JRDbuilt

I was over at a friend of mines shop helping him with a car and was talking about when he raced ITB, then got on the topic of building an ITA car. Then he got on the topic of when he use to race in ITB he said that the BG chassis ( 90-94) protege LX with the 1.8 was a very strong car in ITA and that a few people ran them. Does anyone know where these cars might be or who these people where?

Just curious about the car


thanks
CJ

Johnny Mac

There are a couple of Miata drivers on this forum - generally not to learn more about Miata's - but for whatever reason they like this forum. I'm sure one of them can help you.

JRDbuilt

Im good friends with one of them but im looking specifically to try and find out if anyone has info. on the people who raced the protege or the cars themselves.

thanks

David S. Wallens

I knew a few people who ran them in ITA, but they were never really that strong as the CRX Si was/is tough to beat. The 1990-'94 Protege LX was top dog in Showroom Stock C for a while, however.

Todd Reid

hi.

my buddy brian has a 1990 Protege LX. since day 1 it has been a racecar; first 5 years it was a SSC car; after that, my buddy bought it from the original owner.... then he ran it in showroom stock form at many DE events, eventually getting his race liscence. after racing it a couple of years in stock form, he and i put a suspension on it, sway bars, and freshened the engine.

i have driven the car many times, both in sprints and enduros. i can tell you quite a bit about it:

1. it is very easy to drive and "friendly". really good car for enduro racing for this reason (low fatigue racer).
2. the brakes are GOOD. 4 wheel disks and the fronts are excellent.
3. the engine is very very reliable. not particularly super strong, but very stout and trustworthy.
4. the tranny is nice to shift, and the ratios are pretty good.
5. the car is fairly heavy. the aero is not good, and it is tall. therefore, its top end is not good.
6. the car is pretty tough; his has been in alot of shunts and is still raceworthy.
7. there are not alot of tuners or parts suppliers for this particular car (unlike the honda racecars and miata racecars).

my friend brian will be racing it this weekend in the 4 hour EMRA race down at summit point (i'll be in FL, or else i'd be co-driving it with him).....

if you have any specific questions, please post them up and either i will help answer them or i will have brian post up here....

hope that helps!

TeamSlowdotOrg

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Johnny Mac &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">for whatever reason they like this forum. </TD></TR></TABLE>
I'm here for the chicks.

JRDbuilt

Todd,

Thanks for the info. I sent you an email with some specifics.

David,

do you know where i might be able to get in contact with someone who raced them? or where the cars might be?


thanks
CJ

Georgethefierce

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by TeamSlowdotOrg &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I'm here for the chicks. </TD></TR></TABLE>

I conquer!

Knestis

You conquer the chicks? I bet they love it rough.

I think the Protege would be a pretty good ITA car, honestly. I don't have the race weight right in front of me but they shouldn't be too far off the mark. If you want to go where the racing is going to get REALLY good in the coming few years, A is the place I think.

K

JRDbuilt

2510 for the lx ....unless it has changed since last year ( i have the older GCR that scott gave me)


ya it seems like ITA is growing and with how many drivers have succeeded to higher levels of racing from ITA and the "family" like aspect of it i just think it will be a blast.

im just curious about the car really. that's why im curious how people did in this car.


thanks
CJ

.RJ

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by JRDbuilt &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">2510 for the lx ....unless it has changed since last year ( i have the older GCR that scott gave me)</TD></TR></TABLE>

cannon fodder at that weight, IMO. It'll get run over by the integras, civics, crx's, se-r's...

Knestis

That does seem fat, relative to the front-runners...
K

.RJ

With poor aero and no suspension development....

JRDbuilt

I was kinda shocked at the weight myself so i called jeremy Theones about it at the SCCA office and asked why it was so heavy but he really couldnt give me a straight forward answer. just gave me some speal about how they set cars at weight from their factory specs and then they take a percentage off of that. But said that if they see that the performance of the car isnt with the front running cars they will drop the weight minimum on the car.


we'll see and as ive found there is good setups on suspension but of course the weight and aero still play a role.

granted now im scratching my head because " i heard" that this car was a dominant car and the CRX couldnt catch it until the turns.... this could always be false even though i do trust the source but i guess im weighting to find out who that person was if anyone.

thanks
CJ

Sean O'Gorman

Hey maybe you can talk to a steward again and get the weight dropped like on that '96 ITA Civic you were building.

Knestis

Get in touch with the Improved Touring Advisory (Ad Hoc?) Committee and request that the weight be reviewed as part of their ongoing leveling of the IT specs. It MIGHT already be on the list but it would be worth checking.

Note that this is NOT the same thing as submitting a request for an actual rule change.

If you don't have any of the ITAC members' contact info, post at http://www.improvedtouring.com, explain the question, and someone on the committee will pipe up. Several of them are there most of the time.

K

0philstireservice

[QUOTE If you want to go where the racing is going to get REALLY good in the coming few years, A is the place I think.

K[/QUOTE]


I think Production is going to make a comeback ........all the LP cars are ex IT cars.....with a little more prep in them

Knestis

That might be the case until folks realize (a) how much difference a proper gearbox will make, and (b) how much that gearbox costs. If the Prod category grows, there might well be some good racin' there, too but the difference between equally-prepared IT and LP cars is a chunk o' dough.

K

JRDbuilt

Kurk what do you think might be a competitive weight or a weight that I should go for if i did decide to proceed with this car or getting the weight reduced?

and a side question... what is an ITA cars top speed at Summit? I need a general Idea about something.


thanks guys
CJ

.RJ

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by JRDbuilt &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">what is an ITA cars top speed at Summit? </TD></TR></TABLE>

130 with a hell of a run out of T10 and a draft. Ordinarily.... 123-125ish.

Andrew240z

It will be tough to be competitive with this car in ITA. Top running ITA cars are turning 1:27's @ summit. Brian D. car runs in the 1:35's I believe. Fully developed it could get into the 1:32's possibly. You would definetely be fighting an uphill battle. If you dont care about winning and just want to have fun and run the car forever go for it.

.RJ

What happened to the 96 civic coupe?

Evan55

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by JRDbuilt &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">2510 for the lx ....unless it has changed since last year ( i have the older GCR that scott gave me)
</TD></TR></TABLE>
yikes. the 1.8L miata is now ITA legal and runs 150lbs lighter with the same engine

Honda318dx

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by elgorey &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
yikes. the 1.8L miata is now ITA legal and runs 150lbs lighter with the same engine</TD></TR></TABLE>

and RWD goodness....

Evan55

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Honda318dx &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

and RWD goodness....</TD></TR></TABLE>
well I wasnt going to rub it in. might hurt some feelings