New fuel cell arrived, vintage race weekend looming.

[Tom Grossmann]

So when I've been filling the cell above half I end up with this purple looking oil on the outside of the bladder. I know exactly what it is because I've used Yamahalube R for decades, it has a lovely purple tint and is instantly recognizable. So clearly the cell is seeping at a slow enough rate that it isn't leaking but the gas evaporates and leaves the oil behind.

The current cell is a ATL pod cell FC142 4 gallon unit. This leaves the car with a 36 mile range and only left me about a mile cushion. I went with a FC160 cell that gives me a 54 mile range.

I've got 6 weeks to my next race, as for as I know it'll be the first F500 to be vintage raced.

[reddevilsix]

Tom,
What "vintage" race are you referring to and what car/engine are you running?

Have you replaced your cell already?

Richard

[Tom Grossmann]

Richard my car is an 87 Novakar. It's the 3rd one built. I'm still running the AMW motor. Although I bought it primarily as an autocross car I knew that I would also run it at a vintage race or two. I also have a Datsun 1200 I've run since 1989 (SCCA & vintage)

I race with VARA (Vintage Auto Racing Association), the next event is at Buttonwillow. As it's a 33 year old car, it's definitely vintage. I'll be in the wings an slicks group, it's a mix of F2000, Sports 2000, the occasional F2 or Atlantic and Toyota World Sports Racers. Most of these cars are also from the 80s.

I have not installed the cell yet as I want to beef up the mounting and that will requiring some welding. While I learned basic welding ages ago, I have a friend who is an ace fabricator and I have him do this stuff.

I posted this for two reasons; so that perhaps more folks would visit this site and to encourage people to think about some of the older cars for vintage racing. Many groups around the country have a catch all class for less popular race cars.

The things that make F500 a great class,cheap to own & run and the performance still apply to the older cars. At the moment the older cars are considered autocross cars. While I've been autocrossing it for 5 years now, I have managed to get in a track day. For the track day all I did was change the toe and rake of the car along with the gearing. It probably took me maybe 2 hours to make the changes (I work slow). I even left the wide front tires on the car for the track day. As I'm the only F500 there isn't a need to get every last bit out of the car so for road racing I set it up very conservative. Most notably I've over geared the car, as AMWs seemed to be a parade of crank failures I've been keeping mine to 7000 RPM or less and have managed to keep it together. I have a spare AMW plus a 494 so I'm set for motors for a few seasons.

[reddevilsix]

Well that's great Tom.

I'm surprised that they allow open wheel cars, but it sounds like this will be all open wheel cars. It's good that you have your own groop.

I know in the past, when I still had a car, I had looked into running the car on track days at BIR just to get more experience and time in the car. But they said no open wheel cars allowed. I did take part in some of the local SCCA test days here in MN land, where only one car at a time on the test track. Most of the time these were rather like higher speed auto cross tracks and the management did not want to have long straights as they feared that on some of the heavier cars, the brakes may not be sufficient to stop or slow down their car.

If any welding on the car is structural, yes, you want someone who is experienced in that sort of thing. There is a local chassis fabricator who makes dirt oval track cars. I took my 1985 Red Devil there to have the main and font roll hoops replaced with the correct diameter and thickness tubes. I also took my KBS there to have some cracked tubing fixed and also had them widen the frame at the shoulders. Great people there !

Richard

[Tom Grossmann]

Updating the roll hoops for your car must have been quite the task.

We have one track group that allows open wheel cars, the event I did here was an SCCA test day. One of the safety stewards later told me he would have said no but he was basically overruled. As an ex motorcycle road raced I don't have the same risk aversion levels as pure car racers.

[reddevilsix]

Tom,

I hope your car mods are going well.

The new fuel cell, is it a FIA type cell that could be used for road racing?

Did your Novakar come with the AMW engine?

How long have you owned this car?

As far as updating my 85 Red Devil, the guys at the shop made a fixture and tack welded the frame to it. Then they cut out the main and front hoops and welded in the newly fabricated tubes. I also had them make the main hoop about 2 inches higher. In retrospect, should have been even higher. At one of my first drivers school, one of the people on the false grid looked at me and the roll bar and ask if it was high enough. I told him it just look to low because I was leaning ahead ! After that, I always got way down in the seat on the grid.

As I had the Log book it was easy enough to get the sign off on the new bars.

I road raced the Red Devil for two years with the Kaw 440 engine. Got tired of seeing everyone go by me on the straights, so then invested in a non-rave 494. Made a big difference.

After the first year of racing, I updated the rear suspension to something more modern with adjustable rockers.

Richard