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Old 17 Nov 2008, 21:17 (Ref:2336620)   #1
jd yort
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Grp C/Grp A – "Tricks of the Trade" (Merged)

Every now and then I read an article in a magazine or a post on here that makes reference to a “few tricks of the trade” that were used in the Grp C / Grp A days.
I have heard of race cars that had inflatable air bladders in the tanks, windscreen wiper knobs that adjusted boost and RX7’s that had mystery gears.
I would love to hear some more of these stories about “modifications” that were utilised back in the day to get that added advantage. Anyone?
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Old 17 Nov 2008, 23:38 (Ref:2336708)   #2
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Bob Jane tricks

Quote:
Originally Posted by jd yort
Every now and then I read an article in a magazine or a post on here that makes reference to a “few tricks of the trade” that were used in the Grp C / Grp A days.
I have heard of race cars that had inflatable air bladders in the tanks, windscreen wiper knobs that adjusted boost and RX7’s that had mystery gears.
I would love to hear some more of these stories about “modifications” that were utilised back in the day to get that added advantage. Anyone?
The A9X Torana run by Bob Jane & Pete Geoghegan was reputedly one of six
(6) dipped in acid bath to reduce weight. (Story in Muscle Car mag some time back)
Gave Pete his last ATCC round win at Sandown if I remember correctly - shades of Seto driving a Holden albeit 20 years earlier.

If we can get Thunder Road out from under Bobs Camaro maybe he give us the real story, or maybe his lips remain sealed. Wasnt very forthcoming on the Muscle Car story !!
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Old 18 Nov 2008, 00:38 (Ref:2336718)   #3
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I worked in the team of an aging legend for the enduros in 1990, running a very 2nd hand Sierra. Before going to scruitineering particular attention had to be made to placing ballast between the fuel bladder & the outer body of the fuel cell incase too much fuel made its way into the tank.

The co driver also made reference to a small Japanese car that he bought to run in sports sedan saying the fuel tank was 20 ltrs larger than Grp C specs allowed for that car.

David
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Old 18 Nov 2008, 01:15 (Ref:2336730)   #4
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Great post, I love stuff like this. Although it still happens (ballast plates), the stuff they got away with back then was fantastic. F1 is full of this stuff, but it would be interesting to hear more about Group C/A.
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Old 18 Nov 2008, 01:16 (Ref:2336732)   #5
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Harry Firth tells of the aluminium body parts made for a Le Mans Torana that never made it. Thing is that a few sets of panels went through the presses at Fisherman's Bend and they made it onto some race cars. Harry was quick to point-out that none of them went on the factory cars of course!
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Old 18 Nov 2008, 01:20 (Ref:2336734)   #6
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To name a couple from overseas;
The top 6 BMW's with the lightweight panels which gave Moff & Harves the WTCC round win at Monza.
The non standard panels on the Sierra's at Bathurst giving Brock his last win
I heard the factory Volvo's ran an extra forward gear where reverse should've been.
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Old 18 Nov 2008, 02:37 (Ref:2336753)   #7
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One that I've from time to time is the old Halon fire bomb mounted in front of the intercooler. Was used a lot at the start of Conrod to get the extra grunt and speed. Drive would just set the fire bomb off inside via the regular switch.
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Old 18 Nov 2008, 03:49 (Ref:2336767)   #8
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A lot of this stuff went on Europe during Group C/A. Teams/manufacturers knew that the others had 'various modifications' but they themselves were doing the same thing!! I have heard about the 'windscreen wiper knob used to turn up the boost trick' but I can't remember who they were talking about, hopefully someone on here does.
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Old 18 Nov 2008, 04:16 (Ref:2336775)   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by PVDA
The non standard panels on the Sierra's at Bathurst giving Brock his last win
.
Hi.
With the eggenberger sierra`s in `87 , i read somewhere that when they went to calder the weekend after bathurst that they were still in the same trim as raced at bathurst,was anything said/done to the cars at calder or was it only bathurst ?...
Thanks...
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Old 18 Nov 2008, 04:19 (Ref:2336776)   #10
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Originally Posted by rich07
I have heard about the 'windscreen wiper knob used to turn up the boost trick' but I can't remember who they were talking about, hopefully someone on here does.
Hi.
I might be wrong but i`m pretty sure that i read (it may have been on here ) that Peter Brock was the one done for the windscreen wiper knob/boost control..

