Scuderia Ferric Oxide

Maybe you need to teach your fellow drivers to shift with more care? Even as a street driver I know not to jam gears on my X.
Wouldn't a Hewland race box price knock you over budget all by itself?
 
Driver dependent, driving situation dependent. Lots happen over many hours of racing, drivers get into situations where abusing the oily bits happen and could be absolutely un-avoidable. This is the nature and reality of endurance racing.

As for budget, non-issue. There is NO possible way the rotary powered LeMons X could win, we know this, Jay and the entire LeMons crew know this. Fuel consumption is WAY too high for endurance racing and more. Our participation in LeMons is NOT about winning. We have already far busted the LeMons budget by using a peripheral port rotary. These are specialty race only rotary motors (idle about 2,500-3,000 rpm, power comes on about 5,000-6,000 rpm to about 9,500rpm) with a finite life (to date, I've put together more than a few). They are not low budget to obtain or run. BTW, the rotary X likes to slowly digest CV joints due to the power transmitted and mechanical grip of the tires-suspension-chassis. This is one item in a long list of budget busting items on the LeMons X. What has made the LeMons X notable enough for Jay and folks to do that feature story about the rotary X is the engineering, applying what ever parts needed to make it work and stay working producing lap times that would surprise many. It is much the same as Eye Sore Racing, Evil Genius and other LeMons teams that do this racing stuff good. One can build a car and team specifically to win at LeMons, or one could do LeMons for fun and all related. What I'll say about LeMons, if it is done to win, it completely changes how and what needs to be done car and team organization and driver wise.


Bernice

Maybe you need to teach your fellow drivers to shift with more care? Even as a street driver I know not to jam gears on my X.
Wouldn't a Hewland race box price knock you over budget all by itself?
 
Bernice, That's a weird racing outlook but if it works for your team, then good for you guys. Some racers get pure joy from just solving problems.

I raced a modified RD-250 Yamaha, it either trophied or seized and DNFed. I was running about 50-50 on that. Racing became no fun at all, and I almost abandoned the bike leaning on a fence at Bridgehampton. I bought an SR-500 and raced it for over ten years with no DNFs and loved every minute.
 
Some years ago when Thunder Hill race way opened their track extension. A group went out to walk this newly opened track. Met a long time racer who worked for one of the major IMSA teams, now has his own race shop at Sears Point. We did that track walk together chatting about racing adventures and LOTs more. The one quote from him that stuck in my mind to this day, "racing is a circus." Fact and reality is, racing today is much a show for brand and product promotion and very much a circus. For much of production based racing, unless you're paid GOOD by the brand that is promoting their ride in a series that comes with very specific perks, IMO don't bother as the cost to go racing on that level is not small.

~Given this context, consider why Fiat dropped the X1/9 replacing it with the 131 as their Rally Car on the world stage.~
Knowing well the X1/9 was the FAR better choice for a production based race car.

The modern race car is designed, built, driven and teamed to meet the sanctioning bodies rules. How these rule are made and set up is IMO arbitrary and based on what is in it for the organizers and major players involved. How well does a given team, driver or car does depends LOTs on how expert these rules are interpreted then gamed for an advantage. This is one of root reasons why there is zero interest for me to be involved with that circus. Then we have how the modern real race car is designed then built. The modern race car is designed on modeling and simulations with the contracted driver in the simulators driver's seat. Once that mountain of data is gathered then crunched properly, the car is fab_ed via CAD-CAM in very short time. The car is then tested with the same driver at the same tracks as used in the simulations, producing another mountain of data. Both mountains of data is then analyzed for discrepancies and more to ascertain if the simulations -vs- real race car and same driver are good enough to be competitive in that targeted race series.

This is very much a business venture with very defined goals.

Then there is .... LeMons,

Or why this series has become SO popular and enduring to SO many.


Bernice
 
I recently read Mark Donahue's book The Unfair Advantage. I found it astounding how little scientific thought went into most big league teams racing prep. Mark did so well over mainstream thinking because he gave a lot of thought to how to improve his race cars.
 
A little bit of exhaust work this time... time is ticking...so while I'm waiting for other fittings to turn up I thought I'd start another .of the vehicles systems.

I bought all the parts for this a few weeks ago, finally tackled the cutting and slicing part while I was doing some other related exhaust stuff for a customer earlier in the week.

