An old Fiat, as a drift car....part 2...DID IT SLIDE?!

Building a FIAT Drift Car  - the Pursuit of Lunacy

By Micheal "Ballin' " Beck

Photo credit: Scrape Yard

Part II

The morning of my inaugural drift event, I didn’t even want to get in the truck to drive to the track. All I could think about was the colossal idiot I was going to look like trying to drift an old FIAT. Why hadn’t I just kept my mouth shut on the podcast? If I hadn’t blabbed to the world I could back out of this and pretend like it never happened, maintaining some shred of dignity........but I didn’t do that. I had not only gabbed about it on my own podcast, I had done it on at least one, if not two others. So I was sort of committed. Podcast problems.

The two-hour drive to Raceway Park of the Midlands was remarkably short. So short in fact, when we arrived I looked for excuses not to open the trailer. “I have to use the restroom on the other side of the park.” “Is this trailer tire low, we should probably address this first.” But it was no use delaying the inevitable: I had to get the car out the trailer to be teched and swap tires.

This stunningly gorgeous RB20DET swapped 280z parked next to me in the paddock

Our trailer has large side doors which the salesman would like you to believe allow the driver’s door of the racecar to swing open past the threshold of the trailer, allowing you to enter or exit the car more easily. That’s a lie. Well, I suppose it’s not a lie if you own a lifted Jeep or an BMW Isetta. Basically the door isn’t low enough for the car door to open fully so you to stumble very ungracefully out the side of the trailer and face plant on the ground. Also, they do a marginable job of showing off the trailer’s contents. By merely opening the side door I could see people standing in the paddock, peering inside with a puzzled look. It’s going to be a long day. I pulled the car out and parked it on the other side of the trailer and changed to the 175 General Tires I had bought on Craigslist earlier in the week. I think I was feeling a bit ambitious while prepping the car thinking the puny Twin Cam would spin the dry-rotted Toyo RA1s at full chat. With the car sitting in the paddock looking about as out of place as Richard Branson at a soup kitchen, I was surprised when someone approached me and called the 43-year-old 124 “dope”.

“This is dope!”

“What’s dope?” “This is dope?”

“Yeah dude this FIAT is dope.”

“Wait… you know this is a FIAT?”

“Yeah, I think this is sick dude, I can’t believe you’re going to skid this. Good luck today man, have fun”

Apparently I had grossly underestimated the drifting community’s penchant for style. To give further credit, the attendees of the O Drift Collective event actually knew what a FIAT was, which is more credit than I can give to many other racing associations’ attendees. “What FIAT is this?” was the most common question I got, followed by “are you going to slide this? Dude, that is sick.” My fears turned out to be completely irrational.

The driver’s meeting was quite quick. Basically they just showed us the sections of the track we were allowed to drift in the morning and in the afternoon. Due to what I assume to be insurance reasons, we were only allowed to drift two sections of the track at a given time, with the sections changing after a break for lunch. The sections consisted of two or three corners with cones to mark the start and finish. You drift the first section and then you taxi to the next. Really the whole drivers’ meeting was quite refreshing: here is where you drift, here is where you don’t, don’t run over anyone and you’ll be fine. Good enough.

I was oddly calm as I approached the first section. I had been out on the track before with a gentleman named Luke who had been on our show earlier in the year. I kind of got the gist of how these things were supposed to work and the speeds at which you have to enter corners. If you’re considering trying drifting for the first time, I think the most important step you can take to prepare yourself is go to an event WITHOUT your car and get some ride-alongs. You’d be surprised the speeds at which you have to take some corners. As I’m preparing to start my section, I look back and see a white WRX behind me. “Is that a camera car?” I say to the starter. “No he pulled the front axles out apparently, he’s here to drift.” Yet another example of the endless style and joie de vivre of drifters.

“I guess we’re seeing how long of a burnout everyone can do. So hit it when you’re ready.” Hit it I did. I was able to get the FIAT to do a burnout through first gear and into part of second with the skinny 175 section tires. After that short lived distraction, I quickly realized my first corner was approaching. I don’t have a 5/10ths switch. I don’t do sighting laps, as dangerous and childish as that may be. So I was hammering towards the first corner as quickly as the little Twin Cam would allow, knowing based on my laps with Luke that I’d probably make it through the corner without understeering off.

Something I quickly realized after a couple laps of the track was I was on the wrong line. Even autocrossers or occasional track day enthusiasts will have a general idea of where the fast line is in the corner. If you are anywhere near that line, you’re in the wrong spot. I wasn’t staying wide enough entering a corner and my drift initiation consisted of turning slightly sharper than I normally would on a grip line and mashing the throttle. The car will do a slight skid in this case, but it’s not the correct way to set up a proper drift, I learned.

