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cool project! Turner!

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Was there more than one turner? I seem to remember them as being better looking...more like a square body spridget.

Kurt.
 
nomad said:
Was there more than one turner? I seem to remember them as being better looking...more like a square body spridget.

Kurt.
Click to expand...

Yes. There was actually three styles (that I can recall).
This one in the e-Bay add has the large fins.
Then there was one that looked more like a Bugeye in the back.
And then there was the newset one that had slightly more squared-off features (and more often had a Ford 1600 engine).

All are similar in size and have a glass fiber body and a pretty narrow frame (like a Lotus Elan).
It's interesting to note that the orginal Sprite came about partly as a response to the Turner.

Here's me following Paul Bova's 948 Turner at New Hamphsire last year:

 
Nice video. That is why I couldn't do vintage racing ... I'd be too distracted looking at all the cool cars. :(
 
Thanks Nial, thats good stuff! I think you could use a Turner!!
 
So are you running a 1275 in your Spridget? The Turner weighs substantially less than a Spridget and you can really see the difference in power to weight ratio coming out of the corners. You seem to catch him going into the corners but he pulls away coming out. Didn't watch the entire video but did you catch him?
 
I'm pretty sure Paul's 948 Turner weighs under 1200 lbs. The engine is pretty fixed up; I know he shifts around 7500 RPM.
He also has a close ratio gearbox, which makes a very useful difference.

My rubber-bumper Spridget weights about 1700 lbs. It's a tank and has a full roll cage.
Since Paul and I probably weigh the same, I guess I'm spotting him about 500 lbs
My 1275 is near stock......I'd guess it has maybe 75 HP on a good day. Paul's 948 may have a similar power but it requires higher RPMs to make that type of HP in a 948.

By the way, my signature photo shows me with a blue Turner.

My car runs 13" R888 Toyos on stock, steel wheels, while his car runs 15" Hoosier bias race tires on wire wheels. Neither tire/wheel combo is great but I would say I have a slight advantage. We have often raced nose-to-tail for 10 or 15 laps. Great fun!

If you slide to about 0:20 second mark on this video you will see me following a newer, red, 1600 (Ford) Turner. It has twin Webers and a 5 speed. Also a nice car.

 
Back in the late sixties / early seventies I raced a G PROD Spitfire mostly at Lime Rock and one of my competitors ran a Turner (out of NJ as I recall). He had an enormous roll bar as he was about 6'5" . Looked like a toy car with him in it. Bob
 
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