FF FIT engine restrictor change

[reidhazelton]

Again, the problem people are going to run into is the rather large variance between Kent engines and the power they produce. It's a problem with no real solution. I think the pro series has it pretty damn close, if not as perfect as its going to get. I'm all for making the Fit a runoffs winning competitor, and it's definitely not that at the current SCCA restrictor, but might be there with the pro series restrictor.

It's no secret that there are "super" kents out there that people will hold onto because they are special and above the rest. Either you make it so the fit is better than all of those super engines, or you live with the fact that there are a few kents out there that can't be topped. The former will make kents obsolete, the latter will make a few people scratch their heads in frustration, but in the end will be most fair.

Since when are Long Islanders so level headed? Guess you don't watch Carfellas huh? We need a .gif or one of those animated .jpg from you before we can take this seriously.

[Tom Valet]

Ask Valet & Kautz. One or both of them said originally they had set up issues with their cars at Mid Ohio if I recall it was on a post some where. So far the season is equal for Ford vs. Honda is it not? Keep in mind it is a whole package that wins, driver, car set up, engine...not just the engine alone. The guys at the top have everything dialed in.

Maybe some of the F1600 Pro Series Kent runners guys can voice their opinion. I know John R. has given his opinion.

It seems that many people who are strongly against the 31 restrictor have not even run against the cars with this restrictor size. Isn't it better to hear from people who race against these cars already?

Bill is not going to post here since the last time he posted about Kent vs. Honda he was castigated for giving his honest opinion.

Our car had damage to the frame of the car in the Watkins Glen crash and the damage was not apparent until we put the car on the track at Mid-Ohio and the floor pan started to peel off. With a better car, whether Bill would have been able to match the pace of those ahead, who knows, have to wait until next year to find out, but this year at least the engine had nothing to do with Bill's performance, the car was not handling and was bending like a banana up and down as it went around the track.

My personal opinion, Honda at 31mm vs Kent is as close as one could hope to get, at least as far as the Pro Series goes. In the future with development maybe that restrictor will be too large, maybe not, nobody can say. If you went to other tracks, maybe the Honda will be better, maybe worse, again nobody can say. But for this year at least in the Pro series there is nothing to be said in terms of picking one engine over the other.

We are still racing our Kent and have not yet switched over to Honda partly because Loynings built us a real nice engine but more so because Bill is going to the Runoffs again and the Honda at less than 31mm, in our view at least, would not be competitive at RA.

[swiftdrivr]

Years ago, I read an article by a racer / writer at Road & Track, [I think.] The enthusiastic young driver was in his first year of racing, with a reasonable car, and even rain tires. He was out racing in the rain, with his new rain tires, feeling pretty good about his skill and daring, when the kid in the beat up older Ford passed him. On slicks. Thats when he realized 2 things; 1] The tires don't make the car go fast, the driver does, and 2] He'd better be having fun, cause nobody was ever going to pay him to drive race cars.
I'm having fun. I hope you guys are to.

[Tom Valet]

The Cape brothers brought the Spectrum/Honda to RA during the Runoffs. They had no interest in running it at 29.5mm but had driven it out there to display the car for those who had not seen it in the Pro Series.

For what it is worth, they said that they had run the car at Road America recently with the Pro 31mm restrictor and while they could produce a competitive lap time (under 2.22), the top speed of the car was 134 mph or 4-5 mph down from the fastest Kents.

Also saw Dan Layton from Honda who ran Wyatt Gooden in his Van Diemen at M-O and he said he hoped to have Wyatt in the car at the WGI finale which would be great.

[BWC54]

The Cape brothers brought the Spectrum/Honda to RA during the Runoffs. They had no interest in running it at 29.5mm but had driven it out there to display the car for those who had not seen it in the Pro Series.

Do you have any close up pictures of the Spectrum?

[ragingti]

Do you have any close up pictures of the Spectrum?

There are a couple pics here with the engine cover off, not close up though...

http://www.apexspeed.com/forums/showthread.php?t=46731

[Steve Bamford]

After all the debate about an increase restrictor size I am surprised with the new rules update there wasn't more discussion on this thread.

[Roland V. Johnson]

How many Hondas are out there running now?

[John Robinson II]

Tom G from HPD told me 2 weeks ago that they have sold 42 engines/kits. More then I thought.
John

[Tim Webb]

Rumour has it that Wyatt was seen at Hallett on Tuesday running the bright orange VD. Times were pretty impressive...so they say

[Dave SanF 50]

Here is my thoughts -worth what you are paying for them
1) I do NOT have a super Kent
2) I am not willing to spend more of my capital racing than I have been spending
3) Because of #2, I do not plan to attend the Runoffs any time soon
4) I race regional races (95%), so I very rarely have to compete against a super Kent-very, very good Kents, yes, but not super-dupers
5) If ALL Hondas are closer to super Kent power instead of regional Kent power, then any Honda I encounter regionally will have more power than I have. Bummer

I would like to see restrictors on Super Kents. That would level the playing field don't you think?
Another poster (wish I could find his post to give him credit) suggested one size restrictor for Honda's regionally and a larger size for nationals-that made incredible sense to me.

I see the whole debate about restrictor size and super Kents way beyond the regional racer and into the stratosphere of expenditures.

How does any of this help the regional guy? I take my $15K DB1 and put a $12K conversion into it? Where is the economic sense in that? And don't give me the line about fewer rebuilds. My last rebuild was 2008. I'm a more than 40 hour guy. I think I freshened the head some time ago, can't remember exactly when.

I enjoy racing but I get tired of all the debating regarding this engine at that track vs car development and driver ability.

[Matt King]

I see the whole debate about restrictor size and super Kents way beyond the regional racer and into the stratosphere of expenditures.

The way I see it, you either have the time, talent and resources to compete against all the rest of the cars in your class on any given day, or you don't. If you don't, you do the best you can with what you have and accept the results. That is what racing is all about. The whole regional/national split makes no sense to me. I would rather be at the tail end of a national field (which I have been) and know where I stand and where I need to get to, than fooling myself.

[Rob E]

Not only does the new restrictor size change the balance but how about this little tidbit?

[SIZE=1]2. #6254 (Sandy Shamlian/Jay Ivey/Rollin Butler) Correct Kent piston dimension
In 9.1.D.1.e.4, correct as follows: Centerline of wrist pin to crown: 1.737 [/SIZE][FONT=Arial,Arial][SIZE=1][FONT=Arial,Arial][SIZE=1]1.702 [/SIZE][/FONT][/SIZE][/FONT][SIZE=1]+/- .002"[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1][/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]Now I don't want to be unkind but the QuickSilver/Ivey guys have been building these engines for 20-something years??? and now that the "money" guys are probably switching to the Fit engine (especially in light of the restrictor change) they suddenly realize that they have been building engines with the wrong dimension for years.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1][/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]I hear the black helicopters...
[/SIZE]

[starkejt]

I hear the black helicopters...

Well, Sandy's helicopter is blue, and Ivey's is sort of a maroon color....

[Purple Frog]

...but... Steve's is black.