The Cal-look Lounge

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEbgiGqEO_w

Well after years of trying to find the time and money my new race car is finally usable!! I won't say finished as they never are but it's great to know that I can hook up the trailer and go have some fun. Had a manic 2 weeks before EBI getting it built...thanks to Lee Maynard for coming up for a few days and lending a hand and to Neil Melliard of Prosign for the 5am signwriting!! Had loads of help over the years with this..especially Pete Shattock who used to co-own it with me..and Darren Mills who sorted out the nightmare metalwork...there wasn't a straight,undented,nonstretched panel on the car...seriously horrible!!

Anyway afew pictures and video of a shakedown pass at EBI attached for anyone on here who's interested in Fiats ;)

Ian Clark
Wolfsburg Performance Services

PS Thanks to Jo Clifford for the chessy picture at the very end of the film.....pretty much sums up my weekend.

that looks fun to drive .good job on getting it done.

Awesome looking car, and great to meet up again!!

Well Done Ian, you have yet another cool car to your name

Lee

good stuff mate looks great  8)

Nice to see you checking out your hair before getting out of the car.

Very nice Ian.  5 gears yet!  Do you have a Hewland in your Fiat like Peter?

Ron Barrett

Hey Boom Boom you know how long it takes me to do that in the mornings...wouldn't want to look scruffy now would I!!  ;D

It's a Berg 5spd with pro-rings and a spool built by Mr Cogbox....normal H pattern shifter...nothing fancy like Pete's stick. The idea is to keep these small engines buzzin' as they lack torque and the cars are light enough not to damage parts...hopefully. The shifter linkage/mounting to the chassis took some beefing up to eliminate any flex as it's got double UJs which can be trouble but thanks to a double spherical bearing supported shiftrod under the shifter by Andy Robinson Racecars (the standard plastic bush set up had to go) and some adjustable bracing to the mounting it works a treat!! If I miss a gear now it's down to me.......

Ian Clark
Wolfsburg Performance Services

Fantastic Ian, great to see you out in it, worth the wait  :)

on the way to the track ...

Don t no why, but love those crazy vw powered fiat s.
Was admiring your car in the pits looks very nice build, love how you did the seats.

Regards Edgar

And most important of all, Darrell liked it!  8)

one of my favorite of the w-e with inch pincher III

nice car Ian ,  ;)

fabs

and i've more about that one  8)

same here for some reason i really like those vw powered fiats.
well done,nice looking car.

henk!!!

Very pleased about that....I really enjoyed our chat....his car was of course the inspiration and that photo of it with the wheels up in primer with the 'brands on the front and fastback roof  :o ....and that photo from your book in the workshop in primer again, from the front, but looking like it had no wheels on it!!!  :P

I'm very pleased I managed to get hold of one of these cars....tried to buy Darrell's years ago but just couldn't afford it so bought the X/19 instead....but when this turned up for sale, although incomplete and a complete mess, it was a no brainer!!

Oh and brilliant photo Fabs of the front end....I may have that tatooed on the inside of my eyelids!  :D

Cheers.

Ian
PS Gonna check it over tomorrow and take it to Bug Jam for some RWYB testing in a couple of weeks....can't wait to drive it again!!

Ian, what are the specs on the motor?  What does it rev to?  Sounds like a superbike on the youtube clip.   :)

One of my cars of the show :)

SERIOUSLY COOL CAR - Nice work Ian,

P.S I should be able to get my parts to DDD  ;D

Hi Stretch

It's 72 x 94 = 1999cc @ 11.5:1 so it runs on pump gas. German Mag case. Wedgemated welded/CW offset ground to chevy journal VW crank and flywheel (8lbs) with modified (lightened) aluminium Bill Miller 5.2"rods and JE pistons/Mahle barrels with nearly 3/4" cut off the bottom! Nice and narrow so short pushrods..260mm. Good 'ol FK89 (a Raptor is on the wish list for the next motor) and some old ARPM heads 44 x 37 Ti valves that Lee 'the funky head' Maynard did some major work to (obviously he comes highly recommended and is happy to work on anyones heads for race vouchers!!$$).....we kept the inlet ports small tho' and I spent ages getting everything dowelled/match ported with a very accurate valve job (on a Newen machine) and tapered seats etc......Lots of used old parts in there but good quality stuff and alot of hours fettling etc....
It's got the old 48's fuel reg and Vertex mag off my '52....one of the carbs had a dead moth in it...it's been that long!
It should pull 9000rpm....I was being gentle at EBI....6.5-7maybe....so we'll see what it sounds like then.....  :)

Cheers.

