There is no written rule that states you have to spend x-number of dollars, install a roll cage and slap a number on the door of your car in order to get some seat time on a road course. Going one step further, you don’t have to spend a Saturday or Sunday in a parking lot avoiding an array of highway safety cones that resembles some sort of “course.” Just ask Duke Williams. He raced his 1976 Chevy Cosworth Vega for over 15 years, but accumulated no points and no title.
“As a kid growing up in the Fifties, I always wondered how little Porsches could sometimes beat Corvettes in road racing,” recalled Williams. “Road racing tracks are great equalizers, and assuming a competent driver, a car that is predictable and forgiving can consistently cut better lap times than an overpowered beast.”
Williams already had plenty of track time. He had actually grown tired of racing his 1958 Triumph TR3A in SCCA’s E-Production by the late Seventies. Said Williams, “I longed for the good old days in the Sixties when I could go out to Kent (now called Seattle International Raceway) and hot-lap my ’63 Corvette all day for two bucks.” A restoration had been started on the Corvette, so Williams turned to the 1976 Cosworth Vega he’d purchased new, though it was already a few years old.
Having previously installed a 16.0:1 steering gear and a front air dam on the Cosworth, Williams opted for a few more upgrades, starting with a 2.5-inch open exhaust that a friend fabricated. It was designed as a quick bolt-on, which would replace the catalytic converter. By eliminating the OE exhaust system, with its 15 p.s.i. back pressure at high revs, the Cosworth experienced an increase in power, “Nearly equivalent to two more cylinders,” said Williams.
Knowing the stock brakes would not be up to the task, he turned to the GM H-body, which offered 0.880-inch thick vented front rotors–versus the OE 0.500-thick rotors–and companion calipers, which were standard on the 1976 Monza. An H-body vacuum power booster also found its way into the car. According to Williams, “Retaining the OE proportioning valve with the larger-piston Monza front calipers significantly rebiased brake torque to the front and eliminated the premature rear lockup.”
The OE shocks were replaced with Bilstein Sport shocks and an additional oil cooler was installed. The tire setup circa 1980 was 205/60VR13 Phoenix Stahlflex 3011s, so Williams purchased a set of used Cosworth Vega aluminum wheels, refinished them and mounted a set of 3011s for track use.
“The late Bob Maloy, founder of the Cosworth Vega Owners’ Association, secured an invitation from Lynn Park of the Cobra Owners’ Club of America to attend their semi-annual track time weekend at Willow Springs in May of 1981. About a dozen Cosworth Vegas showed up, but due to driver inexperience or lack of car preparation, most had problems. My racing experience and car preparation paid off, as my car ran flawlessly all day. It proved to be dead neutral and extremely forgiving. Willow Springs is a high-speed track, so I only used third through fifth gears and was able to enter and drive through the sweeping Turn Eight flat out in fifth at about 105mph,” recalled Williams.
“The Cobras and Shelbys certainly had the legs on me down the front straight, but given my superb handling and unfailing brakes, I could consistently lap the 2.5-mile Willow Springs course in the mid-to-high 1:50s, which was faster than many of the V-8 powered cars and, even on street tires, was only a few seconds slower than the old TR3A on slicks. I got more track time in one day with the Cosworth Vega than a two-day SCCA regional race with the TR3A, and I didn’t need a trailer and tow vehicle!”
Williams eventually added two other events to his schedule, both at the now-closed Riverside International Raceway, organized by the Pantera Club and the Ferrari Owners’ Club. He even ran an occasional event with the Porsche Owners’ Club.
“Usually I would just run one day of the two-day events, amassing 120 to 160 miles on the track. Prior to the first session, I would remove the radiator fan and install my open exhaust and headlamp-bucket cold-air induction, and I also installed a set of cold spark plugs. Configuring to ‘track trim’ and reconfiguring back to street trim for the drive home took about 30 minutes,” said Williams.
There were minor changes to the car over the years, including larger anti-roll bars, new Spax adjustable shocks and Toyo Proxes RA-1 D.O.T.-legal racing tires. And although he still owns his Cosworth Vega, he has effectively retired from racing. “I went through six sets of Delco OE replacement front brake pads, but the rear shoes are original, and the front rotors are above the minimum thickness with 72,000 miles on them. From the early Eighties to the late Nineties, I estimate that I ran my Cosworth Vega in track events totaling on the order of 5,000 miles. Sometimes I say it’s run the equivalent of the ’48 Hours of Le Mans,’. and usually the only required post-event work was a wash job and oil change. It doesn’t get much better than that,” says Williams.
