PZG302

The HANS device also keeps the insurance we can claim on, if the worse happens, affordable. Fortunately for both CAMS and AASA events you fuck up big time, you can claim on the event holder's insurance policy to pay for medical costs and in the case of permanent disability, a payout will be made to help with living costs when you can't work. Some of us find these things a little reassuring to provide for families after something bad has happened from our selfish activities. A safety device that costs $450 isn't going to stop someone going racing when you look at the rest of the costs to get your car ready for racing. If you can't spare $450 out of your car build budget you shouldn't be racing, what other short cuts have you taken?

Well here's an event for those in Qld who want to step up to racing, this just came into my inbox a few minutes ago. ALL NEW QR 300 ENDURO AT QUEENSLAND RACEWAY FOR THE FESTIVAL OF CARS Queensland Raceways has announced the introduction of the all new QR 300 Enduro Race as part of the Festival of Cars at Queensland Raceway, 3rd-4th May 2014. The new race format is based on the highly successful Wakefield 300 event held annually at Wakefield Park Raceway, and will see competitors complete 96 laps around the National Circuit for a total race distance of 300km. The QR 300 will be open to all Sports Cars and Sedans, including (but not limited to) Improved Production, Sports Sedans, HQ's, Geminis and Excels. The minimum lap time around the National Circuit will be 1 minute and 22 seconds. Each vehicle entering the QR 300 must be driven by a minimum of two drivers with a maximum of three drivers for the event. Queensland Raceways General Manager, Keith Lewis, said that the event will hopefully draw a wide range of cars and competitors to the circuit; including interstate drivers who currently compete in the Wakefield 300. "The success of the event at Wakefield shows that there is definitely a large market for this type of race meeting. The plan is to run the event in 2014 to gauge the interest in a 300km enduro at Queensland Raceway, with the aim of running an 'East Coast Challenge' series with three events across three different circuits in 2015." Supplementary Regulations and further details for the new event will be finalised over the coming weeks and released early in the New Year. For more information please email events@qldraceways.com.au. You just have to trust someone else to punt your car around as well.

Richard, in this case I agree with QR on the mandatory HANS device for racing. Looking at the incidents that happened last year without and with the drivers wearing HANS devices I know that I am happy I bought one and will be updating my seat to one with the wings for the head restraint to give me the best chance I can. Sort of reminds me of the old Bell Helmets marketing..... If you have a $10 head buy a $10 helmet. I don't see HANS devices as nanny state, I see it as improving the safety of our sport as has happened throughout the years, decent helmets, then mandatory belts, and improvements in belt technology, improvements in ROPS over the years. Sure they are expenses that are put onto competitors, but we now have less deaths in the sport than we have before at all levels. When I first started racing you had at least one death a year in all states at state level racing, now we have one or two deaths across the country in a bad year. If you see making valid safety requirements as nanny state, then so be it, but for mine it makes my sport safer and if the worse happens I have a better chance of walking away I'll take it. Another reason why I am paying a very good fabricator a bucket load of cash to weld a heap of extra weight into the shell and the better half doesn't mind how much this part of the race car build costs, Also if you are racing the car needs a cage at QR anyway, so that will take out a few more Zeds and to wear the HANS device you need an one piece fixed back seat and and harness, so there goes a few more.

And don't forget for QR events you will need to have a HANS device for any racing from January 1, so that is also upgrading your helmet to a minimum of SNELL2005 as AS1698 helmets cannot be fitted with posts and you also need to hire or purchase the radio receiver that is mandatory for racing.

