Class 5 only

[baja stu]

HA, my engine originated from a wide open car. I paid $2,500 for a complete engine when they were switching over to Subaru. A lot of good parts for the price.

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[ksmith]

Straight from the VORRA rulebook:
Class 5 Unlimited
UR31: ENGINE LOCATION & DISPLACEMENT
Any four-cylinder air or water-cooled engine is permitted. Engine displacement is open.

All of you pro waterpumper guys just need to relocate closer to Northern Nevada and come race some EPIC courses in your Ecotec/Subaru/VW/Honda/Kia/Daewoo/Nissan/ whatever the heck else you can think of..... oh yea Scat 4 cylinder powered Class 5 UNLIMITED
Screw being Nostalgic! Isn't that what Norra is for? Not knocking Norra at all, I love it and look forward to competing in it at some point in my life. Just getting tired of the ones who are saying it's gotta stay VW because 'that's the way its always been'

Over the course of history the class has continued to evolve based on advances made in the class, most of them to keep the costs down or make the cars faster and more reliable. Ditch the pan, ditch the body, heck ditch the cowl, 20lbs of fiberglass that kinda looks like a VW is fine. Oh yea the trans, no need to keep the bus trans cause they blow up too often and cost too much ditch them too. Ditch the aircooled motor cuz they blow up too much and cost too much....oh wait.... no they are nostalgic lets keep them No thanks I'll keep racing in the class with more cars. Not interested in racing with a gaurantee of a podium finish. Even if we don't actually finish. You stubborn VW guys can have it. I'll race class 10 or 3000 unless rules change in class 5. Two year trial, if car counts don't increase by 'X' amount we revert back to the original rules. It seems like the majority of 5 racers (guys who actually race) are for the motor rule trial



PS I wanna see some more pics. Zac how is the motor swap and cage work coming along??

[AMS RACING]

Good to see you join in Steve...you'll have lots to add, but try not to get pissed...there is some stupid stuff that gets posted here...

I haven't read everything in this thread, but it reminds me of a tennis match it just keeps going back and forth. Unlimited motor with limited rpm's, I want this motor oh wait this motor would be better for me.....I get the impression no one really knows what they want. It's funny I haven't missed a race in the last 3 years, I love this class and I'll do what ever it takes to race in it. Half of the people posting here race 1 maybe 2 races a year tops, this has nothing to do with motors. I think Rory said it best when he said "Yes, racing is not Cheap, it's a luxury. If the motors are to expensive, you should be looking into a different class." This is the reason I left the position of Race Director, I got tired of listing to all of the crying. You guys can do what you want, I am going racing. If someone has a clue of what it is you want to change send it to me in an email ([email protected]) let me know what it is you want, and a list of who is on board and I can sit down with Casey and see what can be done. One other thing, the list should be of current Class 5 racers that have raced at least 4 races a year in the last two years.

[AMS RACING]

Here's the Problem: You built a Baja bug to go racing. After you built it and raced it, you found out your car is not competitive against the top guys. So, instead of doing what THEY did (spent more $$$, bought better parts to make their cars better), you want to make racing in class 5 more conveinant for YOU. Yes, racing is not Cheap, it's a luxury. If the motors are to expensive, you should be looking into a different class. Class 5 is a class that has been around since the beginning, it's a class for diehard's. I would LOVE to have a class 5, ask Jim Anderson, i had been trying to steal that car from him for 6 months.

Also, just because some people have a 3.0 T4 motor in their cars does not mean they are going to win. I have seen far less powerful 5 cars win against the best.... that's why you race, the desert is the big equalizer. Your car short on power? How about spending more time on the set-up? How about using different tire/wheel set-ups? How bout transmission gearing? Knowing your cars weakness can help you find it's strengths. One flat tire by the leader could be enough between a win and second place.

The REAL answer is to move into a class you can afford. If you can't afford to race the class the way it is right now, maybe that class isn't for you. Sell your car and move into a class that better suits your wallet, you'll be happier you did it.

Thank you Rory, very well said. On a funny note, when I was racing Sail Boats I met some guys that couldn't afford a real Sail Boat so the bought R/C Sail Boats and raced them. From what I could see the had a blast!!!

I'm not trying to be an A$$, I'm just saying it like it is.

