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242GT 1979 Group C Race Car

Yep the wiper fairings just on to match what it had in 1979. Of little use today but back in 1979 for the race qualifying day was wet and you had to be within 130% of fastest car to qualify for race so every little bit of extra vision was likely very useful and my guess why they put them on. And thanks all for support it has been a tonne of fun to do and we are very proud to have been able to save and revive a bit of history.
 
We are having a 2 sided A frame display information board made for display at historic race meets. We have found a lot of people get great enjoyment and take the time to read information on the cars presented. Here is what will be on the information side slightly modified to protect privacy of those concerned and on the other side will be a heap of historic documents and pictures from the race. In the background will be one of the original photos faded as background and the writing may well be bold Orange to match the 242GT stripe colour.

1979 VOLVO 242GT – Group C
Drivers - David McKay and Spencer Martin
Team - Scuderia Veloce Motors
Hugh B team manager and Gary S mechanic
Wheels and tyres – Uniroyal technical officer Peter G
Other team members – Bill B, Dom D, Rick C and Bob A
Bathurst 1979 – Finished 20th
In July 1979 David McKay decided he wanted to enter a standard show room car to return to the original concept of the Bathurst race. Spencer had driven for David in the past and agreed to be the lead driver. The Scuderia Veloce Board approved the cars entry and agreed to sell David the car at dealer cost. Volvo originally refused any contribution as they were busy with the Volvo Repco rally project but in the end agreed to contribute by way of a lower dealer price for the car. David was able to get Ivan Stibbard’s encouragement to enter and they commenced getting all relevant documentation underway. David secured the use of the Orange Volvo dealers workshop of Edwards and Hill via the support of Chris E to use on race week.
Rod S of Ferntree Gully built and supplied the 110litre fuel tank and Wally S of Mawer Engineering fitted the tank. Cost for tank, valves, fitting including a mutilated boot lid was $2,196
Rallyspeed at Crows nest fitted the roll cage and harness at a cost of $313
Bob V of Lovell springs lowered the springs and Super Shock Pty Ltd made a set of Bilstein shocks which were later changed for Konis by Proven products on advice from David L due to suspension travel and bump steer issues
Riverstone, Australia car research manufactured the exhaust
A Volvo oil cooler and a catch can (made by Harry G) was fitted in house at Scuderia Veloce
Scheel seats lent David a 201 S seat for the race
The dry break fuel valves supplied by David H – Surfers Paradise Raceway and the 10 Gallon fuel churns by Barry J at $120 each
August 27, 1979 David McKay, Peter A and Archie W left Sydney bound for a six day return trip to Perth to run the engine in. They travelled a total distance of 7827km at an average fuel consumption of 7.5 km/l (21.18mpg) and fuel cost a total of $342
Car was cleared to race via a special Cams meeting held on Tuesday 11th September 1979 as the standard Australian Specification 2.3 litre Engine was not homologated as FIA group 1 but group 2. The 2.3 litre engine was only used in Canada and Australia with the rest of the world using 2.1 Litre version
Auscar Dyno prior to race showed car had 63kw at the rear wheels – Equivalent to a GMH 253 and a Chrysler 265
Wednesday 26th September, 1979 a Repco sign was used to fabricate a solid firewall behind the rear seat to satisfy scrutineers at Bathurst
It was extremely wet for qualifying and Spencer’s skill and courage won the day with a 3.12 on a rain slick road. 47th fastest of the 60 qualifiers.
Saturday Afternoon Practice was dry and Spencer did 25 laps with a full fuel load and his best time was 2.58
The car was driven back to Orange Saturday night for a thorough check over and early start back at Bathurst by 7.00am race day.
Sunday 30th September 1979 some 45 minutes into the race Duggan in an RX3 pushed Spencer and the Volvo into the fence approaching the dipper. The car was also biffed later by Hall from WA in an A9X with little further damage
The car performed flawlessly throughout the race. Fuel consumption was 4.5km/l and the engine was spun to 7000rpm during practice and 6500rpm during the race. Top speed was slightly over 200kmh (with a good tail wind) and Spencer was consistently turning 2.58 lap times at the end of the race
The car ran the entire race on Uniroyal Steel cat road tyres with only one being replaced (following the Duggan incident as a precaution) and the bonnet was not lifted during the race. Wheels were 15*7 Bathurst Globe
Following the race the car was driven back to Sydney where it graced the SVM showroom floor for a number of months. The car was also snapped in the paddock at Winton Raceway late in October 1979 for the Rose City 10,000 but was not there to compete
Once showroom duty was finished Gary S removed the alloy tank and roll cage and the car was returned to standard and was sold as a road going car. The ownership from late 1979 to 1988 is unknown but rumour has it stayed close to its North Sydney origins and the owners knew it was the ex Bathurst car
The car was bought at auction by Kevin E in 1988 and he owned it until 2010. He did not know of cars link to Bathurst at time of purchase. This came later. It was bought and used as a family road car and from approximately 2001 on as a road rally car. At some point late in his ownership a past owner who still had the original entrants pack and folder from the 1979 race reunited the pack with the car after inspecting it to satisfy themselves Kevin had the Bathurst car. A very grand gesture for which we are grateful. A copy of the original group C application was also obtained from Cams which verified the correct chassis and engine number. All documentation remains with the car today
Car was bought by Kris V in 2010 and Peter W later bought a 50% share and the car was restored over a 4 year period by Kris and Peter before making its return to the race track at Morgan Park Raceway in May 2015. The Car has a group C Cams historic log book and COD. The car will be raced regularly and we are proud to have saved and own a little bit of Bathurst history and we love the diversity of the group C era
 
