The "I can't believe they raced it!" Thread.

[adam46]

I think Snetterton has a famous 2CV race.

Indeed. It briefly moved to Anglesey in the mid-2010s, but it's back at Snetterton. These days, we also have endurance races for Ford KAs and Citroen C1s...

 

[Tornado]

Watching 90s BRDC races on YouTube, I'm fascinated by how you have the latest race cars built on the Venturi 400GT, Lotus Esprit, Ferrari 348, Porsche 911, Honda NSX, TVR Cerbera and the newly refreshed De Tomaso Pantera 200 and even the XJ220; plus a smattering of leftover Sierra RS500s, Escort RS Cosworths and Porsche 935s.




And then you have some guy who stuck a supercharger his pre-964 911 and won one of the races, and some guy who entered a Morgan with a wing on it when it ended up pouring out, and some guys who brought GT40 and 427 Cobra replicas, and a bunch of British kit car manufacturers. It's like a professionally sanctioned 700 PI race.

 

[05XR8]

Came across this Maverick, while looking for Ford race cars in Brasil.

 

[Tornado]

Greenwood C4 Corvettes, FD3S RX-7s, Z32 300ZXs, E34 5-series and an SVT Cobra all sound like great cars for a sorta stock-ish sports car racing series.





So who was the insane person who thought about making them drive up Pikes Peak in one of the nastiest weather years of the event when it was still a rally; where they all get their asses kicked by what looked an awful lot like a stock Dodge Stealth.

 

[RACECAR]

Greenwood C4 Corvettes, FD3S RX-7s, Z32 300ZXs, E34 5-series and an SVT Cobra all sound like great cars for a sorta stock-ish sports car racing series.





So who was the insane person who thought about making them drive up Pikes Peak in one of the nastiest weather years of the event when it was still a rally; where they all get their asses kicked by what looked an awful lot like a stock Dodge Stealth.

Why does it not surprise me to see "IMSA" and "90s" attached to this masterpiece of insanity?

 

[Roger the Horse]

Wasn't Pikes Peak on the Champ Car calendar until the 70s?

 

[Liquid]

Wasn't Pikes Peak on the Champ Car calendar until the 70s?

As a time trial? That would be brilliant to see.

 

[AMPMROCKETFANN]

Wasn't Pikes Peak on the Champ Car calendar until the 70s?

I think that was the oval

 

[Roger the Horse]

 

[Zychotic1]

not sure if it was an official CHAMP car event, but it was hosted by usac and therefore all usac drivers and teams were invited, and many did the "Climb Dance"

 

[Liquid]

What a deathtrap!

Awesome.

 

[Wiegert]

1995's open wheel class also had David Donner using a modified 1991 Lola that was later reverted to track-spec for use as a USAC test car in '96 (and swiftly destroyed at Indy that year)

 

[MaxAttack]

Greenwood C4 Corvettes, FD3S RX-7s, Z32 300ZXs, E34 5-series and an SVT Cobra all sound like great cars for a sorta stock-ish sports car racing series.





So who was the insane person who thought about making them drive up Pikes Peak in one of the nastiest weather years of the event when it was still a rally; where they all get their asses kicked by what looked an awful lot like a stock Dodge Stealth.

This was hilarious - that guy tryna shout his unwilling car up the mountain, the Stealth looks so slow on its way up but man, that poor Corvette is screaming its head off and getting nowhere!

 

[Arkseven]

Came across this Maverick, while looking for Ford race cars in Brasil.
View attachment 919474

The "Maveco" was very famous around here.
Maverick, Opalas and Omegas were all popular choices for the teams. In fact, Chevrolet cars have always been in the grid. After the Omega, teams started to using Vectras, Astras, Sonics and Cruzes. But still, in my opinion, both Vectra and Mitsubishi Lancer were the most beautiful cars to race here.

And they're still racing!

 

[Downhill Dino]

What's the car in the back of the first picture? Any more of it? If you named it I still have no idea.

 

[AMPMROCKETFANN]

Greenwood C4 Corvettes, FD3S RX-7s, Z32 300ZXs, E34 5-series and an SVT Cobra all sound like great cars for a sorta stock-ish sports car racing series.





So who was the insane person who thought about making them drive up Pikes Peak in one of the nastiest weather years of the event when it was still a rally; where they all get their asses kicked by what looked an awful lot like a stock Dodge Stealth.

1. I don't think that's a stock Dodge Stealth. 2. I wanna do this in GT Sport so bad. RWD cars on dirt is awesome

 

[GranTurNismo]

1994 Lancia 037 JGTC. The 037 was never planned to race on a circuit, but it was a decision to be held 8 years after Group B was banned by Rosso Competition Racing. Rosso entered this 037 in 1994 in the 3rd round of the JGTC at the Fuji Special Cup and it’d be the only race it finished. Driven by Naohiro Furaya, the 037 was able to make a half decent result of 12th on its debut finishing in front of the 2 back-running Skylines, plenty of DNF’s and unreliability circumstances meant for a better result. What you could really tell is the 037 was definitely not meant for the track, it finished 7 laps behind the winning 962. It would then be entered into the 1000km of Suzuka but failed to qualify in both heats, after that it was never seen in JGTC again. According to records it was down at an event in Alastaro where it was meant to face off against the likes of F40s, Camaros and a few Audis including a 90 Quattro which came in 1st. Overall, the decision to bring in an 037 to JGTC wasn’t too good of an idea, but it’s something unique and that’s what makes it special. This 037 was like any other 037 which competed in Group B; it had a Lampredi 2.0L supercharged inline 4 engine which was twinned to a 5-speed manual gearbox where it produced 325hp. The chassis was made with Polyester resin with glass fibre and flame retardant. Wheels were independent running 2 wishbones having coil springs and anti roll bars, it would overall weigh 950kg.