Thanks...
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Old 18 Nov 2008, 04:25 (Ref:2336777)   #11
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You werent allowed to lean on the Swiss Sierras either, for fear of denting the roof.

People wondered how Moff ran bigger rubber on the back of his coupes than anyone else. Apparently he pumped up the petrol tank untill they popped which narrowed the tank & then used a combination of the genuine inner rear guard panels swapped left front halve to right rear & vice versa, which gave him a mini tubbed rear area & didnt break the rules as no metal had been cut or added & used genuine parts.

David
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Old 18 Nov 2008, 05:47 (Ref:2336783)   #12
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Some of the VL commodores had the headlights mounted very low so there was a gap big enough to put your hand between the top of the headlight and the nosecone, presumably to get more airflow into the engine compartment, I remember being at the Sydney Motor Show looking at the Grice/Percy car which had just won Bathurst. I pointed this out to a friend and when Win Percy who was on the stand saw us discussing it, he looked up and walked away.
Then of course there was the Masterton Falcon where a part of the centre section of the front bumper was hinged to let more air past at speed.
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Old 18 Nov 2008, 06:07 (Ref:2336785)   #13
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The championship winning Shell Falcons of Johnson and Bowe had bonnets that were one inch shorter than standard to allow for better airflow into the engine's intake.

The results stood that year although DJR were forced to run the normal length bonnets once the irregularity was discovered.
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Old 18 Nov 2008, 06:19 (Ref:2336788)   #14
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 2lt SuperTourer
Hi.
With the eggenberger sierra`s in `87 , i read somewhere that when they went to calder the weekend after bathurst that they were still in the same trim as raced at bathurst,was anything said/done to the cars at calder or was it only bathurst ?...
Thanks...
They presumebly ran the cars in similiar spec from the RS500's debut at Brno, then Silverstone, Bathurst, Calder & Wellington, the FISA ruling that they were illegal was only handed down on the Friday of the final round at Mt Fuji
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Old 18 Nov 2008, 07:09 (Ref:2336794)   #15
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Quote:
Originally Posted by david5
You werent allowed to lean on the Swiss Sierras either, for fear of denting the roof.

People wondered how Moff ran bigger rubber on the back of his coupes than anyone else. Apparently he pumped up the petrol tank untill they popped which narrowed the tank & then used a combination of the genuine inner rear guard panels swapped left front halve to right rear & vice versa, which gave him a mini tubbed rear area & didnt break the rules as no metal had been cut or added & used genuine parts.

David
Probably the same way in which Bathurst winning Commodores ran wider rubber than other Commodore teams who found it impossible to fit the same size rubber under the guards.

Fred Gibson, in recent interviews, has been very open on the fact that the Nissan Bluebirds were less than legal.
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Old 18 Nov 2008, 09:02 (Ref:2336836)   #16
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SSbaby
The championship winning Shell Falcons of Johnson and Bowe had bonnets that were one inch shorter than standard to allow for better airflow into the engine's intake.

The results stood that year although DJR were forced to run the normal length bonnets once the irregularity was discovered.
In 96 it came to light that a number of Ford (and possibly Holden) teams were running lighter than normal body and window panels. Think it all came to light when during a startline start at Waneroo when Bowe was pushed into Wayne Gardner and eyebrows were raised at the ease with which it gave way. Again no one was penalised, but all cars were rectified from the next round.
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Old 19 Nov 2008, 01:31 (Ref:2337352)   #17
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Think this one was production racing based but there have been stories of cars being able to adjust the rev limit by changing the radio station on the stereo........
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Old 19 Nov 2008, 02:06 (Ref:2337372)   #18
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Sorry to be a bit off thread, but this is a great article about cheating in NASCAR in the early days.....the king of reading between the lines in the rule book was the late Smokey Yunick.

