From time to time I see references to folks road racing with slant six powered vehicles. Looking ahead, (its good to dream) I may give that a try in a few years. What events,vehicles, classes, sponsoring organizations, are common in slant six road racing circles?

thanks

I've done the /6 road race thing. I turned my '66 Dart with it's warmed up 225 from a street car into a race car. Due to the engine mods I was in an unlimited catch-all class in ICSCC called Super Production. I was able to get out and race, but most any Super Production car other than mine would absolutely kill my lap times. I blew up the 225 due to oil control problems, BTW.

You can usually do and run just about anything you want, but being competitive is another story all together. What I would do first is see what sanctioning bodies are active in your area. The most wide spread is SCCA, but there are no nationally recognized SCCA classes for any slant six vehicle that I'm aware of. NASA's American Iron looks interesting, but once again, the slant is not going to win races against modern engines and vehicles.

You write "...slant six road racing circles" like such circles exist. When I was doing my road racing about 9-10 years ago I was the only one in the US I was aware of campaigning a slant.

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Joshua

If we could only find a sponsor that would part with the money..."just because it can be done". I'd still love to see Lou run a mid-60's Dart in the "classic" category for one of the road courses in Dubai...

Of course we'd have to get all the top experts together to prep the car and engine as he'd be up against similar period European vehicles... as much as it would be neat for the "Hildago" analogy...finding someone to be able to write that ticket off is gonna be hard to come by....

-D.Idiot

Josh has made some good points. I have done many timetrials on several road courses with my '64 Dart and '66 Valiant. This is not wheel-to-wheel roadracing, but I still consider it roadracing of some form.

I am building my '66 Valiant ("Project V") as possibly someday being able to compete in NASA American Iron, and so following those rules. My time has been limited the past few years, and getting a license to race is a committment. This car will roll out by next spring in revised form (more HP, new paint, slicks...).

My '64 Dart has done something like 15 "track weekends" over the last 10 years, where you run with a club on a road course in groups of cars of roughly similar speed. This is an absolute ball. I have passed a lot of high $$ iron, and been passed a few times by even more low $$ iron.

Follow your dreams...

Lou

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Home of Slant6-powered fun machines since 1988

yep, Joshie and Dart 270 are the names that I had seen occasionally reference road racing,
Familiar with the SVRA series?
a link to the allowable cars is here
http://www.svra.com/SVRA/SVRAHome.nsf/w ... enDocument

under Chrysler they list Barracuda and Dodge Dart as being approved,, for the other makes / models listed they link to a page where authorized engine / chasse mods are detailed, but not the Chrysler cars,, most likely no one is running barracudas or Darts, perhaps 1st in gets to write the rules???
I could deal with that.
To get certified to drive, one needs a competition license,, counting the classes that lead up to the class for the competition license looks to be about $2800 at Mid Ohio / closest to me. I have an e-mail in to the SVRA competition director to get a better take on the approved Chrysler cars, and what class a slant powered vehicle may fall into. This is somthing down the road, but something I plan to try.

SVRA is vintage racing. They want period prepared cars only so no fancy stuff or even modern stuff that's more available and possibly less expensive. If there was no slant six homologation they may not accept the car. I would check to see if there is an SCCA Vintage program in the region. They are usually more inclusive.

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Joshua

received a response from the SVRA Competition Director,, indicated that the vehicle would be put in Group 8,
see link for info
http://www.svra.com/SVRA/SVRAHome.nsf/a ... penElement

on that listing there is a Dart, Valiant, Barracuda slant six listing in group 8/RS, in the same group as: BMW turbo 2002's ,Vega's, Corvairs, Toyota Celica's,,
Rules list intake, exhaust and engine internals as "free" , may be down the road,, would be fun.

That's cool. At least they'll give you a place to run.

What body would you like to use? My '66 Dart 270 hardtop was cool as it was what Group 44 used for their TransAm effort. Using a '66 and later car also makes disc brakes legal for SVRA. With even 200 hp you will be amazed at the brakes needed to really race. I tried racing with sliding calipers as that's what I had on the car and almost had enough brake with Raybestos Super Stop pads and some brake ducting. The Kelsey-Kayes brakes have better pad availability as the Mustang guys use the same pad.

Once you put real race tires on the car expect to have oil control problems. I added capacity to my oil pan, did some baffles, and used an Accusump, but still lost an engine due to rod bearing failure. I should have made the oil pan deeper and put in some trap doors. To do it over again I would bring the oil out of the pump to a remote filter, cooler and then a check valve where the Accusump Ts into the line feeding the engine. Do not use the sleazy die-cast spin on adapters. Canton makes good adapters and filters. At least slants don't have the top end oil drain-back problems V8s do.

