Don Bell SCCA Champion B Roadster hits the street
Posted: Mon Oct 23, 2017 6:21 pm
You may have seen it at Werks Reunion this past August. Here is the back story.
Back in the 1980's Don Bell asked John Gilbert and myself to help set up his '60 B Roadster for SCCA racing. The car had been raced in Southern California before Don bought but needed major re-design before becoming competitive. We moved the eng and trans up in the chassis, went to coil over springs and built much more powerful engines, the result was two PCRRC championships, the Nor Pac championship and a 6th the one year we decided to go back to Atlanta. Don moved onto pro racing the the old 356 sat until de-tuning it for vintage.
Two years ago Don and I decided to put it back on the street as a real canyon carver. Adam Johnson and his crew did all the steel work, body and paint. Just imagine how rough an old SCCA race car could get and add a factor of 10 and you will get some idea of what they faced. I suggested we remove all the trim, hood handle, name badges, side moldings etc. Remove the upper horn grills and turn signals (they have been relocated into the headlights) and add a Speedster windshield. The rear bumper cut outs were filled all bumper attachment holes filled and a GT deck lid added. The GT inspired head faring was the final touch. Adam suggested the color and I then found German square weave carpet and leather that complemented the paint. Autos International stitched it all up.
I rebuilt the racing gearbox with Speedster gears BBAB, but left the limited slip in. The engine is a pure Super 90 with a bit of head work and Elgin cam plus a Sebring exhaust. A bigger engine is planned for the future. Front brakes are fully ventilated rotors with calipers off an Alfa that bolt directly to the C spindles. The wheels are the same ones we raced on back in the day.
Back in the 1980's Don Bell asked John Gilbert and myself to help set up his '60 B Roadster for SCCA racing. The car had been raced in Southern California before Don bought but needed major re-design before becoming competitive. We moved the eng and trans up in the chassis, went to coil over springs and built much more powerful engines, the result was two PCRRC championships, the Nor Pac championship and a 6th the one year we decided to go back to Atlanta. Don moved onto pro racing the the old 356 sat until de-tuning it for vintage.
Two years ago Don and I decided to put it back on the street as a real canyon carver. Adam Johnson and his crew did all the steel work, body and paint. Just imagine how rough an old SCCA race car could get and add a factor of 10 and you will get some idea of what they faced. I suggested we remove all the trim, hood handle, name badges, side moldings etc. Remove the upper horn grills and turn signals (they have been relocated into the headlights) and add a Speedster windshield. The rear bumper cut outs were filled all bumper attachment holes filled and a GT deck lid added. The GT inspired head faring was the final touch. Adam suggested the color and I then found German square weave carpet and leather that complemented the paint. Autos International stitched it all up.
I rebuilt the racing gearbox with Speedster gears BBAB, but left the limited slip in. The engine is a pure Super 90 with a bit of head work and Elgin cam plus a Sebring exhaust. A bigger engine is planned for the future. Front brakes are fully ventilated rotors with calipers off an Alfa that bolt directly to the C spindles. The wheels are the same ones we raced on back in the day.