2.25" pipework, big muffler is 2.25 inch internal pipe as well and a full triple flow mffler, so the flow gets reversed twice inside the muffler, travelling three times the mufflers length internally (roughly) so also known as a "triple flow" muffler. No packing internally.

Supports are repurposed from another Fiat model, ... bonus points for any anoraks that guess the model (I know some will)

I still need to weld the nuts captive and weld the plates in, and similar plates with a captive (long) steel nut will be welded to the muffler ends (on the seam where it's really strong) but I can't finish it off just yet as I need to mount the trans oil coolers in the back there too, and I'm waiting for parts to be able to test fit that system.
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Front pipe is angled like that so I could get the secondary length I wanted without it interfering with other things in the car. Attached to the collector (which needs to be shortened) will be another 2.25" 180 bend (but cut down to about 130 degrees) which will angle upwards - sort of - towards the other 180 on the muffler (which also gets trimmed and the muffler inlet gets cut off flush) and that section will be 3" pipe, an expansion box of sorts. The 90 bend on the muffler is the tailpipe, straight out the back....

SteveC
 
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That was motorsport back in the day. It is completely different today due to many areas of technical expertise being applied to motorsports today. This is partly due to the funding available to do this that was not available decades ago. This with extreme technical advances have been applied to both mass production vehicles and motorsports vehicles and more.

Mark Donahue aka "Captain Nice" was special due to this engineering abilities and excellence as a driver. This combo allowed Mark to sort out a car a LOT faster and in ways an engineer or driver could ever do. Mark was not the only one, Jim Hall, Dan Gurney and others from that generation had the gift of being talented as a driver and equally talented as engineers with creative imagination and willingness to try-fail learning from this to make it work. What absolutely kills creativity and innovation in virtually any technological endeavor are rules based on an individual or group's agenda. It is also known as "Intellectual Bravey" or the willingness to try new creative stuff and accept the fact-reality what is tried might fail or succeed. This is one of the only reasons why I'm involved with LeMons racing, few restrictions and the ability to try stuff then make it work with near total freedom from Jay and the other LeMons folks. It is much a technical creative outlet without the single minded goal of... winning at any expense.

~There is a bit of this same stuff done on the exxe and Scorpiacarlo.

Another Mark Donahue book worth a read:

The story of how Porsche became so associated with winning races and highly desirable moto market brand, how Mark bent the engineers at Porsche with all the stuff wrong with their mid-engine race car-with Mark eventually re-designing this car into the legendary 917-30, how Ferrari utterly failed at Can-Am and more... and more are detailed in this book.
IMO, very worth while read that combines stories about Mark Donahue and his rather special relationship with Roger Penske.


Bernice


I recently read Mark Donahue's book The Unfair Advantage. I found it astounding how little scientific thought went into most big league teams racing prep. Mark did so well over mainstream thinking because he gave a lot of thought to how to improve his race cars.
 
In the beginning- A Tale of Two Lemon's

so this is the longish and kinda boring (as there isn't anything really technical in here) but needs to be written to explain the "spend" as that is what lemon's is a lot about , cost restriction for (some sort of) parity.

This build sort of began back in about 2016, as I bought (saw the ad here on Xweb strangely enough) locally in Perth a series 1 X19 for $350 complete., but didn't start and had dud clutch hydraulics.
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The problems I had with that build came down to two issues.
A) Starts, the class I was building for (CAMS 2B) doesn't have a lot of entrants locally, so they combine the classes with other sports cars, and i didn't really like the idea of being wheel to wheel with open wheeled formula clubman racers (1300cc no OHC engines). Plus because of limited numbers they didn't get a place at every meeting on the calender, so instead of 9 race meets a year, there would only be 6 for this class and at most three x 6 lap races at a meet, if you're lucky a 10 lap race, so I wasn't going to get a lot of track hours
B) Rollcage. for compliance with CAMS rules, the rollcage just won't fit to my liking, the two designs I submitted were rejected on technicalities (not due to being inadequate) as I wanted to put the roll cage behind the targa hoop, as ahead of it I feel there is insufficient helmet clearance, so CAMS and I couldn't agree, plus here in Australia rollcage certification and constructon must be performed by someone registered to do the work, and it COSTS, like 5k for a cage.

so the project languished until I heard about lemons in early 2020 - as I said it's quite new to my part of the world, and it tends to take a little while for things to head west. My home state of Western Australia , or W.A. for short we joke stands for "wait awhile"

The trouble was then, that the white S1 body was "too good" to cut up and turn into a race car. It turned out that the white series 1, while it had a crap paint job, underneath was virtulaly rust free... and I knew that this lemons build would require some bodywork chopping. (whereas the 2B class seriously restricts sheetmetal mods )

Enter stage right, the rusty series 1 shell that's being used. I knew this guy had this car stripped as a roller (I had to bring wheels and tyres to fit to it) and it still had the engine and trans in the back, $150 later and it was mine and that makes my lemons spend to this point of $500.

