Vintage Racing British Cars

[Mini Cooper S]

I see that there are no threads in this category, so let me be the first. As I said in my introductory post, I am into British cars and along with my son ( Daniel ) and a good friend of ours ( Allen ) we have been Vintage racing a 1971 Triumph TR6 ( our friend's car ), a 1961 Mini Cooper ( my son's car ) for 20 years.

Our friend bought the TR6 as a very ugly poorly prepared car and we spent the first 5 years of racing getting the car to be fast and reliable, but it was still ugly. We then did a multi year frame off restoration on the car and cured it's ugliness! Since then we have worked on additional modifications to improve the car. I do the design work, machining and some fabrication, Daniel does most of the fabrication work and builds the engines and gearboxes, Allen brings the artistic eye and planning as well as helping a lot with the wrench turning.

My son, during this time, converted his bone stock Mini into a bone stock race car and started vintage racing also. ( He started racing when he was a senior in high school back in 2001 ) He then proceeded to build the Mini into a very competitive car and was able to achieve several “first in class” finishes. By the way, Allen has also been able to achieve several “first in class” finishes.

Daniel has since acquired a 1969 Triumph GT6 Vintage racer and is rebuilding it to be fast and reliable also. The GT6 should be ready for the track this May so that will be a whole new adventure for us as the GT6 and the TR6 run in the same group so for the first time Daniel and Allen will be racing each other!

The reason that Daniel and Allen can afford to race is that we do most of the work ourselves, everything except engine machining and paint. If there is anyway that we can make the part we need, we make it instead of buy it.

Among the many components that we have designed and built are:

1. Carburetor inserts
   
2. Fluid catch tanks
   
3. Cold air induction box
   
4. Windshield
   
5. Front air dam and brake air duct scoops
   
6. Seat mounts
   
7. Rear oil seal plate
   
8. Master cylinder mounting plate
   
9. Starter mounting plate
   
10. Pulleys
    
11. Cooling system filling point

Sorry for the long post but racing season is coming much too slowly, Here are some pictures.

Richard


Allen's TR6 and Daniel's GT6

Daniel racing Allen's TR6 at Blackhawk Farms Raceway

Allen, turn 13 at Road America

Modifying a GT6 rear upright to take a stronger spindle.....a safety improvment.


Fabricated cold air box with velocity stacks.


CNCing a starter mounting plate for the GT6
Carburetor sleeves for the TR6 ( These sit under the velocity stacks )

 

[middle.road]

I have always had a fondness for Triumphs - TRs & Spitfires, MGs, and even the vintage Fiat Spiders.
When I was a sophomore in HS a friend of my Father's offered me an MGB roadster that was a true 'basket-case'.
He had bought a batch of MGs from an estate and the PO had started a V6 conversion on it.
The pieces and parts were literally in wicker baskets.
$250.00 in the mid '70s! Dad said no.
In retrospect, I can only imagine what a money pit that would have been.

 

[Mini Cooper S]

I have always had a fondness for Triumphs - TRs & Spitfires, MGs, and even the vintage Fiat Spiders.
When I was a sophomore in HS a friend of my Father's offered me an MGB roadster that was a true 'basket-case'.
He had bought a batch of MGs from an estate and the PO had started a V6 conversion on it.
The pieces and parts were literally in wicker baskets.
$250.00 in the mid '70s! Dad said no.
In retrospect, I can only imagine what a money pit that would have been.

What can I say...it's a sickness!

 

[middle.road]

What can I say...it's a sickness!

Yeah, but just looking at the first three pictures in your post explains it.

 

[C-Bag]

I have always had a fondness for Triumphs - TRs & Spitfires, MGs, and even the vintage Fiat Spiders.
When I was a sophomore in HS a friend of my Father's offered me an MGB roadster that was a true 'basket-case'.
He had bought a batch of MGs from an estate and the PO had started a V6 conversion on it.
The pieces and parts were literally in wicker baskets.
$250.00 in the mid '70s! Dad said no.
In retrospect, I can only imagine what a money pit that would have been.

