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RacerX

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You mean that one you just made up? I'm telling you, just go get a turbonique rear axle, and ditch your engine all together! For those who don't know, these axles were turbine driven, they had a turbine that would burn a specific type of fuel, which in turn spun the wheels, so unlike a jet car, they actually used the wheels to power down the track. these horsepower ratings are what the differential would PRODUCE, not what they would handle...

http://www.the-rocketman.com/turbonique.html

mustang_axle.jpeg

here's one in a beetle:

black_widow_jet_plant.jpeg

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naawww dude... This guy I know has a buddy that found this motor in a barn! He is picking up a bunch of junky corvette V8s with black plastic covers and red lettering as well... He got the whole lot for like $200!

 

Here is a contribution to the thread...can't clutter it up with too many words...

Lotus 19

1960_lotus_19.jpg

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bjhines,

Thanks for giving me a smile after reading your post. You sound a little like one of the single-marque "purists" I have occasionally met at track days and sprint meetings here in England. Some of them drive 240/260Zs, and think that they are the best thing since sliced bread.... :-)

 

......the Alfa guys bear the brunt of many jokes at our driver's meetings... They are slow cars... In ANY FORM.... race street or hybridized... they are unreliable, hard to find parts for.. and they tend to loose a lot of parts and fluids on track...

 

Having watched works Autodelta Alfas race since I was knee-high to a Campagnolo wheel ( and having owned a couple of 105-series cars myself ), I have to wonder whether the weak link in the chain as far as your local Alfa racers are concerned is the quality of the preparation and driving?..........

 

Alfas won PLENTY of races in period, so there has to be something wrong if your friends are making them "unreliable" and are losing "a lot of parts and fluids on track..."

 

You have to keep in mind that the 240Zs absolutely CRUSHED damn near ANYTHING offered before 1970...

 

That's a BIG statement, and I'd really like to see you qualify it. Surely you must be pigeonholing the Z, and comparing it roughly like-for-like against something in roughly the same weight, engine capacity and price ranges ( ? ). If so, then what makes and models? Let's discuss.

 

It always amuses me when I come up behind a historic, race-built Alfa smelling like race gas and synthetic oil... and then I overtake it so fast I barely avoid clipping it... I have little interest in historic racing prior to 1970... the cars are often out of reach price wise... and they are just about as fast as a mid 1980s Ford Fiesta...

 

I would put a 1995 Toyota Camry WAGON up against most of the historics and bet against the historics... even a low end minivan could beat 90% of those cars on track...

 

Again, I'm scratching my head and wondering just what your local guys are doing wrong?! Maybe your talents are being wasted, and you are actually the fastest driver in your whole state? McLaren might need to consider chucking out Lewis Hamilton for 2007 and sticking you in their car alongside Alonso. Go BJ!

 

Even the lovely looking Jaguar race cars in this thread are piss poor race cars... they have a lot of power.. top speed is IMPRESSIVE... but they DONT TURN!!! honestly they don't even accelerate very quickly.. they just have a 200MPH top speed... if they have a couple of miles in a staight line... they can break 200MPH...

 

Hmmmm. I only saw one Jaguar in this thread so far ( the XJ13, first seen in post #64? ) and that one was a one-off that never actually raced. I guess you could be talking about the Jags that won the Le Mans 24hrs race five times outright in the 1950s? In which case it was a good job that all the other cars in the race obviously couldn't "turn" either............

 

Either that or they broke?

 

:wink:

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Very nice race car!

 

AlfaRomeo_GTV_Eng.jpg

 

My very first car was a 1972 Alfa Romeo Berlina. My dad imported his 1966 Deutto (Boatail Spider) from Italy and had a custom hard top made here in the States. His Duetto was the same red color as you show with the clovers on the front fenders. My Berlina rusted into nothingness. The motor was like candy. It was all worked so I pulled it and got rid of the car. The motor sat in my garage all dismantled, cleaned, and prepped, with all brand new parts to rebuild it along with dual DCOE Webers. I had intended to either find a GTV like shown, or a Duetto body and build it up. I never did. After I got my L28ET and my Z finished. I didn't feel the need to keep the Alfa Motor anymore. I ebay'd the whole deal. I wish I had kept it.

