Enablers... Assemble

So I was thinking more about this and I think these cars could make an awesome "spec" type class. 

Imagine a series of these with turbo four cylinder engines. Ecoboost, MZR, SRT4, anything but build them with a weight penalty for an equalizer. 

Free-form thinking of course.

jh36 said:

grafmiata UltraDork
10/23/21 9:39 a.m.

JG Pasterjak said:

I guess I could do a Somerset, but then I'd never get any work done because I'd just be out in the garage whackin' it all day.

The cool thing about the GT-1/T-A bodywork is the molds are all still out there. Tommy Riggins i think has some Firebird or Camaro stuff, and he's just up the road in Jacksonville. Les Cannaday has al the old Rocketsports Olds Cutlass GTO/T-A molds. And ACP and Derhaag still have all their molds. Certainly someone from that list would be excited to work with a plucky car mag on a cool project...

If you would kike to be a bit more obscure, I know who has the molds for Kendall's TA Beretta.  I also know that he would like to NOT have them anymore...

I like the cut of your jib, sir.

jh36 said:

grafmiata UltraDork
10/23/21 9:39 a.m.

JG Pasterjak said:

I guess I could do a Somerset, but then I'd never get any work done because I'd just be out in the garage whackin' it all day.

The cool thing about the GT-1/T-A bodywork is the molds are all still out there. Tommy Riggins i think has some Firebird or Camaro stuff, and he's just up the road in Jacksonville. Les Cannaday has al the old Rocketsports Olds Cutlass GTO/T-A molds. And ACP and Derhaag still have all their molds. Certainly someone from that list would be excited to work with a plucky car mag on a cool project...

If you would kike to be a bit more obscure, I know who has the molds for Kendall's TA Beretta.  I also know that he would like to NOT have them anymore...

Wheel fans for the win. 

Be sure to let us know when you drag it home https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/off-topic-discussion/pics-of-project-cars-on-trailers-or-trailer-selfie/149555/page14/

David S. Wallens said:

In reply to Javelin (Forum Supporter) :

I'm going to defend the crate motor for the C5 as we just couldn't build something similar for the same money. JG and I did the math. Several times. And then we sold the original engine, offsetting a chunk of the cost. 

There is a difference between cost efficient and affordable.     

Tom1200 said:

alfadriver said:

WRT the engine, no matter what you do, don't do the Hot Rod thing and just put a carb on it.  That's so lame, especially if you do any computer modeling of any kind (aero, suspension, structure, etc).  

It would be interesting to run a topic search, but it seems that EFI questions out do carb questions by a lot.

Good point. I would simply slap a 4 barrel on the motor because it's easy but there is indeed a lot of questions about EFI so that would likely serve the readership better.

I'm still for buy a ran when wrecked whatever for the V8 and 5 speed and slap that in the chassis. 

As the official Geezer of GRM  I happen to agree with your suggestion.  Carbs are for vintage racing.  As liberal as I am about vintage racing recreations, we don't need a another one just because it can be done. 

alfadriver said:

WRT the engine, no matter what you do, don't do the Hot Rod thing and just put a carb on it.  That's so lame, especially if you do any computer modeling of any kind (aero, suspension, structure, etc). 

Riddle me this... what if the computer modeling is restricted to the kind of DOS programs used back then?

RE: Buick Somerset -- I think they made more race cars than street cars

GCrites80s said:

alfadriver said:

WRT the engine, no matter what you do, don't do the Hot Rod thing and just put a carb on it.  That's so lame, especially if you do any computer modeling of any kind (aero, suspension, structure, etc). 

Riddle me this... what if the computer modeling is restricted to the kind of DOS programs used back then?

What if there's a possibility that something like that won't happen?  

Is there any racing body that restricts software to something that's at least 30 years old?  If there's not, then that's not an issue at all.  I've been working for almost 30 years, and for the entire time, we used Windows for nominal work.  Designers had their own CAD system, and I recall learning that Ford had been using CAD since the 60's.  

