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Hapiness Is Progress!

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<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:]If you're running without a alternator, most do, then you need a good battery with a good reserve.[/QUOTE]
SVRA rules say I have to have an alternator albeit not necessarily the original one.....as I do my wiring harness, I'm putting in an alternator switch so I can kill it to free wheeling during races...I'm also looking at what pulley wil be large enough for a tiny (read: light) alternator) to turn at the minimum speed to recharge my battery.

Hap, think you're correct - a small Optima mounted in a case on the floor where the passenger seat normally goes will alow me to mount my SU double ended fuel pump where the battery normally was only a little higher.

Oh, I rarely go over there...which thread is your lightening one, & on which forum?
 
This may help with the harness install:

https://www.gforce.com/pdf/harnessinstall.pdf

I am running a normal Group 24 battery. It's heavy, but sometimes, when others conk out, I still have enough juice to finish.
I've never worried about making my car light....just reliable.
My car has won three EMRA Small Bore Enduro Championships....not because it's fast but mostly because it's still running at the end of the race.
Since my car runs some longer events, I often run an alternator. But I run a small 35 amp Mitsubishi unit with a large Lucas air-pump pully mounted on it (so it turns a lot slower). It doesn't create too much drag but will still run 4 headlights for our 4-Hour night enduro.
The other Sprite I drive has a driveshaft-driven alternator that sits where the passenger seat is. But I think that's too complicated to set up and wouldn't bother.

And I agree with Hap about the increased dangers of vintage racing...a lot of it may be due to roll-bar waivers and more fragile pre-war cars. But an MGB-GT is a pretty strong platform, so you'll be OK.
 
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:]But I run a small 35 amp Mitsubishi unit with a large Lucas air-pump pully mounted on it [/QUOTE]
Exactly what I was toying with..man does that make me happy!

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:]a lot of it may be due to roll-bar waivers and more fragile pre-war cars. But an MGB-GT is a pretty strong platform, so you'll be OK.[/QUOTE]
One of the reasons I'm following the 2007 GCR's even though my car's a '69.

...& thank you very much for that link - it says I can mount my belt up to 30-degrees above my shoulders & still be within limits....that keeps me from having to raise my seat!!
 
Hap - found your thread! I layed down under my car & took everything I didn't think I'd need off it - got inside & looked at ways to lighten it (holes in bulkheads, radio console removed, etc), then I went under the hood to do the same....here's an idea of some of the lightening I did....& there's lots more - I want my GT to be so light I have to add ballast.

grm07.JPG


grm09.JPG
 
Tony, in SVRA, yes they have a goofy rule that says if you don't run a alternator or genorator you must add 25 pounds, but then again thier required minimum weight for MGB/GT is 1900 and that isn't really possible with a GT, and not acheivable even with a roadster. SVRA weight for a 1275 Midget is 1418 pounds w/driver, totally unrealistic. Most vintage Spridgets with driver will be in the 1600-1700 pound range, most MGB roadsters with driver will tip the scales at 2000+. With the SCCA MGB with all the fiberglas we had trouble getting them below 1900, so look at the SVRA rules, take the weight penalties for the stuff you want run or not run, because the weights are unachievable. Oh and here's the punchline they don't even weight cars, and as far as I know SVRA or HSR doesn't even own a set of scales, and doesn't even do post race tech or allow protest. I build some of the lightest SCCA Spridgets in the country and with SVRA rules, if I could run a fiberglass bodies SCCA car with them, I would need a 68 pound driver to make the minimum weight /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smile.gif Tony trust me, you can't get to minimum weight, so build yourself a sturdy car, with common sense consideration on weight, and you still going to end up around 2100 pounds with a GT.
 
Hap Waldrop said:
Tony, in SVRA, yes they have a goofy rule that says if you don't run a alternator or genorator you must add 25 pounds, but then again thier required minimum weight for MGB/GT is 1900 and that isn't really possible with a GT, and not acheivable even with a roadster. SVRA weight for a 1275 Midget is 1418 pounds w/driver, totally unrealistic. Most vintage Spridgets with driver will be in the 1600-1700 pound range, most MGB roadsters with driver will tip the scales at 2000+. With the SCCA MGB with all the fiberglas we had trouble getting them below 1900, so look at the SVRA rules, take the weight penalties for the stuff you want run or not run, because the weights are unachievable. Oh and here's the punchline they don't even weight cars, and as far as I know SVRA or HSR doesn't even own a set of scales, and doesn't even do post race tech or allow protest. I build some of the lightest SCCA Spridgets in the country and with SVRA rules, if I could run a fiberglass bodies SCCA car with them, I would need a 68 pound driver to make the minimum weight /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smile.gif Tony trust me, you can't get to minimum weight, so build yourself a sturdy car, with common sense consideration on weight, and you still going to end up around 2100 pounds with a GT.
Click to expand...

Hap,

SVRA weighs the top 3 in every class after every qualifying race. All of SVRA's weights are without the driver in the car.
 
You're right, I'm used to SCCA where the club weights you with driver, so even less reason to worry about being ultra light, so that makes a MG Midget weight 1418lbs and a MGB/GT weight 1900lbs without driver.
 
Geez, Hap, I have to <u>add</u> over 60 pounds of ballast in my SCCA Sprite to make weight. Without the ballast, with me in the car, suited and helmeted, and a full 8 gallon cell, I'm at 1535. That puts the car at about 1370 without me in it.
Jeff
 
Jeff, I know you run at Waterford, so thier weights might be different, but the current LP Spridgets have to weigh over 1600 now, a Hybrid LP 1275 coli over car has to weight 1710!

Just got back from the Prod fest at VIR, we had 58 cars, lost a few in testing on Friday and qualifying on Saturday, but we still started 48 prod cars. David Bryson in his FP Miata broke the FP track record by almost 4 seconds, at a 2:10.7!!!!!!!
 
Hap, we go by the GCR, and my car is listed at 1577, as it's a full prep 948.
Wish I could have made the Prod Car bash. David must have been flying!! /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/thumbsup.gif
Jeff
 
Look at fastracks you as well as everyone in HP got a weight hit, it was a across the board thing. The fasttracks superceed the the current GCR and are added in the GCR the following year, but you already knew that /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smile.gif
 
I don't know how I missed that one, Hap. I even get hard copies delivered to me and missed it. Looks like they gave me a 23 pound lead trophy, bringing me up to 1600 even! Oh well, at least I can put it where it needs to go, rather than just bolting it onto the passengers floor, like some classes have to. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.
Jeff
 
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