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Now the white series 1 was a quite good complete car, so I was able to sell quite a few parts from it to help fund the project.

not a complete list (yet - I'll add to it) but these are some of the parts I've sold include;

S1 corner Bumperette / over rider / bracket set $450
front indicator / turn assemblies (pair) $250
1300 engine (short -was in really good internal condition, looking recently rebuilt) $600
Carburettor / air filter and manfold $150
targa top rubber stowage set $50
s1 front grille $200
rear grille $50
bonnet $400
boot lid $250
steering rack used $100
S1 seats $150 pair
stainless header tank $150
targa latches and rubbers $100
S1 engine cover plastic trim (was in perfect condition, but painted white) $100
S1 engine side grilles (pair) $100

The second rusty car also had a couple of parts that the previous owner left me
The 4/2 exhaust manifld and dual front pipe / muffler $100
steering rack used $100

That's $3300 of parts sold. and with $499 left over from the initial $999, that's $3799 lLemon's dollars in the kitty to spend.

and I have a spare s1 almost rust free shell for the next project - MAX/1.9 - Maggiorato (enlarged) Alleggerita (lightweight) X /1.9 (capacity)
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SteveC

850 exhaust support?

that was pretty easy, but that's correct
 
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We need someone to do live updates and pics during this! ;)

I've thought about that... and one of the potential drivers is Mark Weinberger (the guy I built the 1600 for)

He's a computer IT professional by day, but if you've watched any of his youtube stuff the guy could easily have a second job as a videographer if he wanted, the quality of productions are very high. He's also a reasonable steerer, as I've been in his 1600 X19 with him thru some twisties, and while he's by no means the quickest driver I've had a ride with, steady and reliable and sympathetic to the machinery is actually higher on my list than pure driving talent, and he knows X1/9's quite well as he currently owns 11 of them! (it's his personal 12 step programme )

If the timing works out (especially with covid) as he has to fly in from interstate for the race, he will (without doubt) bring with him multiple go-pro's and record everything that happens, and likely steam it live... if the timing works out.

The other drivers so far are two long time friends that both are very capable drivers, Martin Murphy and Eddie Resera.

Martin introduced me to the sport of rally back when I was about 15. He emigrated to Australia from England with his wife and worked for my Father as a new car salesman for a while. I built a rally car for him when I was 16ish, and the firstt year he won the novice (grade 4) category, the following year he won the clubman (grade 3) category and based on stage times for his third season was seeded as a grade one, contesting for outright stage times in state championship events.

Eddie I've known my whole life (his mother was a bridesmaid for my Mother) and he's a down to the core racer. I guess it was knowing our family that got him hooked... he even dated one of my older sisters for a whlle when they were younger. He races regularly in IPRA (improved production) in a V8 LS1 powered holden commodore (think pontiac something that was sold in the US as well) and while he's not a state champion, he runs in the front 1/4 of the field. He preps his own car (and he's not a mechanic) so that has let him dowm a few times, but mostly finishes the races he starts.

the Fourth potential driver is Cono Onofaro. He's a mini nut (and very good at it) and all the times I've competed against Con in hillclimbs and Autokhana's, I've never beaten him as he has a ton of car control skill (and a crazy fast 1340cc mini also helps) He's not sure if he can make it, as he is also hooked on lemons and is building a mini...but he's not too keen on running the mini for the 24 hours event, and likes the look of my build, so he's a 50/50 at the moment

I have no doubt that Martin will be quicker than me, I know what he's capable of. Eddie's likely to be quicker than I am as well, as he has a lot more current track experience. Con I think will be the quickest of us all, he's a little guy with a lot of driving skill. I don't have a problem being the slowest or second slowest driver in the group, as that will still make us a pretty quick team overall.

