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LEADERS EDGE · 12/10/08, 11:39 AM

I agree that production motors have changed in the last few years so that is a possibility. I was stating why people had gotten away from them.

My point with the IRS is that they are basically on the path you are speaking of. What people are saying is needed is already offered. The IRS fills that group need. Basically any type of motor with restrictions and a narrow tire and wheel rule. If that is what people want to run, it is there to be run.

All of the motors you mentioned are the basis for what we have today. The testing and tinkering and evolving of technology directly comes from the time spent with those and other motors. They became specialty motors because of the weaknesses they found during the years of racing.

From the late 70's through the early 90's my father built or rebuilt hundreds of VW engines. He built motors for several teams and won a few championships and many races. By the end of the 80's, the best VW cost $10,000. They started out in the 70's as basically a stock style engine, but as they where improved and developed they evolved. The stock case was just not strong enough to endure a full season. As far as 38 races goes, that's great; but none of our customers would allow their motors to go that long and they wanted peak performance at all times. While that didn't mean we had to do complete overhauls, we did have to do valve jobs and replace the rings. While that motor ran 38 races, it wasn't as powerful at #38 as it was at #6.

Knowing what I know about the VW motors we ran in the 80's and what I know about the motors we ran in the late 90's and early 2000's, they where basically on the same maintainence schedule except I felt the Brayton Motors made better power for a longer period of time. We ran our Brayton Motors probably 70 plus races without a major failure except one lifter. We got 12-15 races out of a set of valve springs. We would rebuild them 15-20 races. That said, we weren't chasing the USAC title so we didn't have motors on scheduled turn arounds. We where just running the local dirt stuff that included some of the USAC National Schedule.

The funny part about the VW is that when it was the most popular motor; people thought it ruined the racing because it wasn't American.(Although it was actually completely American built using the VW platform. People wanted to get rid of them and get back to stock block type motors featuring Chevy and Ford. Some clubs only allowed the Chevy II and others only allowed the 126 or 133 VW. Now that we have the "American" Motors, people are telling me how great and cheap it was to run the VW.

I want to do a test in the upcomong year as far as the 8"-10" wheel comparison. Maybe I am wrong, but I want to find out for myself because I really don't think it will have the effect that people think it does. Who knows, maybe the car will actually be faster. Probably not, but I want to find out.

12/10/08, 11:39 AM	#42 Re: Financial Adviser's Phone Number Please?
LEADERS EDGE Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 980	I agree that production motors have changed in the last few years so that is a possibility. I was stating why people had gotten away from them. My point with the IRS is that they are basically on the path you are speaking of. What people are saying is needed is already offered. The IRS fills that group need. Basically any type of motor with restrictions and a narrow tire and wheel rule. If that is what people want to run, it is there to be run. All of the motors you mentioned are the basis for what we have today. The testing and tinkering and evolving of technology directly comes from the time spent with those and other motors. They became specialty motors because of the weaknesses they found during the years of racing. From the late 70's through the early 90's my father built or rebuilt hundreds of VW engines. He built motors for several teams and won a few championships and many races. By the end of the 80's, the best VW cost $10,000. They started out in the 70's as basically a stock style engine, but as they where improved and developed they evolved. The stock case was just not strong enough to endure a full season. As far as 38 races goes, that's great; but none of our customers would allow their motors to go that long and they wanted peak performance at all times. While that didn't mean we had to do complete overhauls, we did have to do valve jobs and replace the rings. While that motor ran 38 races, it wasn't as powerful at #38 as it was at #6. Knowing what I know about the VW motors we ran in the 80's and what I know about the motors we ran in the late 90's and early 2000's, they where basically on the same maintainence schedule except I felt the Brayton Motors made better power for a longer period of time. We ran our Brayton Motors probably 70 plus races without a major failure except one lifter. We got 12-15 races out of a set of valve springs. We would rebuild them 15-20 races. That said, we weren't chasing the USAC title so we didn't have motors on scheduled turn arounds. We where just running the local dirt stuff that included some of the USAC National Schedule. The funny part about the VW is that when it was the most popular motor; people thought it ruined the racing because it wasn't American.(Although it was actually completely American built using the VW platform. People wanted to get rid of them and get back to stock block type motors featuring Chevy and Ford. Some clubs only allowed the Chevy II and others only allowed the 126 or 133 VW. Now that we have the "American" Motors, people are telling me how great and cheap it was to run the VW. I want to do a test in the upcomong year as far as the 8"-10" wheel comparison. Maybe I am wrong, but I want to find out for myself because I really don't think it will have the effect that people think it does. Who knows, maybe the car will actually be faster. Probably not, but I want to find out.