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The Chihuahua Express

On April 15th, 2008, most of the same sponsors and organizers who bring us the Carrera Panamericana will bring us "the Chihuahua Express." It is a 1325-mile race with the city of Chihuahua as it's hub.

We are considering entry. This is a team development strategy question.

325 miles are speed stages, 1000 miles are transit stages. The race will run out in a different direction from the city each day, on desert, canyon, and mountain roads, and return to the city each night.

The rules are very lax, quoted as cars with "six-point roll gages and safety equipment." Our Ghias (the '65 or the '70) are eligible for the under 2.4 liter normally aspirated class.

Since our '70 has just a vintage single hoop (but well braced) roll bar, only the Carrera veteran '65 meets the cage requirement, but we can transplant the '70's 2.2 litre engine into the '65. It's a Weber-fed stroker with 94mm jugs and an eight-quart oil system.

Equipped with a "freeway flyer" transaxle, the '65 can hit and hold 130mph or better with the 2.2. This would make it competitive with cars with similar displacement.

In that the '65 is a swing axle, and the Chihuahua has some long straights, it would be a hell of a race.

Here's the consideration. Do we run the Chihuahua in April, while seriously considering a rerun in the Carrera later in the year, or spend the year at Sebring, Road Atlanta, Barber, etc., in further development with the '65 and the "70?

Mr. Camper,

If you are seriously considering the 08 la Carrera then the April race might be a good practice run under similar conditions. For the April race maybe just run the 65 in "Carrera" trim without the 2.2L to test your setup improvements for the fall. You could test cooling improvements you mentioned might be necessary after the recent race.

Good luck,
Shane

You've got a good point there in running the Chihuahua with the small Carrera-legal "Historica A" engine but with fixes for all the shortcomings we suffered in the Carrera.

I was thinking of using the 2.2 liter engine so we could level the playing field with some of those V8's on the straights.

My own desire to win gets in the way, which is why I asked this question on this forum. Your suggestion makes sense. I also would personally like to see Justin and Barret at the southeast regional tracks to improve Justin's lap times and further the Carrera Ghia's development a weekend at a time. It's a long tow back from Mexico if we break something.

FJCamper wrote:I was thinking of using the 2.2 liter engine so we could level the playing field with some of those V8's on the straights.

This approach certainly appeals to my baser instincts, but I'll root for y'all regardless. Go Ghia!

A weekend at an HPDE event (especially NASA HPDE4 where it's flat-out and pass as you wish, but you just don't get a thophy) is a concentrated amount of abuse that will break some things faster than a speed stage in Mexico.

Of course there are some speed stage conditions that track racing can't touch, but as a rule, the short, fast, sprints test hardware brutally.

The extreme example of that is drag racing. Those guys can break more parts in ten to fifteen seconds than we might break at Road Atlanta in a weekend.

The real point is world enough, money enough, and time enough. A season of road course developement that leads to another Carrera, or a season of one Chihuahua and one Carrera?