Jan 2004 Racing article

[mark belrose]

Things are a bit boring within this subforum so I thought I'd start throwing out some of my miscellaneous babblings. Below is my an article which was my first installment for a racing column within the January 2004 Z Owners of NorCal (ZONC) newsletter. The dates shown at the bottom of the article are out of data, but that racing organization continues to put on an outstanding driver training program each year. Other article to follow unless I catch too much hell for these submissions.:knockedou

Hi everyone. My name is Mark Belrose, and depending upon whether you like or hate my attempt at a racing column, you can either thank or blame your illustrious editor, Jose Guerrero, for conning me into doing this. I’ll try to bias my writings toward those who are interesting in racing but don’t quite know how to go about it, since I’m now an expert at learning from the “School of Hard Knocks”. I guess I’ll start out with some details on my car, its history, and my first efforts to not look like an idiot on the track.

This last year was my first full year of racing my restored ’70 C Production 240Z, primarily with the Vintage Auto Racing Association (VARA). I believe many people choose vintage racing in order to live their lifelong dreams before they kick the bucket. I chose VARA because it is a very professional organization that keeps risks to a minimum. I had dabbled around in road racing for a couple of years prior to that, putting my street car at risk on a few SoCal tracks.

My work entails a lot of traveling, during which I spotted a derelict 240Z race car sitting in the corner of storage lot of an auto repair business in Ridgecrest, CA. After several years trying to persuade the owner to cut loose with the car, he acquiesced. The only problem was, I didn’t tell my wife. She has always had serious reservations about my going wheel-to-wheel with other cars on the track. I got the car back to my house on the pretext that I would make some money off of it by parting it out. After advertising the car for a few days and having no takers (little did I know the actual value of some of the parts), I finally convinced my wife to allow me to restore and campaign it.

The car turned out to be a major find. It was purchased new off the showroom in late 1970, then gutted and fitted with every piece of equipment offered by Brock Racing Enterprises (BRE). Bill Martin then ran the car as a privateer, competing against the original BRE cars on the West Coast. Along with the car, I received the original logbook showing a history of competing at Riverside. Some or the original BRE-supplied parts:

• Shortened struts with 240 front/ 210 rear spring rates

• Front and rear sway bars with adjustable end links

• Triple 44 PHH Mikunis and custom header

• Fittings for external oil filter

• Venolia forged pistons

• Front and rear spoilers

• 14x7 American Racing LeMans magnesium rims (extremely rare)

• R190 440 limited slip

• 5-speed from a Datsun 2000 roadster

• Aluminum cross-flow radiator from a late 60’s Corvette

My brother went through the old motor and freshened it up. Despite this, I was getting killed on the straights during my first couple of events – so back to the drawing board. My next step was to go out and purchase a 2.8L GT2 motor from a car that had placed highly at Nationals the year before. Features of the new engine:

• 13.5:1 JE pistons connected with Mechart rods

• .590 lift Isky cam with fully ported head and big valves

• Triple Mikuni 50 PHH carbs with velocity stacks (very rare)

• Electromotive crankfire ignition

• 12 quart dry sump lubrication system

• Quartermaster double disk clutch

Needless to say the car was now a rocket ship on the straights. During a school at Buttonwillow, I was passing four or five cars on the front straight. Which unfortunately brings me to my next topic, “Lessons Learned from the School of Hard Knocks”. But you’ll have to wait until next month to hear about that.

As a last note, I’d like to encourage anyone with interest to participate in the University of VARA, which will be held at Buttonwillow Raceway on Jan 24-25. It is a great learning venue where you can take your street car and decide if this is something you'd like to get try. You can get info at vararacing.com, but make sure to apply early as the spots will fill quickly. A couple of us are already set to go. If you do enter, make sure to contact me at markbelrose@hotmail.com for info and advice about your car.

‘Till next time,

Mark

Mark Belrose

'70 restored C Production 240Z