1970 Alfa Romeo GT Junior Racer
Discussion
dinkel said:
Which is odd as a period 911 driven by a qualified pilot should outlap a period Alfa car. Anyways: well done!
I hope you're not suggesting that it wasn't my huge talent that got me past?! HahaI spoke to the driver of the 911 after. It was just cobwebs that he was suffering. Hadn't been in the car for a while and wasn't pushing hard enough.
Tim, great pics as always. Thanks again. Was great to see you and Joy down to support me!!
What a weekend!
Was racing in the SMRC away round at Donington. First time racing away from home and I’m now wondering why I didn’t do it sooner!! What an experience.
I was testing on the Friday and got on well. The guy who runs Racetech (a motorsport company in the UK) came to the circuit and was doing some coaching for me. It helped massively on the uptake! Started out in the 2.09’s (it was the GP circuit we were on) and the best of the best are doing 1.55’s. Some time to make up!! By the end of testing it was down to 2.04 dead. I qualified on the Sat morning with a 2.00 so I was really pleased. Jimmy Crow in the white Escort is usually doing 59/60’s round KH where I’m doing 63’s so there’s usually a fair difference. Here though he qualified at high 1.57 so I wasn’t too far off the pace especially as the circuit is 2.5 miles.
We were really lucky that quali and both races were dry and warm.
Race 1 I got into a groove pretty early on. There were only 3 of us in my class; Jimmy in the Escort, Jim in the Elan and me in the Alfa. The Elan isn’t a regular so I had no idea how quick he would be but we were very evenly matched. Jimmy ran away with the class win, he’s got something like 240bhp in the Escort and very similar weight so I’m not catching him anytime soon. The Elan was much closer and I really thought I could get him but as my tyres became slidier I found it harder to keep up. My best lap was a low 1.58 but my data logger tells me that if I hooked up all my best sectors I’d have been a low 1.57! I need to improve my consistency between laps now.
Video here:
https://youtu.be/sGkYbGZZpBY
Race 2 was also very enjoyable. Got into a battle with the Capris. Both are running Cologne V6’s so plenty of power but I think I kept up in the twistier sections. Sadly I spotted the water temp rocket so decided to back off for the last couple of laps to bring it back under control. That’s getting looked at this week as the car is staying down in England with Alfaholics as Dad and I are at a trackday at Goodwood in 2 weeks.
Video here:
https://youtu.be/tSrj_mLvcR8
Was racing in the SMRC away round at Donington. First time racing away from home and I’m now wondering why I didn’t do it sooner!! What an experience.
I was testing on the Friday and got on well. The guy who runs Racetech (a motorsport company in the UK) came to the circuit and was doing some coaching for me. It helped massively on the uptake! Started out in the 2.09’s (it was the GP circuit we were on) and the best of the best are doing 1.55’s. Some time to make up!! By the end of testing it was down to 2.04 dead. I qualified on the Sat morning with a 2.00 so I was really pleased. Jimmy Crow in the white Escort is usually doing 59/60’s round KH where I’m doing 63’s so there’s usually a fair difference. Here though he qualified at high 1.57 so I wasn’t too far off the pace especially as the circuit is 2.5 miles.
We were really lucky that quali and both races were dry and warm.
Race 1 I got into a groove pretty early on. There were only 3 of us in my class; Jimmy in the Escort, Jim in the Elan and me in the Alfa. The Elan isn’t a regular so I had no idea how quick he would be but we were very evenly matched. Jimmy ran away with the class win, he’s got something like 240bhp in the Escort and very similar weight so I’m not catching him anytime soon. The Elan was much closer and I really thought I could get him but as my tyres became slidier I found it harder to keep up. My best lap was a low 1.58 but my data logger tells me that if I hooked up all my best sectors I’d have been a low 1.57! I need to improve my consistency between laps now.
Video here:
https://youtu.be/sGkYbGZZpBY
Race 2 was also very enjoyable. Got into a battle with the Capris. Both are running Cologne V6’s so plenty of power but I think I kept up in the twistier sections. Sadly I spotted the water temp rocket so decided to back off for the last couple of laps to bring it back under control. That’s getting looked at this week as the car is staying down in England with Alfaholics as Dad and I are at a trackday at Goodwood in 2 weeks.
Video here:
https://youtu.be/tSrj_mLvcR8
Following the Donington race weekend the car went to Alfaholics for a health check and some work to be carried out on a few areas I wasn’t totally happy with.
The job list started as;
• Clutch release bearing noisy. Check clutch thickness while there.
• Evidence of oil residue from bellhousing joint back. Check for source.
• Brake pedal. The brakes were phenomenal all weekend but the travel is still quite long and pedal is quite far back. Adjustment required.
• Thermostat for cooling fan. The car began to overhead badly in the second race when I was pushing hard. I needed to back off and slow down to avoid damaging anything. I think the fitment of an auto 'on' for the fan at a certain temp would certainly help.