Some progress on the S14. The photos below show the cage in progress, bloody high priority big dollar jobs getting in the way Any way the cage will be finished in the Christmas break and I will have the car back home hopefully before I start work again in the new year. The cage will be fairly comprehensive and stiffen the shell nicely as well as give me lots of protection if the worse happens. The shell was also seam welded in the engine bay around the strut towers and the two floor seams in the passenger area. As the rear suspension is mounted in the cradle and the cage ties in the front cradle location and the top strut mounts in the parcel shelf I don't need to worry about doing anything in the boot. I have also teed up all the suspension except for the coilovers, which will be ordered when I know the exact set up for wheels and tyres I will be running. The new Achilles slicks look to be interesting at a very good price, or I can continue with using the Porsche Cup tyres I previously did. Any way all new rose jointed suspension arms for the front and rear will be arriving hopefully mid January. I will also be installing alloy R32 uprights for the rear and getting the rear cradle reinforced and solid mount bushes installed at the same time. It will cost me a bit more, but it will be done quicker than I can and the welding done right. Basically I drop my cradle off and then pick up the rear cradle all set up and ready to bolt into the shell. I also had a good chat with the engine builder and some budgets for various build types will be worked out in the next few weeks. The rules are quite free in some areas, but very restrictive with having to use the standard turbo and manifolds, so the engine is compromised in what can be done and compromises need to be made to come up with a good package that provides a bit of power, but more importantly, a nice drive-able torquey motor. I am now on the hunt for a couple of cheap SR20's complete and suitable for rebuild, my brain will hurt trawling some of the sites to find cheap motors. If work keeps going as it is I will have the dollars to keep the build going and hopefully be looking at shakedown testing around the end of September 2014.

And the blocks for next year would already be sold for the race meetings by now, to make it even harder. As I understand it, you buy a block for 20 cars and then on sell the spaces. With PSCRAQ and what they charge the members to run they need 20 cars to break even and the b locks are paid up front so if the cars don't show up the block purchaser and not QR loses the money, so if this is going to be done and a block can be bought, someone with deep pockets and prepared to wear the risk of not getting 20 cars showing up, which is very much more than likely to happen.

Aub, definitely wouldn't happen with CAMS and with the year that QR have had I would imagine they may be a bit reluctant to have this happen, but always worth asking the question. Jake, new class won't happen for old sports cars, already have too many in some ways with the cams classes and now modern sports down south in AASA and the outlaw class up here that runs pretty much everything. If you want to race your car Jake, spend this year doing open sprints to get the events up and get a QR race licence and have a run with PSCRAQ at AASA meetings towards the end of the year. Your car should meet all requirements, but if you like I can come and have a look at the Christmas break and go over it and any planned developments for you so you can play with the big boys, also gives me an excuse to be down at Racer Industries to get a new seat for the S14.

Prod.sports already caters for this. But you need to run to the rules, so engine swaps are out, l series only in s30 and s130 cars. My old zed was reasonably competitive, up here in Qld it was a consistent top 5 car in 2b or a top 10 car overall. The rules are restrictive in that big dollars are needed to be at the very pointy end. But that is the same for any category. Get a few zeds running and you will be dicing with each other mx5's. If any one is serious about having a play in Qld in prod sports, message me and I will put you in contact with the relevant PSCRAQ commitee member and can also give you a hand with making sure the car is eligible for either 2b or 2f. A zed close to sc spec will be close to 2f, and if compliant would be reasonably competitive if able to go around Lakeside in 64's to 62's, though the really quick 2f mazdas are doing 58's. But there are people dicing all through the field with the back markers lapping in the 66's, which my road mx does, so there us no excuse not to come and play. There are a few older cars that come out and play occaisionally, like a tr6, an early 70's 911. John McKeon's 240 is a 2b spec car and would still be quite competitive in Qld.

Should do. I had a sparco Evo in my car, but it had to be slightly offset to the left. Width at the wings is 590 for the Pro2000, and 610 for the Evo, so that would take out the offset I had to put the Evo on in my old 240. This page shows the dimensions of the Pro 2000, http://www.rallynuts.com/fibreglass-seats/sparco-pro-2000-2-fibreglass-seat.html

I have a Sparco Pro 2000 seat up for sale. Brand new only test fitted in a car and put back in the study. Only selling as the S14 will be getting a better seat to suit the new HANS device so I can be like all the cool kids in the big boy categories. The seat is black, suits 5 and 6 point harnesses and also has the small kidney pads and adjustable seat cushion. Can be side or bottom mounted, but I don't have any mounts yet. These can be easily fitted to other sliding mounts, or fixed mounts avialable from most race shops. Seat is in Brisbane and would prefer pick up. $600.