This isn't vintage racing, this is modern racing that uses cheap and available parts.  That were probably modeled on pretty advanced computers at the time.

edit- it appears that these chassis were developed near 2000, which would make them fully CAD designed chassis.  Now that I think about it- a friend of mine at work was involved in this, as we talked about the spec engine.  At that time, he had a pretty sweet suspension analysis tool that was excel based.   So for this car, it was well after DOS was not the OS that anyone really used.

alfadriver said:

GCrites80s said:

alfadriver said:

WRT the engine, no matter what you do, don't do the Hot Rod thing and just put a carb on it.  That's so lame, especially if you do any computer modeling of any kind (aero, suspension, structure, etc). 

Riddle me this... what if the computer modeling is restricted to the kind of DOS programs used back then?

What if there's a possibility that something like that won't happen?  

Is there any racing body that restricts software to something that's at least 30 years old?  If there's not, then that's not an issue at all.  I've been working for almost 30 years, and for the entire time, we used Windows for nominal work.  Designers had their own CAD system, and I recall learning that Ford had been using CAD since the 60's.  

This isn't vintage racing, this is modern racing that uses cheap and available parts.  That were probably modeled on pretty advanced computers at the time.

edit- it appears that these chassis were developed near 2000, which would make them fully CAD designed chassis.  Now that I think about it- a friend of mine at work was involved in this, as we talked about the spec engine.  At that time, he had a pretty sweet suspension analysis tool that was excel based.   So for this car, it was well after DOS was not the OS that anyone really used.

That shows exactly how far things have progressed in my life.  In my youth. ( pre Navy)  suspension was voodo  just something to drive around.  
     Post Navy I began to learn how to work with springs, shocks, and tires  to optimize  performance.  
 By the 1980's math began to creep in  and complex suspension issues were solved with match stick models. 
     By 2000 those decisions were made on the computer. Today it's possible to arrive at the track with the car properly set for not only the individual track but also weather conditions. 

Another vote for an LS crate for simplicity. It sounds like content wise the purpose is to show what makes a stockcar good/bad for road racing. There are countless articles on engine building so no need to rehash it here. 
 

That said if you're looking for different I have wanted to skin one with a mid 90s 2 door Camry, the per Solara one and drop a Toyota V8 and Jerico 4 speed in one. 

Wally (Forum Supporter) said:

Another vote for an LS crate for simplicity. It sounds like content wise the purpose is to show what makes a stockcar good/bad for road racing. There are countless articles on engine building so no need to rehash it here. 
 

That said if you're looking for different I have wanted to skin one with a mid 90s 2 door Camry, the per Solara one and drop a Toyota V8 and Jerico 4 speed in one. 

I may know a guy with some of those parts...

In reply to stafford1500 :

ORLY? 

In reply to stafford1500 :

I'm sure you do. You probably know the person I got the idea from too. 

And didn't someone run a Solara in SCCA GT2  competition? 

Too big and heavy.  Get an Exocet.

I am at Summit Point testing the ASA Camaro this weekend. I am hoping some decent results help the cause. The weather is dicey for Saturday but at this point, Sunday looks good. Stay tuned. 

The car is a blast. The platform is killer. It is a ton of fun and seemingly infinitely adjustable. Full report is on my thread. Here's one pic. The ASA platform is a home run from my point of view. 

jh36 said:

The car is a blast. The platform is killer. It is a ton of fun and seemingly infinitely adjustable. Full report is on my thread. Here's one pic. The ASA platform is a home run from my point of view. 

Oh I read it Jack. I read it.

Getting ready to have the "what's the enclosed trailer doing in December? Asking for a friend." conversation with Tom when he gets back from SEMA.

Just got back from a VW press event. Did I miss anything here? 

Can confirm the ASA platform performs reasonably well off road 

In other news, the splitter stress test was a massive success.

In reply to Ed Higginbotham :

Do I want to ask what happened? 

Just trying to win my HPDE.

In reply to David S. Wallens :

Yes.  I would like you to ask Ed what happened.  I would like to hear this again.