I was reading in the December 2003 issue of Stock Car Racing Magazine that their Technical Editor has picked up a junkyard EF Civic 1500 to make into a mini-stock dirt oval racer. Every now and then I get calls from guys wanting help with suspension set-up on an oval track fwd car so I thought maybe this project car could be interesting to get involved with and learn some roundy-round set-up.

I talked to editor Sleepy Gomez at length about his car and his plans and will do more at the PRI show in a few weeks. I have very little non-roadrace based set-up experience with oval track fwds and he has tons of rwd experience but knows nothing about Hondas so I think we are likely to team up and see what we can come up with. It could be really fun and a good learning experience.

He is talking about running some smokin' assymetric set-ups at first like spring rates RF: 650 lbs., RR: 500 lbs, LF: 300 lbs. and LR: 150 and no sway bars at all at first. His plan is to use really high LR-RR diagonal cross weights to get some load on the LF tire for traction. Who knows? This could be some fun making this work out.

Class basics: cars weigh 1 lb. per CC, must run a spec Holley 2bbl carb, run a spec 13 x8 inch Hoosier tire, etc. He said right now the class is dominated by 2300cc Mustangs and Pintos that are semi-tube framed and cost $12-15K each. He thinks he needs about 140 hp to be able to be solidly competitive but want to just get mid-pack at first so they don't outlaw or change rules if he gets too quick to early. This happened near us the good 'ol boys got mad the furrin cars were beatin' their 'Merican cars so all the fwd cars got an extra 400 lb penalty and that shut everything down on the spot. Most Mini-stock classes I hear about have really tight rules for cost containment like stock parts only, $1000 whole car claiming rules, etc. so this class he is running should allow real development.

Keep an eye on Stock Car over the next year and I'll post more as I get involved.

 

Sounds like fun. Someone on honda-tech dirt track races a 92-95 civic vx. I believe his name is "wallbanginvx." Maybe he would be worth talking to for advice.

 

alot of racers are finding out the fwd cars are good in the dirt against the rwd stangs and pintos. Its all single cam carbed motors.

 

You'll need a driver willing to learn FWD dynamics too, sorry if I'm restating the obvious :ducks:

-PHiZ

 

This sounds like a ton of fun. I first started following the ministocks at Evergreen Speedway in Monroe, WA more than 20 years ago - they were VERY primitive at first: One guy showed up in a Vega that he had removed the springs from entirely! Stiffer is better, right?

The front drive cars had a weight penalty for a long time although I don't know if that is still the case. I seem to remember them having to weigh 1.1 pounds per cc of engine rather than the 1.0 #/cc of rear-drive chassis...

Before I moved east, I went back for one last race and the VW Sciroccos were still a dominant force but it REALLY depends on the detail rules at a given track. Some are amazingly open and others are equally restrictive.

I'll watch for that series...

Kirk