So funny....ditto...especially the comment about money pit. Almost bought an Austin America because a friend had one until he popped the clutch and broke a tie rod I was in love with the look of the Spitfire and forgot all about the GT6, man that thing is beautiful. My dad was also co conspirator in my first car and his mechanic was the one who talked him out of English cars. My first car was a '57 Karman Ghia, wish I still had that.

I hope you don't mind me asking Mini Cooper S, but you mention how you made both cars reliable, how did you do that?

 

[BROCKWOOD]

Looks like fun! We have raced SCCA Solo events & aspire to build a car for that purpose. A friend in the D/FW area races a Spitfire in SCCA. Closer to home, a friend races a 510. I am happy to announce he pulled out of this with the car unharmed.

 

[Mini Cooper S]

I hope you don't mind me asking Mini Cooper S, but you mention how you made both cars reliable, how did you do that?

When I say “make it reliable” in reference to a race car, I'm referring to the ability of the car to run eight to ten, 20 minute sessions practicing, qualifying, and racing during a race weekend. All that without having to be towed back to the paddock and being able to drive into the trailer at the end of the weekend. The cars do get a lot of maintenance between races.

When we started developing the TR6, the first thing we did was build an engine to develop more power, this is an on going effort. (From 100 BHP stock, now up to approximately 280 BHP) That made the car faster but we had overheating problems, so we improved the cooling system! ( Better radiator and improved ducting). The clutch then decided that it didn't like that horse power, so it failed. After up grading the clutch and adding the front air dam to improve high speed performance, the brakes overheated, that was an exciting session! We then added cooling ducts and ceramic coatings to the some of the brake parts.

Next came the gearbox, it also didn't play well with that much horse power, Triumph never designed it for that. Back in the day the factory supported racers with cheap parts, so they could replace parts before they failed. We don't have that luxury, so we went with a T5 5-speed gearbox to replace the Triumph 4-speed with overdrive. Very close to the Triumph gear ratios, so not really a performance improvement, but sure helps the reliability.

The TR6 and the GT6 use the same basic engine, so whatever works for one, works for the other. We also make some safety improvements like upgraded spindles to keep the wheels on and strengthened hubs, again to keep the wheels on.

Hope that sheds some light on making an old British car reliable on the track. If you have any more specific questions, let me know.
Richard

 

[matthewsx]

Hi,

Former Triumph TR4 and Herald owner here. I started prepping my '61 Herald for autocross then got introduced to my now good friends Dick and Rochelle Nyquist, who were campaigning a GT6 in SCCA SFR Region GT3 class. I crewed for them for a few years then was offered a '78 Honda Civic that we raced together for a while in the late 1990's. Had a great time hanging out with all the British car folks and other oddball racer types on and off the track.

Dick and Rochelle eventually retired the GT6 (which had been a racecar since the early 70's) and bought a factory prepped gen 2 Mazda RX-7 which was the best car I've ever had the pleasure of driving, at 6'3" I couldn't fit into the GT6 so never got to drive it. I had dreams of buying the Mazda from them when I got back out here to California but it burned up along with everything else they owned at their home in Sonoma a few years back. Fortunately they got out just in time, driving between walls of flame in their trusty Honda S2000 and have a new place in Santa Rosa with some new (old) French and British cars.

It's nice to see what you and your son have done with your cars, I have friends who go to the vintage races at Road America every year so maybe some time I'll get to see them in person.

Cheers,

john

 

[Dave Smith]

In my two vintage British cars I never raced them around tracks but had a ball sliding them around the mountain curvy switchbacks west of Loveland in the big Thompson canyon---I swear that the 1960 MGA couldn't tip over but could slide and make all the tires squeal--what fun but dangerous on the highway. my other British car was a 1962 Jaguar XKE coupe--(my dream car)--I didn't dare floor it in the Narrows canyon--just too much speed---I still can smell the nice leather interiors.--I also had an 850 Fiat Sport Spider and an Opel GT 1970. Dave

 

[tjb]

Oh, very nice!