It’s hard to see, but that’s smoke. Trust me it’s there.

Around lunch time, Luke joined me on the track for a little instruction. Luke opened up my line and fixed my initiation. The key to starting a good skid, especially in a low powered car, is to do what you’ve probably heard of as a “Scandinavian flick”, or quickly turning away from the corner and immediately flicking the car the other way and applying throttle. This “flick” upsets the chassis and makes the car oversteer much more easily. Once I got a feel for the correct initiation, we started working on transitions. A transition is starting a drift in one direction, getting the car to grip, and then initiating a drift in the other direction in two (or more) subsequent turns, such as a chicane. This is extremely difficult. The Fiat, despite its skinny tires and 205 Toyo RA-1s on the front, kept wanting to grip in the rear and push the car off the track when I tried to transition from the first drift to the second. In a car with more power, this would be less of an issue. Luke taught me a handy technique called clutch kicking (which is exactly what it sounds like) can send abrupt power to the rear wheels and mitigate some of the tendency for the rear tires to bite. It’s quite good fun, but, again, my seven years of grip racing experience was hard to overcome: hovering my foot over the clutch in preparation to kick it was a hard habit to begin to form.

I wish I could say after a day on the track that I had a breakthrough moment and was able to effortlessly shred the Generals to bits, white smoke billowing, enveloping myself and the standing crowd in a haze symbolizing my driving prowess. But I was only able to do a few half-decent skids, nothing overly flashy, but quite satisfying. The FIAT had done it, despite all odds against it and my own reservations. While we were waiting in one of the staging lanes, Luke told me the car felt quite a bit like a KA 240SX, which I took as high praise. It was just after 3pm when I put the car back in the trailer, despite having 2 hours of track time still available. The car had been thrashed at its absolute limit for the past 5 hours and I decided not to push my luck any longer. It performed flawlessly.

just incase you didn't see it before....this is an ancient Fiat drifting.  on purpose.  

Though I had an absolutely fantastic time, I think the inaugural FIAT drifting event will be the car’s last. I may decide to attend one more event in October, but I feel the car deserves to be converted back to a grip car and the RX7 can take the reigns as the Ten Tenths Drift Missile.

Michael Beck lives in a world of automotive lunacy. In 2009 when he decided to start autocrossing, he passed on buying a Miata or a CRX and bought an old FIAT 124 with a stuck engine. After somehow successfully turning the old FIAT into a car nearly as fast as a Miata, he decided to build a track day car. Naturally, he bought an old RX7 out of someone’s backyard and through some shady craigslist dealings, acquired a nearly-free LT1 from a police car. Michael is co-host of Ten Tenths Podcast.

Spec Racer Ford? Those little Can Am looking things? What are those?

James Chartres has been racing Spec Racer Fords for a while, and asked me if he could contribute to Tracktuned.  We love enthusiastic racers who want to spread their knowledge to other track rats, I of course said "YUP!  Trackday people don't know what Spec Racer Fords are...maybe write about that!"  I've raced in the same rungroups as SRF's many times with SCCA, and they are tiny, hard to see, and fast little buggers.  The thing that strikes me most about them is the incredibly close competition between most of the pack, every race, everwhere.  Its a really cool class, and one of the longest running in the SCCA. Somewhere, every weekend , several hundred of these tiny little cars are battling it out.

James regularly writes on his site, kangamotorsports.com, and we look forward to hearing more from him here!  

Meghan Frolli photo

By James  Chartres

Spec Racer Ford (SRF) is a class suited to racers looking for affordable competitive wheel-to-wheel road racing. Most people think that racing is expensive but classes like Spec Racer Ford and Spec Miata provide a low cost of entry and economical running costs. Spec Racer Ford is SCCA's largest class with over 870 cars built. Large fields ensure that there is always someone to race wheel-to-wheel with whether you are in the middle, back or pointing end of the pack. This makes the class a good place for beginners and hard fought competition at the front to win.

Meghan Frolli photo

History of the class

The class was created to be a low cost competitive sports racing class and it is still very affordable to this day, with a 30 year old chassis still able to run up front with brand new cars. The racecar originally started as a Sports Renault in 1984 using a 1.7-liter Renault engine. In 1994 the cars were upgraded to Spec Racer Fords (SRFs) with a sealed 105 horsepower 1.9 litre Ford motor coupled to a 5 speed transmission. In 2013 the third generation (Gen3) upgrade was introduced to the class with the first official season beginning in 2015. The Gen3 uses a sealed 135 horsepower 1.6 litre Ford motor and reduced the weight from 1670 pounds to 1560 pounds, with driver. The Gen3 and Spec Racer Fords run alongside each other as separate classes until 2018.

