<VV> Corvair Canadian rally prep - 1961/62 ?

[djtcz at comcast.net]

>From the CAR LIFE complete Corvair guide ca 1963.  "the gentle art of DRIVING THE CORVAIR" by Denise McCluggage. page 90 - 96.

Part way thru the article she describes rear engine cars as generally oversteering, then, that lifting off the throttle when pushing Corvairs or stock Monzae on twisty roads will induce severe oversteer.  Then, that she went off the road tail first in a Corvair in the first Shell 4000 rally in Quebec.  Something about lifting  off the throttle having been surprised by a tight off camber corner in the fog.

But somewhat surpisingly next she said this -
" I drove my first Monza the first year of the Trans-Canada Rally (as it was called then) and a more secure car I cannot imagine.  I am sure it outhandled any other car on the rally. I had a delightful time on the winding highways and the mountain trails. I had a private little game I called "Sucker." It involved motoring at a refined speed along the straights until someone decided to follow along. Then when I reached a turn, I would actually speed up ever so slightly and then watch the fun in the rearview mirror. The other car was usually in a little over its head, not seriously, just enough to kick up dust at the side of road or yaw heavily or at least fall back.....Really the car was that superior. (the Studebaker team was issued orders  not to follow me under any circumstances after I came close to sending those waddling Larks off the road. They weren't even in the same ballpark as the Monza.)  And why was the Monza so great in 1961? I think it must have been the 3 degree negat
ive camber in the rear. From the rear the wheels looked all splayed out like a knock-kneed horse. Quite a sight........What security. Now, 3 degrees is a lot of negative camber. (The road gets awfully close to the underpinnings that way), but I would certainly recommend 2 degrees for everyday driving. In fact I would insisit on it if I were going to do any hard-pushing motoriing at all in the Monza. The options to achieve the 2 dgree negative are offered by Chevrolet......"

Next she mentions that the steering is too slow, but that only Fitch found a way to quicken it.
--
Dan Timberlake

-------------- Original message -------------- 


> From: "james rice" 
> Subject: Re: Rally Cars 
> 
> Joe: I've looked in my magazine file on Corvairs and Rallying. 
> 
> The rally's in question were similar to the ones we run at CORSA 
> Conventions, only mush much longer and in the dead of winter in southern 
> Canada. (Which sounds like a oxymoron to me.) They were TSD rally's - 
> time/distance/speed. The winner was the team which arrived at the check 
> points on time the most. These were not the performance rally's we see 
> today, which are "little more" than speed events on closed roads, where team 
> with lowest accumulative time during the stages wins. 
> 
> The Corvair teams did reasonably well during these events during '62 thru 
> '65, actually winning a couple out right. The teams were sponsored by 
> dealer or the participanting individuals. Car preparation was mostly timing 
> equipment. Unless fitted with them, the cars probably did not even have 
> seat belts. (Seat belts being a realitively new addition to real race cars 
> back then.) Since these were, while difficult to compete in, low speed 
> events, there was no "race preparation" to speak of as we understand the 
> term today. 
> 
> So far as I know, none of these cars exists today. How would you know? 
> They were nothing special - the people were - and no one thought of, much 
> less bowed down to, "historically significant" cars. They were just tools 
> for an end, and had no intrinsic value in and of themselves, other than 
> being a means to an end....or getting from here to there. 
> 
> The only people most of us would recognize would be Denise and Doug Roe. He 
> actually got his start in rallying in Michigan before GM transferred him to 
> the proving ground in the Phoenix area. There is a picture of him in a LM 
> in one of the period articles I have. 
> 
> I have not looked at the site. Since lowering a car isn't a good idea given 
> the winter slop they drove thru, the neg camber could be evidence of wheel 
> travel due to a hard landing. 
> 
> Historically Yours, 
> James Rice 
> 
> In Jim's ad blog site were several ads featuring Corvairs that were run in 
> the Canadian Winter Rally and Trans Canadian Rally. Does anyone know 
> anything about the cars? How the cars were prepared? Aside from Denise, who 
> drove the cars? Where any of the cars might be now? The rally cars are an 
> exciting part of early (as opposed to EM) Corvair history. Did anyone else 
> note the amount of negative camber in the sedan that Denise is driving 
> (Early sedans rule!)? 
> 
> I really enjoy seeing early ads and reading about early?performance 
> modifications. 
> 
> Joe White (62 sedan, 66 Porvair) 
> CORSA, RMC? 
> ________________________________________________________________________