Lakeside that Sunday

[Craig_m67]

Mr Finn(4) and I went to Brisbane's Lakeside on the weekend to watch the Alfas and others race around. Fantastic. We've been three times now, he loves it and insists that we rebuild the red Alfa ('66 Duetto) as a race car .. It occurs to me, whilst perhaps significant scope creep from the original presentable daily driver requirement, that it's a bloody great idea.. sounds fun (obviously) and why the he'll not (oh to be four again).

Having absolutely no idea about these things apart from 12 (15-20 )minutes experience gained from a single lap of nurburgring in a diesel 156SW, it occurs to me that these events are no doubt rigorously defined by CAMS. 

What's actually needed (or banned) to allow a Duetto to run on the odd weekend.. ie. can I use the 75twinspark with ITBs as planned (in the shed) or do i have stay original carbed singleplug head.. What roll bar/cages are required/mandatory.. Can they bolt in/out for daily driver duties?  What do I need to consider/think about?

I appreciate these are general questions..and I could probably google up copious detail.. Im just looking for an overview.  Our (Finns by the time it's finished) car is undergoing a complete resto, so I'm interested in what changes I can and cant make.  Would hate to do something that excludes a hot lap later.

Couple of our pics from last weekend. 

I'm really interested in the blue GTV.  Does anybody know the owner and/or what the colour is??  I'm hoping it's AR349 pervincia/periwinkle blu.. as the red Alfa is not going back to AR514  (sorry),

Cheers

[Darryl]

Craig,
Obviously the racers here can provide more detail, but basically it is open how far you go with mods etc in club racing - you need to meet the safety regs but don't need to make it fit in some set of CAMS class rules re level of modification etc. Did you take a look at the race cars in the pits? A fair range of modifications or lack thereof. But for occasional weekend sprints/regularity in a road registered car all you absolutely need to do is bolt in a fire extinguisher. Beyond that is up to you - more to worry about in keeping it street legal than track legal. Of course you will probably want to address the safety side out of some sense of self preservation (fit at least some rollover protection - actually not sure what the rules are re open topped cars?).

Has Mr Finn considered modifying it something like this- though it might struggle a bit after turn one as you can only use the parachute once per run

[hammer]

Craig,

We have the final sprint of the 2011 Alfa competition calendar taking place at Qld Raceway (Champions Way, Willowbank) on Saturday, December 3. Come out and have a chat face to face with comp secretary Ken Percival and seasoned 105 campaigner Doug Stonehouse. There's not much those boys don't know about preparing a 1050-based Alfa for regularity, sprints or even racing.

Both Lakeside and Qld Raceway are governed by the rules and insurance policy of the Australian Auto Sport Alliance, rather than CAMS. However, the AASA rules are not very clearly defined so it is often best to follow CAMS policy when prepping a car to make sure you are covered at all tracks in Australia. Darryl is right in saying that for a regularity or a sprint at QR or Lakeside, all you need to do is make sure you car is in tip top, roadworthy mechanical order and bolt in fire extinguisher. I would certainly go a bit further with a Spider and add a bolt-in roll-over protection structure. Give Bond Roll Bars in Sydney a call if you want to price a bolt in cage.

When you're refurbishing the spider you'll also want to keep the end purpose in mind and build the suspension a bit firmer than stock, add in some quality shock absorbers, poly bushes, quality brake pads and high boiling point brake fluid.

Anyway, I'm only a rank amateur myself, so have a chat with Dougie and Ken and they'll impart the necessary wisdom.

Cheers,

Brent