[Matt Mead]

Attachment 119733SUBARU POWER
A few years ago, Wide Open Baja Technical Director Tom Morris started to look for an alternative to the Porsche engine, which was getting expensive to build and required a lot of maintenance. Subaru enthusiasts will find it of no surprise that Wide Open Baja decided to switch to Subaru engines. It was a natural replacement because the SUBARU BOXER engine is so close in shape and size to the Porsche engine, and it maintains the benefit of its low center of gravity. More importantly, the stock Subaru engines quickly proved more robust and, hence, less expensive to maintain.

Wide Open imports used Subaru EJ25 2.5-liter engines directly from Japan. They are checked and refreshed by Outfront Motorsports in Orange County, California. They remain essentially unchanged from a stock engine, save for a different fuel-injection system, intake manifold, and headers. The engine provides substantially more power than is needed for the “Tours,” so a restrictor plate (à la NASCAR) is added to help cut back top-end power.

Soon after switching to Subaru engines, Wide Open found that when the cars were driven under extreme conditions, the plastic timing belt covers were melting due to heat generated by the modified exhaust headers. That was resolved by installing a metal faceplate as a barrier. Apart from this, there have been no recurring problems with the engines.

The engine is mated to the same manual VW Transporter transmission used previously via a specially made plate mounted on the chassis. This allows the engine or the transmission to be changed independently. The design has proven to save time when working on the cars either in the shop or in the desert miles from anywhere.


My next engine??

I'm glad you mentioned the Subaru again. I think we get all wrapped up in the hype factory of the new ecotec, when there is an engine already out there that is about the same concept, shape, dimensions, with possibly more power, more reliable, etc. A couple of pages back, did you see how awkward the ecotec looked sitting on the back of that green bug? Sorry, I forgot who that was that posted it.

[Ol' Curmudgeon]

!

[steve0we]

Lets go with class 10 engine rules. If its fast enough to push a class 10, it works for my car!

[bajabird]

Tom, how'd you do yesterday at Caliente? We had, of all things, a broken throttle cable putting us down for 30 minutes with a repair! We finished, but it was lame...no rewards, except year-end points...Dang it!

On the way into stateline, the gmc 3500 pulling the 5th wheel big trailer lost a HP brake line. We brought it into Vegas first thing Friday morning. The dealer thought they had the right line... did not, they had one made, wrong fittings, made another..... and then another that fixed it. That call came in at 9am on Saturday morning. With families on board; we got a few rooms at South Point after a BBQ at co-dogs hiome in Vegas. The 5/16 never got out to play.

[Baja Jim]

Steve Alexander is the guy running the BITD circuit. Anderson is the guy that jumped ship (just joking buddy).[/QUOTE]

Yeh, I jumped ship but I bet I'll still race more races in Class 5 this year than most of the guys posting in thread!!!!

This is not an average Joe class so why make it? 5 cars are cool and thats why guys build them! I've softened on the water cooled idea but not on sealed motor for Unlimited class. I like the Suburu engine as an option. Limit cc's and compression ratio to keep cost down and nothing else.

AJ and Steve's arms are ? but I think that they meet rules as I read them. We switched to Latest Concept arms and they have been solid

[rusco]

I haven't read everything in this thread, but it reminds me of a tennis match it just keeps going back and forth. Unlimited motor with limited rpm's, I want this motor oh wait this motor would be better for me.....I get the impression no one really knows what they want. It's funny I haven't missed a race in the last 3 years, I love this class and I'll do what ever it takes to race in it. Half of the people posting here race 1 maybe 2 races a year tops, this has nothing to do with motors. I think Rory said it best when he said "Yes, racing is not Cheap, it's a luxury. If the motors are to expensive, you should be looking into a different class." This is the reason I left the position of Race Director, I got tired of listing to all of the crying. You guys can do what you want, I am going racing. If someone has a clue of what it is you want to change send it to me in an email ([email protected]) let me know what it is you want, and a list of who is on board and I can sit down with Casey and see what can be done. One other thing, the list should be of current Class 5 racers that have raced at least 4 races a year in the last two years.

Think I mentioned that (you racing) in your defense earlier on.
Think the term "racing" is a different term for all of us. Is showing up to an event with 1-2 participants really racing? It's like a kids soccer match.....they're all gonna get a trophy. What we are "crying" about here is opening up the rules to make class 5 appealing to racers again. Love the fact that 10 showed to the Mint. Now that's racing!