• High speed vibration. I noticed on the straight that above 90mph there is a really noticeable vibration from the rear of the car.
I got daily updates on the findings and each day my wallet groaned! Haha!
First up, the clutch.
They pulled the box and clutch cover and found this;
Two issues there. The plate itself was cracking due to stress and its clear that not all of the clutch friction material was interfacing with the flywheel. The flywheel was showing signs of hotspots and wear too.
I think the flywheel was the original one but machined for lightness.
I could have just stuck a new clutch plate in there and hoped but the only sensible, proper, solution was to change the clutch and flywheel entirely. It just so happens that Alfaholics do a lovely lightweight race flywheel with balancers in there to limit/dial out vibration on the crank. That and the new clutch were both sent away for balancing and then fitted to the car.
With the box off the rear crank seal was visible and it was clearly the source of the oil I was seeing. That got replaced.
The vibration I was feeling was identified too. It appears that the car was using a non-original gearbox mount that was too solid. This then lead to vibration and the vibration then began backing off some of the bolts in the drive assembly which would have been a big problem. Thankfully the replacement of a relatively cheap part seems to have resolved that issue.
However, it may have been the cause of some other issues….This was found;
It could have been re-welded but I think that was going to be a messy fix and not ‘right’ so a fresh manifold was fitted. The old manifold was original to the car when I got it and the plates tying the pipes together look a little aftermarket. I there was evidence of previous welding to the manifold too so I suspect the previous owner found some cracking issues too and tried a fix.
The brake pedal was adjusted and is now absolutely perfect. Nice upright pedal with a solid feel. However, while in that area it was noted that the throttle was very light and too imprecise. A quick linkage check showed this;
There’s meant to be a solid rubber bush in there but it’s perished. Alfaholics fit a solid aluminium bush in there on racecars so that’s what they’ve done to mine. At the same time they noted that the return spring on the throttle was ineffective so that’s been replaced too.
At the same time there were other bushes noted as being worn so they were changed out and the car got a general healthcheck and all was well. A lot of work done but hopefully future proofing the car for hard race use for some time.
Then on Saturday I attended the Classic Alfa trackday at Goodwood. It was a brilliantly run event absolutely full of wonderful Alfas of varying vintage but there was overwhelmingly strong attendance by 105’s; many in trackday/race guise so I didn’t feel too out of place.
The day was a scorcher. Our hire car was showing 28 degrees in the shade. My car isn’t known for its cooling aids so I was anticipating some very hot sessions behind the wheel!
It was my first drive at Goodwood and I wasn’t left disappointed! What a circuit. Really really quick. Coming from Donington only two weeks beforehand I was prepared for a quick circuit but it was still a huge amount of fun experiencing it. I was nearing the top of 5th gear so will have been fairly motoring on! Still to pull the data from the datalogger but will do soon. Hopefully I also have footage from my gopro but it wasn’t playing ball last time out so I can’t guarantee. I’ll check tonight.
I got 4 sessions of about 7/8 laps in. The clutch felt really good and strong. There’s absolutely less vibration in general and the vibration I felt at Donington is gone completely.
The brake pedal change is a huge improvement. It’s much more confidence inspiring and I now have the option to heel and toe should I wish to learn!
The throttle too, is a vast improvement. The result is that I have a very solid pedal with plenty of room for throttle control and as it’s a strong push required now I can actually modulate the throttle through the corners where before it was on or off really. Very pleased with the result here!
The engine also feels a bit stronger. It may be that the throttle input is much quicker and direct because the play has been removed from the assembly and I may not even have been getting full throttle before. The manifold too will have made some difference.
I did struggle slightly with noise restrictions at Goodwood. Through St Marys I set off the noise alert on my first session so from there on I backed off at that point and all was fine noise-wise.
However all wasn’t perfect. My father was sharing the drives with me and on his first session after lunch he was getting quicker and quicker when suddenly the brake pedal went to the floor in a braking zone. Thankfully a couple of well-timed downshifts brought the car down in speed and he was able to limp it home to the pits but on arrival in the pitlane a small fire began in the wheel around the brake area. It extinguished itself and no damage was evident but we called it a day at that. Touching the brake pedal led to fluid pouring out so we knew there was a significant leak. We actually only lost about 45min of running as the car was being collected at 3ish as we had flights booked home to Aberdeen.
Anyway, I got the car back on Monday and last night had a chance to pull the wheel off and see what had happened.
Initially I had suspected that the brake line had backed off and leaked at the connection into the caliper but it was fine. The disc was looking a little odd though….
