Obscure race and rally cars
Discussion
BMW 7 series (E23)
The 7 series has never been favoured for racing by BMW (apart from in some South African races). I spent a lot of time at Snetterton in the late 80s & early 90s and remember a privately entered E23, the driving style could be described as entertaining or erratic, often sideways in the middle of the pack while everyone else was pointing the right way. But BMW might have missed an opportunity. The original 6 series (E24) was popular as a touring car but the E23 745i (LHD only) had a 3.2/3.4 litre turbo, this may not have been produced in large enough numbers to be homologated for touring car racing but if it had been then BMW could have taken advantage of increasing the boost pressure the way Ford did with the Sierra Cosworth.
The 7 series has never been favoured for racing by BMW (apart from in some South African races). I spent a lot of time at Snetterton in the late 80s & early 90s and remember a privately entered E23, the driving style could be described as entertaining or erratic, often sideways in the middle of the pack while everyone else was pointing the right way. But BMW might have missed an opportunity. The original 6 series (E24) was popular as a touring car but the E23 745i (LHD only) had a 3.2/3.4 litre turbo, this may not have been produced in large enough numbers to be homologated for touring car racing but if it had been then BMW could have taken advantage of increasing the boost pressure the way Ford did with the Sierra Cosworth.
Volvo 242 turbo touring car. The Volvo 200 series seems a very strange car to take racing but they were very successful, mainly due to increased boost pressure against naturally aspirated opposition. But there were very big questions about whether they had been homologated correctly.
Neil Parsec said:
The Porsche 961 has been seen earlier, here is the car which should have been its rival on the track, the Ferrari 288GTO Evoluzione. Group B disappeared before either car could show what it could do but some of the work on the Evoluzione went into the F40.
They had one of these at Carr's Ferrari dealership in Exeter a few years back, got some pics of it somewhere.
Neil Parsec said:
I've enjoyed the interesting stuff here so much I thought I should join and get my brain cells into gear to remember some cars I've seen or heard of then find pics of them & share them here.
Chaparral have been mentioned previously but they also made other interesting cars, the 2J was a sucker car (no looker that's for certain) which pre-dated the Brabham by several years. It went the same way as the Brabham in getting banned. Chapparal cars featured real innovative genius but they kept getting banned because they upset the applecart by winning too much. Apparently the name Chaparral may partly be derived from a fast running bird which can kill snakes, to mock the Cobra.
Chaparral was born out of Hap Sharp and Jim Hall's name. Chaparral have been mentioned previously but they also made other interesting cars, the 2J was a sucker car (no looker that's for certain) which pre-dated the Brabham by several years. It went the same way as the Brabham in getting banned. Chapparal cars featured real innovative genius but they kept getting banned because they upset the applecart by winning too much. Apparently the name Chaparral may partly be derived from a fast running bird which can kill snakes, to mock the Cobra.
IIRC the 2J used a snow mobile engine. They had some clever ideas - semi auto gearboxes and an adjustable rear wing controlled by a pedal.
The Chaparral 2E (previously mentioned in this topic) had a movable rear wing. The 2J had a 45BHP snowmobile engine to power the fans & a 700BHP engine to power the wheels (incidentally Gilles Villeneuve who was the driver of the twin wing Ferrari above was a snowmobile racing champion in Canada before he got into F1). The Chaparral name did come from the founders' names but I have read that bird which kills snakes was part of the reason for the name, maybe they were happy with the coincidence. I have looked up the chaparral bird also known as the roadrunner & it does indeed kill snakes, here it is.
But if we're having pics of roadrunners I prefer this one
The 7 series raced in South Africa used the 24 valve motorsport engine (M88/3) BMW probably wanted to promote this model, everywhere else in the world the E23 only had 12 valves. It is simply my opinion that turbocharged 745i would have made a very effective touring car as the boost pressure could have been pushed right up.
The V8 Marina does seem crazy but is it any crazier than a Metro 6R4 or other group B cars?
But here is the craziest rally car I ever saw (on a special stage held at Snetterton late 80s or early 90s). The Quastra 8R4.
The name is a fusion of Quattro & Astra and it's a Mark 1 Astra with 4 wheel drive powered by a Rover V8.
But if we're having pics of roadrunners I prefer this one
The 7 series raced in South Africa used the 24 valve motorsport engine (M88/3) BMW probably wanted to promote this model, everywhere else in the world the E23 only had 12 valves. It is simply my opinion that turbocharged 745i would have made a very effective touring car as the boost pressure could have been pushed right up.
The V8 Marina does seem crazy but is it any crazier than a Metro 6R4 or other group B cars?
But here is the craziest rally car I ever saw (on a special stage held at Snetterton late 80s or early 90s). The Quastra 8R4.
The name is a fusion of Quattro & Astra and it's a Mark 1 Astra with 4 wheel drive powered by a Rover V8.
Neil Parsec said:
Volvo 242 turbo touring car. The Volvo 200 series seems a very strange car to take racing but they were very successful, mainly due to increased boost pressure against naturally aspirated opposition. But there were very big questions about whether they had been homologated correctly.
There's a few of these doing rallycross in Europe. The chassis is pretty good apparently!?!
Pileopants said:
jellison said:
Pileopants said:
I thought I had seen everything and then I saw this!!
1964 Hurst Floor Shift Special
Indianapolis car unsurprisingly!
http://www.hotrod.com/thehistoryof/henry_yunick_pr...
Christ - you would not want to be hit in the side in that! Game over!1964 Hurst Floor Shift Special
Indianapolis car unsurprisingly!
http://www.hotrod.com/thehistoryof/henry_yunick_pr...
More here - http://www.conceptcarz.com/z18216/Hurst-Floor-Shif...
It still exists at the Indianapolis Hall of Fame and Lord March needs to get it over to the FOS next year I reckon..
if it had a straight 16 engine, I probably could 
It mentions that it was the result of development regarding aerodynamics and the frontal area. Well, I dunno, perhaps you could move the driver into the central section and do away with the side pod and reduce the frontal area...??!?
odyssey2200 said:
Pothole said:
OdramaSwimLaden said:
odyssey2200 said:
te, but who cares?
It has full Delts integrale running gear under the Yugo body
Neil Parsec said:
Volvo 242 turbo touring car. The Volvo 200 series seems a very strange car to take racing but they were very successful, mainly due to increased boost pressure against naturally aspirated opposition. But there were very big questions about whether they had been homologated correctly.
Didn't Rudy Eggenberger run these prior to his association with the RS500?Gassing Station | General Motorsport | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff