Build Thread- AWR FC Endurance Race Car
Thread Starter
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 3,099
Likes: 4
From: Richland, WA
Build Thread- AWR FC Endurance Race Car
Hi Guys,
I thought I would share our project with you guys. I have been a longtime RX7 guy but haven't been on the forum much for a while. I mostly race open wheel, but I have recently hired a couple engineers at my job and we thought it would be fun to start an endurance race team.
Since we are in Richland, WA it was only fitting that we name our team Atomic Wankel Racing!
We will be primarily endurance racing in ChumpCar, Lucky Dog, LeMons, and Rat Race events, but are also planning to class the car in ITS and compete in SCCA and ICSCC events as well.
Step one was to find a suitable starting point, which based on all the different rule sets was a s4 NA. Here's the victim when we got it home:
Next pulled the engine and transmission for rebuilds, gutted the interior, started removing sound deadening. Dry ice trick worked wonderfully. I'll see if I can find a pic of the giant pile of parts we removed and post it later.
Lexan rear hatch window:
Once the car was stripped and cleaned, we brought it to work to fab the roll cage. Cage is being made from 1.5" mild steel DOM, and will conform to SCCA, NASA, ICSCC, Chump, and every other rule book we could find.
Seat had to be mounted to design the main hoop braces:
Starting to get tacked together:
Next work day we will build door bars and spreader plates, and start welding out the cage.
I will post engine build progress as well, and also some pics of our paint scheme concept and all the mechanical progress too.
Our first planned test day is in March and first race shortly after, so we are rolling right along on this build.
Please let us know what you think, and if anyone races in the Northwest, see you at the track!
I thought I would share our project with you guys. I have been a longtime RX7 guy but haven't been on the forum much for a while. I mostly race open wheel, but I have recently hired a couple engineers at my job and we thought it would be fun to start an endurance race team.
Since we are in Richland, WA it was only fitting that we name our team Atomic Wankel Racing!
We will be primarily endurance racing in ChumpCar, Lucky Dog, LeMons, and Rat Race events, but are also planning to class the car in ITS and compete in SCCA and ICSCC events as well.
Step one was to find a suitable starting point, which based on all the different rule sets was a s4 NA. Here's the victim when we got it home:
Next pulled the engine and transmission for rebuilds, gutted the interior, started removing sound deadening. Dry ice trick worked wonderfully. I'll see if I can find a pic of the giant pile of parts we removed and post it later.
Lexan rear hatch window:
Once the car was stripped and cleaned, we brought it to work to fab the roll cage. Cage is being made from 1.5" mild steel DOM, and will conform to SCCA, NASA, ICSCC, Chump, and every other rule book we could find.
Seat had to be mounted to design the main hoop braces:
Starting to get tacked together:
Next work day we will build door bars and spreader plates, and start welding out the cage.
I will post engine build progress as well, and also some pics of our paint scheme concept and all the mechanical progress too.
Our first planned test day is in March and first race shortly after, so we are rolling right along on this build.
Please let us know what you think, and if anyone races in the Northwest, see you at the track!
Thread Starter
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 3,099
Likes: 4
From: Richland, WA
Here's the first paint rendering from our graphic guy. He is working on a bunch more updates as well so we can get it perfect before we paint it. We're still deciding on an interior paint color but probably a light silver.
We don't really buy into the "Race cars are supposed to be ugly" camp, especially since we have paint guys who paint million dollar cars on our team...
Also a couple pics of the starting point for the engine. We got two cores with the car, tore both down and will have enough good parts for a race engine and a backup. We aren't allowed to do much to the engines other than build them back to an as-new condition.
A couple of our side housings need resurfaces so I am doing some testing with a scrap iron on the mill to see if I can get it flat and smooth enough. If not we will have them surface ground. All this needs to be cleaned up real nice and we will start engine build work next week.
More pics in a few days...
We don't really buy into the "Race cars are supposed to be ugly" camp, especially since we have paint guys who paint million dollar cars on our team...
Also a couple pics of the starting point for the engine. We got two cores with the car, tore both down and will have enough good parts for a race engine and a backup. We aren't allowed to do much to the engines other than build them back to an as-new condition.
A couple of our side housings need resurfaces so I am doing some testing with a scrap iron on the mill to see if I can get it flat and smooth enough. If not we will have them surface ground. All this needs to be cleaned up real nice and we will start engine build work next week.
More pics in a few days...
Thread Starter
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 3,099
Likes: 4
From: Richland, WA
Thread Starter
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 3,099
Likes: 4
From: Richland, WA
Well it has been a while, but we have made quite a bit more progress.
Got our first major sponsor: Wendel Solutions and Swepco Oil! If you haven't heard of Swepco, check it out, they make all the lubricants you need for a race car, and actually publish data about the oil so you can tell it's good stuff! If you want to try some out, check out Wendel Solutions - Home and give Scott a call!
Anyway, everyone has been busy and we have put in a few less hours than we hoped, but we just finally finished up the cage. Here are some more pictures:
Roll Cage work makes for lots of welding in uncomfortable positions:
A little bit more fitup work:
Once the cage was done it was time to pressure wash and get ready for paint:
Nice bright interior and engine bay should help keep everything clean:
Hood pins:
Lots of other little progress too, but those are all the pics I have.
Next step is suspension and brakes overhaul, and then engine build. We should be working on the engine already, but we got sidetracked making our own bob weights for balancing. More progress coming soon!
Got our first major sponsor: Wendel Solutions and Swepco Oil! If you haven't heard of Swepco, check it out, they make all the lubricants you need for a race car, and actually publish data about the oil so you can tell it's good stuff! If you want to try some out, check out Wendel Solutions - Home and give Scott a call!
Anyway, everyone has been busy and we have put in a few less hours than we hoped, but we just finally finished up the cage. Here are some more pictures:
Roll Cage work makes for lots of welding in uncomfortable positions:
A little bit more fitup work:
Once the cage was done it was time to pressure wash and get ready for paint:
Nice bright interior and engine bay should help keep everything clean:
Hood pins:
Lots of other little progress too, but those are all the pics I have.
Next step is suspension and brakes overhaul, and then engine build. We should be working on the engine already, but we got sidetracked making our own bob weights for balancing. More progress coming soon!
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