Don't know how NRMA handle the vintage and veteren clams. but if it's anything like their normal insurance up here in Qld I wouldn't be comfortable recommending them. I wouldn't insure a skate board with NRMA after two claims over 20+ years. I learnt from the first claim, and stayed away for a long time. Though they might have improved over the years, but nope, got shafted on my last claim. Repairer of choice with some BIG conditions. If the cost is above the shonky shop we choose at the lowest price from our blurry photos, you pay the difference to use your shop. At the moment, very happy with Shannons, been with them for a lot of years, had to make one claim after being rear ended, and a couple of windscreen claims on a couple of cars all no hassles and a pleasure to deal with. They were also the only company that could cope with me living in one state and the car at another address in another state. i still have a look at other companies each year to keep them honest with the premiums and values.

Looks like Nev Munt's ( hope i got the name right) car. Runs a 250 falcon motor and for a "sports sedan" is a pretty quick weapon. Will dip into the 59's IIRC.

The old super sixes also had that cover, but they are getting harder to find, so sorry cant help.

To the OP, Like Jason I have played with few L series motors over the years, both 4's and 6's. Basically, do you want to build the L24 or keep it in case and use an L28. Being a bigger engine to start with the L28 will give you more power and torque for the same dollars spent. However you have to smart in how you spend your dollars. Either motor done right, and that doesn't mean expensive, will be a fun jigger to drive and both will rev to 7000rpm happily all day every day. Either motor done wrong will be a pig and go bang in a bad way quickly. If it was my money, I would put the L24 aside, get a cheap L28 with N42 head and build that for $5k. I would get new pistons, block machined to suit, a little oversized, and get a bit of work done to the head to flow nicely, again built for torque over top end. Run a 72-74 degree cam and a set of triples and have a glorious noise that will rev to 7000 when I want but is happy being driven all day around 3000 where it is at the top of the torque curve. Sit down and decide what you want out of the motor, talk to a couple of trusted engine builders, who know the L series, about what you want and most importantly your budget and what you will be doing with the motor. Your ideas will probably change after talking to the builder and what you can get with the budget. No good building a peaky screamer that does road duty running around the suburbs, that get very tired very quickly, I know this from a Stanza I had that revved to 7500 and came on cam at 5500, a ball on the track but a pig around town, especially where I was living in the Blue Mountains. There were a few roads I couldn't drive up in wet weather without drying the road with rubber first, also couldn't sneal home at night, my parents heard me down change to come off the highway and could pin point exactly where I was between there and home by the gear changes. I changed cams to a more sensible grind and peak power came at around 6800, but torque from about 3500rpm. My first proper racing only Datsun had a L18 out to 2.2 that sucked through twin 40mm Webers off my 1200 3k powered Psorts 1300 racer, revved a bit for the day but plenty of torque as well, but I wouldn't have lived with that on the road. A good real life example of building the same thing different is Jason and my race motors, different rules different budgets but similar power, and torque at very different leves, end result similar times on similar tyres for a sprint, mine easier to drive over a 10 lap distance, also different brakes and tyres helped here. But the characters of the cars were very different. Jason's motor in comparison was a lot peakier and is revved a lot harder, my motor was less stressed as it revved to less, but was a big fat lazy truck motor that puled better out of corners, and hence I set my gearing up differently able to run a 4.1:1 diff on 18" wheels, the same as a 3.9:1 diff using 15"s. For hill climbs I had access to 4.8:1 diff to climb walls if I wanted, but horses for courses. My motor also had a lot less spent on it than Jason's and the money spent in different areas to give me more torque than outright power.

Without the FIA rating no good for circuit racing but a great buy for sprints and hill climbs, and a hell of a lot safer than jeans and a long sleeve shirt.

Reasonably clean, but wouldn't hurt to have a few rags to put it on. I will be leaving Brisvegas at about 6:00am on the Saturday so should be at the end of the freeway about 5:00pm Sydney time depending on road works.

