The Byrne's Take on the Ultimate Tarmac Rally in An ALFA Romeo 2000 GTV
After 6 years of club circuit racing my father and I decided it was time to tackle something different. We had always watched the targa on the TV each year and thought what a great event it would be to compete in. When my father finally retired he moved to Tasmania, after living there for about a week he rang me back in Victoria with the news that we would be competing in the next targa. That gave us a year to get the car and ourselves ready for the event, it was only just enough time.
If
the targa was going to be done it was going to be done properly. The
engine was rebuilt with lightened flywheel, new piston's and liners, raised CR
and a full balance. The head was ported, bigger valves new valve
seats and guides and the lift substanionally increased. The overlap
on the cams was kept relatively mild in an effort to maintain some of the
2-litres inherent low down torque. After the event it was decided that not
getting the con-rods de-seemed and shot peened was a mistake as extra revs where
needed on many of the stages and con-rods are considered the weak link of these
engines. Fuel was controlled by 40mm DCOE webbers, 45's had been found but could
not be tuned in time for the event
I'd never driven a 105 series ALFA with a decent gearbox, the one in my own car is so worn there's only about three people I know that can drive it. THIS WOULD NOT DO FOR TARGA!. A full gearbox rebuild was done. New gears, unfortunately not closer ratio which would have been nice, but new none the less surrounded by new synchro-rings with weight machined from the gears and the 5th gear lay shaft to improve shifting and decrease box spin up times . AWSOME!!, so that's what a gearbox should be like, you mean you don't have to double the clutch on every gear change?
The 2-litre GTV's had a LSD as standard equipment, but after 30 odd years of thrashing they get pretty shagged. You guessed it "REBUILD IT" a higher ratio diff from a 1600 was rebuilt with the LSD internals of the 2-littre with extra lockout dialed in. WOW how good was that extra lock out, with much of the special stages held in the wet with tight turns any way to get more power to the road was welcomed.
Unfortunately the Limited modified class we where running in allowed very little suspension modification. Spring rates and therefore anti-roll bars could be changed along with bush material, but not shape, could alter from standard i.e. nylathane could be used. Stiffened and lowered springs front and rear where added along with stiffer front ant-roll bar. All the rear trailing arm bushes where replaced with nylathane components while upfront the lower wishbone bushes where replace along with all the steering arm, and front camber arm balljoints. All this gave the car a nice, sharp responsive steering system with good initial turn in, however the car could probably benefit from going even stiffer in the front as oversteer was still an issue. The biggest problem was having to live with the standard 0deg of static camber, but due to the rules, nothing could be done in this area.
Roll Cage
If targa taught me anything it was "respect your safety gear", you don't think about it much as a driver but when your navigating (the two us shared the responsibilities) you really have time to appreciate just how dangerous this event is. When your traviling at 200 km/h in the wet down a country road you have never seen before with no guard rails lined with 300 year old trees that are moving for no one you tend to tighten up your safety belt that extra notch. One of the most important pieces of safety equipment is the roll cage. With the added advantage of increasing chassis stiffness a six point welded in roll bar was chosen. A change in CAMS regs does now not allow alluminimum to be used so cro-moly was chosen, the cage added around 200 kg to the car but the extra stiffness was noticeable whilst driving.
Safety Harness and seat
A good seat and harness set up is not only required for safety reasons but also allows the driver and navigator to concentrate on driving/navigating instead of holding on. Two FIA approved SAAS racing seats where bought from Revolution Race Gear. It was decided to fork out the extra cash for the fiberglass base as opposed to the steel as it was thought that the extra comfort would be required, and believe me you can tell the difference. the seats where mounted on the original runners allowing adjustment. Two four point harnesses where mounted from the floor to the parcel shelf as per CAMS specs. It would have been nice to mount the harnesses off the roll cage but unfortunately the configuration of the rear bracing did not allow this.
Body
Part of being able to participate in targa involves having a good looking car. So the vehicle headed down to a local panel beater for a fresh coat of 2-pack paint. It's not a concourse winning car but it doesn't look bad at all.