 

That motor was SOOO advanced for its time. Hemi-head, sodium filled valves, crossflow, aluminum block with sleeves, domed pistons with valve reliefs, factory headers, mechanical fuel injection.....in 1972! The engine design has been around even much longer than that.

 

Here is a car that was revealed at the Montreal World's Fair: Alfa Romeo Montreal

It had two, four cylinder Alfa engines basically looked like they were "cut and welded" together to form a Hemi-V8 with dual distributors and dual fuel injection systems.

Alfa_Romeo_Montreal_1972.jpg

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Having watched works Autodelta Alfas race since I was knee-high to a Campagnolo wheel ( and having owned a couple of 105-series cars myself ), I have to wonder whether the weak link in the chain as far as your local Alfa racers are concerned is the quality of the preparation and driving?..........

 

Alfas won PLENTY of races in period, so there has to be something wrong if your friends are making them "unreliable" and are losing "a lot of parts and fluids on track..."

You apparently haven't seen the Alfas we got here. Take a DOHC 2 liter with dual 45 webers and try and get it to blow less than 100ppm HC at idle. THAT'S what happened to our Alfas. To make a sweeping overgeneralization, they're slow, bogged down with emissions crap, and are not reliable at all. I think that if we got the same package that you had on your side of the pond, then they would be a lot more respected, except for the horrible electrical systems and scary leather straps to limit the suspension.

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Ernie, that link I posted should have some good info about turbonique and it's history. Basically the short version goes like this: these guys had a bunch of a certain chemical laying around back in I believe the 1960's, and they proceeded to try and fabricate a demand for it by designing automotive power adders that used it. The axles were one, also they had self powered superchargers (think leaf blower supercharger, but a little sleaker than that). They had some demo cars, but if you look at that price sheet, and put in the context of the mid 60's, I can imagine why it never really caught on. Evidently the plans for how to make one are still out there, and this chemical is still available under it's correct chemical name instead of the flashy sales name they used to package it under, so the "technology" is not totally lost for all time.

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I got my 1972 Alfa 2 liter to pass emissions with both the SPICA FI and later with double DCOE's. It was a matter of learning the systems. The SPICA was very complex, very few knew how to adjust it properly...and I mean Alfa techs! Setup properly, the Alfas ran well. The late 70's and 80's killed them though with, as you said, emissions. Alfa and clean shouldn't go in the same sentence. Oh and Alfas were reliable as long as you carried some tools with you. :wink:

 

Of all my crappy cars, the only car that left me stranded was a 1990 Civic Hatch, twice. Go figure.

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You apparently haven't seen the Alfas we got here. Take a DOHC 2 liter with dual 45 webers and try and get it to blow less than 100ppm HC at idle. THAT'S what happened to our Alfas. To make a sweeping overgeneralization, they're slow, bogged down with emissions crap, and are not reliable at all. I think that if we got the same package that you had on your side of the pond, then they would be a lot more respected, except for the horrible electrical systems and scary leather straps to limit the suspension.

 

I didn't realise that you needed "emissions crap" on your race cars over there (?).

 

Horrible electrical systems and leather straps? You could be talking about the S30-series Z if I screw my eyes up and look at the screen a little sideways. S30-series Z diff nose strap in rubberised canvas, anyone? At least the Alfa straps were made by Prada.........

 

You won't dent my affection for Alfa by pointing out their weaknesses. The real Alfisti know all about the weaknesses, but still love them because of their brio and everything else that goes with it. They still had soul back then.

 

Here's an action photo that I like. No sniffy comments from the back of the class about too much roll stiffness if you please :wink:

 

 

johnfrench1970qldkp0.jpg

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