SteveC
 
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Finished the exhaust mock up today, I began this on Saturday, but the last few days we have had unseasonally wet (like an inch and a half of rain) weekend...
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2.25 inch mandrel bend system, muffler is a 'triple flow" internals, 3" section is an expansion box of sorts to slow the exhaust gasses down (which will increase the pressure in that secton of pipe) ... the idea being that where it necks down again to 2.25" there will be a speed increase / pressure decrease at that point, which is where I'm fitting the two 1.25inch reed valves for my cranckcase evacuation system... which join via 2 x 1.25inch reinforced tube to the crankcase catch tank I bought for the job.
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but I'll lose the two filters, thats where my flex reinforced hoses go to (32mm ID pipe)

3 x breather hoses off the engine, the usual cyclone, another on the fuel pump block off plate, and a third under the oil filler cap on the cambox, all joined with AN fittings (2 x -12 and 1 x -10 hose) for a gas tight seal. The catch tank has a fitting for a 1/4NPT drain on the lower side (which doesn't face down in this application) and into that I'm fitting a vacuum gauge (-30 n Hg to 15psi positive) so I can show everyone that the system works when it's all connected and running, hoping to generate maybe 6psi of depression inside the crankcase


SteveC
 
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A bunch more fittings and race car goodies arrived in the mail this morning, it was like Christmas!

First up all the oil cooler system fittings, the MOCAL oil cooler, the oil filter block off / adaptor plate,and the remote fitler mount are all finally here, again a bit of a logistical exercise to order ALL the needed parts ... a couple of minor pieces still need to arrive related to the oil temperature gauge sender fittings, but the major parts are all here at last.

I'll need to drop the dummy engine out of the chassis to create a little "clearance" for the fittings coming from the engine, it's a little tight to the chassis right now, nothing a bit of judicious use of a ball-pien hammer wont fix.
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The oil filter block off / fittings. Cast alloy adaptor is an EARLS 1177 (3/4" -16 thread 1/2NPT)
to get both -12 fittngs to mount, I needed to fit a 45 adaptor to the cast alloy block so the two lines didn't foul each other.

Oil filter remote mount is DEARALE top entry 1/2NPT 3/4"-16

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Oil cooler is MOCAL 19 row, matrix size 235mm wide x 50mm thick, about the largest physical size I could fit into the space I made for it.

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Another artist's impression view of the fuel system and oil cooler layout in the old spare wheel well.

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and of course all this is behind a metal firewall that hinges along the right hand edge for access.
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SteveC
 
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I dropped the dummy engine / trans out this afternoon, a little bit of panel beating and grinding / welding I want to get done, and then lift a 1300 block into place so I can jig up for a 4-2 front exhaust pipe I've been wanting to manufacture for sale...this big empty space is a good opportunity to design / fabricate it and ensure the item will fit perfectly.

How's this for Cavernous!
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I'm thnking I may cut a second duct hole on the left side of the car as well, purely for thru engine bay airflow.

A mock up of the engine cover, of course the sides will all need to be sealed as there is no rear window, so you can't see thru to the engine bay at all from the drivers view... but a vent at the rear is OK.
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I'm also planning on cutting out and meshing a lot of the rear panel between where the tail lights used to live.

The stock engine bay under shields all still fit, and I'll use them or something similar to seal the "underside" air. Air passing thru the ducts (well three of them) is "topside" air, and it will be able to flow out thru the vent in the engine cover and a lot of opening area at the rear of the car.

Both spots I'm hoping / guessing / figuring are low pressure areas and this will help pull air into the side ducts, as they work best if you manage the pressure differential in the low pressure area behind the car. (in the stock car that's alos the area behind the rear window)

The fuel tank now fits in from the top as well, so I can seal the floor area under the tank and smooth the underside air there.as best as possible.

SteveC
 
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Why not fit a fuel cell up front like most X race cars?
A few reasons,

I can't see any advantage to change it for this build, I don't need more capacity as 40 litres is the max amount of fuel you can have at one fill up.

and I kinda feel Marcello took a lot of time / effort to package the fuel tank where he did, and I don't think I can get a tank of the same capacity to package up front as well.

plus, although it's not currently a requirement in lemons to have a fire supression system, it will probably happen and this way all the flammable stuff is in one place.

SteveC
 
If you are leaving the fuel tank where it is, then do me a favor, Put a piece of kevlar or something between the transmission and the tank. I remember seeing a post from Steve H on this as well. Just some extra prevention in case something goes wrong and you have clutch and metal pieces flying around behind you.

I am really excited to see how this turns out!
 
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