Gav, I have a 240 undertray I don't need anymore and will be heading into Sydney on the 23rd. Can meet at end of the Newcastle freeway to drop off if you're interested. Matt

Nope, they have to be read in conjunction with each other, makes it difficult. An example is the standard steel undertray, you can run it as it was standard, but then as per the 2B rules you must cut 50mm holes in it at 150mm centres behind the front edge of the tyres to be legal. RX7 birdbath to be legal has to be modified so it is only 150mm within the coachwork at any point. You need to trim about 50mm off the height and then it is still touch and go whether it is legal due to the wording. I know this because my car was originally fitted with one that I still have, but not trimmed. I was going to get a spoiler made up similar design to a bird bath but based on an escort rear spoiler that was a lot closer to the right height. Front aero was going to be limited to a MKII spoiler that I had with an undertray across the front to the radiator support to strengthen the spoiler. Too much aero becomes a pain to remove for access or for loading on and off trailers. can also present problems if you damage it on another car or running off the track, which you will do. I prefer to have a car pretty insensitive to aero for the reason of damage, you want the car to be almost as fast with no front on it compared to the full kit. An example was the 50th anniversary meeting at Lakseide where the car got written off. On the Friday I ran wide at Hungry and the front spoiler ended up in about 100 pieces, Gavin didn't have another one, so I ran without any front aero and thought it would be horrible, It wasn't, it was a little more foaty through the kink, but nowhere near as bad as a standard car as I had the radiatir support panel and radiato acting as a dam, and not the standard valance acting to provide lift. In our second race of the day I got into the low 61's on tyres showing canvas on the edges. If I had a WATC type aero that is very sensative to change my times would have been way off and/or teh car undriveable. My front spoiler had two bits of square tube that slid into to bit of square tube welded to the radiator support and then a 10mm bolt into the front guards at each side with the 10mm nut to hold in place. 30 seconds to fit and remove and made it a lot easier to move the car around the shop, or once up here my garages. At this stage I would be more concerned with working out what you want to do with the car, targa, hill climbs, sprints or door to door and build the car to least compromise to the discipline you would prefer to do.

The S30 was homologated with 10" rims, so that's how they get away with it. John McKeon's car was originally built by Stewie Wilkins in Sydney in late '97 and it debuted in the "98 NSW State championships. It is and was built as a 2B car. Don't know what it ran at Lakeside, but when I raced against that car when originally built it was doing around 1:45's around Eastern Creek and I was doing 1:48's to 1:50's in the green car. Don't worry about 2F, your car won't ever fit in that category, you only have to worry about 2B rules. As for the 2B aero, this is whatt kills off good front aero: 3.3 Front air dam: It is permitted to fit an airdam to the front of the car, subject to the following restrictions: (i) No part extends forward of the foremost point of the original vehicle. (ii) It may be no wider than the coachwork as measured above the centre of the front wheel hubs. (iii) Undertrays may be installed, including a splitter, and be used as an aerodynamic aid. No part of the undertray/ splitter may extend further rearward than the leading edge of the front tyres, it must not project any further forward than the original bodywork and no wider than the outer edge of the tyres at the wheel hubs, be no lower than the lowest point of the bodywork and remain parallel with the sills. (Tyres must be inflated to a minimum of 1.8 bar of pressure.) Any material which supports or locates the undertray/airdam which extends further rearward that the leading edge of the front tyres must be perforated with minimum 50mm diameter holes with centres no more than 150mm apart. (iv) On vehicles where the front bumper/fascia is integrated with the coachwork, the airdam may replace the original bumper/fascia provided that the original mounts are retained. You can only go the leading edge of the front tyres across the whole undertray, and only as far forward as the leading edge of the bonnet, though you may push it to front edge of bumper if you tried hard. Rear aero is limited to: 3.4 Rear aerodynamic devices: It is permitted to fit a rear deck spoiler or wing provided that either: (i) It was supplied as a factory option for that particular model of vehicle or another model of the same family of vehicle, provided it complies with paragraph (iii)(a) below. It is permissible to replace one rear aerodynamic device with another complying with the present article, or (ii) It is within 150mm of the coachwork at all points, and no part extends forward of the rear axle centreline; or (iii) It is a rear wing assembly subject to the following constraints: (a) It extends no further rearward than the original bodywork (diagram 2B-1, measurement A). (b) It extends no further forward than 400mm beyond the rear most point of the original coachwork GROUP 2B - MARQUE SPORTS CARS 2B-1, measurement B). © There is only a single wing element having an overall front to rear measurement of no greater than 300mm when measured horizontally (diagram 2B-1, measurement C). (d) The overall width of the wing assembly shall be no wider than the widest part of the coachwork at the forward point of attachment. (e) No part of the wing assembly shall be higher than a horizontal plane located 250 mm above the point on the coachwork along the longitudinal centre line of the vehicle, vertically below the wing leading edge (diagram 2B-1, measurement D). Drawing 2B-1 Notes on Aerodynamic Devices: Any specific part of the car influencing its aerodynamic performance fitted as specified in 3.3 and 3.4 above: • May not be used for mounting any additional devices or performing any alternative functions other than the channelling of air for cooling purposes. • Must be rigidly secured to the entirely sprung part of the car (rigidly secured means not having any degree of freedom). • Must remain in its entirety immobile in relation to the remaining sprung parts of the car. Where an original airdam incorporates a moveable component, such component must be rendered inoperative and be fixed into position.

