Hi guys ,my name is John Smith ,I live in Australia and own the last factory built MA70 Group A Supra Turbo in existence. I race the car occasionally in historic group A touring cars in Australia. The car is in the same condition as when it competed here in the late 1980's. These days ,with better fuels and brake pads ,it is very competitive with the Sierras, Nissans ,Commodores, and BMWs.Im not real flash with a computer , and have no idea how to post photos, but if you google John Smith Group A Supra ,Im sure the old girl will come up. Im putting together a spare diff for the car and would like to get some feedback on KAAZ LSD centers, as the factory TRD unit is no longer available.Your opinions would be appreciated. Regards John Smith
Group A Supra race car
- Thread starter john smith
- Start date
Thats pretty sweet! welcome. the guys around here will want pictures, so your gonna need to learn how to upload pics fast. are else your gonna get this a lot.:ttiwwp:
Is this her?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/eytl/2846631907/
Is this her?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/eytl/2846631907/
G'day mate and welcome, just have to ask you was this the supra that was parked at Fergusons toyota years ago?
Welcome John. I'm all the way in America and have heard and seen you and your car.
It's a real pleasure to talk with you.
It's a real pleasure to talk with you.
Thanks guys .yes I was the Dealer Principal at Fergusons for many years and had the car resting comfortably there. Dan ,I remember Nick, of course, and hope he is keeping well. You are correct about the diff. The Group A car has a larger housing and uses an 8 inch crown wheel. Parts are really scarce ,I want to build a diff that could be used for Bathurst , Phillip Island and Albert Park. The ratio is somthing like a 3.1 or 310kph at 6800rpm.
john smith;1746206 said:
So its you I need to blame for this addiction! lol I worked in the used car department for a short while where the car was stored and just between you and me I used to sit in it and day dream about racing it, that car changed the way I looked at cars so thank you very much.
Moy;1746278 said:
Well what can I say I was young then and it was the first time Id been that close to a real race car, also dont worry I didnt make race car noises or slam through the gears lol
Hey mk3Les its a small world, yes it sat out the back of the P.D. dept. at Fergusons 5 years. We have just finished rebuilding the motor after 20 years, and are giving the whole car a good tidy up before the Muscle Car Masters in early September. Ill try to keep you informed on how its going.
Welcome to supramania John it's nice to see that a real group a owner is on supramania.I've seen your webpage/your car before and i think it's awesome!
Mk3Les;1746394 said:Please do
He never reported back to us
But I wanted to share with the community his results from his participation in the 2011 Australian Muscle Car Masters.John Smith raced in GroupA where his main competition was SkyLine GTR that appears to have been R32 with RB26DETT (FIA FA-5405) ,a car that was the absolute dominatior in GroupA back in the days. The Supra on the other hand ,back then ,was outclassed even by the 2.0turbo RS500 and not remotely competitive to the GTR.
Smith could not outquailify the GTR but was only 2seconds behind him ,note that the N/A GT-R was faster than the Supra:
http://www.natsoft.com.au/cgi-bin/results.cgi?04/09/2011.ARDC.Q4
It all changed in the race tough ,starting 4th from the grid ,John smith was able to outRace the Nissans and finish first in the Race1! Just to give you an idea for how big of a win that was ,keep in mind that JZA70 never recived group A homologation thus he must've been running the 7m-GTE according to the original FA5334 Homologation from July of 87. Not only that but Supra minimum weight must've been at the minimum of 1255KG (and possibly as high as 1400KG!!) and the GTR weight was 1180KG. This win would've required some unbelievable driving skills and chassis setup ,but who else if not John smith!!!:
http://www.natsoft.com.au/cgi-bin/results.cgi?04/09/2011.ARDC.Q4
On Race 2 the SkyLine took a narrow victory and Smith finished second:
http://www.natsoft.com.au/cgi-bin/results.cgi?04/09/2011.ARDC.R9
On Sunday John Smith was out of luck ,he drilled a hole in his piston on the Trophy Race at turn 1 and got DNF. IMO he probably turned up the boost too much ,sound to me like a tuning problem - hey the 7m should be able to survive 3x 10 minutes races at power levels of 500bhp or more ;wink
http://www.natsoft.com.au/cgi-bin/results.cgi?04/09/2011.ARDC.R15
it is pitty that the video coverege (seen here) ,only covers the Future Race where the supra was already retired - one thing is for sure the Australians know how to make great historic races ,now give us some good video coverage!
- according to eye witness accounts the Race2 was quite dramatic with the fights between John Smith and Terry Ashwood driving the 2600 N/A GT-R.
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