Funny things start happening when racing. I had to extend the rear axle vent into the trunk with some 3/8" hose and a catch can. You can pry the cap right off the vent on an 8 3/4 to attach the hose. I was oiling the left rear leaf spring in right hand turns.

For the race engine I'm going to be building I'm using an external oil pump as I'm going to spin it fast. I haven't decided yet if it will be dry or wet sump. The tank and plumbing for a full dry sump is expensive. If I stay wet sump the two oil pump scavenge stages will be set up as a vacuum pump.

For the suspension I'd go right to 1.09" or larger torsion bars. Big front sway bar and only a very small (1/2" of 5/8") rear sway bar if needed to balance the chassis. Koni shocks are vintage legal, but I used QA1 Stocker Star adjustables.

Reinforce the K-member at lower control arm stud sockets. Expect to fabricate your own sway bar mounts if you buy an Addco sway bar or buy a Firm Feel sway bar.

Real fuel cells have rubber bladders and are expensive. ATL sometimes has blems on EBay, but Fuel Safe is cheaper at retail. My 10 gallon Sportsman Fuel Safe cell was about $600 over 10 years ago. You don't need anything bigger for sprint races.

A reverse lock-out shifter will keep you from getting stuck between 1st and reverse when down shifting in really slow corners. An aluminum or billet steel flywheel is a safety item as is a good clutch. The 2.66:1 1st gear A833 in good shape is a fine race gearbox for a slant. 3.55 is a good gear for a fast course, but 3.91s are needed for tighter stuff.

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Joshua

I had an email exchange with a SVRA director a while back and he seemed open to some later style mods to get new people in on the racing. I am pretty much limited by time, but once my Valiant is back together I may think about this again. I'm interested in any developments you discover.

As Josh mentions, oil control needs serious attention. I've never had an engine problem related to that, but as I get faster I am building more complicated oilpans. I pretty much duplicated a design from Cameron Tilley in Australia, who has run competitively in a V8 class with a Slant 6.

Lou

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Home of Slant6-powered fun machines since 1988

Wow, a wealth of info,, I'm going to look more at the driving schools, see what kind of time lapse is allowed between classes,,maybe I can get a clsss in this spring. I am probabily two years away from having the time to do a car. As I find out more on what is allowed with a slant from SVRA I'll post it here.
I saw a posting somewhere where you are doing a salt flats project,
is that still on? do you have a posting on it?

I had enquired into specific rules, regualtions for Darts, Barracuda's, Valiants
Below is the reply from Jack W, Competition Director at SVRA

We do not have standards for those on the website since we do not have any of those cars currently running with us. There is certainly more information in books and on-line concerning Mopar specs than we would be able to provide. You won't have any problem if your car is well built and safe.

Jack Woehrle
SVRA Technical Director
701 Center Street
West Columbia, SC 29169

That's the guy I had the email exchange with. My cars are probably too far modified to do SVRA, but maybe if I put some old style wheels/tires the Dart would appear stock enough to run. I didn't get very far in that conversation.

I have had a ton of fun just running track weekends and hanging with late model stuff. It is a great chance to see how fast you can go, make some changes, and see better lap times and have fun. It always freaks someone out when you pass them in a '64 Dart.

Lou

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Home of Slant6-powered fun machines since 1988

You can almost always do driver training events and open track days with any good safe street car. My club puts on driver trainings, HPDE (high performance driving events) and ICSCC sanctioned race events. Have a look-see: http://www.cascadesportscarclub.org/

Passing a driver training course is a requirement to enter the novice road racing program. It's essentially a graduated licensing program for racing. It may be less expensive for you to get an SCCA license and then move over to SVRA.

Yes, I'm starting work on an F/CPRO Bonneville effort. Towards that end I've purchased a '66 Barracuda and have been hanging onto some speed parts like H-beam 6.2" rods and a Clifford intake. Also found a dry-sump oil pump cheap. Then there is the 4-speed, AL flywheel, 8 3/4, etc.

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Joshua

I was watching the nascar special the other night about the early days of Nascar and much of the backroad footage was of a Valiant or Lancer 60 to 62 style , running at breakneck speed. I am thinking it was probably one of the early Hyperpak cars. The ones that ruled the old Babygrand series. Anyne else see it?
I have had converstations with a racer in Europe (Christoph Schwartz)who runs a Charger in the Lemans Classic events and club races at road races aroud Europe. I supplied the motor for his practice car, 72 Charger 400 cu in )We have discussed a couple of times a resurection of a Hyperpak /6 car although not seriously. YET
Don

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Don