Ralt RT3

[howi]

Good morning
It's a pleasure for me to be a member in this community.
(sorry for my bad english, but i think also most of you can't speak "schwitzerdütsch")
I'm a rookie in driving a racecar. I prepared a Ralt RT3 from 1983 but nobody from the
factory in england could tell me something about the car.
Is there anybody who knows something about the RT3.
many thanks
howi

[Stan Clayton]

Welcome to the forum, Howi!

We probably can't tell you much about the history of your car in particular, but there are a lot of RT1 and RT4 cars here, so we can probably help you with general Ralt info. What info are you looking for?

Stan

[jonbaytos]

Hey Howi
I worked for Eddie Jordan in the F3 Euro Campionship,and have some info on both an 83/84 RT-3 with a Toyota Novamotor.What tires will you use?and does the chassis have Bilstien dampers? Jon

[RussMcB]

Is the RT-3 closer to the RT-4 Formula Atlantic or RT-5 Formula Super Vee. I kinda thought F3 cars were like our FSV cars, but Google Images of the RT-3 look more like the bigger RT-4 FA. Maybe it's just the larger wheels.

I was just wondering if Howi's chassis might share more with one over the other in terms of tub, suspension, bodywork, etc. I would assume the RT-3 doesn't use VW parts that were required on the US FSV cars.

When is Charles Warner going to discover this thread and pipe in? :-).

[Charles Warner]

RT-3s started in 1979 and were based around the same plan as the RT-2, also 1979. RT-5s and RT-4s were based on these two models. The RT-5 is similar but quite different as the RT-3 took several motors from Toyota to Alfa to Judd's VW unit. I don't know how much cross-over there is as far as parts go but the basic design is quite similar. There were some later RT-3s that used FT boxes as opposed to the Mk9 (pre-Mk 5 days). Conceptually (set-up, etc.) there should be some parallels. There also should be a wealth of knowledge in the UK.

[jonbaytos]

Hi Charlie,you seem to have a lot of knowledge of the Ralt brand history.Is there a place that you know of where all the old chassis are lurking in the UK? I was looking at this just a few day's ago ,and could'nt seem to find much. Thanks Jon

[Charles Warner]

Jon,

There is a chap named Chris Townsend who is the guru reegarding the RT-4s. I don't know how much he has about the other types. He can provide a service to research any RT-4 tub number you might be interested in but I know of no one who has a list of where the cars went or are now. You might try a post on the 10 Tenths website.

[R. Pare]

The indeed is a reynard history site, but I do not have the address here at the moment - a Google search should get it for you, though.

You could also try e-mailing Adrian directly at adrian@reynard.u-net.com for information. He's pretty busy with his consulting company nowadays, but like most ex-designers, is usually willing to talk about his old cars.

[TimW]

Did Adrian work for Ron Taruranac?

[M.Sauce]

RT3 is a Formula 3 car RT5 is a FSV .They are very much alike but have differences as the RT3 is a flat bottom car and RT5 is a ground effects car with tunnels.The tubs are interchangeable.Suspension is interchangeable as well but the brakes are quite different.Many aspects of the two cars are the same as they were built on the same platform.I had an 84 Rt5 FSV and an Anson SA6 Fsv.I loved the Anson but the Ralt was a better car but in the right hands the Anson was a rocket.(Johnny O'Connell)

[R. Pare]

Did Adrian work for Ron Taruranac?

OOPS!!!!

Brain fart!

[jebracing]

Howi,
Send me an email and I'll get you in touch with the guys with the Ralt factory records. You may also try the ten-tenths pages at the following url:
http://www.ten-tenths.com/

The guys names with the records are Adam Ferrington and Steve Wilkinson who usually hang out on this board: The motorsport history forum and it is where I found the history of my Ralt F3 car:
http://www.ten-tenths.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=12

[howi]

Good Morning
Many thanks for all your support.
I'm happy for all information about this car.
I saw in many pictures on the internet different chassisplates (aluminium?)but on my car
it is different. The material ist plastic!! Is that genuinly ?
Here a picture of this plate on the left side of the cockpit.
kind regards
howi

[howi]

Hey Howi
I worked for Eddie Jordan in the F3 Euro Campionship,and have some info on both an 83/84 RT-3 with a Toyota Novamotor.What tires will you use?and does the chassis have Bilstien dampers? Jon

hi Jon
I think i will use the genuine tires. There are Koni dampers installed.
howi

[howi]

Are there still spare parts for the Nova-Toyota engine?
I destroyed mine because i opend the throttle valve box and then balls from the ball bearings felt into the head. Then i startet the engine.!!!!

