The Next FE Racecar

[spalind]

Yup…tried to get JV to give me a Believe hat in exchange for the logo placement and he said I should just wait till they’re restocked…but I’m going to do it anyways as I know even the concept of FE will stick like a thorn in the side of many other blue haired by the book bores who participate. Her is her render. She is being assembled at this moment. Rear diff and damper setups arrived, all custom long travel arms and reworked Brembo brake system mounted. Braid wheels, Kevlar skids, custom cage, custom light pod, blah, blah, blah. Engine goes back in in February and should have her racing mid year when lacrosse season ends. She is a modern interpretation of the BRE 240zs that raced Baja. Baja racing is too rough for such things these days but for stage rally racing (real rally racing not gumball BS) this will do.

 

[Ron Dan]

Yup…tried to get JV to give me a Believe hat in exchange for the logo placement and he said I should just wait till they’re restocked…but I’m going to do it anyways as I know even the concept of FE will stick like a thorn in the side of many other blue haired by the book bores who participate. Her is her render. She is being assembled at this moment. Rear diff and damper setups arrived, all custom long travel arms and reworked Brembo brake system mounted. Braid wheels, Kevlar skids, custom cage, custom light pod, blah, blah, blah. Engine goes back in in February and should have her racing mid year when lacrosse season ends. She is a modern interpretation of the BRE 240zs that raced Baja. Baja racing is too rough for such things these days but for stage rally racing (real rally racing not gumball BS) this will do.View attachment 1240

I am a big fan of this project. Please keep posting as it develops and bring this thing to HQ so we can all go for a ride.

 

[spalind]

I am a big fan of this project. Please keep posting as it develops and bring this thing to HQ so we can all go for a ride.

I would be happy to do so…yet…I may suggest a different tact if you and the FE boys truly want to do that. I’m NH and you see…we have these neat little playgrounds and companies here—Q, Sig, Team O’Neil, Ridgeline…and oh yeah, just across the border from O’Neil you have Tucker’s place. Very easy to arrange a day of use of it (and other cars) in a private driving and shooting facility with a visit to Q or to drag Tucker into the whole thing…

 

[Ron Dan]

I would be happy to do so…yet…I may suggest a different tact if you and the FE boys truly want to do that. I’m NH and you see…we have these neat little playgrounds and companies here—Q, Sig, Team O’Neil, Ridgeline…and oh yeah, just across the border from O’Neil you have Tucker’s place. Very easy to arrange a day of use of it (and other cars) in a private driving and shooting facility with a visit to Q or to drag Tucker into the whole thing…

This sounds like a plan. We can do it.

 

[spalind]

Car will be finished in the next couple months. Rear differential arrived Thursday, dampers in transit, ancillary parts and engine being put into chassis currently. I’ll keep posting updates. To show it’s not just a render (which some might have in their head) here are the custom front spindles that are being installed now. Based on a Subaru STi design that we then moved all suspension and pickup point to accommodate. Should run like 14” of travel. Rear has been similarly custom worked.

 

[spalind]

And a video from much earlier in the process

 

[badgererickson]

She is a modern interpretation of the BRE 240zs that raced Baja. Baja racing is too rough for such things these days but for stage rally racing (real rally racing not gumball BS) this will do.View attachment 1240

Very cool. ARA?

 

[spalind]

Very cool. ARA?

Perhaps. I'm in NH and ARA has completely left the East Coast in general and the Northeast in particular. Add that ARA is filled with a great number of blue haired wackadoodles who are more interested in smelling their own farts and thinking that they are all high and mighty while running a decidedly broken racing organization?? I'd have to be presented with a really cool event...and STPR likely is not it....by all reports a shitshow of delays and car breaking roads? I'm not a fan for my early events with this car. Now Seth Quintero running a Gazoo Toyota this year is going to be epic and might give Pastrana a run for his money in what has been a Subaru subsidized and fellating series...but still not enough to get me to drive 1/2 across the country.

No...I'll head back to Canuckistan and run the Quebec and Ontario events--Charlevoix, BDC, Tall Pines, etc. Those guys run races like clockwork and are not self absorbed dbags.

Now....if I could get her to one of the long ass hill climbs in Mexico? Or Panamerica stuff? Or next year get to Sandblast or some of the TN or KY events? Those would be my goals.

 

[badgererickson]

Agree, we did Shannonville one year and they are just spot on up there. Gazoo into ARA, THAT may be worth seeing in person. If you choose to do ARA here in the upper MW and need another set of crew hands/eyeballs/course gopher lemme know. Which shocks are you using, and the stock gear box? SNo-Drift is coming soon, it's a bit of a drive but may be worth the trek. Awesome project dude, looks awesome; are you putting the vids up on YT, or....?...

 

[spalind]

What team did you run with? I saw you mention the UP in another thread. I delivered my first car to a guy there about 3 years ago after I wadded it up. He owns a body shop so could put his own staff into cutting and straightening the frame and other repairs. If you have followed ARA you might have seen me In the past or the truck as he had it running again this year. As far as wrenches go? I always like to have help as my abrasive and decidedly non-ARA friendly stance on things limits my pool of resources. Always enjoyed the “people” of SCORE, BITD, and NORRA and similar Western series more my scene but…you play the hand you are dealt not the one you wish for.

Shocks—Cusco. Diff—Cusco.

 

[badgererickson]

Shannonville was just a BMW event, track day. Been following all kinds of Rally since McRae, about '98 or so? Raced SuperBike and SuperTwins with CCS for 5 years. Once you get into it that deep with building, travel, training, the people, it's part of your soul, and your friends are usually gearheads of some sort. Yup, we just started buying land up there as it's still the "up north" like it was in the 70s/80s, it's still pretty wild and the people are great. Yes, it's hard to follow which race org is doing what, where, as they're changing hands so fast. Haven't gotten into racing cars or trucks yet, but the off-road/Rally has been looking more and more tempting. It's the shit, don't tell her about the plans....

 

[Wiley Watson]

Yup…tried to get JV to give me a Believe hat in exchange for the logo placement and he said I should just wait till they’re restocked…but I’m going to do it anyways as I know even the concept of FE will stick like a thorn in the side of many other blue haired by the book bores who participate. Her is her render. She is being assembled at this moment. Rear diff and damper setups arrived, all custom long travel arms and reworked Brembo brake system mounted. Braid wheels, Kevlar skids, custom cage, custom light pod, blah, blah, blah. Engine goes back in in February and should have her racing mid year when lacrosse season ends. She is a modern interpretation of the BRE 240zs that raced Baja. Baja racing is too rough for such things these days but for stage rally racing (real rally racing not gumball BS) this will do.View attachment 1240

You could race the NORRA 1000 in Baja with this - Rally style racing.

 

[spalind]

You could race the NORRA 1000 in Baja with this - Rally style racing.

Did it once in my prior race vehicle. Broke every day, fixed every day. Made it to La Paz but didn’t run every mile. Then trailered it all the back to NH from where I brought it. I think running this there might be a bit rough for her let alone the silt that this would just absolutely get buried in. I’ve been stuck in the desert there with no backup and no one able to find us a couple times…not sure I’m volunteering for that again. Now…if you said “come down and run San Pedro Martir or San Javier hill climbs? I could be convinced of that. Or to run this in the sort of “safari” class that NORRA has had that doesn’t run the full hardest parts of the course? Yeah. Would love to. Oh, and yes…it is intended to mimic the old BRE 240s that ran the initial Baja races. The livery is taken from that.