OCTOBER

30,

1976 AUTOWEEK

PAGE 3

Rouff, Wentz Tie In Indylantic Series

Despite

fining and

endorsing the li.

cense of

Wentz, the Stewards not see

fit

to remove

an y of the winner 's first

place points.

Tony Roufi won the final round of the

Indylantic

series for Formula

Atlantic

cars Oct. 16 an d tied

fo r the

series

point

lead

with

rival American Te d

Wentz.

Rouff,

a 29-year-old native of Costa

Mesa, California, and an Autoweek corre

spondent, led Mike King in a Lola T360 by

.4 second at the finish. King, driving

Wentz's 1975 championship-winning car,

was subbing fo r Tony Trimmer,

who is

in

Japan to test the new Maki Formula On e

car.

King

wa s followed by Alo Lawler,

Derek Cook, Steve Carvill and Phil Dow

sett.

Th e race

started

with Wentz on the pole

position

and Rouff on

the outside. At

the

drop of the flag, he pair pulled

away

from

the line together before Wentz's Swan

Lager Lola

T460 snapped a

driveshaft200

yards

down the track. Rouff seized hi s

opportunity to move ahead

and promptly

pulled out

a

four second lead in hi s

Netherton and Worth Boxer PR276A.

Meanwhile, Wentz's abrupt

halt

at the

head of the pack precipitated

a

four ca r

shunt. Fortunately, no one wa injured.

Rouff wa s

able to maintain a

comfor

table lead fo r much of the

race

an d se t the

fastest lap.

Holley To Make Original

Equipment Carb For Pontiac Four

WARREN, Mich.-Holley Carburetor

division of Colt Industries

ha s

announced

that it will

furnish

as original equipment

a new staged two-barrel

carburetor

fo r

use on Pontiac's

new

2.5 liter four

cylin

de r engine, to debut in 1977.

The new powerplant is the first to be

designed

specifically fo r improved emis

sion control by Pontiac and will used in

selected

Astre,

Sunbird,

and Ventura

models

Th e Holley 5210C carburetor

features a

fully

electric choke. The company

claims

this feature promotes faster cold weather

starts,

improved dr ive ability

during

war

mup,

and lower

exhaust emissions dur

in g the choke

portion of the emission test

cycle.

I t also

uses four

basic

metering sys

tems fo r greater fuel metering flexibility.

A separate idle system provides proper

fuel-air

mixture fo r beth

idle arid low

speed performance. Th e main metering

system provides an economical mixture

fo r all normal

cruising speeds.

A

me

chanically

operated

acceleration

system,

in conjunction with the power enrich

ment system, provides uniform perfor

mance

during

periods of moderate to

heavy

acceleration.

In

addition,

the

carburetor is

designed

with the primary bore slightly smaller

than

the secondary bore, for better emis

sion control

and economy.

Other features of the 5210C include a

special check

valve

fuel inlet filter that

limits fuel spillage

in

case

of rollover, an

electric bowl vent

and hot idle compensa

tion fo r better hot

weather starts.

LATE NEWS

Continued

From Page 1

ABC's televised racing coverage.

•

Buddy Baker has Signed again with

Bud Moore

for

next year's

NASCAR season,

but reportedly without

Norris

Industries

sponsorship. Baker currently is

sixth in this year's NASCAR

standings.

• Th e Formula One driver switch gossip mill grinds

on, spewing

ou t

th e

following speculations: Vittorio Brambilla to Surtees. Clay

Regazzoni to March, Alan Jones to McLaren, James Hunt to March,

an d a

long shot-Gil les Villeneuve to Williams.

• Meanwhile on

th e

U.S.

ca r

sales front, sales are showing the

impact of the UAW strike,

with sales in

general

off 5.4%, and Ford

sales off 320/0. GM sales are up 8%, Chrysler sales are up 5%, an d

Ford's market share is

no w

down to 200/0, compared to a normal

28%.

• A record $134,027

in contingency and

manufacturers support

money has been posted fo r th e

1976 Champion Spark Plug Road

Racing Classic being staged at Road Atlanta Oct. 25-31. An

additional $45,000 posted by

the SCCA in travel fund money and

$15,000 posted by

Road

Atlanta fo r lodging expenses brings the

total available to competitors to $194,027.

