GGR AX #5 today, very challenging course Options

[DanT]

Today was our 5th AX this season and this was a challenging course.
914 drivers were in the hunt all day.
Andrew B looks to have TTOD sewn up yet again.
BillP and Randal driving Fritz (the tail dragger) were in the top 5 as well as Steve Nieslony in his 914 AX light weight car.
I am pretty sure I was in the top 15 with my 2.0L (160K mile) motor. Thank goodness for a well set up suspension. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) The motor certainly isn't helping my cause any (IMG:style_emoticons/default/blink.gif)

Only other 914s in attendance were Billd in his stockish 2.0L on street tires and a black 914-6 that I know nothing about other than the driver is on a learning curve (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

So more than likely we had 4 914 drivers (two sharing a tail dragger) in the top 5 or 6. Official results should be out in a day or two along with some pics.

Times ranged from a low :42 by AndrewB to high 47s for the really fast crowd and then the rest.
The interesting part of todays course was that the majority of fast times were recorded by the older Porsches be they 914s or 911s. Probably only 2 or possibly 3 newer cars in the top 10.
But again we will see what the official times look like.

[Chris Hamilton]

The day's competiton was very good. Andrew and Steve were really getting down there in the times, looked like it was going to be a close finish, which indeed it was.

Close enough in fact that this should motivate Lee to take drastic measures and put a racing engine in the car. The current 2.0 in it is smooth, however it's been over 100k miles since the bottom end was rebuilt, and it really is just a street engine like in our daily driving 914s.

[grantsfo]

The day's competiton was very good. Andrew and Steve were really getting down there in the times, looked like it was going to be a close finish, which indeed it was.

Close enough in fact that this should motivate Lee to take drastic measures and put a racing engine in the car. The current 2.0 in it is smooth, however it's been over 100k miles since the bottom end was rebuilt, and it really is just a street engine like in our daily driving 914s.

I noticed in PAX the car has displacement listed as 2295 cc. I had always assumed the engine in that car was pushing bigger displacement than stock. If its a 2.0 I would love to know what has been done to the top end to get so much power! I havent seen too many 100,000 mile daily driver 2.0's that can smoke fat sticky race tires off the line like the smurfmobile can! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[DanT]

The day's competiton was very good. Andrew and Steve were really getting down there in the times, looked like it was going to be a close finish, which indeed it was.

Close enough in fact that this should motivate Lee to take drastic measures and put a racing engine in the car. The current 2.0 in it is smooth, however it's been over 100k miles since the bottom end was rebuilt, and it really is just a street engine like in our daily driving 914s.

I noticed in PAX the car has displacement listed as 2295 cc. I had always assumed the engine in that car was pushing bigger displacement than stock. If its a 2.0 I would love to know what has been done to the top end to get so much power! I havent seen too many 100,000 mile daily driver 2.0's that can smoke fat sticky race tires off the line like the smurfmobile can! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

Grant, that car must weigh like 1200lbs (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) or there abouts. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/confused24.gif)

[Chris Hamilton]

The day's competiton was very good. Andrew and Steve were really getting down there in the times, looked like it was going to be a close finish, which indeed it was.

Close enough in fact that this should motivate Lee to take drastic measures and put a racing engine in the car. The current 2.0 in it is smooth, however it's been over 100k miles since the bottom end was rebuilt, and it really is just a street engine like in our daily driving 914s.

I noticed in PAX the car has displacement listed as 2295 cc. I had always assumed the engine in that car was pushing bigger displacement than stock. If its a 2.0 I would love to know what has been done to the top end to get so much power! I havent seen too many 100,000 mile daily driver 2.0's that can smoke fat sticky race tires off the line like the smurfmobile can! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

Grant, that car must weigh like 1200lbs (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) or there abouts. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/confused24.gif)

The PAX listing with 2295cc is for our other engine, which we only ran once a few years ago. Sadly it melted its piston pin buttons, and for the last 30 or so events we've been using the 2.0L from our black street car. Not much has been done to the top end, just a freshening up. The very moderate tuning I believe is a contributing factor to it's autocross success, very good all range power, good low end torque. We're currently running 48mm dellortors, but there is a megasquirt coming later this year hopefully.

If you're interested in having a reliable engine identical to the one in the blue car, that can be arranged for less money than you would imagine.

As for the weight, everyone always tells us it must weigh almost nothing, but we tell them they should try pushing it onto the trailer later in the afternoon if they think it's so light. The entire body and frame of the car is still intact, save for the fenders, which were sawed off by the previous owner in order to run the fibreglass bodywork. We've taken weight out from everywhere we can, however Lee estimates the weight around 1800lbs with the new sheridan trunklids.

[nebreitling]

We've taken weight out from everywhere we can, however Lee estimates the weight around 1800lbs with the new sheridan trunklids.

all due respect, but there ain't no way that car weighs 1800 lbs. i'm a big fan of the smurf-mobile, and i realize that there is a lot of original steel in the car, but i think 1650 or so is prolly more accurate.

[Chris Hamilton]

We've taken weight out from everywhere we can, however Lee estimates the weight around 1800lbs with the new sheridan trunklids.

all due respect, but there ain't no way that car weighs 1800 lbs. i'm a big fan of the smurf-mobile, and i realize that there is a lot of original steel in the car, but i think 1650 or so is prolly more accurate.

We don't have any scales, however with the weight jacker we measured 450lbs on each front corner and 550lbs on each rear corner. While this isn't horribly accurate, it should at least give some idea. If anyone wants to bring some scales to the next event, feel free.

LOL! Just more of that 914 sand bagging. 1800 lbs with a wimpy 100,000 mile daily driver 2.0. Why do we all do this? ...I have an old weezy 2.4 liter 6 that barely runs (might make 140 hp) and I'm sure my car is pushing at least 2400 lbs

While the engine mileage may be up there, and the displacement moderate, and the tuning moderate, it is far from wimpy. Lee built that engine around 1990 for my mom to drive, and when he builds an engine, it is by no means wimpy. This car is pretty much a testament to how well his rabbit rods engines perform and last.