Went Saturday way up into the mountains to recover an old FV racecar with two good engines and lot of extras including a new set of Hoosiers on new rims.

It belongs to a friend of mine who used to race it from the mid 80's to mid 90's.

it's back in Napa and we want to tear it down, rebuild it and take it through SCCA race school next year.

He'll want to sell it after that, buy a 914 and time trial/ax with us kooks

FYI: even though a vee makes just 60hp and weighs 1000#'s with the driver, they can put up sub 2:00 lap times at both Sears and Thunderhill.

True momemtum cars.

1200cc single carb, mid-engine, open wheel.
They extract 50% more hp from the stock 40hp motors with careful headwork and flywheel lightening.

And they rev up to 7k rpm's

KT

After corner working a few National races all I can say is watching the open wheel cars is cool. Nothing like watching them 3 wide going into turn 2 at Gingerman and wondering how the heck they did it without hitting each other. Have fun

And I have the blueprint you need to make 65 ponies from the same engine.... and rev to 7500+

FV was the first race engine I ever built..

Jake, I knew 100% you would have experience in this area.

My friend said he always rebuilt the motor after every 3-4 races.
Got to where he would do it in about 12 hours and $300 worth of parts.

He always had a back-up motor that could be swapped out in 3 hours.

The motors have a high air scoop for cooling with no fan or generator to rob vital power.

He said they would peg the oil temp guage at 300° all the time

I sat in the car ( making engine noises ) today.

Wow what a tight fit!
You actually become the car.

KT

That looks like an old Zink if my memory serves me. I had one back around 1980. the frame was made from 1" box tube and was very flexible. The car handled great no matter what I tried to do to the suspension (the frame was so flexible you couldn't tune the suspension). Hey jake I thought you didn't care for fvees! I think they are the greatest bang for the buck going. Who's car was it? I raced SF region fvee during the 80's...just curious.


Bill

Yes, a Zink!

Driven by Bob Babbe, built by Ted Robinson.

Here's all three of us after we cleared the leaves and pulled the tarp off.

KT

It's been a long time. those names and faces are not in my memory banks. oh well. Be carefull with that car. I sold mine to buy a Lynx B and I heard the guy that bought it rolled it up into a pretzel! You're right! There's nothing like the feel of sitting/lying in a formula car. Wait till you drive it. That's why I bought my teener. I wanted something with the potential to handle like my vee. Good luck!

Bill

I took Bob for a ride in my 914 and kinda freaked him out.
I let him drive it and now he wants one.

KT

that's cool trekkor! throw your old BP motor in it and go AXing!!!

I drove a autodynamics FV in the late 60s and early 70s. we had 53 entries at Ontario. raced many times at Riverside. shifted three times at riverside per lap but you never let up on the gas or the pack would be long gone. Great memories

Bernie

Back in the early 80's an engineer that I used to work with at Jet Propulsion Lab in the Pasadena area had a Formula Vee too, thought it too was a Lynx, went up to Willowspring to watch him practice. I got a chance to sit in it, you're not kidding about the tight fit in those things, I kinda felt a little clostaphobic in it, I'm not too sure I could ever get over that. I was considering buying one at the time, sure looked like alot of fun.

It's a Zink C4


Can you show more pictures of the car with the body off...............it looks very familiar. It appears to already has the zero roll conversion the the rear?

My attorney wants to pick up one of those some day. She says they look like the absolute most fun you can have (for cheap) on a race track!!

--DD

QUOTE (itsa914 @ Oct 9 2005, 10:00 PM)

After corner working a few National races all I can say is watching the open wheel cars is cool. Nothing like watching them 3 wide going into turn 2 at Gingerman and wondering how the heck they did it without hitting each other. Have fun

3 wide in turn 2 is NUTS at Gingerman!!!

Whtever you do, don't bump wheels with anyone else...

Tom

I think RacerChris posted about how those things have the most wrecks per race ratio in the SCCA.

Coffin on four wheels thier un-offical name.

Buy a HANS device.

P

Its not that I don't care for them.. They areVERY time consuming to work with, especially the heads....

QUOTE (URY914 @ Oct 10 2005, 06:36 AM)

I think RacerChris posted about how those things have the most wrecks per race ratio in the SCCA. Coffin on four wheels thier un-offical name. Buy a HANS device. P

VERY little protection, mixed with minimal use of the brakes... bad voojoo

QUOTE (NoEcm @ Oct 9 2005, 10:12 PM)

It's a Zink C4 Can you show more pictures of the car with the body off...............it looks very familiar. It appears to already has the zero roll conversion the the rear?

It does have the zero roll mod...Very good!

I'll post some more pics later ( after I take them )

BTW: I have no intentions of racing this car. Just school, if they won't let me drive my 914.

KT

QUOTE (trekkor @ Oct 10 2005, 07:51 AM)

QUOTE (NoEcm @ Oct 9 2005, 10:12 PM) It's a Zink C4 Can you show more pictures of the car with the body off...............it looks very familiar. It appears to already has the zero roll conversion the the rear? It does have the zero roll mod...Very good! I'll post some more pics later ( after I take them ) BTW: I have no intentions of racing this car. Just school, if they won't let me drive my 914. KT

Sometimes I feel anyone that races an open wheel car is but then again this is coming from a owner of money pit 914.

Becareful trekkor, all it takes is one time on the track and the next thing you know you will have to pickup another job to help support your NEW other hobby

Now you tell me!!!

I picked up this car the day after the track day at Infineon.

My focus has always been safety first.

Thanks!


KT

I had a sport racer which scared the hell out of me. Like a formula car, I could not get past the relative location of my feet to the front of the car. Feet first is not how you want to hit a wall. Pretty sure they never sled tested a FV.

