Scuderia Shitbox 2013 - Mario Speedwagon III

[Sheldon McIntosh]

After a false start with an Alfasud (please don't anyone mention it again, it still brings tears to my eyes to even think about it, and I wish I was joking), Scuderia Shitbox is ready to embark on it's third Shitbox rally.

Sometime in the last few months this pretty nice 90 followed me home, and after a bit of thought I realised that it could definitely become MARIO SPEEDWAGON THE THIRD!!!!!

It's a good standard 90 Super which had a fair bit of work done to it by the previous-previous owner (some of you may remember Typhoon90 from this forum a couple of years ago).  It was rusty when he got it, but he did a fair bit of bodywork and painting, so it looks pretty good from about 3 metres away.  The closer you get, the more you realise just how bad it must have been, and how it was so lucky to dodge a bullet.  I've spent about a week just trying to stop water leaks into the boot, but more on that later.....

Pretty much everything works on the car.  It had a speedo which read at half-speed, but I've changed that for a good one, which also reduced the total mileage by about 100,000km, which is nice.  I still need to get all the windows working, fix the handbrake, de-tension the timing belt, and no-doubt a few other things, but it's looking like a pretty good car at this stage.  Plus, the previous owner took it a few thousand kms through the outback last year, with only a few problems, so it's a proven performer.

It's going to have to work hard for it's living though.  It's just got through being on display at Spettacolo in the 'Bertone Walk' (a rigour it passed with flying colours I might add), and then Evan and myself are planning on flogging it to within an inch of it's life around Winton on Dec 2nd.  After that it will get it's rally makeover, with rally tyres and a huge bashplate, and some sort of protection for the fuel-pump.  After that, even God may not protect this car, because after the fun we had last year I'm not planning on lifting my foot off the throttle-stop between Adelaide and Fremantle (I might stop for a minute to look at Uluru though).  I even have a spare 3-litre just sitting around doing nothing which I'm very tempted to put in.......

Feel free to donate anything you can spare at http://fundraise.shitboxrally.com.au/scuderia_shitbox_8

[MD]

The first thing I broke half an hour after I bought a used 90 was the donuts....you might want to take some spares or fit new ones before you go.

[alfagtv58]

It's still got the briefcase!!

[Sheldon McIntosh]

It's still got the briefcase!!

That is my super-duper special-occasion extra-special original-condition briefcase which I put in the car just for this special occasion.  That won't be going on the rally, it's worth more than the car!!

Got some time to work on the car this week.  Put on the necessary extras for the track day next week, a SBRS (Supplementary Bonnet Restraint System), and a fire extinguisher.  Also had a chance to get underneath and re-attach the handbrake cable, and have a look around under there for the first time. Looks pretty good actually.  Rear and mid donuts are fine, it has pretty new rotors, koni reds, wrapped exhaust near the calipers, and poly bushings on the sway-bar.  I'll jack up the front over the weekend to have a look at that, but not expecting anything nasty.  Also note the cooling fins on the gearbox have already been knocked off, so that's one less thing to worry about when this car next goes through the outback.

Unfortunately, it has a shot rear wheel bearing, so that will keep me busy for a while on Monday.  I'm hoping there are no other surprises I find over the weekend.  Wish me luck...

[Sheldon McIntosh]

A couple of pics of Evan enjoying the benefits of transaxle grip and standard suspension 90 roll.  A great day had by all at Winton today.

[Neil Choi]

Sheldon, how much donation did you collect, was it $10-20 from each driver you passed with the Shitbox.  I counted at least a few.  Good stuff.

[AikenDrum105]

Sheldon let me past,  but that cost extra....

[Sheldon McIntosh]

Sheldon, how much donation did you collect, was it $10-20 from each driver you passed with the Shitbox.  I counted at least a few.  Good stuff.

I'm kinda going on the honour system.  I think anyone that got passed by a $750 standard 25 year old shitbox Alfa deserves to donate to the cause.  You all know who you are, don't make me name names.......

Donate here......   http://fundraise.shitboxrally.com.au/scuderia_shitbox_8

Here's some video evidence of a couple of passes. 

Mario III dies after a few laps due to an embarrassing self-imposed ignition problem, but I was having great fun before that, I think I got my fastest time in this session.  With the roly-poly suspension and an open diff, Evan and I both came to the conclusion that 3rd gear was the best option on the slower corners, and even then it was spinning up the inside rear.  So we literally could have done the entire track in 3rd gear, I reckon we would have just been hitting the limiter in third at the braking point on the main straight.  As it was we were both changing up to 4th at about 6000 down the straight, making it a two-gearchange track.  Fantastic!!

[Frank Musco]

Nice Work. Cool third gear action. Especially the dive down the inside to take the mx-5, awesome man.

[Sheldon McIntosh]

Gotta kill this thread.  Stu can't do the Shitbox Rally next year, so I'm taking his place in the Fat Boy Racing 90; luckily we won't have to change the name of the team.  http://www.alfaclubvic.org.au/forum/index.php?topic=9758.0

This white 90 will become my weekend weapon, and it will be designed to show a few GTV6 owners what's what, as they understeer wide.....

Stay posted, I'll start a thread on the development of this white 90.