Yes, it looks like the surface of the disc is delaminating on the inside face
Wheel off now and the outer face is visible. This doesn’t look right;
There has clearly been some huge heat generated at some point. I am wondering though if the damage to the rubber bump stop and the axle strap was from the fire rather than melting from heat;
By the looks of things, from the outer edge of the disc in this pic, the heat was generated from the outer face of the disc;
This would also support that as the outer caliper piston is ‘wet’ which indicates there was an issue at that side;
Pulled the caliper off and the pads tell the same story of heat;
And finally the pics of the pistons in the caliper;
Its quite clear than the leak is from the outside caliper piston as the inside one is dry. Both have experienced major heat though. The caliper, pads and disc are away for an inspection and rebuild if necessary to hopefully resolve the issue!
The job list started as;
• Clutch release bearing noisy. Check clutch thickness while there.
• Evidence of oil residue from bellhousing joint back. Check for source.
• Brake pedal. The brakes were phenomenal all weekend but the travel is still quite long and pedal is quite far back. Adjustment required.
• Thermostat for cooling fan. The car began to overhead badly in the second race when I was pushing hard. I needed to back off and slow down to avoid damaging anything. I think the fitment of an auto 'on' for the fan at a certain temp would certainly help.
• High speed vibration. I noticed on the straight that above 90mph there is a really noticeable vibration from the rear of the car.
I got daily updates on the findings and each day my wallet groaned! Haha!
First up, the clutch.
They pulled the box and clutch cover and found this;
Two issues there. The plate itself was cracking due to stress and its clear that not all of the clutch friction material was interfacing with the flywheel. The flywheel was showing signs of hotspots and wear too.
I think the flywheel was the original one but machined for lightness.
I could have just stuck a new clutch plate in there and hoped but the only sensible, proper, solution was to change the clutch and flywheel entirely. It just so happens that Alfaholics do a lovely lightweight race flywheel with balancers in there to limit/dial out vibration on the crank. That and the new clutch were both sent away for balancing and then fitted to the car.
With the box off the rear crank seal was visible and it was clearly the source of the oil I was seeing. That got replaced.
The vibration I was feeling was identified too. It appears that the car was using a non-original gearbox mount that was too solid. This then lead to vibration and the vibration then began backing off some of the bolts in the drive assembly which would have been a big problem. Thankfully the replacement of a relatively cheap part seems to have resolved that issue.
However, it may have been the cause of some other issues….This was found;
It could have been re-welded but I think that was going to be a messy fix and not ‘right’ so a fresh manifold was fitted. The old manifold was original to the car when I got it and the plates tying the pipes together look a little aftermarket. I there was evidence of previous welding to the manifold too so I suspect the previous owner found some cracking issues too and tried a fix.
The brake pedal was adjusted and is now absolutely perfect. Nice upright pedal with a solid feel. However, while in that area it was noted that the throttle was very light and too imprecise. A quick linkage check showed this;
There’s meant to be a solid rubber bush in there but it’s perished. Alfaholics fit a solid aluminium bush in there on racecars so that’s what they’ve done to mine. At the same time they noted that the return spring on the throttle was ineffective so that’s been replaced too.
At the same time there were other bushes noted as being worn so they were changed out and the car got a general healthcheck and all was well. A lot of work done but hopefully future proofing the car for hard race use for some time.
Then on Saturday I attended the Classic Alfa trackday at Goodwood. It was a brilliantly run event absolutely full of wonderful Alfas of varying vintage but there was overwhelmingly strong attendance by 105’s; many in trackday/race guise so I didn’t feel too out of place.
The day was a scorcher. Our hire car was showing 28 degrees in the shade. My car isn’t known for its cooling aids so I was anticipating some very hot sessions behind the wheel!
It was my first drive at Goodwood and I wasn’t left disappointed! What a circuit. Really really quick. Coming from Donington only two weeks beforehand I was prepared for a quick circuit but it was still a huge amount of fun experiencing it. I was nearing the top of 5th gear so will have been fairly motoring on! Still to pull the data from the datalogger but will do soon. Hopefully I also have footage from my gopro but it wasn’t playing ball last time out so I can’t guarantee. I’ll check tonight.
I got 4 sessions of about 7/8 laps in. The clutch felt really good and strong. There’s absolutely less vibration in general and the vibration I felt at Donington is gone completely.
The brake pedal change is a huge improvement. It’s much more confidence inspiring and I now have the option to heel and toe should I wish to learn!
The throttle too, is a vast improvement. The result is that I have a very solid pedal with plenty of room for throttle control and as it’s a strong push required now I can actually modulate the throttle through the corners where before it was on or off really. Very pleased with the result here!
The engine also feels a bit stronger. It may be that the throttle input is much quicker and direct because the play has been removed from the assembly and I may not even have been getting full throttle before. The manifold too will have made some difference.
I did struggle slightly with noise restrictions at Goodwood. Through St Marys I set off the noise alert on my first session so from there on I backed off at that point and all was fine noise-wise.
