Build Diary - RCR Lola T70 Spider

[Randy V]

Interesting.. I'm going to review this with our Chief of Tech.

SCCA just created a new class for former World Challenge cars called B-Prepared. National class too!

There are a number of big-inch (6+ liter) cars running ITE in this area.. Again - It's Regionally administered so the rules can vary from Region to Region.

I think as long as you're log-booked for SPO, you can run that or ITE in this region.

One thing that I know we are real sticklers for open chassis cars like yours and the Cobra I used to race and that's Arm Restraints and now for all cars there will be required side head restraints (nets or Seat) per the SCCA GCR.

 

[Ron Earp]

SCCA just created a new class for former World Challenge cars called B-Prepared. National class too!

There are a number of big-inch (6+ liter) cars running ITE in this area.. Again - It's Regionally administered so the rules can vary from Region to Region.

I think as long as you're log-booked for SPO, you can run that or ITE in this region.

One thing that I know we are real sticklers for open chassis cars like yours and the Cobra I used to race and that's Arm Restraints and now for all cars there will be required side head restraints (nets or Seat) per the SCCA GCR.

Now that is one I don't know about - B Prepared! Boy Scout motto and all that.....

I think this is one of the issues with SCCA with respect to the various regional classes and so forth. There seems to be no "standard" with a few of these classes across the nation.

SPO in the SE, to my knowledge, could not run ITE here. I might be very wrong on this but I have really turned a lot of this over to my tech folks. I've basically said "I want to run this in the 13 hour, what hoops do we need to jump through?"

My understanding from brief discussions is they wanted a class to run > 3L cars that did not involve the "ground pounders" - ex-NASCAR cars, tube frame round track cars, and so on. So ITO would fit the larger displacement cars that met cage rules and race prep rules but would keep them out of that class.

It appears to me the "no tube frame cars" is an attempt to separate the ITO/U class from SP. But, in making that clause they have also divorced themselves from many kit cars too since there are a lot of tube frame cars on the market with > 3L displacement that might want a place to run in SCCA. I feel this was not properly considered with respect to wording.

Now the arm restraints I think we'll have to have. I had them in the Jensen, in the brief minutes it went on track, and Jeff raced with them for years in the open TR8 until we got him a hard top for 2007. I don't mind them, seem fine to me. Do SRF cars race with arm restraints? I assume they do but in the time I've been racing with those cars I'd never noticed.

Ron

 

[Duncan Potter]

SCCA require restraints in SRF's and, I assume, all formula and sports racers. The only time they bother me is when they slip down my arm and get tangled up in the shifter. Have to do something about that!

 

[Ron Earp]

Well things have calmed down with travel, sickness, and other family events and a bit of Lola work was done. We removed the transaxle today and put on the proper adapter plate that RCR supplied to replace the old one. Also put on the flywheel and so as soon as I can round up clutch parts we'll be ready to bolt the transmission back on and move on with stuff.

Also spent time routing water pipes, replacing all the header bolts with good stuff, and replacing all the suspension bolt hardware with some high quality standard hex head bits. The allen bolts were fine, but I could see me getting into a situation and not having a proper tool or proper access.

Man, this is one hell of a stiff chassis as we noticed while jacking the car around today.

Tomorrow I plan to do the fuel system up and decide once and for all how I'm going to route it and what hardware to use.

Please to be back working on the car after a long break (needed from working on cars at all after last race season!).

R

 

[Johan]

Glad to see you are back working on it again. It will be worth the effort !

 

[Ron Earp]

I’ve recently received my 930 box back from Gbox. Gboxweb.com specializes in Porsche boxes and their vendor representative on GT40s.com, Ryan Zielinski, is a frequent poster on the site.

The main reason I sent it to Gbox was for a robust slave cylinder conversion. But, while it was there they disassembled the box completely, inspected it, replaced a few bits, and gave it a clean bill of health. This particular box has the rare 8:41 R&P, or 5.12 ratio, that is highly desirable for a racing standpoint. I was impressed with Gbox’s service on my 930 as the box came with a full report of the inspection and procedures performed. The box ended up to be in good shape with some wear on the 2/3 synchros, so, they were replaced when they were in there.


Gbox also rebuilt my buddy Ed's 915 box, in fact, both went to and from Gbox at the same time. Ed’s 911S box needed a complete rebuild from about 100k miles of hard street use and Gbox performed that service as well. Man is that box small compared to a 930, but looking good now1

The slave cylinder conversion is shown below in the pictures and is a nice piece. It has a billet arm and a pull slave arrangement mounted on heim joints along with a reinforced anchor point. Looks like it’ll do the job and I think Gbox will be offering this as a kit since it requires no real machine work to the box itself. Thanks for the work Ryan, quite impressive!

 

[Randy V]

Looks great Ron!

That Clutch Release arm looks stout as all get-out..

Now that you have the starter issue figured out and your transmission is ready to go - You should be ready to race in no time!

What else do you need or need to sort out on this car?

