156 sprinting/racing

[hammer]

Anyone out there in 932 land sprinting or racing a 156? A couple of us up here have been tossing around the idea of buying a cheap 156, stripping it out, caging it up, throwing on some semis and punting it about the racetracks of southeast Qld. Just the seed of an idea at present but I'd love to hear feedback (good or bad) from anyone who's using a 156 or 147 as a track car.

One thing we're keen to find out is how they go with oil surge, running a standard sump. One club member up here killed the twinspark engine in his 932 GTV doing a regularity at Qld Raceway. Anyone else had or heard of this being a problem with these engines?

Cheers, Brent

[Neil Choi]

Brent,

Down here in Mexico land, we have been trying to rev up anyone to start punting 932's and the likes.  They are cheap enough.

http://www.alfaclubvic.org.au/forum/index.php?topic=9977.0

At the moment, Bix (Paul Bischel) and another Paul have 156TS sprinting.  One is coming out next Sunday at Broadford.

Lots of youtube from the UK racing modern FWD Alfa's.

I see these as our life blood to competition driving, in a kind of a way. 

Neil

[hammer]

Niel,

Thanks for the link mate. I recall reading this thread as it unfolded. Hopefully more of your fellow Mexicans will take up the 932 challenge next year. Good on the blokes called Paul for kicking things off.

Our competition secretary, Mark Jackson and i agree that these 932 cars are the immediate futures of our club competitions. While there will always be a place for historic racing (and I'm keen to have a crack at that too at some point), the 105s and Alfetta GTVs will become rarer and more expensive to prepare and repair over the next couple of decades.

Fingers crossed those Veloce rules evolve pretty quickly to allow modification of 932 series engines. Making a 2 litre 156 run a stock engine with a minimum weight of 1045kg (CAMS 3J specs) is certainly dishing up a healthy handicap in comparison to the current crop of VRA racers. Probably good parity in these rules for 147 GTAs and Alfa GTs though.

Anyway, if anyone has tips on suspension tuning or anything else handy for sprinting and racing 932 series cars, please feel free to post them.

That UK comp is certainly an inspiration, with its various modification levels etc.

Cheers,

Brent

[colcol]

The encouragement of people racing the 932 series cars, 147 & 156 is a good thing, as not mentioned they would be a pretty good thing in an accident, with higher crash rating standards and less rust than the old school Alfa Romeo's currently running, and there are a lot being wrecked at the moment, so you have a good source for spare parts, Colin.

[Meng]

Should ask Paul, as he races a twinnie 156.

[hammer]

Sent him a PM last week. I'm sure he'll get back to me when he has time.

cheers,

Brent

[bix]

Yes sorry fellas, I've been away from my computer for errr a few months, minding kids and generally working like a dog.

I'm keen to get the interest happening again on the 932 series cup and was just refreshing my little flyer/handout for Spettacolo to try and drum up some punters who want to thrash around a cheap honest twinny for good fun. I've been running my 156 for the past couple of years at sprint events and have never had any issues with the dreaded oil surge. I do ensure that the oil is at max level though - one guy at the club was running his GTA with low oil at PI a couple of years ago and did a number 6 bearing which ended up requiring an expensive rebuild.