PINTO CAR CLUB of AMERICA
Shiny is Good! => General Pinto Talk => Topic started by: 80_2.3_ESS on January 24, 2012, 08:59:47 AM
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Has anybody done this?
A couple years back, my brother went up to Mass, to an abandon air-field, where a group of guys got permission to do a little recreational auto-crossing. Set up a bunch of cone "gates" you had to go through, lots of twists & turns so you never were going too fast.
I am sure some of the Pinto's on this site would be great for this. My car, for example, is lowered, with a high-reving motor, and sticks in the curves on the road like no tomorrow.
So, got me thinking, if anybody else has had this idea.
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I run my ITB class Pinto in my local SCCA events. She would normally run in F street prepared, but I choose to run her as an E-prepared car. I plan to turn her into a real G-machine and make a run at a national champinoship in a few years.
They are very neutral handling cars, No independent rear doesn't seem to hurt much, and short-long arm front suspension is much better than mac strut.
Russ
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When I start working on wifey's car (79 Pinto) this summer I may do a few mods to improve handling and see how it does at an autocross event. Maybe I can get her interested.
My 1973 Pinto thinks it's an old Porsche 911... If I go hard into an off-ramp and lift off the gas the rear end wants to slides out. If I stay on the power or gradually power down I can control it a long as I don't enter the turn too fast. So for now I brake hard just before the turn then power through the turn. Having the 1600 engine I sure don't need to worry about over-powering the rear wheels!
Does your car do that and what did you do to reduce that step-out effect?
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i have a aold airport here in town that does an autocross event the first saturday of every month, as soon as i get the turbo in the wagon, ill let you guys know how we did, the wagon is a 2.3 with a turbo and 4 speed.
thanks
eric
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When I start working on wifey's car (79 Pinto) this summer I may do a few mods to improve handling and see how it does at an autocross event. Maybe I can get her interested.
My 1973 Pinto thinks it's an old Porsche 911... If I go hard into an off-ramp and lift off the gas the rear end wants to slides out. If I stay on the power or gradually power down I can control it a long as I don't enter the turn too fast. So for now I brake hard just before the turn then power through the turn. Having the 1600 engine I sure don't need to worry about over-powering the rear wheels!
Does your car do that and what did you do to reduce that step-out effect?
No, I honestly never noticed that. The only time the @$$ end of my car wants to kick out is if I am taking a really sharp corner and I give it too much gas, making it want to to more of a power-slide. The good thing with the car is that if I do start to slide, it doesn't kick out too much and just letting off the gas will bring it back fine. For the most part though, I do what you do, brake prior to the corner, usually down-shifting to bring up the RPM's, and gas through & out of it.
Eric, let us know how it goes. Where about's are you located if you don't mind me asking. Maybe some other guys would be interested in trying it out. How funny would that be, rolling up to the air-field with a half-dozen Pintos LOL
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I have always loved SCCA racing, and think auto cross is the bees knees. Just out of high school I raced a 1979 VW Rabbit wolfsburg addition. It had the mechanical fuel injection system, which was awesome. I wouldn't know how to go about setting up a Pinto though. Well I mean I have an idea, but where to get the parts is another story. ;D
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its an old air field in fort myers, actually in lehigh acres, fl. im in no mans land from most people on here. 6hrs from the fl. ga line.
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8) definitely a doable process for fun! But it can be a "gateway" Drug for the uninformed! :P
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here is the web site for the autocross,
enjoy!!!
eric
http://www.gulfcoastautocrossers.com/index.html (http://www.gulfcoastautocrossers.com/index.html)
have a ton of pics and stats as well!
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If I autocrossed my Pinto the exhaust would fall off lol. I wanna do it once the car is in better shape though. I would take her to the local SCCA circuit right now but she won't pass inspection at the moment with the worn suspension parts.
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I'd like to get mine in shape to do a little autocrossing this summer. Get a turbo 2.3 in it, 5 speed, 8.8 rear end and put some new shocks in. For now I just go out on random woods and mountain roads - it corners amazingly considering it's an old economy car with blown out shocks and worn bushings. Mountain passes with old cars and CB radios are a blast.
I've got a lot more planned down the road as I get money and get better at welding...
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Our ex IMSA RS series Pinto was a killer at the local autox.
It consistantly ran with the street Vettes and ate Camaros
and Stangs on a regular basis.
I ran my GT3 Pinto at the autox a few times sorting out the suspension
and it was quick also.
For the non believers,
http://www.dixiescca.com/2002results/jan2002.htm
6th fastest raw time.
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well it certainly looks like you kept the pressure on all those other 'sports' cars. Your times looked to be quite competitive