A good laugh! http://www.circletrack.com/ultimater...ick/index.html
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Old 19 Nov 2008, 03:08 (Ref:2337383)   #19
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Quote:
Originally Posted by anthony81901
In 96 it came to light that a number of Ford (and possibly Holden) teams were running lighter than normal body and window panels. Think it all came to light when during a startline start at Waneroo when Bowe was pushed into Wayne Gardner and eyebrows were raised at the ease with which it gave way. Again no one was penalised, but all cars were rectified from the next round.
Yes, that was Wanneroo in 1995 at the start of the Peter Jackson Dash.

The story is outlined in the 1995 edition of The Great Race. The story goes that the category scrutineer was at one of the major Ford team workshops when he noticed that all the new body panels had 'do not lean here' (or words to that effect) tags on them. Panels that had come straight from the factory... A panelbeater by trade, the scrutineer knew that something wasn't right.

After some investigation, it was found that Ford had been producing special thinner-gauge glass, panels, and - gasp! - bodyshells since the inception of the category. This meant that every Ford Falcon racecar built for the category using a Ford Motorsport bodyshell (which was all of them except Garry Willmington's, who had built his from a road car) was technically illegal! And this was only weeks before Bathurst!

(As an aside, Holden admitted to doing much the same thing, but had allegedly stopped the practice before Ford's indiscretions came to light.)

The reason for this was to get the Falcon - a heavier car than the Commodore - down to the minimum weight. The solution was to make the illegal cars carry ballast whilst letting them continue competing, as banning them this close to the biggest race of the year would have been disasterous for Ford, Holden, the category, and the entire event.

It makes you think about some of the early-build Falcons that were written off in accidents over the years, particularly Johnson's car at Bathurst in '93.

Last edited by William Dale Jr; 19 Nov 2008 at 03:13.
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Old 19 Nov 2008, 21:24 (Ref:2337915)   #20
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Denosaur
One that I've from time to time is the old Halon fire bomb mounted in front of the intercooler. Was used a lot at the start of Conrod to get the extra grunt and speed. Drive would just set the fire bomb off inside via the regular switch.
Now we know why the hole in the Ozone Layer is so big

Slightly off topic (not Grp A/C) but a Stewards finding was left posted on the notice board at Bathurst for nearly 2 years that found a Mustang was fitted with an illegal brake bias control set up to look like the ciggie lighter on the dash.

Another old trick with the Group E VL turbo Commodores was to fit a resistor in line with one of the sensor wires hidden in the wiring loom it had the effect of increasing the turbo boost
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Old 20 Nov 2008, 00:46 (Ref:2338066)   #21
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Didn't Larry have brake lights that will go on a little after he applied the middle pedal, to try and suck people behind him into going a little deep under brakes?
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Old 20 Nov 2008, 01:17 (Ref:2338070)   #22
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Didn't help him when the flaggies worked out he was using them as his turn in marker for Dandy Rd several years ago so they moved the point closer to the corner mid session and he ended up in the gravel trap
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Old 20 Nov 2008, 10:14 (Ref:2338216)   #23
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Originally Posted by cavvy
The A9X Torana run by Bob Jane & Pete Geoghegan was reputedly one of six
(6) dipped in acid bath to reduce weight. (Story in Muscle Car mag some time back)
Gave Pete his last ATCC round win at Sandown if I remember correctly - shades of Seto driving a Holden albeit 20 years earlier.

If we can get Thunder Road out from under Bobs Camaro maybe he give us the real story, or maybe his lips remain sealed. Wasnt very forthcoming on the Muscle Car story !!
Teams have been acid dipping race car shells for ages.. Its not illegal.. It was normally done when a doner car/shell was used which had previously been painted primed etc.. I have not had a lot of saloon car experience, but would think "lightening" a shell would loose rigidty and adversely affect handling? I know rollover structures are now very extensive, but surely the shell still has some input into its integrity?
Don't agree with cheating, but do think that ingenuity is great as per the moffat story, pumping up fuel tank to fit wider tyres.
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Old 20 Nov 2008, 11:17 (Ref:2338244)   #24
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Wasn't that why Mick Webb used to get in Moff's mazda at the end of every race win - to disconnect all the illegal stuff?????
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Old 20 Nov 2008, 11:24 (Ref:2338252)   #25
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i recon that this is the best thread ever on 10tenths... keep em coming!
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