Vintage road racer Dart '66

[JTT]

Some photos of my Dart in its first race event last weekend. The suspension was still too soft, but generally it wasn't too bad. Engine failure in the 2nd race though...

 

[RustyRatRod]

Awful sorry about the engine. What happened to it?

 

[JTT]

Actually, I blew the bottom end of my race engine one week before this event due to oil starvation. That was because I used the original small sump with just some baffles added. So, I had just a couple days to make a new bottom end to it, and that was literally put together from the old parts found around my garage. There was no time for any machine shop work, so I had to put a pretty worn crank and standard flat top pistons there. I also made a new 7 liters sump that seemed to work fine.

Anyway, in the beginning of the 1st race I had only 20 psi max oil pressure, and the engine was also vibrating quite a lot as it was not balanced. I kept 6000 rpm max revs in the 1st race and increased it to 6500 for the second. There it lasted 8 laps before it started to propose that it would be better to retire... No oil pressure and that familiar knock from the bearings.

However, no oil starvation in corners, so the initial problem is now solved.

 

[CPDave]

Well I happen to know that Jari has dug himself out of the snow and is headed to the track shortly with a fresh 273 stuffed under his Dart's hood. In the meantime I've already gotten my first two race weekends in First down at VIR for an SCCA Regional Club Racing double (in a 1980 Pinto, Yeah I know, but they are cheap if you ball them up), and then up at Summit Point the weekend of May 15th with the Zebra for our 3rd Jefferson 500 with VRG.

Had a good time, no major issues on the track (closest I got was a quick back-n-forth tank slapper in turn 9 Sunday afternoon while giving rides for High Performance Heroes; $10/lap to help put a disable veteran former or wanabe racer in adapted cars and get them out on track). Sunday morning was my best session, jumped a FB 65 Mustang BAD off the start, passed a Porsche on the run up to turn 3 on the first lap, then ran down and passed a 67 hardtop Mustang at the start of lap 3 in turn one. Spent the rest of the session chewing on the backside of a lovely red E-type coupe. Because the weather was iffy I elected to run the R888s on Sunday instead of the Goodyears which cost me the 10MPH I could have used on the front straight to blow by the Jag'. Hope to get some pictures of the Sunday morning session soon. In the meantime here's what I have so far.

My Paddock space right by pit-out, hanging with the EVs all weekend!

Photos from Saturday's racing:

Dave

 

[Abodybomber]

God, that looks like fun.

 

[72bluNblu]

Nice!!! :thumbup:

 

[JTT]

I had my first race of the season last weekend, and the car felt pretty good. During the winter it got completely new engine, rear sway bar and some weight reduction.

There were two races during the weekend, and I was 2nd and 1st in my class. Next race event will be in Sweden after 2 weeks.

 

[CPDave]

AND you brought it back basically ready to hit the track again without any major thrashing! Outstanding!

 

[Mattax]

Outstanding! And I agree with Dave. After the first requirement to win is being able to finish the race (or at least outlast your competitors).

 

[JTT]

Last weekend at the Gellerasen circuit in Sweden.

Some more stiffening to the suspension is still needed, but otherwise the car is handling pretty well.

 

[JTT]

... and here's the photo

 

[Killer6]

Thanks for starting this thread Jari !! I can't get enough of this stuff,I have a new
favorite on FABO!!! Been on Summit point in my ShelbyZ, and Laguna Seca for
an open wheel course.I watched Skip Barbers video laps of the track a bunch B4
going, but I still wasn't ready for 6 laps to hit the corkscrew full steam,it drops
way more than it looks on vid.!! Awesome jobs guys, daves car looks so composed
out there, eatin' em up!!:happy1:

 

[toolmanmike]

Love the thread too. Great car and man does that look like fun!

 

[JTT]

Some photos from my latest race a couple weeks ago:

http://canonfotopalvelu.kuvat.fi/kuvat/Historic+Race+Botniaring+4-5.7.2015/ABCD0027.JPG
http://canonfotopalvelu.kuvat.fi/kuvat/Historic+Race+Botniaring+4-5.7.2015/ABCD1752.JPG
http://canonfotopalvelu.kuvat.fi/kuvat/Historic+Race+Botniaring+4-5.7.2015/ABCD3818.JPG
http://canonfotopalvelu.kuvat.fi/kuvat/Historic+Race+Botniaring+4-5.7.2015/ABCD3924.JPG

The whole gallery at:

http://canonfotopalvelu.kuvat.fi/kuvat/Historic+Race+Botniaring+4-5.7.2015/

The Dart is improving all the time. In qualifying I was 9th overall, in 1st race 8th and in 2nd race 7th. I was also 1st in my class of pre -72 over 1600cc, but that was quite easy as I was the only one in my class...

 

[SoulSurvivor]

The Lemons '66 in action.....

2013 Lemons Arse-Freeze, POV 44 Dart, 566 pits self on 212, 444 hits 173, Porsche kamikazees 100 - YouTube

Looks like the 405 on a Friday afternoon with everybody bashing into each other. But way more fun.

 

[mguner]

Your Dart sets up in the corner much better than many of those European cars! Does it feel as good as it looks in the corners?

 

[JTT]

It's no bad at all when rememebering that all suspension mounting points are as standard, and there are only sway bars added, both front and rear. T-bars are of 1.12" dia and there are adjustable Koni shocks.

It's still a bit too understeering in slow corners, but a bit more caster will correct it (I hope...)

Some incar action here: [ame]https://youtu.be/STznNL7A5aM[/ame]

I still wish the straights would be longer...

 

[JTT]

So, my racing season of this year is over now. No DNFs in any race. The end result was not too bad, as I won the Finnish championship in my class of Competition Touring cars of 1966-1971, over 1600cc. :cheers:

Some video from the last race at: [ame]https://youtu.be/2WhV4BIi6qo[/ame]

273 and Kelsey Hayes can beat a 15 years younger Porsche Carrera O

 

[73 Swinger 8]

Awesome thread, cars a beauty and congratulations!