November 31, 2000

MagnaFlow Vintage 2.5 Challenge

  

I recently had an opportunity to tour the Magnaflow Technical Center with Peter Nitoglia. If you have not met Peter yet he is the Vice President at Magnaflow and a regular on the vintage scene in his Alfa GTV.  The visit made me realize what a terrific series sponsor we have for the 2.5 Challenge. I was anxious to see Magnaflow’s Technical Center since this is the place where 2.5 Challenge competitors can have custom exhaust systems made and tested (see Oct. News Letter- Christmas at Halloween).

 

The Technical Center is twenty thousand square feet with two chassis dynos, machine shop, jigs for new exhaust systems, and lots of pipes and mufflers. The facility is somewhat new and Magnaflow has plans to add two engine dynos and complete their flow bench.  This shop is where Magnaflow works out the new products and builds exhaust systems for show cars. It was as clean of shop I have seen and reminded me of a visit I made to Hendrick Motorsports a couple of years ago. Imagine being able to fabricate something for your racecar and then put the car on a chassis dyno and see if it really works. This isn’t some street corner muffler shop but a true high tech facility.

 

 Last winter my own engine builder, Dan Marvin of John Norman Racing, put my 1750cc Alfa engine on a dyno and tried several mufflers provided by Peter and Magnaflow. We finally settled on the right one and found out that not only did the Magnaflow muffler quite the engine down but we didn’t lose any horsepower. But the real surprise was that it helped us gain some needed low-end torque. This past season this work resulted in lower lap times at Sears Point, Thunderhill, Buttonwillow, and Portland International Raceway. A full second at each of these tracks, I became a believer in Magnaflow products real fast. Challenge competitors that take advantage of Magnaflow’s generous offer to build and test exhaust systems and mufflers for their racecars will be the ones at the front of the pack come race time.

 

Eligible cars and rules for the series has become a frequent question from members.  The VSRG website contains the full supplemental rules as well as a list of all cars that are eligible for the series.  Our rules are termed supplemental in that they do not fully replace those of the host organization we will race with.  The host organization rules that apply to us are safety and procedural related while our rules define the car preparation guidelines.  While we are running a Vintage 2.5 Challenge series we have opened the series to any car that is B-Sedan eligible because the original series was developed from this class.  The original series allowed a somewhat higher level of preparation but in reality there were probably as many strictly B-Sedan cars in each race as there were TA cars as the differences were mnior.  In those few places where B-Sedan & TA rules differed, our supplemental rules allow the most liberal of the two. All cars, regardless of their level of preparation, will race as a single class in our series just as they did in the original series.

 

The “trick” poll ballot that did not allow some of you to enter “X” appears to be related to what e-mail software you were using.  We apologize and we will use a simple text ballots in the future.  However, unlike the events in Florida, VSRG members that were affected quickly adapted and sent their vote via simple messages.  Since all votes were counted there is no need for a recount!  The results of the poll were as follows:

 

 

Note that the percentages are of the total respondents meaning that 82% of those that responded will likely attend the first event at Willow Springs (etc.).

Other than the possible Portland race, the results closely align with our original schedule.  We emphasize the possible Portland date as this is race is not firm for our organization.  There have been favorable discussions with the organizers of the Zupan’s event but these originally were focused on 2002 however we now find that 2001 might also be possible.  We will keep you updated on this event.

 

Missing or bad E-mail addresses still occur.  Below is a list of members which we have found their e-mails to be incorrect or missing:

Vincent Housley
George Willet
Sergio Perticucci
David Wall

 

An article appeared in the November issue of Victory Lane Magazine regarding the race series that seemed to indicate that we are also running a U-2 series along with the 2.5 Challenge (a similar version of this article also appears on their website). 

We think that the writer got the Porsche 2 Liter Challenge somewhat confused with our 2.5 Challenge as there has never been a discussion on running the U-2 and the 2.5 Challenge at the same time.  In fact we selected the 2.5 Challenge because it offers much better competition that the U-2 would (or did).  While most of the U-2 cars are eligible for the 2.5 Challenge, not all cars are eligible.  This is because some were dropped by the SCCA for the 2.5 Challenge because they did not fit the true definition of a sedan and some that had proved to be non-competitive. 

Speaking of Magazines, we recently previewed the full color print ad that will be used by HSR-West for 2001 which features the 2.5 Challenge as well as 2 or 3 other special series.  This will probably hit the street in Feburary in the major vintage publications.

 

Rule Updates:  None!

 

Since the next e-News is scheduled for the end of December, we take this opportunity to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a happy holiday season.  As always, if there is news of any significance we will publish a special edition or send a special e-mail. 

 

 

Reminders from prior Newsletters

 

MagnaFlow has announced an incredible free offer to VSRG members that compete in the 2001 race series.  Their statement reads as follows:

MagnaFlow will make available to VSRG members, mufflers and exhaust pipes from its inventory of cataloged parts at no cost .  The free parts will be provided to those members that are planning to enter their racecar in the 2001 race series.  To qualify, proof of the following is required:

o        Current VSRG membership (VSRG will provide this directly to MagnaFlow).

o        Photos (photocopy OK) of the racecar and a brief description (make/model/history).

o        Photos and driver info can be posted on the MagnaFlow website, if actual photos are provided and if consent is granted. 

While this is a great offer for VSRG members, it gets even better!  MagnaFlow even adds free installation and dyno runs to this offer!  That's right, free muffler, free tailpipe, free muffler installation and free horsepower testing on your racecar using MagnaFlow's state of the art chassis dynamometer. 

Installation and dyno runs are available on a limited basis at the Magnaflow Product Development Center in Rancho Santa Margarita, California.  To take advantage of this offer you will need to make an appointment .  For further information, please contact Peter Nitoglia by e-mail at muffler@mangaflow.com or call him at 949-858-5900.

 

The VSRG Photo Page has moved into the top 5 of pages viewed on the BSedan.Com and VSRG web sites. This is really quite amazing that so much interest has been shown in the photo section in the first full month that it was on-line.  We only have a few photos so we are asking again for car & driver photos as well as car and driver profiles and we would like a lot more. 

 To save you some duplication of effort, we will forward your information and images to MagnaFlow for the free product requirements (above).  We can accept any common graphic image format if you already have scanned or digital images available.  Please send your photos as an attachment to an e-mail if possible.  Regular photos can be mailed to us however unless you send a stamped return envelope we will not be able to return them.

 

Driver Profiles are still needed.  We ask that you e-mail us your information.  None of this is required and you may elect not to submit any information or omit anything you do not wish to be published.

Name

Car Number

Age

Place of Birth

Occupation/Employer

Hobbies

Civic/charitable activities

Racing experience and Organizations you race with (or have)
Sponsors

Anything else you would like included

Attach Photos (see above)

 

 

FIA Homologation and SCCA Recognition Forms are almost if not completely impossible to find.  We are in the process of adding a new section to the BSedan.Com website that will contain scanned copies of SCCA Recognition Forms and FIA Homologation Forms so that we can preserve this important part of our racing history.  We ask that anyone with such a form for any B-Sedan car (1966 through 1972) please e-mail, fax or snail-mail us a copy so that we can share it with other enthusiast.  The Contacts page contains all of our address info.