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Pictures-PVGP at BeaveRun

aeronca65t

Great Pumpkin
Offline
OK...I've been busy with work and fixing up my folk's house and other stuff, but I've finally got some pictures of the Pittsburgh Vintage grand Prix at BeaveRun.

Here's a link:
https://liverpoolmotorclub.tripod.com/VRG-BVRUN-07.html

These pictures are on a cheesey "free site", so if they load really slow, try again later. I guess you get what you pay for!
There are five pages in all (with a link at the bottom of each page to the next page).

I was lucky enough to meet three BCF people: Pat (with the TR8), Michael (who raced his Elva in the event...it's white with red stripes) and Dave (another Elva owner who flagged the event).

It was great talking to all these guys.

Michael and Dave were fortunate enough to go to the actual street races in Shenley Park the following week.
As much as I like Pittsburgh (and Linda used to live there), I couldn't hang out for a week with duties piling up back in NJ.
Next year!

The car ran great!
No broken axles (I snapped three last year at this event).
After the first practice, I blew a rear wheel cylinder and had no rear brakes (and a pretty low pedal).
One of my students (Graham) is working his way through Grad School as a race mechanic (he's almost finished an MSME). By luck, he was at BeaveRun (there's a picture of me and Graham on one of the pages). He looked high and low but *nobody* had a spare wheel cylinder. So I did without rear brakes
Eventually, I got used to the low pedal. Mostly, with my car, I just "fling it" into a corner to scrub off speed anyway, so brakes aren't that a big a deal in the first place.

By the way, Graham headed back to the Shark River in NJ on Sunday night so he could hop on his uncle's sailboat and go to The Bahamas for two weeks (he *just* made it...he called me).
Ahh.....to be young!

The VRG guys set up a "Spridgets Reunion" race for all "Spridget-powered" cars with "A" motors.....then I pointed out that *my* Spridget wasn't actually sporting an "A" motor. They told me to stop being a troublemaker and get to the false grid. /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/jester.gif
I gridded myself in Last Place just for fun.

Anway, I really got a good start in the Spridgets race.

Here's my Start in the Spridgets race.

Here's a few seconds later. Note the position of the silver Turner (#573)

I shoulda been a Drag racer! I passed six cars before the first turn.....wo-hooo!
I made it to the upper half of the pack, but a Midget closed the door on me and I did a little off-roading (I hit a count-down marker for a turn and snapped the left mirror off.....no other damage, so I was able to keep at it.) Still, Great Fun!

My best races were against a Team Thicko 1275 Midget (from Michigan), a '72 Pinto, a Datsun 510 and a few of the Bugeyes.
 
Cool pics..
Glad you didn't have to spend so much time under the car this year. /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/hammer.gif

I wanted to do more socializing but got very little time off the corner.
 
WOW! Thanks Nial!! Great pix, I can almost smell it all.
 
Great pictures Nial. After the feature we (Herve Parke in the black/silver, Nate Scigliano in the red/yellow and me in the white/red) posed our Couriers in front of Michael Clifford's rig. The order at Beaverun was Herve, myself and Nate whereas at Schenley it was Nate, Herve and me.
 
Yep....3 Couriers were running nose to tail through 11......

It was a beautiful thing to see.

And sounded marvelous.
 
Fantastic pictures, Nial. Thanks for sharing.
 
Just seein' three of 'em together was neat. Nine in the same place constitutes a resurrection! /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/jester.gif
 
Nial--

There were five Couriers racing at Schenley: Me, Herve Parke, Nate Scigliano, Ralph Solomon and Brian King.

There were five sports racers on the track: Three Mk IV's (Tom Grudovich, Dottie Bechtol and Alan Patterson), plus James Southwood's Mk V and Tom G's Mk VII (yes--he races two cars!).

There were also two Elva Formula Jr's entered--Robert Romanski and John Guell.

Common as dirt....
 