However all wasn’t perfect. My father was sharing the drives with me and on his first session after lunch he was getting quicker and quicker when suddenly the brake pedal went to the floor in a braking zone. Thankfully a couple of well-timed downshifts brought the car down in speed and he was able to limp it home to the pits but on arrival in the pitlane a small fire began in the wheel around the brake area. It extinguished itself and no damage was evident but we called it a day at that. Touching the brake pedal led to fluid pouring out so we knew there was a significant leak. We actually only lost about 45min of running as the car was being collected at 3ish as we had flights booked home to Aberdeen.
Anyway, I got the car back on Monday and last night had a chance to pull the wheel off and see what had happened.
Initially I had suspected that the brake line had backed off and leaked at the connection into the caliper but it was fine. The disc was looking a little odd though….
Yes, it looks like the surface of the disc is delaminating on the inside face
Wheel off now and the outer face is visible. This doesn’t look right;
There has clearly been some huge heat generated at some point. I am wondering though if the damage to the rubber bump stop and the axle strap was from the fire rather than melting from heat;
By the looks of things, from the outer edge of the disc in this pic, the heat was generated from the outer face of the disc;
This would also support that as the outer caliper piston is ‘wet’ which indicates there was an issue at that side;
Pulled the caliper off and the pads tell the same story of heat;
And finally the pics of the pistons in the caliper;
Its quite clear than the leak is from the outside caliper piston as the inside one is dry. Both have experienced major heat though. The caliper, pads and disc are away for an inspection and rebuild if necessary to hopefully resolve the issue!
Afternoon chaps!! Thanks for the interest.
Tim, I'm next out in Sept on the 11th. Sadly it clashes with Revival so my usual travelling support will be watching the proper racing but I'll be giving the Alfa it's last run of the year. Hope to see you there.
Mark, I guess it depends on what you want from the engine. If you're going for a road spec build with enough power to keep you interested then maybe £5k - 7k assuming you're starting with no parts and need the whole thing supplied. Then the price will keep rising to £12-14k (I think) for a full on race engine.
Lovely 911 in your profile btw.
Alastair, I think they slackened off the pivot point and reset the pedal in a more upright position. Nothing too major and likely something you would manage yourself I suspect.
Tim, I'm next out in Sept on the 11th. Sadly it clashes with Revival so my usual travelling support will be watching the proper racing but I'll be giving the Alfa it's last run of the year. Hope to see you there.
Mark, I guess it depends on what you want from the engine. If you're going for a road spec build with enough power to keep you interested then maybe £5k - 7k assuming you're starting with no parts and need the whole thing supplied. Then the price will keep rising to £12-14k (I think) for a full on race engine.
Lovely 911 in your profile btw.
Alastair, I think they slackened off the pivot point and reset the pedal in a more upright position. Nothing too major and likely something you would manage yourself I suspect.
Hi all! Just a short thread update to let you know what the car and I have been up to. Sadly it's not been too much as I dislocated (for the 3rd time) my left shoulder and it has been causing me some issues by repeatedly popping in and out. Given that the Alfa needs some firm input from the arms to hustle it round the circuit and my shoulder is at it's weakest when outstretched (changing gear for example) I have elected not to race for the moment until it either settles down and tightens up again or i have an operation to sort it once and for all. I suspect the latter is the likely solution. 
However that doesn't mean the car has been locked away and never getting out to play. The idea behind keeping it road registered was so it can be used on the road and I have done a little driving in it recently.
There was a Cars and Coffee morning a few Sundays ago that was raising some funds for a very good cause RATP88
Some people with far more skill with a lens than me took some excellent pics!
Aside from that plans for the year are scarce. I am booked to put the car on the Royal Deeside Speed Festival hillclimb in August which should be good. Not to many corners there so i should be safe from further dislocation.
However that doesn't mean the car has been locked away and never getting out to play. The idea behind keeping it road registered was so it can be used on the road and I have done a little driving in it recently.
There was a Cars and Coffee morning a few Sundays ago that was raising some funds for a very good cause RATP88
Some people with far more skill with a lens than me took some excellent pics!
Aside from that plans for the year are scarce. I am booked to put the car on the Royal Deeside Speed Festival hillclimb in August which should be good. Not to many corners there so i should be safe from further dislocation.
Cheers Mark.
The shoulder isn't actually all that painful at all. The issue for me is that i would be stuck in the car if it popped out as i need both arms to lift myself out of the seat to make it over the door bar...i'm a bit of a lump at over 6ft and 17st of (ex) rugby player build so i can make getting in an out of this thing look a little like hard work!!
The shoulder isn't actually all that painful at all. The issue for me is that i would be stuck in the car if it popped out as i need both arms to lift myself out of the seat to make it over the door bar...i'm a bit of a lump at over 6ft and 17st of (ex) rugby player build so i can make getting in an out of this thing look a little like hard work!!
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