Erik V. Berg wrote:
> This would be a semi-street driveable autocross
> weapon
Two flies in the ointment: Hoosier autocross tires are absolutely
unsuitable for street use - I run Hoosier radials on my Europa - AND
they won't be even close to competitive in any autocross category -
Prepared or Modified - that allows you to run racing slicks.
> that would, because of the engine swap, be
> irrevocably banished to C Mod or D Mod or some
> such.
D and E Modified are for "production based" cars. Your envisioned car
won't be legal for either of those classes, as they require that the
original chassis and belly pan be retained for the full length of the
passenger compartment. It'll go in A Modified, where its competitors
will be purpose-built open wheel autocross specials with snowmobile
engines and wings as big as your back yard.
> I would be in *way* over my head in terms
> of driving ability, in any of the Mod classes.
Driving talent is not specific to any autocross category. There are at
least as many top drivers in Stock as in any other category, and the
talent overall is spread pretty evenly. You'll find strong competition
in any class you run in Solo II these days.
> But what the heck... driving it would be almost as
> fun as s*x, and maybe I could win once in a while,
My S2 Europa is a dedicated A Street Prepared autocross car. In Street
Prepared, you can't modify the engine internally, you have to retain the
original chassis, suspension arms, transaxle, etc. Yet my car is
entirely unstreetable in its present state: it has so little ground
clearance that I had to modify my trailer so I can pull the car up
without it scraping, and the ride (to use a term very loosely) is
sufficiently stiff that you wouldn't want to drive down a bumpy road. It
is an absolute blast to drive on an autocross course, however.
> Top gearbox and engine candidates (this month) are
> Alfa Romeo 5 speed using the close ratios from the
> lightweight GTA sedan, and (drum roll) a genuine,
> no prisoners taken, Aluminum-block BD engine, but
> probably utilizing a BDD head rather than a BDP or
> BDG head. I'm thinking that it might make sense to
> de-stroke the thing to about 1850cc, for reasons
> alluded to in my previous post.
The Chris O'Donnell D Modified Elan has a Cosworth (I believe a BDA),
and the Ron Babb E Mod Elan has a BDP. Chris has been developing his car
for something on the order of 20 years, and it goes like stink. R&T
tested it back in the '80s, and it would do scary fast 0-60 times then.
It's faster now.
> Anyone got an Aluminum block I could use?
I've got a spare Renault, but I'm sure that's not what you have in
mind. ;<)
Gary Milligan wrote a series of articles on the development and
construction of his E Mod Europa, and they're on the website of his
local Lotus club. I have the URL at work, and I'll post it later this
morning. It's worth a look.
Jay
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