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Helmets finished by painter today. Base design was based on this helmet from the 1970's Uniroyal stunt team

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And this is the modern day version. We are going to add our names to helmet and most likely the number 44 to each side

vGrmppBl.jpg


t7DhN7il.jpg
 
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We got a pleasant surprise today. Car got a mention in the Australian Muscle Car Magazine this month. Made our day.
 
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All Good - Just trying to post items of interest. Car had another outing last weekend and ran like a top all day and My partner in crime kept improving his times every session with his fastest lap of the day his last lap. It will be back out mid June, July, August for Sprints and Late July and Early September for race meets so will be seeing plenty of action in coming months.

Painter has tidied up a few marks from assembly and it will get a proper coat of quality wax before its next outing. We are going to shift overdrive switch to a switch on dash and wiper motor has developed a short which we need to get sorted. Overdrive will only be used at a couple of tracks so we have time to sort that before September. We are also going to paint up under the guards with Black Epoxy now we have a little time. Helmets off getting the couple of stickers added and the A frame display is also underway by the same supplier. Team shirts and jackets underway too so we look the part when we take car out.Also in process of modifying our trailer a little so we can mount our wheel trolley on front safely as well as fit a bigger toolbox and modify the winch mount and tyre rack. Aim is to be able to pack spares in to stay and only access as needed to minimize the amount of double handling. Do it smarter is the mantra. No good having it if you cant find it when needed or it is broken due to poor storage practices.

Will update progress and some more action shots from different tracks as we get them.
 
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This project kicks ass. Easily the most inspirational build/restoration I have seen in quite a while. It's icing on the cake that you got a nod in the magazine.
 
Once showroom duty was finished Gary S removed the alloy tank and roll cage and consigned them to the scrap bin and the car was returned to standard and was sold as a road going car.

Heh, well, someone raided that scrap bin, since your car's original roll cage changed hands a couple of times before it ended up in my 140 in the late 1980s.

The cage you guys have fitted to the car now is a vast improvement on the original, as it's very doubtful that the original cage would pass scrutineering today.
 
Yes todays cages are vastly improved and from what I have heard in new Zealand you cant race at all with an alloy cage even if it was original to the car. In historics over here if the alloy cage survives with the car then you can run it and quite a few survive.

As for our cars cage survival I have no idea and will stay out of any debate. The original cages are not needed for COD and historic log book purposes so we never had any cause to have to seek it out. We have reworked our A frame words to leave that bit out. In fact I will change the words in my original post to match the new words.

One would imagine the original wheels may well still be in existence somewhere.
 
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Had a chance to review a couple more photos today from Trapnell Creations. Thought I would share

Photos lost in Photobucket scam
 
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This has been a great thread showing the care and attention to detail that these types of early race cars deserve.

The 1979 Bathurst race had three most memorable moments. First, Brocky set the fastest lap of the race on the last lap in his killer Torana. Secondly, it was the first year of the in-car camera and commentary and finally the 'mobile chicane' Volvo on street tyres. What a great year.

In later years when the Group A rules came in, it was a great time to see the wide range of manufacturers involved, including Volvo with its turbo 242. Now today, Volvo are involved in the V8 Supercars race scene with the Volvo S60 and whilst last year showed their potential, this year has been a bit of a head scratcher for everyone involved.

