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story and photos by alan cesar
"It makes a helluva noise,” says Ben Martinez. He loves the whoosh of a turbo. He also carries an undying …
Well Done! I liked those when I first saw them on the street and I still like them.
Hats off to Ben and his XR4Ti. I had an '89 that I ran in the '93& '94 One Lap of America. Loved it, but I eventually was bitten by the Miata bug.
are these allowed in cam? I did a basic engine mod (supercharger pulley) got stuck into a modified class where you need hoosiers and I'm not happy about that. I need to find something else to autocross and the cam class is huge local with lots of good drivers
In reply to mrblah :
Sorry. The SCCA Classic American Muscle rules for 2018 say: < Eligible Vehicles • Vehicle must be either a domestic automobile or truck (pick-up or SUV) of front-engine/rear-wheel-drive (FE/RWD) configuration>
So you're SOL on the "domestic" issue. While I am on the FE/RWD issue (Taurus SHO).
Those rules, especially on engines, are very restrictive. We always have people show up at the autocrosses asking "What about my car, it's just got a (cam, upgraded turbo, Lexan window, carbon fiber hood, all of the above) it's basically stock right?" And the answer is, "No, go directly to Street Mod, do not pass GO. And good luck in the big pond with the vicious fishes there!"
CAM is getting really popular and is nearly wide-open rules-wise. That of course means there are now $100,000 cars there. It's whatever floats your boat of course - CAM looks way fun, but a Street Touring R or U car will usually tear them up time-wise.
I remember seeing that car when he first got it finished. I actually saw him not that long ago but he had a formula Ford instead.
I had a merkur once, and when it ran right it was fun to drive and garnered me several speeding tickets from North Carolina's finest, sadly. :) It was a wonderful road car but sadly lived up to the FORD acronym. I traded it for a subaru and never looked back. 
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