[V8Vairs] V8 Vairs - Charlie Friend, Open Road Racer

[Thomas Robert R Civ OC-ALC/MAEAPF]

I stumbled on this letter from Charlie Friend and his former Open Road
Racing Corvair. I haven't seen much written about him or his incredibly fast
car before. There are few pictures of it on the web. It was a pretty plain
looking car - looks like it was in primer - but boy, was it FAST.

Bob Thomas
68 Monza

Sent: Monday, March 14, 2005 3:37 PM
Subject: Mailing from Clarks

Hi Chuck,
 
Got your clubs letter thru Clark's. Great thinking on how to increase your
membership.
 
I live in Alamogordo and rarely get to Abq. It does sound like you have a
great club going there. I don't know that I would really "qualify" for your
group. 

Although I do own a "Corvair" and do purchase parts from Clark's, my
"Corvair" is pretty much of a silhouette car. I have a late model coupe that
I have "slightly modified" over the years. It has a 400 cu in small block
Chevy in the back seat running thru a Porsche 930 transaxle. It has '94
Corvette suspension and brakes front and rear as well as steering (with no
power assist). It runs Corvette wheels and tires: 17x9.5 with 275/40ZR17
tires front and 17x11 with 315/35ZR17
tires rear. The top has been slightly chopped and it runs a front air dam
and a rear spoiler. The interior has been gutted and it has a full cage,
aluminum racing seat, five point harness, a 20 gal fuel cell, and fire
supression system.

All that is left of the Corvair is the modified body. It is licensed for the
street but is used primarily for Open Road Racing and some autocross. It won
the overall trophy at the Big Bend (2004) ORR when all of the faster cars
broke. It has won in the 170 mph class in the MKM and Silver State events.
It has recorded RADAR speeds over 180 mph (189 tops so far)
at various events. I was working to record a 200 RADAR speed and sneaking up
on it. But, last Sept at the Silver State event in Nevada, disaster struck.
A right front tire failure at 165 mph in a left hand curve put me off of the
road. The result was a long end-over-end trip thru the desert.

Due to my required safety equipment, I walked away with minor injuries. I
can send before and after pix if you are interested. As you might imagine,
the car was rolled up in a ball. I plan to rebuild it. I have located a '65
body that I'm trying to acquire to start the rebuilding process.
 
So as you can see I'm into the high hp, hi speed stuff. The Corvair body
makes a good platform for a mid-engined low buck "supercar" since it is
fairly aerodynamic and has a small frontal area.  If I can acquire the '65,
I will have Corvair running gear and other odds and ends that I would like
to sell at reasonable prices, if anyone up there may be interested.

Charlie Friend