 

[AMPMROCKETFANN]

1994 Lancia 037 JGTC. The 037 was never planned to race on a circuit, but it was a decision to be held 8 years after Group B was banned by Rosso Competition Racing. Rosso entered this 037 in 1994 in the 3rd round of the JGTC at the Fuji Special Cup and it’d be the only race it finished. Driven by Naohiro Furaya, the 037 was able to make a half decent result of 12th on its debut finishing in front of the 2 back-running Skylines, plenty of DNF’s and unreliability circumstances meant for a better result. What you could really tell is the 037 was definitely not meant for the track, it finished 7 laps behind the winning 962. It would then be entered into the 1000km of Suzuka but failed to qualify in both heats, after that it was never seen in JGTC again. According to records it was down at an event in Alastaro where it was meant to face off against the likes of F40s, Camaros and a few Audis including a 90 Quattro which came in 1st. Overall, the decision to bring in an 037 to JGTC wasn’t too good of an idea, but it’s something unique and that’s what makes it special. This 037 was like any other 037 which competed in Group B; it had a Lampredi 2.0L supercharged inline 4 engine which was twinned to a 5-speed manual gearbox where it produced 325hp. The chassis was made with Polyester resin with glass fibre and flame retardant. Wheels were independent running 2 wishbones having coil springs and anti roll bars, it would overall weigh 950kg.

View attachment 925540

View attachment 925544

View attachment 925545

View attachment 925546

Sense made: none

 

[Liquid]

I have a dumb question. What's with the red tape on the headlights?

 

[Jimlaad43]

I have a dumb question. What's with the red tape on the headlights?

Usually, tape on headlights is used to hold the glass on if it shatters in a crash, rather than being spread everywhere.

 

[AMPMROCKETFANN]

Somewhat related, but has anyone actually tracked down a pic of the supposed JGTC Camaro mentioned above?

 

[Liquid]

Somewhat related, but has anyone actually tracked down a pic of the supposed JGTC Camaro mentioned above?

LMGTFY: Chevrolet Camaro JGTC

Chevrolet's best-selling Camaro that appeared in Round 4 Fuji in 1997.
This car was run in Yokohama by Advanced Auto, which handles tuning and maintenance mainly for American cars.

Masato Yamamoto, a famous tuner of the shop, also serves as a driver, and Suski Racing is in charge of maintenance.

This is an IMSA specification machine with a cowl on the pipe frame chassis, equipped with a 5.9-liter American V8 engine of 350 at the front.

Originally, the engine generated 530 horsepower, but it seems that the restrictor reduced the power to about 400 horsepower.

Advance Auto also serves as a technical adviser for the Corvette GT3, which will enter the race later. ?

Driver: Masato Yamamoto, Katsuhiko Okamoto (1997)

 

[Tornado]

The first round of the 1994 JGTC season also used a Camaro as a pace car, of all things

 

[Arkseven]

What's the car in the back of the first picture? Any more of it? If you named it I still have no idea.

Which one?
Unfortunately, i can't find any more info about that photo. All i know is that it was taken during Interlagos 1000 miles race.

Right of the bat, two easy cars to identify: Porsche and BMW. In the middle, there's two Chevrolet Opala. The last car, well, don't quote me on that, but it seems to be a heavily modified Chevrolet Omega.

 

[Downhill Dino]

@Arkseven This one:

Looks really cool. I'm not familiar with Omegas and how that is one cause it does look extreme.

 

[AMPMROCKETFANN]

The first round of the 1994 JGTC season also used a Camaro as a pace car, of all things

View attachment 925866

This is both cool, and kinda funny considering basically the only way to get a Camaro over there at the time is to import one from the USA

LMGTFY: Chevrolet Camart JGTC

I didn't see a converted Trans Am car coming. I thought for sure it would be a Japan made tube frame chassis car with a GM crate engine. Also it looks like the one that ended up in Europe as a hillclimb racer

 

[GTveteran]

LMGTFY: Chevrolet Camaro JGTC

That pic must have been taken in at least 2001 if not later. The NSX behind appears to be the #18 Takata Dome from 2000 or 2001. Might have been a demonstration race at a much later date??

It certainly isn't listed on any of the entry lists for 2000/2001.

 

[Tornado]

Group B cars. Any of them. Watching rallies of them for the past month, I can't believe that there weren't even more accidents with them even sooner; and that there was a proposed class that was to replace them that was even faster. Even in tarmac rallies they appear to handle atrociously, with all but the big Audis and the 037 darting around at the slightest turn of the wheel.



The completely blase attitude the event organizers have when interviewed about that very thing before and after events (even ones where there were accidents) when the cars look like they are barely controllable even at low speeds is pretty shocking too.

 

[Liquid]

Rallying in general is still a complete WTF for me. Threading rope through the eye of a needle.

And Group B was just unbelievable.

 

[Downhill Dino]

Group B is one of the only things I wish I was old enough to see in its prime.