Meghan Frolli photo

The Racecar

The Spec Racer Ford is a custom built single seat, open cockpit sports racer with a steel tube frame chassis and three-piece fiberglass bodywork resembling a 1960s and 1970s Can-Am car. The racecar uses a rear engine, rear drive configuration with adjustable lower A-arm and rocker suspension. The braking system features vented discs with specification pads, independent master cylinders and adjustable brake bias. Safety is well covered with roll over hoops, ample crush zones and an integrated fire suppression system. The car uses a combination of Renault, Ford, Subaru and inexpensive custom components. The modular nature of the components allows for fast repairs with a minimum number of parts. An example is the uprights that are interchangeable front left to rear right and front right to rear left.

Meghan Frolli photo

A True Specification Class

The class provides a level playing field for competitors with large fields providing lots of close racing action. The equivalency of cars is achieved by using a strict rule set and specification parts to keep cost down and minimize modifications. This eliminates the need for a motorsport arms race, as each competitor doesn’t need to have the latest go fast or trick part to keep at the front, resulting in a true specification (Spec) class.

Meghan Frolli photo

The specifications components include a sealed engine, transmission, and rebound adjustable coilover Penske or Koni shocks with set spring rates. The drivers seat is also controlled with a centrally located seating position. A movable pedal box assembly accommodates adjustments for different driver heights. Even the location of ballast weight and the weight range of body sections are specified within the rule set.

Loggy Yo photo

Allowable modifications include car livery, data logging system, steering wheel and set-up adjustments within the prescribed limits. By limiting the modifications and preparation costs, this class emphasizes driver ability over spending. Since the cars are so equal it is possible to simply rent a car and still win the race.

Meghan Frolli photo

Benefits of Spec Racer Ford

Spec Racer Ford has many benefits that make it attractive for all types of racers. Although a brand new purpose built racecar can be expensive the large number of cars provide for a great second hand market allowing new competitors to get involved. The cars also tend to hold their value over time with second hand Gen2 cars priced at $10-15k and recently upgraded Gen3 cars in the $35-40k range depending on condition, spares, and data system. The affordability of Spec Racer Fords and low maintenance requirements make them suitable for teams or privateers.

Spencer Seim photo

The Spec Racer Ford and Gen3 have tremendous trackside support with a network of Customer Service Representative (CSR) throughout the United States that attend local and national SCCA events to provide help, spare parts, preparation and even rental cars for drivers. This level of trackside support means you don’t have to scrounge for spare parts and your race weekend won't be ruined because you can’t find a specific part, even at the more remote tracks. The other great thing about SRF is the community always willing to help a fellow competitor and providing lots of new tips for new racers. What are you waiting for?

Meghan Frolli photo

About our Author........James Chartres

Age: 34  

Born: Adelaide, Australia

Lives: San Jose, CA

Track days experience =2010-2012 Datsun 240z

Road Racing

2013 Skip Barber Race School for Competition License

2014 SCCA San Francisco Region - Spec Racer Ford - Rookie Season

2015 SCCA San Francisco Region - Spec Racer Ford

2015 Racing Drivers Club - 4hr Illgen Enduro

2016 SCCA San Francisco Region - Spec Racer Ford racer

Kangamotorsports youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/kangamotorsports

Podcast listening pushes a fella from England to go to a trackday

Editor's Note- Richard Symons from England found the Slipangle podcast on the wide open expanse that is the internet... and we influenced him to go to his first trackday.  He wrote about it, and I thought it was cool to hear from a beginner perspective again, especially one from another continent.  The track he was running at, Castle Combe, is one of the oldest in the world, having opened in 1950, just 18 months after Silverstone (a famous UK circuit) opened. Castle Combe is one of those little club tracks you don't hear much about in mainstream media, like many we have here in the US, but in reading about it after going through this story, it has more history and racing pedigree than almost any US track anywhere.  Stirling Moss won there, etc. Besides the goofy, cool looking license plate on the Civic, I also enjoyed the different way Richard wrote, as you can almost hear his accent in his typed words.    Beginner's stories aren't often told, because, well, usually they don't write them down.  Beginners are needed to keep the track-world going, and we'd like to tell a few of the first-timer stories here from time to time.  Thanks so much for the submission Richard! -Adam

My First Proper Track Day

Firstly I guess I should start by saying “HI!” from England, this is the story of my first track day. I’ve been into cars and motorsport since I can remember and I have always modified my road cars to some extent or another.  The want to drive faster/push myself has always been there, but life, and more specifically budget, had kept me from doing anything about getting onto track apart from a few 15 minute sessions at car shows.

a simple little civic is a great first choice for a track day car.  This one features almost zero mods, besides the Rover wheels.  

