Racing Mirrors for Vintage Races

[Clois Harlan]

Friday I qualified 6th out of 23 for the Mid-America Shelby and Ford Performance Meet here in Tulsa. Door to door, two abreast in the corners and passing anywhere. What a kick in the pants, but I will be the first to admit that going into corners at 60 or so mph with a GT 40 behind you and other Classics all around will definitely make your butt pucker. At this race they ocassionally start everyone in reverse qualifying order... this was one of those years. Unfortunately, I lost a spark plug wire after about 7 or 8 laps so I only finished 17.

Things I will change next time:

Next time I will have a panoramic mirror so I can get a better look at who is beside me and behind me. These dinky little mirrors on our Cobras are worthless on the street and even worse in a race.
They made us run street tires so next year I will have a much better set of street tires than I do now. Buy me another fire suit (an hour or so in a black three layer fire suit is miserable).


Clois

[Morris]

Clois

I remember running down there at Hallett in July and Aug and it was 110 degrees ...... one of the toughest races I ever ran....

And you are so right the mirror is not a mirror.....

Check out pegaus for the mirrors they use on Sports 2000

Sorry to here about the spark plug wire.....

Did you have fun....

Morris

[elgecko]

Clois,
Couldn't be there this year but I AM planning vacation time for the next year.
Sounds like alot of FUN. :
I should be ready by then.
I NEED my "butt puckered".
Glad you had fun.:
Dave

[Clois Harlan]

Thanks for the tip on mirrors and I did have fun and there was plenty of competition. One of the Ford guys (Rick Titus, I think) was driving the new FORD GT at speed all three days. That is one very cool and fast car.

I was so far behind after letting everyone go by after about the 5th lap that I didn't know whether the race was still going on or not. I was afraid something else was wrong so I slowed down and got out of everyones way (quickly checked oil pressure and temp) tried to catch up but I could hardly keep the last place car in sight. I was embarased putting around in a crippled car. I will be better next time.


Clois

[DAVID GAGNARD]

Clois;

I could not make it this year,but you will see me there next year for sure with my race car(look out ... ) sounds like you'll had a good car count and a good time..........there were 5 or 6 cars from my own hometown up there for the open track and drags..........

I use a "curved" mirror in my race car,about 18" long,I think I got it from Speedway or Day Motorsports,very inexpensive,probably about 20 bucks,I like it a lot and almost never use my outside door rear view mirrors,it's that good..............

David

[Clois Harlan]

Missed you David, The count was over 1200 cars for the Road Racing, Drags, and Car Show. As you know most of the cars are there for the cruises and car show. There was only about 150 or so at Hallett. There were some very fast cars this year. I was turning 130's on street tires. They made us run street tires for the Vintage Races.

Clois

[DAVID GAGNARD]

150 cars at Hallett is enough,I'll have to check with those guys for the rules next year as I hope to run the Vintage Race,my Hoosier Street TD's are bais ply road race tires but are also DOT approved and carry the DOT stamp/#,hope they those "pass" for street tires as I do not have any others and really do not want to invest in a set of "street" tires..............

1:30s is still moving on at Hallett,have they done anything to improve the racing surface????? Lot of pothole patches last year and the track was pretty rough in spots,needs re-paving.................

David

[Clois Harlan]

They did a partial repave but I would like to see the whole 1.8 mile track re-paved. Your Hoosiers would be perfect. My slicks was not.

Clois

[Roadracer]

Hey Clois,

I'm the guy in the 5 spot on your left driving the Blue-White Stripe 66' Shelby Mustang.

They took this pic from the helicopter.

Good job....

Charlie

[M. Farcus]

Vintage rules for next year will be based on pretty much standard Vintage rules....go the the CVAR web site www.corinthianvintagerace.com . Look up the rules for B/P and A/S (group 1) class. If you run any of the bias treaded tires listed there you will be ok. If you want run low profile hoosier radial slicks with DOT grooves, you will have a problem. Cars did not use that kind of tire in the era, plus radials are much more sensitive and give less notice before letting go. Hoosier TD's are pretty cheap realtively speaking. We have a guy in OKC that gets us a good deal. Usually he runs in the vintage races but not this year.
The main thing we are trying to do with the Vintage Exhibition Event is put on a good show, by keeping the cars well grouped, with a lot of safe passing. To do that we need well prepared clean accurate looking cars and drivers that understand and are willing to accept the "Vintage Rules", which basically say, no blocking, no dive bombing in the corners, respect for the cars, not the individual. I
We are trying to grow the Vintage Exhibition Event and are having the typical organizational problems (knowing what the rules are before hand), so please bear with us...
We will be tightening up on saftey in the future...ie .. driving suits, arm restraints, window net...exhaust exiting behind driver.
Visit the CVAR site...check out the rules for B/P (shelby & 289 cobra) A/S - (non-shelby mustang notch back), A/P (427 cobra). Also visit the SCCA publications for the 67 and 72 PCS (production car standards) and the GCR (general competition rules for 67 and 72).

Or if you have any specific questions e-mail me,

See you next year....practice a lot. We run 1:27's at the CVAR races with legal vintage cars.

M