My intro

[L5wolvesf]

Hi all,

New guy, and brief intro here - my car is a Fiat 850. I raced it in SCCA H-Production in the early 90s. Then SCCA placed cars with bigger engines in H and would not allow the 850 anything to compensate for the differences. So I parked it. I found out a few years ago that some years later they eventually allowed the PBS 8P head. So I am in the process of getting the car back into shape and give the car a 3rd (or 4th) run on track. I am the third owner/racer of this car, I’m not sure if it ever was a street car. Someday I may ask the guy who raced it in the 70s. That’s my story and I’m stuck to it.

Larry

[2ndwind]

Fun, fun, fun! any pics?

Tutorial:
http://www.fiatspider.com/f08/viewtopic ... res#p37831

[azygoustoyou]

Welcome to the forum!
It must be fun to race the 850 on the track.
What do you have to do to get it ready?
Yes pic's please

[L5wolvesf]

Welcome to the forum!
It must be fun to race the 850 on the track. What do you have to do to get it ready?
Yes pic's please

Thank you. It was great fun, but the lack of horses compared to the Spridgets sucked. So I prefered the tracks with more turns (Second Creek, Hallett, Sears Point). Of course out west most were long HP tracks (Willow, Pueblo, Firebird). I would also have my eye out for races where rain was predicted and choose some races based on that. Of course there weren't many here out west.

Minimum to get it ready since it has been parked since '94; engine back from builder & tune for dual DCOEs, complete rewire, go through brake system and if simple enough convert rears to disc, new tires, reweb belts, new fire system (per SCCA), maybe new rad, thats all I can think of right now.

For improvements; rework rear suspension coilovers (to better dial in suspension) and lighten (possibly tube rear arms), I would like to get my hands on f'glass pieces (engine cover especially), tubular AL engine mount then make a rear body panel from f'glass, electromotive ign system, a few more Panasports would be nice too. Again, all I can think of right now.

Hate to sound dumb but how do I post pics here, I can't find where attachments go.

[pooldoctorstl]

Hi Larry,

You should consider vintage racing your 850. I have a 1970 124 Spider with a 1438 in it and I race it with VSCDA, but there are several vintage organizations accross the country. The problem with racing a 40 year old car in SCCA is that unless you spend a fortune on engine and suspension mods you will never be competitive with the newer cars in your class. In vintage, it is still competitive racing with 2 major differences. 1) You are classed with cars of the same age and engine size as your car, and 2) it is more about the cars and not bumping and banging so you preserve the car. Everyone recognizes the fact that if you wreck it, you can't just go to the salvage yard and pick up parts to fix it.

The racing is very competitive and a lot of fun. You race an old car because you like old cars, and you will love the cars at a vintage race. I can't wait to see the pics.

Jeff

[L5wolvesf]

Hi Jeff,

I’m familiar with my situation in SCCA, but the PBS head / dual Webers make it a more interesting challenge and were a significant development. Some of the improvements I’ve already spent the money on, I just have to put them on the car.

The vintage groups around here have limits as far as prep levels, like only up to 72 SCCA GCR. Mine is already beyond that. Making the car slower doesn’t appeal to me and would cost a lot too.

Actually the first race it did with the owner before me was a vintage enduro at Riverside in the 80s, we both ran the car. We outlasted the other cars in the class (mostly Fiat 600s), with a stock-ish motor. We blew the race motor in qualifying and finished plugging in the other one at round 2am with a 9 am start time.

BTW, how do I post pictures here?

Larry

[124JOE]

do a search for- how do i post pics? -here on the FS.com site
i use photobucket as a hoast and upload,then copy the img # and paste it here.joe

[wikkid]

for photos, see 2ndwind's "tutorial" link (viewtopic......), posted above. It doesn't look like a link, but it is.

[L5wolvesf]

Pics are here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/67213463@N06

L

[pooldoctorstl]

Larry,

That is a great looking 850. I know what you mean about the vintage rules and the 1972 GCR, and you are obviously familiar with how they work with vintage groups. Some are pretty strict about mods and it is a shame you can't race with them. It's too bad you are so far away because the vintage groups here in the midwest and eastern US are a little more leinient. VSCDA has "MOD 1" and "Mod 2" groups to accomodate cars like yours, but they won't turn down your money.

Good luck and keep the updates coming.

Jeff

[L5wolvesf]

Thanks Jeff. You car looks really good too. Good luck on the track with it.

Unless I get towing funds (like for the Runoffs) the furthest east I get would be Colorado. I did go to Hallet once in '94, a few of the 850 racers at the time arranged a get together there to run a course better suited to the 850.

Larry