past 15 years. Living in Portland, Oregon PIR is my home track, but fequent trips take me to Sonoma, Laguna Seca, and Road America. Competing in events as the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion have been a highlight.