kdobson

Those darned things are contagious. People harp about national rules but when one thinks how big this country really is a one size fits all thing is not always the best policy. Racing at the grass roots has always been local running what is available in the neighborhood. Most weekend racers like to stay close to home and race at the most several different tracks. Glad to hear you guys are doing good up their. PowrI is working on a standardized set of rules and that is a good thing if it is a good set of rules it will be emulated my many other smaller racing groups all over.

The original concept of D II midgets began when an old guy down in Florida was racing Mini Sprints and was having problems with chain wear while racing in that sand that they live in. He wanted to turn the motor around and install a drive shaft just like the Kenyon Midgets. Well about that same time USAC was racing Focus Midgets (a bit under-powered for a race car) and the ECOtec midgets were just coming on line. I had watched the ECOtec's at the shootout that year and suggested that the Ecotec Midget, Focus Midget and the 1200cc Mini Sprint were all very compatible and could race well together.

All of this started over a discussion right here on IOW. Every body including this guy down south wanted to call Mini Sprint a Lightning Sprint. I thought then and still think so today that that was a dumb name for our cars. Well I finally convinced him that the only difference between a Midget and Mini Sprint was the power plant and drive system. He agreed with me finally and he then came up with the name D II Midget, applied it to all 3 classes of cars and it looks like it is going to stick too. Now they call him the "Grand Father" of D II Midgets>>personally I think "God Father" would be more appropriate. "Don" Wayne


Honest Dad himself

We've been running a back row challenge all year at Lincoln. It's been accepted every time but no one has managed to pull it off. Many including us have come very close, but so far no one has managed it. We all have one more shot next week. The biggest fight is being able to be the high point man in order to even have a chance. Passing points mean the heat races are some of the best races of the night. I forgot to add that chain cars have won all races so far, but it has been close on occasion. 2nd edit- when we race IMRA,the wins have been about 50/50 chain to 2.4

I agree with Dad that Chett is a heck of a driver and would be competitive in most anything. Extra weight is not going to slow him down. I've seen him race that car at Montpelier and Union County Speedways, and be very competitive with full National Midgets. The point here is that not all production automotive engines are created equal. The USAC HPD series co-sanctioned 6 races with Midwest mini sprint associations this summer - mini sprints won 5 out of 6 against USAC legal Focus cars. In my opinion, the cars have similar horsepower, but Focus weigh 200 lbs more, and struggle to accelerate on starts due to the heavier driveline. A Focus car won at the high banked 3/8 mile Atomic Speedway, where it could utilize its momentum.

I'm a huge fan of the DII concept and believe this off-season is critical for developing a set of rules that encompass a wide variety of production engines and mini sprints. I'd like to see specs that target horsepower at the 225 range, easily accessible for Focus with minor modifications not current permitted by USAC. The Ecotech and Honda can be built economically at this HP level. We cannot go into the 2016 season allowing Ecotechs modified to put out 275+ HP competing against other DII midgets.

Dad, based on the DO talk show: there were a few "Hot Shoe" drivers mentioned and even compared to "Jeff Gordon" and "Christopher Bell"..... Surprised they didn't give ol' Chett a run for his $$.

The target HP has been 225 from day one...as you say the focus as done through USAC is 186-189 with the clutch/driveline. Both Focus cars here in Florida has ran the USAC/Scream engine all year and has finished behind 3 ecotec and 1000cc MS...The Ecotec are the MWR "stock" configured STOCK intake and TBI with STOCK cams. They do have aftermarket rods and pistons but are stock equivalent compression. These cars do have the VVT hooked up and do get off the corner much better but with that said they still fall in the same HP range that we as D-II are looking for. As of last week I have "Built" one of the Ford Focus's I have...J&E pistons 2 mill over 11.1 compression $538.00 set of Eagle rods $317.00. Bore block $150.00, brgs. and gaskets $135.00. port/polish head with crower cams and springs $1000.00. total $2140.00 for upgrades and a complete new engine. We also deleted clutch starter and flywheel.