 

[john]

Looking very nice ron.:thumbsup: One question ...What model is your Lola? I ask because it looks a little diiferent than my car. It looks smaller IMHO

 

[Rich E.]

Ron,

If its not too much to ask, can you post up some updated pics of your spyder.

TIA
Rich.

 

[Sandy]

Hey Ron, just check out your thread and saw the clutch lever stuff that Ryan did, looks really nice. I have the slave bolted to the case but that looks much more robust.

Hope things are rolling, get some pictures up so I can check out the trans and axles etc.

Sandy

 

[flatchat(Chris)]

I'd be keen for some updates too, Ron ---after all, you've had yours a lot longer than I've had mine. Any insight to how you've hung the body panels would be most interesting :thumbsup:

 

[Ron Earp]

Right now it is an expensive shelf. But, there is a plan, and the plan has it going to a fab shop to get finished. Working on setting that plan in motion.

Racing has been fruitful this year, a 1st, 4th, and 5th, for the Z car but it has taken a lot of time to put it there. Sort of stinks, not being able to finish this car, but it isn't like I don't work on cars - I work on them far too much according to family, just not this car. For me prepping the race car is #1 "hobby" priority and once in that rut it is hard to quit unless you quit racing.

 

[Mesa]

For me prepping the race car is #1 "hobby" priority and once in that rut it is hard to quit unless you quit racing.

Exactly why I quit roadracing before I started the car. Not enough time in the day for all the interests in life!

 

[Ron Earp]

Time for an update here I think. The Lola was retired from shelf duty last week and placed on one of the race trailers. Yesterday it was put onto a huge car hauler and it is now headed back to its birthplace, RCR. I know, quite silly to bring it here and have it sit around and then send it back home. But, as I've explained once I started racing "full time" as my hobby, about 2 years ago, doing any hobby work but racing related hobby work is nigh about impossible.

So the plan is to have RCR's team to finish the car up for street/racing duty and continue the plan as hatched two years ago. Job will proceed as fast as wallet will allow, I'm sure everyone is familar with that speed!

 

[Pete K.]

Whew! Reading the first paragraph it sounded like you were giving up the dream! The 2nd paragraph calmed me down. Great to see that the car construction will move along and in time come back home to you!

 

[Ron Earp]

It'll come along and I'm sure Fran's crew will do well with it.

Wheel to wheel racing takes a buttload of time, no two ways about it. A buddy of ours who we love to death is a very happy go lucky guy (and good driver too). But he chastises us in good humor on the car work.

"What do you mean you're taking it apart? Last time I saw the silver bullet you were on the podium at VIR. What happened between VIR and your house on the way home that means you've got to work on it?"

General maintainence on a race car will flat out use up your spare time. And that isn't counting on improvements. Right now I've got a lot of improvements in the works - new camera, better brake ducts, radio system, improve the front spolier, and so on but I have no time for those. the normal maintenance items after a race eat up the free time. The brakes have to be totally re-done each race, front and rears, alignment, suspension check, fluids, bearings, linkages, and fix stuff that busted in the last race but didn't keep you from racing. In short, I need a full time crew dude to keep racing this thing!

 

[Ron Earp]

I thought I'd share some progress on the Lola with some pictures that I just got from RCR last night. RCR has the Lola in their shop and are fixing it up for the 13 Hour Charge of the Headlight Brigade Enduro at VIR on Oct 31st and having a street legal car. The car is just back from the paint shop and is looking good in bare yellow!

The wiring is finished up on the car and now RCR is moving on to the fuel system and finishing up the cockpit. Some interesting tidbits of detail:

• Car will have a 25 gallon bolt in cell for race use and will retain sponson tanks for street use. Switchover will simply involve a fuel valve and pulling the tank/tank bulkhead out.
• The fuel cell will have a NASCAR type dry break fueling system. We can't be putting 25 gallons of fuel in the car with a funnel and bottle. It'd just take too long.
• The car will have street lighting but an aux light pod with 4 PIAA HID lights will attached with quick pins for use in the enduro.
• Pedals are fully adjustable with a pull of a quick pin so that different drivers can be accomidated easily. Similar to the way the Nemesis system worked and it did work well.
• Doors are pinned with a rod/hinge but the rod can be removed with the quick pin so the entire door can be removed to help with ingress or for repair.

We've assembled a strong team of drivers for the 13 Hour. All of them are regional SCCA drivers with years of experience at VIR and multiple wins between them. As long as we can keep the car intact and a steady pace we'll be good to go. It sure does look tiny beside that GT40 though!

I'm excited about the car and think it looks great in yellow. Quite naturally it'll look fantastic in stripes and race trim but looks to be a nice start!

 

[Peter Jankovskis]

Congratulations Ron. The car looks great. I wish you and your team the best of luck in the enduro.

 

[Randy V]

B-B-B-Bad to the bone...... :thumbsup:

She'll be an awesome ride!!!!

 

[Allen English]

Looks good Ron! Not the same color I saw it in while at RCR a couple months ago.