Also, hooking wheels is a very real danger in opened wheel racing, makes a big mess.

They will not allow open wheel cars to run with any of our normal PCA, PBOC, etc events down here. Too big a difference in size of vehicle and the open wheel cars make too many stone chips on all the other guys new porsches and ferraris.

A guy from Arizona showed up to a recent AX at Irwindale with a modified formula V.
He only had partial bodywork on it, a wing, and a built up 1600 cc engine. I think he had shorter wheels with wider slicks also.
All i could say was "I gotta build one".
This thing was purposely modified for AX and it was a rocket. He took corners without lifting where I was nearly locking up the brakes.
I'd love to get an old F-V and put a type 4 in it and call it a "modified Porsche" and hit the PCA autocrosses with it. Gotta be a blast.

That will happen.

Fat tires, my 2.0 type 4 with dual Webers and megaphones.

That'll tweak 'em...


KT

QUOTE (trekkor @ Oct 10 2005, 03:17 PM)

That will happen. Fat tires, my 2.0 type 4 with dual Webers and megaphones. That'll tweak 'em... KT

how much more does the TIV weigh roughly?

does it bolt up to the tranny direct?

Yep- it bolts right up... The FV uses a VW trans, the bolt pattern has remained the same from 1946- the end of the 993 series between VW and Porsche..

I have a retrofit assembly for the release bearing that increases the artiulation of the stock VW cross shaft for the clutch to work better with the TIV flywheel... And also the flywheel that bolts right on perfectly to make it all work like a well oiled machine...

Incompatible parts will cause you a shitty pedal, broken parts and headaches... I mastered this interchange about 20 years ago...

Trekkor - you da man - you have more toys now - I hate it - I want one too!

I pony up the cash for a beefed up trans (swing axle, right?) with the appropriate gears. Maybe a short R/P so you'll always stay in 2nd, no 1st gear shifts.

Get the super diff, hardened axles, etc, etc...

Rev 'er up to 5 grand on the starting grid and dump the clutch.

Booyah!

Tom

Excuse me if this is a dumb question, but why not use a 914 tranny?
Rig up some coil over shocks and trailing arms, that has to be better than a 4 speed swing axle, right? That's what I have planned if I ever actually do it. Maybe even a turbocharged type 4, except you can't turbocharge a formula V

I see no reason to keep it stock, unless they still run F-Vs somewhere.

I actually have a complete type 1 turbo kit promised to me up in Mendicino County somewhere...

Jake, will you sell individual goodies to a clubber?

KT

QUOTE (Sammy @ Oct 10 2005, 03:08 PM)

I see no reason to keep it stock, unless they still run F-Vs somewhere.

Oh, they do all right... There's a thriving Vee community out there. SCCA has an FV class, and there are groups for Vintage Vees as well! A couple of years ago, the leaders at the Runoffs got their wheels a bit tangled up, and several of them went for short flights. One landed pretty well, recovered, and went on to win the race!! Looked amazing on Speedvision.

--DD

Thanks for the heads up dave, I thot it was a dead class.
Personally I don't think I would be interested in wheel to wheel racing, just building an AX killer.

Biggest problem would be fitting into one. I'm waaay too big to fit in the one I saw a few weeks ago unless I cut my legs off at the knee and had the steering wheel in my crotch. I barely fit in a 914 with the seat cushing cut down.
Sometimes being big isn't an advantage.

Warm up lap just prior to the start. Imagine this for 30 minutes:

http://www.sracing.com/forsale/sample.wmv

(4 meg video clip)

Damn thats scary looking! I'm curious if you were to upgrade to 914 tranny and engine would it qualify as a Porsche for PCA AX?

As a PCA member, we can drive our "other" car.

KT

How about one with a supercharged T4? I don't know if you can lighten them any more than this:

Blown SuperV Autocrosser

Kind of like a 914 with none of the rusty parts left.

QUOTE (Sammy @ Oct 11 2005, 11:08 AM)

Thanks for the heads up dave, I thot it was a dead class. Personally I don't think I would be interested in wheel to wheel racing, just building an AX killer. Biggest problem would be fitting into one. I'm waaay too big to fit in the one I saw a few weeks ago unless I cut my legs off at the knee and had the steering wheel in my crotch. I barely fit in a 914 with the seat cushing cut down. Sometimes being big isn't an advantage.

The Formula SAE guys at some schools I'm looking at were telling me that the only cars that beat them in long AXs are the "reworked" FV's. Thats kinda scary considering the SAE cars pul almost 1.5g's and have a 0-60 of about 3.5 seconds

Did a little toolin' on the Vee today.

Removed all the body panels, front beam, rear end suspension/trans, fuel cell, seat belts, fire system, dash and guages, steering wheel.

Going through the whole thing, ground up.

The tube frame needs to be cleaned up and re-painted.
Brakes rebuilt. Electrical refreshed. etc...

First day working on it. Spent about two hours.


KT

You da man

Cool score !!! In my circle of friends, Vees are a hot topic, I guess I'm getting old

There is still an underground following for these, but you have to look for it. I am definatly gonna ask a bud about whats going on over here. This class has seemed to have fazed out for the newer/hotter carts, F**k they're fast.

I love open wheels. You gotta keep us posted.
How long have you been racing (polite way to ask your aprox age)

+Karma
Later

FV's are absolutely the the most fun you can have with your clothes on. I barrel rolled one up a shear sided cliff in Bridgehampton's turn 1 in 1974. Only damage was 2 bent front control arms and lots of sand and pebbles in my helmet. The weightlessness was really cool.