Help identifying this chassis

[prowrench240]

Hi I have this old chassis. Aluminum monocoque construction. Was formula car converted to an SR. Was an air cooled car. Old air cooled super vee. Pulled fire bottle. Has SCCA sticker and USAC sticker dated 79.
Has 4x130 pcd and are calipers. Fuel cell mounted in left side monocoque structure. Had a constructors plate on ls frt by fire bottle know. Has scca stamp but haven't raised the number completely. Lola? I know they built some early sv cars that were air cooled. Thanks in advance for any information.

[Dave Welsh]

Could this be a photo of a car like yours?

Check out the roll hoop.

[prowrench240]

That looks like it.
Is that a Lola 320;322 or 324?

[Garey Guzman]

I'm not seeing the similarity to my T326. (Picture before I worked on it)

[prowrench240]

Yeah I think mine is earlier than that,,
I have looked at all the chassis that made air cooled
super Vees and the Lola's look closest that I've seen so
far. I think the car was a ac sv and someone fabricated the side pods ans relocated the oil coolers. The car is a mystery. It was pulled out of a semi trailer that had been sitting for 25-30 years. It had been kept dry out of the weather. I looked as far as I could get in the trailer and see parts of the car in there but can't get to it. I feel it's all in there. Going back when the guy gets back in town and starts to unpack the trailer.the car had run with the side pods as a sports racer. But it's former life was as an air cooled super vee. Unfortunately the constructors plate is gone,but you can see where it was on there. Has an SCCA stamping but hard to see . I've been polishing it to raise the number. Looks like maybe region 19. Gulf coast which makes sense since that's where I'm located.

[Dave Welsh]

It would appear that your chassis is a Tui.

This is where the photo I found came from, scroll down to the Super Vee photos.

http://www.gladiatorroadracing.ca/1974.html

[prowrench240]

Hmm OK, yes I think your correct it looks like it, the front suspension looks close, hard to tell with body on. But that gives me a direction to start researching more.
Thanks,

[Dave Welsh]

I'm not far from Weeki Wachee if you could use some help.

[Bob L.]

Yeah I think mine is earlier than that,,
I have looked at all the chassis that made air cooled
super Vees and the Lola's look closest that I've seen so
far. I think the car was a ac sv and someone fabricated the side pods ans relocated the oil coolers. The car is a mystery. It was pulled out of a semi trailer that had been sitting for 25-30 years. It had been kept dry out of the weather. I looked as far as I could get in the trailer and see parts of the car in there but can't get to it. I feel it's all in there. Going back when the guy gets back in town and starts to unpack the trailer.the car had run with the side pods as a sports racer. But it's former life was as an air cooled super vee. Unfortunately the constructors plate is gone,but you can see where it was on there. Has an SCCA stamping but hard to see . I've been polishing it to raise the number. Looks like maybe region 19. Gulf coast which makes sense since that's where I'm located.

Gulf Coast region is region 12.....up near Pensacola. Region 19 is Cal Club, way out west.

Bob L.

[johnhafkenschiel]

Gulf Coast region is region 12.....up near Pensacola. Region 19 is Cal Club, way out west.

Bob L.

It is definitely not a Lola T620 or a Ralt RT-1. The roll bar and the boxed in, raised section in front of the steering wheel plane should make it easy to identify. That section, could have been added subsequent to the original build.

[johnhafkenschiel]

Gulf Coast region is region 12.....up near Pensacola. Region 19 is Cal Club, way out west.<br>
<br>
Bob L.

<br>
It is definitely not a Lola T620 or a Ralt RT-1.&nbsp; The roll bar and the boxed in, raised section in front of the steering wheel plane should make it easy to identify.&nbsp; That section, could have been added subsequent to the original build.

[tim gaffney]

<br>
It is definitely not a Lola T620 or a Ralt RT-1.&nbsp; The roll bar and the boxed in, raised section in front of the steering wheel plane should make it easy to identify.&nbsp; That section, could have been added subsequent to the original build.

[pcarnut]

Brabham. BT40?

[Rick Kirchner]

Regions were re-numbered since this car was stamped

[Dave Welsh]

The BT 40 was air cooled?

[J Leonard]

Pull the Marston fuel cell out. It will have date built, a S/N and most likely a model of the car it fit. It could fit more than one model though. The Marstons I have replaced have not had the car builder name. March, Lola, Ralt etc.

[Offcamber1]

The BT 40 was air cooled?

NO BT 40was F2, BT41 was F3, which would have been easy to convert to either AC or WC FSV. My brother Jim converted his BT38 FB to Water Cooled FSV specs back in the day, swapped the FT200 for a Mk8, changed the brakes and fabricated some engine mounts, so those conversions were pretty easy, plug and play stuff back in the day.

BT40/41 is a really good guess. Wish the archive on Race-Cars.com was still available as it would be fairly easy to tell if it was a Brabham by looking at the pictures.

[E1pix]

No expert here... and could be wrong... but I’m not at all seeing any similarity between the squared bulkhead on this car, fore of the steering wheel, being even remotely close to a BT40... unless the photos are being misinterpreted or Tim is sure about this (his reputation precedes, so sorry if I’m wrong).

Suspect this was originally a damaged tub that was replaced.

The USAC sticker hints at the Mini-Indy Series. I’d guess that by 1979, maybe only two or three air-cooled Super Vees even still raced at that level.

If I had access to my programs, or if anyone here has any, a quick check of entries may well reveal a car that was pre-1978 before water pumpers were legal — and hugely advantageous.

I’m trying to recall the closest Mini-Indy race to the South in 1979... nothing springs forth. The races only accompanied Indy car races, IIRC.

One reason I wonder if it was converted after a crash is it would be a very poor car to convert. If I’m not mistaken, it would have been classified as a B Sports Racer, against quite badass 2-liter Cosworth BDGs, as C/SR was 1300 cc then... unless that was the purebred Cossie race engine limit only, and they allowed a 1.6 VW in C/SR for being stock-based.

AC S/Vs rarely broke 150 hp, so it’s reasonable they may have been allowed in C/SR.

That all tells me it was basically a Regional, or uncompetitive National car, after conversion.

Best of Luck. Intriguing........

[provamo]

No way!

[johnhafkenschiel]

Brabham. BT40?

definately not Brabham BT38, BT40 or BT41. All Brabhams were watercooled.