Ian
Wolfsburg Performance Services

PS Thanks for all the kind words about the car...it's taken awhile but I'm well pleased with how it turned out....it's nice to have some pictures of it somewhere other than in the workshop!!

 8)

 8)

 ;)

 ;)

The 3 passes I got on video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DB2Wz5VPy4E

 ;)

Thanks for the info Ian.  Looking forward to seeing the car at bugjam.

I think I'll be contacting Lee at the end of the year to ask him to work his magic on heads.   ;)

cool to hear you'll be at bug jam with it, was awesome to see the massive smile on your face,  ;D

Finally got the Fiat back to the track last weekend after over a year!!

Stiffer rear springs this time so it doesn't scoop the track up with the sump plate.....

Just getting used to the driving position etc but felt great.....went 11.97@112.5mph with a bit of clutch slip...more to come...  :)[attachment=1]

Some footage thanks to Lee Maynard...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYE9plTmYU8

cool  8)

Very cool ;D

Nice!

Congratulations!

the fiat sounds good IAN , nice to see the car running again ,
just a question , will run the car without front windshield ??

Still with the 1804cc Ian.

sounds good :)

I think Ian s engine is  94 x 72 . 1998cc lots of rpm!

You sure Dave was thinking it was 65X94.

im not sure now , i thought the crank was able to be reused after the other engine broke?  Ian will know.

[/quote]

It's 72 x 94 = 1999cc @ 11.5:1 so it runs on pump gas. German Mag case. Wedgemated welded/CW offset ground to chevy journal VW crank and flywheel (8lbs) with modified (lightened) aluminium Bill Miller 5.2"rods and JE pistons/Mahle barrels with nearly 3/4" cut off the bottom! Nice and narrow so short pushrods..260mm. Good 'ol FK89 (a Raptor is on the wish list for the next motor) and some old ARPM heads 44 x 37 Ti valves that Lee 'the funky head' Maynard did some major work to (obviously he comes highly recommended and is happy to work on anyones heads for race vouchers!!$$).....we kept the inlet ports small tho' and I spent ages getting everything dowelled/match ported with a very accurate valve job (on a Newen machine) and tapered seats etc......Lots of used old parts in there but good quality stuff and alot of hours fettling etc....
It's got the old 48's fuel reg and Vertex mag off my '52....one of the carbs had a dead moth in it...it's been that long!
It should pull 9000rpm....I was being gentle at EBI....6.5-7maybe....so we'll see what it sounds like then.....  :)
Ian

[/quote]

Tells all here.

Thats the one that broke.

Nice car! Could you tell me more of your suspension setup? I have a 600 that I need to set up a little better. What size torsion bars do you have?
Thanks.

Ian will obviously know more, but its a tube chassis car so does not have torsion bars
Lee

here's the front suspension 

 ;)

COOOL STUFF Ian

 :o
That thing would weigh less than my lawnmower!
Thank you for the pics, very cool.
 8)

Yeah thanks for reminding me Dave... ::)
Those aluminium rods were a bad idea...no history and had been extensively lightened.... but I was seduced by their lightness!! They broke.... :(
Anyway it's still 72x94 as before just with some steel rods and abit more compression as I could close up the deck as ali rods need more room to expand.

Martin...The 65mm crank will be used for the cars next engine.....eventually....

Fabs....We made a windscreen...I say we, I mean Pete did hours of cutting and filing (his favourite pastime) then when I moved it dissappeared!! So this happy accident has made the car all the more thrilling to drive and halved the frontal area I reckon....it may get a torneau cover,it may get a hood and the screen remade (if it doesn't turn up)....It'll probably get left as is....112mph felt like 150!! more bang for ya buck!! :o

Brian...The rear suspension is 4 link with some period Koni coil overs....but for the 600 a simple ladder bar set up would work great. The std fiat rear end is good for fiats and massive wheelies but you'll need a massive wheelie bar ala Big Pete's 600 to make it off the line quick....so simple ladder bar and coil over adj dampers etc (rear spring rate depends on power and overall weight etc etc).

I just need to drive it some more!!!

Ian

Thanks Ian had it in my head you was using the 66mm.

What the spec of the motor that is in the Fiat at the moment.