Near the end of last year I had some disposable income so I started building my civic to take to the track.  This has taken ages and has been quite a slog. It’s so much more work than the odd weekend lowering a street car. While I was getting super bummed at scraping sound deadening off the floor and removing the heater matrix etc I stumbled across a podcast where all the guys (and girls) talked about was driving “silly little Honda’s” around race tracks and how everyone was having a blast. While binge listening to all these people having so much fun while I was freezing my butt off in the garage there were a few comments about driving standard cars.   I thought driving OEM cars on track was a bit silly, all that body roll and slow throttle response. There was only so much listening to this before I gave in and booked a track day at the local track for my road car, which is a 100% bone stock eg civic esi (d16z6 engine).  If these guys can have so much fun then surely I can get in on some of the action?

After signing up for the trackday,  things started to go slightly wonky.  I will start by saying if you plan on doing your first track day in your road car and driving it to the track then give yourself more than two weeks to get yourself ready…  I ordered myself a helmet and balaclava.  I’ve been karting and used hire (rental) helmets before.  I was all excited until my helmet  was delivered to the wrong address, but luckily the track gods were shining down on me and the people who had the parcel were super honest and brought it round to my house. With the first potential drama solved I went on to check the car over-just basic stuff: suspension bushes/rack play/tyres/brakes. This was when I noticed the pads were getting a little low. Queue disaster number 2! In my infinite wisdom I decided that putting the old hubs from my ek on there would be a good idea as they had 260mm disks instead on 240mm. They already had fast road pads in, they had however been stood for a year or two and promptly seized up the passenger side calliper on the test drive. This left me to get someone to drop me off a calliper and I changed it in the dark in a lay by at the side of the road. The next day I went to fit new disks and pads after the extreme over heating of the day before.  Unfortunately the retaining screws were several years old and very rounded off. My drill was broken and by the time I borrowed one and finished bleeding the brakes it was 9:30 pm.  I was cold, wet, it was dark and I sat there wondering what the hell I was up to.  There was, by now, only 50 or so hours until my track day and I had nothing ready or even a fully functional car as the centre section of the exhaust had needed replacing for some time. The next day I replaced the exhaust and cleaned the car thoroughly including using rain repellent on the windscreen which turned out to be a really good idea.   If there is any chance of rain then I recommend everyone else to do this as well. I should point out that during all of this I was checking the long range weather forecast and it was predicting temperatures of -2 degrees Celsius and snow! Now we can get on to fitting the exhaust that went without a hitch, or at least I thought it did…. The gasket for the cat to centre section join I bought was a fire ring style instead of the old style triangle gaskets that the bolts go through. It fitted fine and didn’t leak much , so I was good to go.

The evening before the big day I filled the tank and a 20liter fuel can, did the tyre pressures and checked the levels again. I packed some basic tools, container of coolant, brake fluid and bleeding bottle, glass cleaner, paper towels and a jack. Got my helmet and driving licence ready and packed the gopro (more on cameras in a little while) and tried to get an early night for the 5 am start the next morning. The next morning I get up and look outside=no snow! Just lots and lots of rain.. I get about 35 minutes into the 2 hour or so drive in the pouring rain and darkness thinking I’ve just done the stupidest thing ever when I come round a tight bend on a rural road and hit a mass of standing water.  I make it through to hear quite a bad exhaust blow. I get to the next big town and park in a petrol station forecourt to jack the car up and take a look. Well that fire ring gasket that was a design change was gone completely and I had a very broken car (the new replacement cats have a small area for this ring to sit where my original cat didn’t). By now I was fairly sure the world didn’t want me to go to the track and have fun like all these other people I had listened to on the Slipangle podcast. I laid down in the puddles and did the bolts up as tight as my 3/8th ratchet and standard Honda tool kit 14mm spanner would let me and fire it up expecting the worst. I was in luck the faces mated quite well and although I couldn’t do the top bolt of the three up it wasn’t blowing so off I went.  I got to the track to see all these really nice fully prepped race cars (endurance bmw’s,  cayman gt4’s, 911’s some mini race cars and Pugeot 205 special saloons) and the lump appears in the back of my throat. I knew I shouldn’t come to the track in a standard car, damn the guys from the podcast, this was such a ridiculous idea !!! Although after this initial shock,  some less expensive and highly modified cars turned up and put my mind at ease slightly.