[jebracing]

Howi,
Try these guys in italy. I am sure they have Novamotor parts or perhaps can make them. If it were just the pistons (and not the cylinder head) you should be able to get a set made relatively cheaply by sending one good one to the supplier.

http://www.ellegimotori.com/

You can also place a wanted add on www.racecarsdirect.com where right now there is this add for a toyota novamotor engine for sale:
http://www.racecarsdirect.com/viewli...php?view=10951

JB

[Jim Gustafson]

The RT-3 was produced from 1980 thru '84 with a total of 160 made. This was a ground effects car with a MK 9 box. Initially the car was run in the era of sliding skirts, in the Kindergarten stage of ground effects, and wasn't very successful. Sliding skirts were eventually banned.... and this became a very good car. The RT-4 & 5 are variations of this model so there should be a lot of info out there, and some parts should be interchangeable. All Ralt's, including the RT 4's & 5's changed thruout the years, and due to this constant evolution, you have to be careful when buying parts, as they may not apply to your car. In reponse to the above question, I don't think that Reynard worked for Ralt, as they were fierce competitors in the F3 market, in the late '80's. Adrian Reynard worked for March, which eventually bought out Ralt. There were a number of engineers who worked for Ralt on there way up, who later made a name for themselves, including Patrick Head who went on to design F1 winning cars for Williams.
Jim Gustafson
Road Racing Since 1970

[howi]

Hi
Now i received my novamotor nearly new. the Peoples from BEMANI made it for me.
it runs very well. (big noise)

[Stan Clayton]

Thanks for the update, Howi...that's great news!

Do you know which Toyota engine the Novamotor is based on?

Thanks! Stan

[makl]

The engine base is a 2TG Twin-cam Toyota.
A lot of modification of this basis.

Marc

[howi]

Good news
After more than 400 hours my Ralt RT3 is ready for the first test on the track.
here is a picture. i made him with the same color as he was delivered in 1983.

[Stan Clayton]

Absolutely beautiful, Howi...congratulations!

[Ted Idlof]

Absolutely beautiful

Hmmmmmmmm, after looking at that nurse shark flat nose I see why the Std FM looks like it does. But regardless of your comment Stan, I'm not about to let my guard down.

[howi]

Thank you Stan
Here is another picture. The engine is prepared by
Bemani. Mister Benny Bühler has great experiance and know how of this engines.

[howi]

a friend of mine make this scaled Ralt for me with the same color and setup.
now i have 2 RT3. (1:20 from Studio 27)

[RussMcB]

That's cool!

[howi]

That's cool!

Now i changed the ratios for dijon. then the gearbox made such a noise.
there are different numbers on the rations. for example
19/22 R on the 19 wheel and 19/22 M on the 22 wheel.

Does anybody know which wheels are compatible and what the characters M or R means?
howi

[RussMcB]

It sounds like you may have an unmatched pair of gears. When you open the transaxle, you may be able to see the source of the noise. Look at all parts very closely.

Here in the US, these folks have been very helpful to many of us. The web site has some good information.

http://taylor-race.com/

[formulasuper]

Hmmmmmmmm, after looking at that nurse shark flat nose I see why the Std FM looks like it does. But regardless of your comment Stan, I'm not about to let my guard down.

Ted, All the rocker arm RT5 Super Vee noses look like the RT3 also. I've always thought they looked similar to a FM.

[Phil Creighton]

Howi
M and R profile gears are not compatible.

I have some New dymag wheels that were supposedly RT3 that I acquired when I bought a couple of tons of left over parts from Ralt - no other parts, they all went to Mexico for their F2 Ralt clone built down there.

Phil Creighton
Atlanta GA USA
philipcreighton@earthlink.net

[alainfenn]

The first (prototype) Reynard F3 car sported Ralt front & rear hubs/uprights, which Adrian had had Alan Rollinson buy from RT under the pretext Alan was building a sports car.

Reynard NEVER worked for Tauranac.

Patrick Head first worked for Tauranac when the latter was designing the Trojan F5000 and F1 cars.

For the definitive Tauranac/Brabham/Ralt history get your local library to get you a copy of "Brabham Ralt Honda, The Ron Tauranac Story" by Mike Lawrence (ISBN 1-899870-35-0)

[dc]

Great info! Three year old thread.

[dereklola]

For the definitive Tauranac/Brabham/Ralt history get your local library to get you a copy of "Brabham Ralt Honda, The Ron Tauranac Story" by Mike Lawrence (ISBN 1-899870-35-0)

You just have to know which errors and omissions to ignore.

[griffith500user]

Hi Howi I have recently found this thread and became very interested in the fact you seem to have an ide tical car to mine. My RT3 is also fitted with a Novamotor and funny enough I experienced the exact same problem as you when trying to free off the slide throttle not knowing what was involved. Fortunately I have since bore scoped the engine and accounted for all the ball bearings and needle rollers and fully rebuilt mine. I would be very interested in any information you might have found over the years. Mine needs a full rebuild and current status is front end almost finished. Rear suspension engine and gearbox to go. Please send anything interesting to dominic.rudd@williamsf1.com. Thanks