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SCCA Solo II Nationals
Watched my uncle compete in the SCCA SOLO II National Championships today in Lincoln, NE. He is 73 years old and just had his left knee replaced in June. He's been racing this same car since he first built it in 1974. It is an original Mini with full custom tube frame. A couple years ago he replaced the front suspension with parts from a Civic. The solid rear axle is made from an aluminum driveshaft from a Ford van. He made his own rear swaybar out of 1" steel tubing with used lawnmower blades welded on each end for lever arms. (He said they were the only thing he found that was hard enough not to bend or break) The engine he now runs is a Honda 1.8 VTEC with a 1.7L crank and bored to 84mm. It has a 1.6L J-spec head that is ported and some pretty stout cams. He burns E85 Ethanol and the engine has never been professionally tuned or seen a dyno, but the car weighs 1300Lbs with him in it.
All the other cars in the finals were Lotus Sevens, you can see a couple of them in the background. The Gentleman in the shorts and hat is a friend of my Uncle's, Tom Austin, who also drives the car.
Tom ended up in 5th place! My Uncle got 16th. Not bad for a 73 Year old man with a bad knee (we had to help him in and out of the car) and, in a 35 year old car competing against high dollar Lotus Seven kit cars with Cosworth and Acura engines.
All the other cars in the finals were Lotus Sevens, you can see a couple of them in the background. The Gentleman in the shorts and hat is a friend of my Uncle's, Tom Austin, who also drives the car.
Tom ended up in 5th place! My Uncle got 16th. Not bad for a 73 Year old man with a bad knee (we had to help him in and out of the car) and, in a 35 year old car competing against high dollar Lotus Seven kit cars with Cosworth and Acura engines.
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