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The roll bar height issue is a two-edged sword;
I understand their concerns - there have been a few accidents - not Alfas - involving roll-overs of open cars. No lawsuits yet AFIK, but ... It's too bad really - your car shows so well that spiders are such graceful cars when well perepared for an XC or track event, but the required roll hoop - 2 inches above the top of the driver's helmet - is just UGLY! And if you change drivers you can be illegal again!
As to the drop ends for the front suspension - I just checked on Max's web site and didn't find them either. Just send him an email. Max is one of the Alfa good-guys, always willing to help! If I understand rightly, the dropped outer end (I think it's actually adjustable) allows you to dial out all bump steer, so that there is NO toe-in change with suspension deflection. On a fast sweeper, this has an amazing stabilizing effect. One car I've seen that made the change - already a good car with a good driver - gained over a second at Laguna Seca. It might actually take the total panic of the corkscrew there!
Most of the cars I've watched here are really set up for club racing on the track, with XC as a fun sideline. AROSC and VARA add high penalties for wheels and tires out of the 'stock' parameters, so its 14 by 7's mostly, which don't need flares. Still, your car looks just marvelous.
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I'm stuck with SCCA Solo rules, and Alfas are almost non-existant in that world.
Yeah, as with any serious racing, it really is all aboout what rules apply to your group. Want an off the wall thought though? Take a good steel alfa spider hardtop, stripped of the soft stuff; reinforce it a bit for hoop and cross strength, and to carry a load around the rear and side windows; reinforce the rear body, side, and windshield latches where the top attaches to the body (Bolts maybe if legal?). This could carry the spider's sill torque loads in a virtual box from the rear shock towers and upper b-pillars, thru the front windshield to the firewall. Done right it could be ten times stiffer than the bolt-on chassis bar, almost like a coupe, and made of standard alfa parts. At least as good as a Petty bar and close to a full roll cage.... Whether this would be legal is of course up to your local rule book.
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A bunch of us have been trying to get Murray to come to the 2007 Detroit AROC convention. His car must be the ultimate Spider.
He sure did everything a good engineer would want! Except that it still has all the comfort stuff that adds weight. If he gets the racing bug bad enough, he'll end up with his lady driving the Alfa, while he drives an F-350 Deisel towing an all-out stripped racer...
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As you know, autocrossers generally make good racers (car placement skill, concentration, etc. Remember, George Folmer, Hurley Haywood and Peter Gregg started their careers in autocross). And... maybe it's time to get your driving shoes out of the closet. I'm 68, and know someone in Louisville who runs autocross at age 84.
It's not age that keeps me away, it's business. I'm barely 58! Making money is nice, but it sure gets in the way of other good stuff! I'm gonna cut out enough time in the next year to rebuild/restore my old Duetto. It'll be at least XC worthy by then. You never GET time for things, you just gotta TAKE it!
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I have stock gearbox ratios but changed from a 4.56:1 differential to a 4.11 to have a "longer" 2nd gear. I rarely use 1st, but a friend in Detroit has a GTA Jr with the close ratio gears and he uses 1st to good advantage on some autocross courses.
My experience too. Just drive on one or two gears on a good XC course, so you either choose the right gear in a CR box, or swap around the rear end so you spend most time in 2nd. Been that way since I was a boy racer! the CR sets really shine on a big track where the turns vary from top-end sweepers to 1st gear hairpins. Alfa's stock 1st is a street start-off gear, too low for a good running gear on any track, so without a CR set you end up driving only 4 gears spread out a bit too much.
And you still dial in the rear for each track. We used to have different rears set up for Laguna Seca and Willow Glen for example and just bolt in the right one. Our GTA had 5.36, 5.12, 4.78, 4.56 axles all packaged up. Choose a gear set that got you to redline at the end of the long backstretch for each track in top gear and bolt int he right axle, then stir up the right gear for all the other turns and straights...
XC is more about driving and car balance than about shifting; easier to learn. I always set up for oversteer - never had enough power to just slash and burn like the Cobras and 'Vettes did. But could beat their times occassionally 'cause you really could make the little alfas dance while they plowed up cones.
Oh, back on he knuckle risers. The 2L spindles are a bit taller than the 1600's. But the GTA knuckles were almost a 2 inch addition. It changes the upper arm angle to get a lot more negative camber on bounce, so the outside tire would stick a LOT better - on A008's or Goodyear track slicks of the 70's. Your Hoosiers might find it too much. Hard to get a tire temp map on an XC course to tell, but you sure would see it on a tight track. If yo can do a tire map: if the outside edge is cooler than the center, it's not working hard enough into the turn; then more bounce camber will get you better stick. If it's already hotter than the center or inner, you've too much. Ride height as well as arm geometry matter. BTW - our old GTA was as squirly and a Chip'n Dale Dancer because of this. Bump steer could put you thru the fence, and the knuckles made it worse....
Anyway, thanks to all of you for posting the story and photos! You really can smell the rubber and gas fumes, taste the sharp bitterness of adrenelin! Damn, I don't even FIT in my old driving suit. Gotta add Simpson to the parts list..........
Robert
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(A prediction would merit special coverage by the Jornal de Noticias.