daily drivers make excellent track rats.  www.ack-photography.co.uk

I pull up next to a guy in the paddock who has a mini race car on his trailer and he immediately offers me to store all of my gear under his lifted land cruiser to keep it drier than covering it in just my tarp. Maybe these people won’t spend all day laughing at me then?  He shows me where to sign on and I fill out all the forms, get my helmet checked and sign my life away while I wait for the drivers briefing. The briefing was very thorough going over flags, where marshals are stationed, the side for passing and the correct procedure and places for giving somebody a point past and the instructors were introduced. Instructors are optional and all you need for track days here is a valid road driving license a car that will pass the 100db static noise test at 4500 rpm and clothes that cover your arms and legs. I was sent off for the noise test which thankfully I passed easily at 92db. But my gopro had to be removed as I had it mounted on a clip in mount that sticks to the dash and wasn’t a bolted fixing. So if you want some video then do a bit of homework on what mounting systems are allowed. ...always ask the group you are running with their requirements for cameras!

www.ack-photography.co.uk shot some good images of our writer flinging his civic.

We were then sent out in three groups for 4 laps behind a course car at low speed to see the track conditions and spot the big puddles of water and brought back in. I was lucky to then have my 25 minutes of instruction immediately after this. I go out and do my instructor session which gets me used to the track and also to getting passed at speed by cars. He gave me a few small line corrections and kept telling me to brake later and get the steering angle off quicker. This was something that took some getting used to after driving on narrow roads. After the instruction we parked up in the paddock and the instructor gave me a few pointers on where to improve slightly and lines to watch but said that for the day my car was almost perfect, very good grip and almost no power to get into trouble with. With his words fresh in my mind I went straight back out for around 20 minutes getting passed by everyone but keeping out of trouble and on the tarmac. After letting the car cool and retightening the exhaust bolts I headed back out for about another 30 minutes. I seemed much more at ease after a while,  and was starting to get small lock ups as I was pushing the braking a little more where I felt I could.  I was starting to be able to carry 3rd gear through one of the chicanes as the wheel spin on exit was so much less (this I did without making a conscious effort but it was also part of one of the Ross Bentley driving tips from the podcast).  

the tower at historic Castle Combe circuit.  image via Trackreviewers.com

There was a lunch break which I used to tighten my exhaust again and take stock of what was going on and where I thought I may be able to go a bit faster through a corner or where I thought a slower entry might help the speed down the next straight.  Although I didn’t write it down, visualization did certainly help the next time I went out which was for around 40 minutes.   By the end of that session I felt quite comfortable, I had locked up brakes, had some turn in over steer and some under steer mid corner moments and I knew roughly where I felt happy with the car. I even got my first point-past by a guy in an mx-5 (Miata in the USA). It was about that time I started having enough mental capacity to look at my gauges a little bit down the straights, which was handy as I was almost out of fuel. I think if I had the session red flagged for running out of fuel I would have just gone home there and then from embarrassment! Luckily I escaped that drama. After a couple more sessions I was feeling super comfy, had a line I felt good with and was passing a few cars that even surprised me. I had thought I’d spend the whole day getting my doors blown off porches, which I did but I also managed to hold my own with some of the other road cars there like Renault Clio 182’s and Pugeot 206 gti’s. Just as I started feeling like I would be quite happy to spend the rest of my life driving around the track only pitting for fuel and coffee/toilet breaks the chequered flag was out and it was time to tighten the exhaust one last time and head home.

If you are considering doing your first track day then I can’t recommend doing it enough! Don’t worry about how good your car is or what spring rates you should buy. Just go and drive. Yes a tracked prepped car will be faster but it certainly isn’t a necessity by any means. You can have 90% of the fun and sensation of speed when your suspension nearly lets your wing mirrors rub the road with body roll! Obviously make sure the car is safe and in good mechanical condition, but you really don’t need thousands of pounds/dollars/euro’s in mods to go have an awesome time and meet some super nice friendly people. Just make sure if there is any work needing doing to the car then do it before you book so you don’t spend the week before working solidly to get ready!

castle combe track map

I wish you all a safe track season and hope you all have as much fun as I did, but be warned! It’s the most addictive thing I have ever done and the next one will be booked on pay day at the end of the month. I have a feeling now I won’t be spending so much on car parts and much more on track time.  

Richard Symons, England.