• An d

speaking of f th e SC CA runoffs, Syndicast

Services, which

produces

th e

Johnny Rutherford-narrated series "The

Racers,"

will film two 30-minute segments fo r 1977 play at th e runoffs this

year.

• The IMSA Radial Challenge 1976 Manufacturers Champion

ship comes

down to a battle

between the Dodge Colt and th e Datsun

B210, separated

by a paltry two points.

The

deciding race will be th e

series final at Daytona Nov. 21.

• I f

yo u liked

David

Hobbs' television commentary during the

USGP

you'll be delighted to learn that Hobbs will help

th e CBS

crew broadcast

th e

USAC Champ Car event at Texas World

Speedway Oct. 31 an d the NASCAR

Dixie

500 Nov. 7.

• The Chevrolet

Vega

and Pontiac Astre

no w

look to be

continued

through

th e 1978 model year.

There ha d been

corporate

talk about killing those two models

(really, the same car with a few

cosmetic

differences) at the end

of

this model year.

• Th e

Chevrolet

Division of General

Motors

now is selling one

truck for every two cars it sells. In the

middle

10 days of October it

moved 35,786 trucks, a 300/0

increase over the old record, set in 1973.

, •

Th e

~ a p a n e s e Grand Prix last weekend was th e first

GP

this

y.ear il'l' whichaH !runners

were

no t,on Goodyear tires.

Th e

' two

Japanese entries

were

the odd me n out, with Hasemi's Kojima

wearing Dunlop

skins, and

th e car ofTakahari using Bridgestones.

• IMSA regular Gene Felton will pilot Junie Donleavy's

NASCAR Ford in the Dixie 500 in Atlanta Nov. 7.

After the race Tony

wa s

asked if he was

sorry he

ha d

wo n

without

arch-rival

on the track.

"Not at all," replied Rouff. "Ted's won

before without

me on the track."

Wentz, it will be remembered, has run

afoul of Tony

and the Stewards on tw o

prior occasions. Th e first incident oc

cured at the Thruxton round in August.

Te d was reprimanded by the

stewards for

attempting a

flying pass of

race

leader

Rouff an d

pushing him off the

track

in the

process.

At the October 3 Indylantic round at

Brands

Hatch, Wentz was

again

repri

manded after

a controversial

pass of

Rouff, who again

wa s

leading.

Wentz wa s fined hi s

first-prize money

of 350

pounds (about

$570)

and

ha d

hi s

competition license endorsed after testi

mony from the Chief Flag Marshall, wh o

maintained Wentz pushed

Rouff off

course after he was continually unable to

ge t by .

Th e Boxer team ha s appealed the ruling

to the R.A.C.

Th e decision of the

R.A.C. ma y well

decide who is awarded the champions hip.

Prior to the

Oulton

Park

event,

counting

first place points from Brands Hatch,

Wentz led by 25. Although he scored five

' points for pole

position

in

today's

event,

by virtue of a win and fast race

la p

Rouff

earned 30 points and the rivals have tied.

Earlier, Rouff had predicted the series

would go right down to the wire and he

would be first

across. True to prediction,

the Californian was first

across

the line

today, but he

was wrong on one account;

this

is a series that

will go past

the wire.

According to R.A.C.

rules, the

will be awarded to Wentz as he ha s won

more races if

hi s

points

from

the con

troversial Brands

Hatch race are

allowed

to stand. Otherwise, the

series

belongs to

Rouff.

Th e appeal

is expected to

be

heard

within three weeks.

Hydrogen Bus Is Featured

AHraction At Energy Fair

By Walt Woron

LOS ANGELES-The great challenge

of the '70s-extending well into the

next

century-is that of energy, said

Los

Angeles mayor Tom Bradley in endors

in g

Energy

Fair '76, "the

first

show of it s

kiJ;ld in

the

nation."

Highlighted were exhibits, open to both

the industry and the public of all types of

alternative

energy

sources, including

F1 Promoters

Organize

battery power. Since it

wa 's intended to

encompass

all industries that

consume

or

produce energy-including the building

trade, stationary

power

plants

and

transportation-there

was everything

from "pyramid power" to wind

machines

and

from

fiberglass

insulation to solid

waste conversion.

Of interest to the automotive public

were

a hydrogen bus, three

electric

vehicles, a Subaru-powered sports car

built by

Western

Washington State

Col

lege and several accessories and modifi

cations said to increase fuel economy.

