When "Excessive" isn't enough... the IMSA 348

Let me lay out the playing field as I currently see it for those not following it closely. We have the following:

*Angelis (Sy) and Raj bringing the Simpson 348LM race engine back to its former glory and transplanting it in Sy's 348
*Plugzit and Vince using CPR, Botox, money and a Moose (long story) to restore the 358, bringing that back to a highly competitive condition it once was in.
*BCWright collecting parts, redesigning the wheel & building the Frankenstein 355 Spider
*FatBillyBob, grinding his teeth because his 550 is still in street trim yet is considering a 355 Spider race car effort
*Ernie.... he is being far to quite as of late which usually indicates a covert Ernie/Oz effort

We have the introduction of the 21st century version of NART.... GFRT, a Challenge series with vague (dare I say near non existent) floating rules based on bribe amounts and designed for old guys. In a class with few rules it would be wrong to imply that anyone would possibly 'cheat' but..... you know these names, I will leave that go at that. In this type of venue there is always the possibility a few minor details might get exaggerated ever so slightly and its even possible one might see a subtle jab spoken between competitors.

Being as I once saw a race car many years ago I feel the want to try to involve myself with the above group. I want to try to run with this group while holding the number of times I am lapped in a session to single digits. My problem.... I need a car that actually runs, every mechanics dream. Something near stock, something highly understated, a stealth effort if you will, the IMSA 348
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Very inconspicuous.

All the best,
Andrew.

 

I believe in flying under the radar, no one pays attention to what you are doing that way.

 

....I think I missed something dave. It seems that you posted a picture of a 'Vette, where's the 348?

 

Seeing that paint job just got me all patriotic!!

In fact I found the GFRT pit girl who will be in charge of refreshments (I can see the cooler packed full of Gerital and Red Bull now)
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Naw... Plastic and plywood would be cheating. Vette's dont have the optional Cheese Graters on them.

In the interest of playing fair and coming in under the GFRT GCR limits... I am choosing to block off the intake ports.
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The force is strong with this one.

 

There's a rule under discussion limiting all engines to 7000rpm.

 

/starts humming the Team America theme.

 

Yes but that discussion is limited to anything above 3.4 ltr or having more than 32 valves in total... we are safe.

Ernie will have a problem getting those swanky headers past the Round One. Watch for the collection plate to be passed his way.

 

Just thinkin...
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The 'Meriken flag paint threw me off...I thought for sure it was a Sting Ray.

With those phenolic blocks you'll be at 5.7 Liters in no time...

 

Naw, I'm telling tech they are restrictor plates, with a minimal bribe that should be an easy sale. Don't know how I will see anything out of the RV mirror when I am done but as the old racing adage goes... "What's behind is of no consequence"

 

Sure, absolutely..... I mean after all, who's gonna notice a 6ft x 15ft American flag whipping by at 150mph?!

Dave, I think the only place you're going to be "incognito" with that paint job is if you're parked underneath the flag pole at a Perkins

 

The IMSA car is still my favorite 348/355 ever built. The outside is just a fancy paint job. The inside you guys just have to see with your own eyes. I would love to drive that car on track one day with the qualifying engine in it but I don't think I could stomach the pricetag if I did something wrong.

 

Need a loan of finished adapters for that 355 throttle body setup you're thinkin' about?

 

its italian
needs to be painted azzurri blu
or green white and rosso

 

I think back to when we were running Production classes in SCCA... we would actually change car color by season to blend into the background, drab tan to drab green.... It would cause the lead drive to spend a lot of time looking in their mirrors to keep track of where we were as they couldn't easily see the car. We had no one writing us checks to race so no need to make them flashy, just functional. This one.... not so much a problem!!!

A different mind set. This was a NO budget collaborative effort between the Ferrari Factory and Hollywood Sports Cars and built to sneak Didier Theys into the IMSA SuperCar Series as a ringer. They needed to put their Star driver of the time out in front of all the people and keep him in the limelight while his 333SP was being finished. You would have to have a LOT of trust in your driver to put a 20K paint job on a race car! They had no intension of Theys having to fight for a corner, that's for damn sure!

 

This car, the build, the design, the engineering.... I am in full agreement with you, it is brilliant in most every respect and has some of the highest level of workmanship I have ever seen in a production car build up. This was one heck of a talented group that built this one and its quite obvious the word budget was not spoken. What I find interesting is the simularities that Sy's LM engine and this share, exact same Cosworth pistons in both.

There is ONE reason I am putting the Enduro engine together.... I want this to be a turn key, pass it around car we can run the tires off of and never have to think about it. When the 358 and the IMSA car were together out here we would run them as a pair. The 358 was just what I described above, turn the key and flog it for hours on end and it was extremely fast yet quite enjoyable. The IMSA with the Sprint engine was enough to scare the tar out of you and required exacting start up, warm up, tippy toe procedures just to get it out of the pit lane. Once on the track and the throttle was squeezed.... hell would break loose and it sounded like a swarm of mad hornets.... Blink and the shift light was on solid and bright. With those cams and that flywheel and clutch it has... the only way to get it rolling is 7K and a quick clutch release resulting in two very long black stripes. Perfect if you want to win at any cost, a trying experience if your older and just want to have a thrill but not pull the engine every 4-5 hrs run time. The Sprint engine will get boxed up and will stay with the car so the next owner has a choice in what they want to run.

I fully intend for all of us to jump in this and just run the tires off of it, that is what this is all about and this one must be experienced to fully appreciate it.

 

355? Do I need to run that small and restricted? I was eyeing the Lucas/McKay/Hilborn manifold sitting atop my BBC CanAm engine in the back room.

I guess if I must feed this engine through a straw I could use the 355 intakes but dang.... Where are all of these rules coming from? I think we need a Round Boy ruling.

Shoot me a photo of what you came up with. I was well into building a ball bearing slide valve intake but I want to try to make some torque with these wild ass cams and the ITB's would assist in that. Motorcycle parts are the cheap answer but I just cant do that to this car, once you start down that path its hard to quit.

 

A quick one for Vince just to break the monotony of engines and Motec... listen to FBB on the wing BUT remember....


When some is good..... WAY more is.... WAY MORE better! Only thing better yet is having choice's of absurd.

My painter is going to choke me when I tell him I want the flag stripes to line up.
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That 737 departng DIA bound for Cleveland later today is going to have a real tough time taking off without its starboard aileron.....I suggest you return that to where you found it
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You can't possibly generate the required downforce with those tiny things. Take a tip from the pros:
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The 348 in general is an underappreciated car, that chassis and drivetrain has a lot of ability left in it that rarely gets used.

I had the chance to work with Sheehen's "308" built for IMSA, those cars are so well designed and built it's unbelievable.

 

Now we're talking!