With the resurrection of this 242, and its eligibility to re-join other Group C cars of the era, the Volvo brand is again out there on the race track for everyone to see, and as the proud owner of the Volvo 242GT pictured on page 5 of this thread, its a great time to own one of these classics.

Keep up the great work and have fun doing it.
 
Thanks 1UZ. Good synopses of 1979 and beyond for the volvo brand. Love your car and would love to see it in the flesh one day. At this stage we are planning to do the phillip island classic in 2016.
 
The main logo proof for team shirts came back yesterday and we also got mail in this week with original Uniroyal badges to sew on the shirts and some special run Dave Barton stickers downsized to go on helmets. Dave has excellent service and does a great product. We also bought some other stickers for the trailer from Daves normal line.

The shirt logo proof

Lost in Photobucket scam

Daves stickers for the helmets and the sew on patches for the shirts

Lost in Photobucket scam


The trailer is due back next week from being modified and upgraded for next years near 4000km round trip to Phillip Island
 
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Getting some more pictures together today for the A frame information display board and scanned this original Uniroyal advertisement run in 1979 after the race in various motoring publications and newspapers

Lost in Photobucket scam



Should get completed A frame and helmets back this week

We sorted out short in wiper system (turned out to be a dodgy relay) and wired the overdrive to a switch on dash last night. It has also been given a coat of good wax.

Next outing is for sprints next Saturday
 
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Helmet looks sweet.

What spring rates are you running now?

Ride height and handling tip for a track 240 - Set the front ride height to where the front control arms are parallel to the ground, then adjust the rear height to dial in or out oversteer as needed. We run all of our cars about level or with a slight rearward rake.

Good luck this weekend! Take lots of pics. I'd like to see some in the pits even. :-)
 
Thanks Tuff

Thanks for comments on setup. Matches up very well with where we are heading as we had to much rake. At present the front springs are 40mm lowered and 250lbs. Rears are unknown but we are pretty sure they are Kings Lowered KVRL07 lowered by further 20mms with unknown poundage.

We are leaning to Front lowered 40mm and 300lbs and rear at current height (we believe lowered 50mm) and 200lbs but would gladly love to know what other circuit racers are running. We are limited in the rules as we cant run coil overs nor adjustable caster/camber mechanisms. By the looks of it the only non stock adjustable item we may be allowed is the Kaplehenke rear spring adjustment setup. We have Koni sport 3 way adjustable struts on front and Koni sport shocks on rear.

Will make sure we take some pit shots for you. Will be a cast of thousands on the weekend so should make for some pretty cool pit shots
 
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Thanks for comments on setup. Matches up very well with where we are heading as we had to much rake. At present the front springs are 40mm lowered and 250lbs. Rears are unknown but we are pretty sure they are Kings Lowered KVRL07 lowered by further 20mms with unknown poundage.

We are leaning to Front lowered 40mm and 300lbs and rear at current height and 200lbs but would gladly love to know what other circuit racers are running. We are limited in the rules as we cant run coil overs nor adjustable caster/camber mechanisms. By the looks of it the only non stock adjustable item we may be allowed is the Kaplehenke rear spring adjustment setup. We have Koni sport 3 way adjustable struts on front and Koni sport shocks on rear.

Will make sure we take some pit shots for you. Will be a cast of thousands on the weekend so should make for some pretty cool pit shots
Our local track is very flat and very smooth so we get away with VERY stiff springs.
I run 600lb fronts with a 25mm sway bar and 375lb rears with no swaybar. I'm using off the shelf Bilstein HD's from other vehicles (again, aided by flat smooth track). That's on a 245 though with more rear weight than a 242.

Fastest 242 here runs 800lb fronts with a 28mm sway bar and similar rear spring rate as me. He uses Koni double adjustable race inserts up front and I don't recall what he's running on the rear.

On our street cars we run 350-450 fronts with 23-25mm sway bar and 250 rears with 19mm sway bar.

So I'm thinking you could go up a bit with your spring rates. At least to our street car rates.


Even at those rates, you can see my car lean a bit.
https://scontent.fsnc1-1.fna.fbcdn....=5cc20bd09a2c672064676fe4641b2d68&oe=561BD66D

We run 225/50-15 DOT race tires (like Hoosier R6) and 2.5-3* of negative camber in front.

The race cars are all non turbo cars with 130-140rwhp.
 
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