No problems to run the ZG nose in 2B, plenty have in the past as the panels were listed in the homologation papers with the part numbers. Best bet is to ring or visit CAMS office and get a copy of the FIA homolagation docs. But, ask for a set that has not had the ineligible parts for PRC covered up as you need it for sports car racing not rally, or you may get a copy from europe or direct from FIA. I know they cost a few dollars now. I have a set of S30 papers but all the really good bits are covered with a note saying "not eligible for PRC". In regard to the block, some events it was worth me saying I had a stroker when I had the 2900 in to bump me up a capacity class where I was faster.....

Well that's sprinting for you... Door to door there's always someone wanting to play....... ;D

Looks like a bit of thinking to do then. To build a circuit car is very different to a Targa car. To do both will compromise the set up for either. To build for one will lead to a bad set up for the other, though having said that, the targa set up will work on the track better than the circuit setup will on a targa stage. Cages are very different and the targa rules give a few more freedoms for the cage to provide stiffeneing to the chassis, and maybe go through the fire wall for a tower to tower cage. Though build a cage like that and the car won't be fully legal for 2B, only a problem if someone get a bit narky.

No worries Jake, but I don't think too many more would be able to help with the specifics of running in 2B

Build it to the rule book. As I said PSCRAQ now have an eligibility officer. If you want to have a go and your car is close you will be able to run as an invited car to see if you like it, but you will be expected to make your car legal, or get a legal car after a couple of events. It also means you can race anywhere else as a 2B car not be pinged for anything. If in doubt read the rule book, if still unsure get in touch with me and if I can't help I can put you onto guys who will know. If you aren't after plastic trophies to gather dust, there are cars to play with all the way down the field, so don't worry about being uncompetitive. In Qld if you can do lakeside consistently in the 63's in traffic, you will go close to getting a place in the 2B championship. To win you have to do 54's all day and not break down, no S30/S130 Zed will do that that is 2B legal. My car went from a top 5 car in NSW in the mid to late '90's to being passed by road registered MX5's ten years later at Eastern Creek and running in the last 5. Was still fun, just cost a lot of money to rebuild the car and get it back to where it should be. Smashed piston lands make it hard to keep compression in the motor........

It took me 10 years to get Amaroo right, my best most perfect lap was the second last lap I ever did there the second last meeting ever at Amaroo, was very dirty i couldn't run at the farewell meeting. It was only one corner, but it had me spooked. I just couldn't get my head around the corner onto the start straight, yet where i wrote off a Sports 1300 at 120mph at the top of Bitupave Hill just before the turn in to the loop never phased me other than the next time I ran for the first drive past the spot where over 12 months later the fence had still to be repainted and I could still see the gouges in the concrete.