We do not have an engine dyno down here for a Focus but we did go to the track and the upgrade according to the driver is much better. This weekend will be the 1st time in competition with the MWR ecotec's that are "LEGAL" with VVT hooded up as per our current D-II rules and are looking forward to Sat. night's show to see how the new "Super Focus" works out. Just going by what other engine guys are saying we hope 210-220 HP and improvement on the bottom end torque. This will help when all parties concerned sat down to hammer out a set of rules. We will post the comparison next week... Again our goal is 225 HP....Has always been that even with to 1000cc are at 185-195 but they do get a 200lb. weight break...Hope this helps to clear up things.

I think you forgot about those "JUNKYARD MOTORS" in your car you're always preaching about..... Didn't think USAC/Scream was producing motors for Ford that would make it into the junkyard now.


Respectfully,
One of "THOSE" ecotec drivers

WB

I guess Chett is driving one of the last Revolution ECOtec's built. The problem faced with D II Midgets is not making them all equal Horsepower >>>the problem is giving the most competitive engines a chance to race.

Right now there are many ideas on how to make them competitive and economical. The problem most people feel that to be economical and fair the parts or engines should be purchased from a specific source. To guys like me>>>that ain't economical.

We have raced Mini Sprints for a lot of years now. Generally whenever we blew a motor up we bought a new low mileage motor off of Ebay and continued racing with a little newer and faster technology. This has served us well over the years. Granted the automotive motors leave a little more to be desired in their state of tune as opposed to the Motorcycle engines but I think with just a little extra massaging they can be made to perform quite well.

Right now there are some people out there touting the advantages of the 2.4 Midget class. They are writing up rules and specification to keep everyone in compliance.

Only one problems that I see. 2.4 Liter engines are now obsolete as far as manufactures are concerned. Their engine of choice has be replace in the automotive line up with a 2.5 Liter motor or smaller displacement motors using either Superchargers or Turbo chargers.

We have become very Political Correct in the last few years. Junk Yards are now called Automotive Recycle Facilities. As such many of them now render unusable cars down to their elements and sell them as recycled metals usually to China. That means that in 5 years there will be very few 2.4 motors available for racers. We have entered the age of throw away motors. Just like in Mini Sprints it is easier to buy new and forget about a freshen up.

With race cars Horsepower is found in the cylinder head. The Ecotec has a superior head. That make it the champ. Other must play catch up. Horsepower is also found in Compression Ratio>>the higher the CR the more power the engine will produce. Auto makers have started developing Direct injection>>just like a Diesel they inject the fuel directly into the combustion just before it is needed to ignite. By doing this they can run some very high compression ratios with some very low octane fuel.

If D II midget are to survive and grow the organizers and rule makers must figure a way to factor in these advancements as they are introduced to the market. That old cry of oh you are going to raise the cost of racing by making racers buy new engines as they come on line rings kind of hollow because right now most of these new engines can be bought through recyclers for 2 to 3 thousand dollars much cheaper than a freshen up. Were I making the rules I would probably allow high compression pistons but would dis allow the rods that go with them. The pistons would allow them to be more compatible with Methanol and the stock rods would limit the rpm's.
I would probably allow heavier valve springs but also disallow aftermarket valve and other components. I would not allow any port work period and make after market throttle bodies an option. I would allow engine management alteration because a car on the track has much different performance parameters than those on the street engine. Because of where the engine is placed in the frame a dry sump oiling system might be required. The USAC cars seem to work well with wet sump and an accumulator that would be the preferred method from the cost standpoint.

Both PowrI and USAC are thinking about this class of cars as well as several groups in Illinois and even out on the left coast. It is sure going to be interesting watching people come to grips with this new form of open wheel racing.

Honest Dad himself

Dad seems to be pretty correct on alot of this. Most of these production engines seem to be pretty even in stock configuration(between 175-200 hp ford chevy chrysler honda). If you keep that configuration and limit to rods and springs you keep things affordable and even.

So you took a regular USAC legal engine 2.0 Focus and was able to upgrade as per D2 rules for 2 grand? I like it...removing the clutch assy. less weight, better pistons and rods for an engine already known for reliability. So I can take a focus, do this and should be somewhat competitive with the 2.4 engines...Would like to know the #'s on dyno. Sure hope this works out cause we were looking at scrapping the complete focus and going Honda. This is way cheaper. Did you do the head yourself?

Sling

and for around $2000.00 you could buy an good slightly used ECOtec and not worry about heads etc.

Honest Dad himself