That MkV was about the most beautiful car there...
(Toss up between that and the Cooper Monaco)

And the Elva MkVI......WOW!, do I like the looks of those.
(Pointy nose rear engine one & not at the PVGP this year)

Someone needs to bring a MkII and a MkVI next year.

Michael....Who was racing the Courier Mk3? (yellow #101)
 
Dave--

That is "Yellow Dog" driven by Ralph Salomon--he bought it from Michael Clifford within the past year and now has a Prather engine in it--I believe it is a pretty fast car and fortunately was placed in a different group than us!

How is your engine project coming along?
 
WhatsThatNoise said:
That MkV was about the most beautiful car there...
(Toss up between that and the Cooper Monaco)
And the Elva MkVI......WOW!, do I like the looks of those.
(Pointy nose rear engine one & not at the PVGP this year)
Someone needs to bring a MkII and a MkVI next year.
Michael....Who was racing the Courier Mk3? (yellow #101)

Last year the yellow Elva Courier was having some sort of overheating problem. And he was in my race group. He would heat up and have to back off and I'd pass him. Then things cooled down and he'd re-pass me. Then he'd heat up and back off again and I'd pass him once again...etc, etc.
I couldn't figure out what was going on until he explained it to me afterwards.

Dave: Are you talking about one of the cars in the picture below? The mid-engine job was nice but that red and yellow front-engine car....Wow!

vrg-bvr-07-5-elvas.jpg
 
aeronca65t said:
Dave: Are you talking about one of the cars in the picture below? The mid-engine job was nice but that red and yellow front-engine car....Wow!
Yep....#508 (the red & yellow sport racer Mk5 on the right)
The white one in the foreground is a MkIV
This is a MkVI (Mk VI through Mk IX were rear/mid engine)
62elva1117-A.jpg

This is a MkVII (4 square holes in the front)
mk7005pa.jpg

Michael Oritt said:
How is your engine project coming along?
Bottom end is done...Working on head....Done by this winter.

Met a guy....Chuck Chance at the Nelson national last month who is running a Courier in EP.
Showed me his dyno sheet.....184 hp & 179 lb/ft @ 7450 out of a 1622.....
I can't wait. /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/driving.gif /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smile.gif
 
"Met a guy....Chuck Chance at the Nelson national last month who is running a Courier in EP.
Showed me his dyno sheet.....184 hp & 179 lb/ft @ 7450 out of a 1622....."

Dave--

Well you certainly won't be using the skinny 15" magnesium wheels--please think about selling them to me. I could actually have a set w/rain tires.
 
Michael Oritt said:
Well you certainly won't be using the skinny 15" magnesium wheels
You mean I can't run vintage......

You guys aren't gonna protest me.....Are you???
vent.gif
/bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/grin.gif
 
Someone told me that the fast TD's at Schenley are putting out something like 130 HP, so if they can do that I guess you can do what you want.

I'll have no problems so long as you sell me the wheels....
 
Actually I'm going to be running a lighter cam and not squishing things as much as Chuck Chance....

It was just nice to know that his engine is alive & happy while putting out that kind of power.

It gives me confidence that mine is capable of living a nice long life with a mild race cam and 10-1 compression.

So far as the wheels go....
I think I'm too far into it to turn back now.
I got the studs, lugs & inserts along with some take off tyres.
They have been walnut shell blasted and X-rayed for inclusions and voids.
Next step is polishing.

I'm gonna shine em up like chrome and have them coated.

Now I just need to find ONE more.

Hallandal wants to put me on the "easy payment plan".
I told him I was already contributing to my engine builder's, kid's college fund and couldn't take on any more "Godchildren from heck" /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/grin.gif
 
So far as the wheels go....
I think I'm too far into it to turn back now.
Now I just need to find ONE more.
----------------------
PROTEST!!!
 
WhatsThatNoise said:
Hallandal wants to put me on the "easy payment plan".
I told him I was already contributing to my engine builder's, kid's college fund and couldn't take on any more "Godchildren from heck" /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/grin.gif
The next time you see Bill, ask him if he likes grits. /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/grin.gif
Jeff
 
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