An

elec

.triccarbq.Uderwho

hopes to go

into productiollby the

end of November

wa s inviting dealer inquiries an d urging

customers to give "a $550 down

payment

Formula On e race

organizers currently (to) give you a low serial number produc

are considering the formation of a

com-

tion model.·' Total cost of the vehicle is

pany that would have as its prime objec- $5500, f.o.b . Sa n Diego.

tive the stabilization of the rising costs of The prototype of Electric

Passenger

Formula On e Grands

Prix,

Autoweek ha s

Car's "Hummingbird" displayed was a

learned.

VW Thing. The company hopes to pro-

Th e company, which would be called duce about 30 a month, but Peter H. Rubie,

World Championship

Racing,

is

the president, said,

"A lot depends

on Volk

brainchild of one Patrick Duffeler, late of swagen of Mexico." When imported the

the

Marlboro Fl effort. Details

at this cars

will be complete except for engine.

point

seem

sketchy,

bu t

what does

seem Th e standard

gearbox

and clutch

ar e

clear is that a primary objective will be

to connected to the electric motor and will

freeze the going price

paid

the

Formula

provide a total of eight speeds.

On e Constructors' Assn. fo r an F l event at Th e 10

golf cart-type batteries

ar e

split

$285,000, the

amount

the Constructors between the engine compar tment and the

asked for-and got-for races this

year. trunk. There

will be an onboard charger

Th e constructors

already have gone which ca n be plugged into

a

115-volt

record as

wishing to up

the ante to outlet. Range before recharging becomes

$350,000 fo r each race

next year. Accord- necessary

is

said to

be 55

miles.

A to p

in g to Autoweek sources Duffeler will speed of 55mph is claimed fo r the

3100 lb.

meet with

representatives of the Con- ca r with

four persons aboard.

That com

structors in November to tr y to negotiate pares to about 68mph for the standard

a deal satisfactory to everybody. like-loaded (2600 lb.) VW Thing.

In a related move, the CS I recently Another electric ca r wa s a 1912 Baker,

voted to expand

the number of Formula used by

International Rectifier, El Segun

One events necessary to qualify the do, Calif. to d r a m a t i z ~ the use of solar

series as a World Championship from

si x

energy. Th e original car,

they point out, at

to two-thirds of the

events listed

on the

a weight of 1200 Ibs.

with

12 batteries

and

CS I calendar.

Th e implication here is that a three horsepower motor, was capable of

if the race

organizers are

successf ul in only 20m ph

over a range of 50

miles.

consolidating their efforts, and if the Using

a solar panel that

generates 100

Constructors' A ssn. cannot come to terms

watts at 170 volts and

their

own new

with

them

on at

least 10F l

events,

the motor

that

reduces power loss

from

series will lose it s World Championship dissipation of heatfrom60%down to

10%,

status and the Constructors could

stand a they say the ca r can ravel.

at a speed of

chance of losing sponsorship

money

that 60mph

over a

50-to-60-mile

range.

is interested only in World Championship Th e hydrogen bus was the second of

racing. such buses converted from

a 19-

Among

the

items discussed at the passenger Winnebag9 ~ i n i b u s by Bill

November meeting, according t 9 , ~ ~

c < ? m - . • ng s F;nergy'CQrp., e r o Y 9 ; ~ V ~ a ! ; l . : : T h ~ first

munique

issued

by Duffeler in

Japan,will ' j s .· r u n l 1 i ~ g ; d a i l y a s ; ~ a traritnt;btlS-onaI3-

be "the respect of the

spirit

an d

terms of mile

route

from

there to Orem. The one

on

the three-year accord reached at - th e .dis .pJaY,Jl.LEnergyFair was later deliv

Brussels

meeting of November 15, 1975, ered to the city of Riverside, Calif. for a

held under the aegis of the CSI; t he non- one -year transit test.

interference from pressure

groups

in the Th e Chrysler 440cid-engine was c o n

~

organizing sporting d i r ~ c , t i o n s of

Fl

verted to ru n on

hydrogen by replacing

events," and "the strict adherence to the the carburetor and fuelI:i"ump with

a

sporting regulations

whicll .hav8 , been modif,iecl,Impco propane

mixer

and regu

enacted

after consultation with

all parties lator, upping the comp:ression ratio to 12-

concerned ." Continued

On

Next

Page