What I've been up to

[CBR_TOY]

both cars look amazing man....

[kevlar corolla]

Thanks,well the geo is still crap but it looks better now then when I paid $300 for it. :D

I took it for a spin yesterday,hard to tell the power with the dense snowpack I was driving in but it pulled decent right past 8k.The 3cyl was less then an exciting engine.

I'll try and get an interior pic next weekend(its nothing special I can assure you) when I take it for the pretech inspection,hopefully I'll get some gopro action the folllowing weekend at the 1st race.The 1st weekend is usually a little nutty with eveyone all ramped up but not actually having any time behind the wheel-and then there's the new guys....

[mooreofit]

sounds like good fun.

[cdixon311]

haha thats awesome. I've lived in the south all my life, and haven't really seen snow, so what exactly do yo have to do to race in the ice? Is it just special tires, or is there more to it?

[kevlar corolla]

Like any sport theres trick to improve grip,yes the tires are special.If you run in the non studded tire class your allowed to modify the tires to shred the tread blocks which creates more edges to grip the ice and is much faster than just ice and snow tires unmodified.I run in the street studded tire class,which like it sounds use tires with studs which are allowed on the street in some places,the grip is only a little better than the modified non studded tires but we always have close to the same grip levels.The non studded guys are really at the mercy of track conditions and can be very very slow on a slick day.
Here's and example from last year,I'm in the red civc at the front.I was getting eaten alive(lack of power and wrong gearing) down the straight by the 140hp geo and the camera car was a focus.He cut the vid short when it looked like he passed me for the lead,I actually went right around the outside and he faded back after that.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYPs34_DVTQ" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Inside my car,the black geo is the same car with my wife driving it last year.If you get bored skip to the 7 minute mark.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AafO67gtb3U" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[dr.occa]

It's crazy seeing fwd cars staying sideways like that. I'd love to take part in ice racing.

[kevlar corolla]

I ran rwd street studs for a couple of year in one of my ae86's,lots of mods underneath and a really big 3 element wing but still couldn't run with the Mr2's plus a couple of dick drivers caused me to go back to fwd.
The corolla with steering spacers and the big wing,mostly to increase the side area of the car as opposed to actual downforce at the slowish speeds we run,was great fun to drive.Consider linking every corner for 12 laps while in traffic,not tandem but maybe a pack of 5 or 6 at a time.Too bad I didn't get any video of it in action,you could REALLY back it in with full angle and not spin it out with that wing.

[16vHachi]

damn thats awesome!!!

[cdixon311]

Haha that's crazy. L8oks like a lot of fun though. I guess you guys have no problems pulling the ac out of your cars

[yotarolla]

[quote="dr.occa"]Very cool sounding setup on the metro Tom. When you first said dual cam 13B I had to stop for a minute. My mind immediately went to Rotary Land.

Me too, what kind of engine is it?

[kevlar corolla]

I've started the mid engined awd geo metro ice racer build using the R1 engine from the open wheel car.Just working on mounting the custom chain driven suzuki diffs now and then I be able to get the engine mounts figured.

Pics later.

[dr.occa]

Cool Tom. Can't wait to see shots of that AND forth coming vids :D

[kevlar corolla]

Thanks,it should be a little ice weapon with the main mass centered.I think it'll be race ready at about 1600lbs,maybe a little lighter-try finding a production based awd car that light.

I have the gearing picked for our track,had to be careful to not gear it too tall as 1st in the bike trans is TALL compared to normal trannies.2nd gear tops out at 107kph and 11,500rpm and 3rd is 127kph at 11,500 which should allow it to get off the line decently,run the main portion of the track in 2nd gear at around 9k and nicely into 3rd for the longest straight.Notice the minimal rev drop between 2nd and 3rd-only a 20kph speed difference flat out in each gear.

I'm hoping to be able to get the diffs mounted in the car this weekend for pics,the frame that ties/aligns them together is finished and its sitting on the shop floor ready to start install.

[kevlar corolla]

Have the diff frame installed as of today,might try and get the engine mocked into place tomorrow.

[dr.occa]

Tom, that's really killer. I love how you execute these projects man.