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PostPosted: August 30, 2016, 2:28 pm 
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Mid-Engined Maniac

Joined: April 23, 2006, 8:26 pm
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Location: SoCal
Last weekend my brother and his LS3-powered Stalker beat every mid-engine car at the Virginia City (Nevada) Hill Climb, losing only lost to another front engine car, a 1000 hp Nissan GTR. Between them they beat every Labo, Ferrari, and McLaren, and with averages speeds of maybe 80 mph, aerodynamics isn't a huge issue.

You pick your battles...

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Last edited by KB58 on August 30, 2016, 3:08 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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PostPosted: August 30, 2016, 2:34 pm 
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Joined: September 22, 2005, 10:29 am
Posts: 599
Given the current value of air-cooled Porsches, you'd have to be a fool to butcher one up. Wasn't long ago, it was a different story..... I have a friend with a V8 914 and while it's screamingly fast, he sold it when he decided that it isn't all about speed.

Designing one's own active, compensating suspension to counteract poor weight distribution seems like a task for a genius or a fool - or perhaps both. :cheers:


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PostPosted: August 30, 2016, 5:32 pm 
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Joined: April 26, 2008, 6:06 pm
Posts: 3268
Location: Under the weather. (Seattle)
bob wrote:
the later porsche engines over here are being tweeked to produce a streetable 600+ hp so why bother?
For me personally, I wouldn't do any 600+hp engine in a collectible Porsche. However, price out a 600+ hp Porsche engine, and then a 600+ hp LS3. Better yet, just price out a brand new 450-500hp crate motor from each manufacturer.

When you start talking about a 996, or 986, where you can pick one up with a blown motor for pennies on the dollar, or sell the good stock engine to somebody with a blown motor for almost as much as (sometimes more than) you paid for the entire car, that's when it really starts to make cents.


bob wrote:
A v8 perched up so high must make it handle like a pig
I'm not sure what you're trying to accomplish by continuing to make these types of claims, exaggerated to the point of falsehood, but I don't think it's actually doing anything you would want it to.


bob wrote:
The rear engined 24hour le mans cars are lapping the front engined Astons and Vets some thirty odd times in the race. They are also the best part of 50kph faster down the straight. All these cars run similar HP but the mid engine stuff just runs off into the distance. In my tiny mind its down to traction out of the corners and aero down the straights .
Remember though, that all else is rarely equal. Note that being the "fastest" in their class by 0.28 seconds during pre-race testing this year, possibly (probably) combined with sandbagging by Ford and Ferrari, resulted in so-called 'Balance of Performance' adjustments which subsequently dropped the Corvette to a relatively massive 4.66 seconds off pace in qualifying.

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Last edited by Driven5 on September 1, 2016, 4:07 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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PostPosted: August 30, 2016, 10:17 pm 
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The voice of reason
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Joined: January 10, 2008, 4:47 pm
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Location: Massachusetts
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resulted in so-called 'Balance of Performance' adjustments which subsequently dropped the Corvette to a relatively massive 4.66 seconds off pace in qualifying.


There is some truth here to this stuff. I don't know anything about this case, but I remember years ago that a former member of our local club won the national championship in his Vette. Every year he won they added 50 lbs. to the weight of his car. When Nissan won, then it was considered just fine. He was a touch bitter about it, I think.

If you do a little modeling on a computer or do some more serious CAD with cardboard you may find it easier to get to something you are happy with. I did some drawings a couple of years ago with a Subaru engine. The rear engine made sense if you insisted on AWD. The wheelbase was really short though, you probably would just add a foot or two somewhere in the car to stretch it.

The midship engine worked well in dimensions, it had about the same wheelbase as a front engined car.

I remember seeing a mid-engine Corvair at the track back int he 70's. It was cool.

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PostPosted: August 31, 2016, 3:36 am 
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Joined: August 19, 2014, 5:17 pm
Posts: 685
Location: England
KB58 wrote:
Last weekend my brother and his LS3-powered Stalker beat every mid-engine car at the Virginia City (Nevada) Hill Climb, losing only lost to another front engine car, a 1000 hp Nissan GTR. Between them they beat every Labo, Ferrari, and McLaren, and with averages speeds of maybe 80 mph, aerodynamics isn't a huge issue.

You pick your battles...


I can believe it, the Stalker with driver and fuel on board must be getting close to 50/50 weight distribution which is as good as it gets for hill climbs /short track racing. My comment on dumping a heavy engine over the front axle and poor traction was born out of a drive in a Road runner with tri power BB. On street tyres that thing would just light up the rear end off the line and between gear changes at quite modest prods of the loud pedal, just loads of noise and wheelsspin going nowhere. I built a stroker BB for a friends Camaro and that was no better. Power is nothing without control as the Germans say :)

Bob

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PostPosted: August 31, 2016, 9:51 am 
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Joined: September 22, 2005, 10:29 am
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I wish Kurt would stop posting his brother's exploits. I sold my Stalker several years ago. :cry: :wink:


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