Wayne's Aronde racer

Ray Bell

Ray Bell

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There are, apparently, six Simca Arondes being prepared for Group N racing... that would be pre-1959 Group Nb...

And Wayne Yeo on the Gold Coast is progressing well with his. He told me last night he has the engine ready now, so it won't be long before it looks like a complete car again.

I should have some pics of the car next week if anyone's interested...

Simcas, by the way, did fairly well in touring car racing back in those times. They were very light (Wayne reckons that 25lbs of tar coming off the body will make it lighter!) and the engine breathed pretty well despite the siamesed inlet ports. Brakes are identical to the 203, with one leading and one trailing shoe... and though I think you can change that to twin leading shoes, Wayne isn't taking that option at this stage.

Anyway, more about that when we get some photos.




A little brother for the Dodge... and not far apart either!
 
Wayne's Aronde racer.

Ray, Am waiting in anticipation to see Wayne's photographic progress.
I've sent out my John Sprinzel parka and stringy backs for laundering. I like to get into the mood for these occasions. My other half draws the line at my Castrol R incense sticks! :rolleyes:

Wayne won't have any brake problems, the Simca had 130 square" of brake surface, far more than the Holdens of the day! :approve:
If I recall Wayne is running a 90a Aronde. If it was a P60 the first thing you would throw away is that swallow bonnet mascot, it weighs a ton. 3 or 4 seconds off a lap at least! :wink2:
 
Wayne's Aronde racer.

I don't recall overheating being a major problem with Appendix J Simcas.
Although as the state of tune was developed cooling problems are a natural follow on.
Have a gander at the Simca's radiator and tell me it isn't identical to the Pug 403/404? Apart from the mounting.

With the availability of Aronde water pumps being non existent, a solution was found and a good one. :2cents:
Darrel Manning, one time Pres. of the WA Simca Club [Mk2}, adapted an early Toyota Corrolla pump to his black 90a racer. Just requiring a different backing plate and the drilling and tapping of 2 or 3 holes and the opening up of the hole in the front of the block, it worked a treat. The Simca pulley could be made to fit or simply use the Corrolla. :)
 
I went for my drive to the Gold Coast today and visited Wayne...

Here are some pics of his car as it stands at the moment

yeobarefront.jpg


The body's been sandblasted... but the roof needs more work.

yeobareinside.jpg


Very little rust despite being 48 years old, none in critical areas.

yeobareinsiderear.jpg


That seat mount nearest is partly torn from the floor, but otherwise everything's fine.

yeoboxengine.jpg


Home made inlet manifold for the twin-choke Weber.

yeoenginebox.jpg


Floorchange is from the later model.

yeodash.jpg


The dash is ready to go, as Wayne is showing us... and...

yeodoortrim.jpg


...door trims have been remade.

yeobareenginebay.jpg


Not much in here at the moment, but give it time!
 
Wayne's Aronde racer.

Ray and Wayne,
Thanks for the photo presentation. Wayne don't be too fussy with the interior trim, it will be too nice to race. That beautiful silver grey P60 would be worthy of a picture story alone.
The Aronde racer body appears to be a good straight basis to begin with. Look at those top wishbone shim adjustments, you'll be able to play for hours with those!

With the two different,3 and 5 bearing engines do the rules prevent using the "Rush" 5 bearing engine in the 90a Aronde?
I'm not criticising your choice of the original "Flash" engine. The Simca pundits have surmised that the 3 bearing engine had less friction and could spin freely. :confused:
The 5 bearing engine should theoretically be the stronger along with its Fiat type centrifugal oil filter, being marginally better than the simple gauze type on the 3 bearing.
Wayne, have you or any of your fellow "Arondists" yet worked out how to tap into the 90a or P60 oilways to fit an external/remote oil filter and cooler set up? [Not the Fiat by-pass type!]
My friend Wilyman and I have often mused on this idea but as usual we are 30 plus years too late. :rolleyes:

The Weber? shown on your fabriicated manifold, what type is it, also is it a compound or two stage opening type?

The siamesed inlet ports of the Simca head are often criticised as being restrictive. Tell that to someone who has been tuning minis? :wink2:
 
Wayne's racer.

Ray Bell said:
Five-bearing engines didn't come out until around 1962, so they can't be used in the 90a...
Click to expand...

