914 Club Racer/Auto-X

[Chad]

Is there anyone out there that races a 914/4 2.0? Iwould love to get some feed back. I have heard some rumors that the 4 cyl. motor did not make a good racing motor. I find this hard to believe with so many in PCA/HSR.

[MJHanna]

Yes there are. I'm sure Dave Darling can tell you all about it. See posts on "914 Drivers Ed Info needed"

[Dave at Pelican Parts]

Sure, I'll take a stab at it.

Depending on what series you want to play in, the 914/4 will either be very competitve or not at all.

If you play with your local PCA, you will generally be going against similarly-prepared 914s. The cars in the class are all 914s, so a 914 should win. (Local rules may actually put other cars in with 914s, so YMMV.)

If you're playing with the SCCA, a well set-up 914/4 with a good driver can be very competitve on a local level, depending what else comes out to play in your class. But not nationally. The deck is pretty well stacked against the 914s.

The stock four-cylinder cars are in B-stock, and are I hear pretty thoroughly outclassed. The next level of modification puts them in CSP, against millions of Miatas, the CRX, 1st-gen RX-7, and the BMW M3. All of which have somewhat (Miata, CRX) to TONS (RX-7, M3) more power. It's tough for a 115-HP 914 to take on a 250-HP M3. And, since 914s are not allowed headers of any kind in CSP, the 115 HP is probably rather optimistic.

The Sixes are in A-stock and ASP. Some form of Lotus takes A-stock every year, and the early lightweight 911s with 3.2L engines are the competitive Porsches in ASP. Forget the two-liter 914/6.

So your answer is yes and no, depending mostly on class structure.

--DD