I was certainly aware of this but I just wondered if the CAMS rules may have allowed the later Rush engine because of its similar capacity and negligable power difference? Still rules is rules. :)
 
Whether or not they should is a moot point, but to do such a thing would merely open floodgates...

What would then stop us asking to be able to use the 340 LA engine in the Dodge? The capacity is no more than we can bore the 318 Poly to, and they use the same crankshaft. But we would win handsomely on weight.
 
Wildebeest said:
I was certainly aware of this but I just wondered if the CAMS rules may have allowed the later Rush engine because of its similar capacity and negligable power difference? Still rules is rules. :)
Click to expand...

Just been reading all the postings I missed.
The last tiime I looked at the ex Terry Cunliffe, ex Darryl Manning Simca it was running a Rush 5 bearing motor.
 
Wayne's Aronde Racer

Westair said:
Just been reading all the postings I missed.
The last tiime I looked at the ex Terry Cunliffe, ex Darryl Manning Simca it was running a Rush 5 bearing motor.
Click to expand...

Westy, sshhhoosh!

The ex Darryl M. car. I turned this one up taking root in a front yard in Wembley, then passing this info onto Darryl. Some old chap owned it at the time, he repeated the yarn on how he solved all its problems by fitting a Holden carby!! Didn't everyone? :wink2:

I wasn't aware it was Terry Cunliffe's old car. I wonder if Darryl knew?

Westy, I don't know if I told you but I owned the black Museum P60 prior to selling it to Brett Christian. Should you make a move on this I can provide some info on it. I gave Brett a print-out on what I thought it would need to restore it. Unfortunately I didn't have the facilities to do this.
 
Wildebeest said:
Westy, sshhhoosh!

The ex Darryl M. car. I turned this one up taking root in a front yard in Wembley, then passing this info onto Darryl. Some old chap owned it at the time, he repeated the yarn on how he solved all its problems by fitting a Holden carby!! Didn't everyone? :wink2:

I wasn't aware it was Terry Cunliffe's old car. I wonder if Darryl knew?

Westy, I don't know if I told you but I owned the black Museum P60 prior to selling it to Brett Christian. Should you make a move on this I can provide some info on it. I gave Brett a print-out on what I thought it would need to restore it. Unfortunately I didn't have the facilities to do this.
Click to expand...

Suitably shhoooshed. Darryl did know about Terry.
Arranging pick up of cars on Friday.Will keep updating , probably slowly.

W.
 
Ray has mentioned GroupNb a few times as pre 1959 but historic and CAMS websites say Group Na is pre 1957 and Group Nb is pre 1965 and is virtually same as Appendix J which means Simcas etc must compete against Mini Cooper S etc.
Group Na has less classes Under 1100cc, 1100 to 1500 where Nb has 1100 -1300 etc. I think I have got this correct
Comments appreciated.

W
 
My husband and I were at the junkyard a few months ago and i saw an aronde there I didn't really know what it was at the time just that it had what looks like a brake fluid container in it that was made of glass which i made my husband take off for me. He lauged about having to do it but I told him someone might need one. So if you hear of anyone needing one I have it there wasn't much else left of the car but I do have that.

My e-mail just in case is dahlke70@hotmail.com
 
Waynes etc...

Raymond G said:
Very thoughtful of you... was it off the master cylinder? ISTR that they had a glass one that kind of screwed into the fitting like the lid screwed on the top.

Ray Bell
Click to expand...

Ray,
I think Snowmaiden is referring to the small "olive jar" remote type, identical to the 203. They had a rubber nipple on the bottom that perished over time. Gordon Miller sourced these items some years back if anyone's after one.

Snowmaiden, nice to hear from you. Might I suggest that the Simca bottle would make a good water dispenser on your canary cage? :clown:
 
I was at Wakefield on Friday doing some practice and there was an dark blue aronde there as well. Didnt reliase it was french until the owner said go the french cars.

I was running with it at one stage and it had decent power, but the handling let it down, it had the french signature of one wheel up on every corner
 
parry said:
I was at Wakefield on Friday doing some practice and there was an dark blue aronde there as well. Didnt reliase it was french until the owner said go the french cars.

I was running with it at one stage and it had decent power, but the handling let it down, it had the french signature of one wheel up on every corner
Click to expand...

Front wheel or back wheel?
 
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