230SL Vintage Race Car

[W113SL]

Here are some photos of my old 230SL set up for Vintage racing to SVRA rules.  The man I sold it to is in the photos. he raced it for about three-four years in events at Blackhawk and Grattan.  Never won, but had lots of fun.  The engine is mostly stock.

linky worky after admin edit

Pete Lesler
W113SL

[MichaelB.]

I would luv to see it, but linky no worky.

[CraigD]

Clicking the link didn't work for me either, but when I copied and pasted the entire string into the browser, then it worked.  Great photos!  Nice car!

[MichaelB.]

All good now!

Blackhawk was my home track back in the day!

[Thorpe Ride]

Wow!! I love the pics man...Thanks.

Curious, what springs they used with the koni's?

[W113SL]

The shocks were Koni custom made for the car by Truesports Racing.  The Springs were Hypercoil matched for the weight of the car.  They were higher spring rated and shorter that standard.  The front sway bar was 25.5mm.

[Thorpe Ride]

How long has it been spec'd out as a track car?

[W113SL]

I built it specifically to run in production class in SVRA.  It was shell when I bough it back in 1996.  It wasn't worth restoring it as many parts were missing including the soft top well compartment so someone must have used it to convert a California coupe. I doubt that you could find a Pagoda that was originally raced back in the 1960"s.ou

I found out that in the day, all Pagodas were classified by SCCA as follows: :  230SL in F production, 250SL in E production and 280SL in D production.

So I built it to comply with SVRA vintage rules, which by the way allow any car built before January 1968 and less than 3.0 liters to run without papers or a log book:  It was completed in early 1998 and made it's maiden voyage at Mid-Ohio some time in May at a Track Time driver's school.  I made a number of improvements to the car over the next two years and finally got it to a point where it was competitive , but probably not a class winner.

It was loads of fun and it drew crowds like a magnet, as many spectators had never seen a Pagoda vintage race car.  The only other one is run by Pete Van Rossum in N.C.  He runs a M110 twin cam with a Holley four barrel.  I ran the standard M130E engine with Mechanical Fuel Injection.

If anyone wishes to build one, I am available for consultation.  I would love to see another out on the track.

BTW, I will be running my 250SL on Mid-Ohio this year at Gemutlichkeit 2011, May 20-24.  I need others to do the same.

Pete Lesler
1967 250SL

[JamesL]

Another - perhaps not vintage

[W113SL]

I'd say this one is set up for rallying.  You need a totally different suspension set up for rally rather than road racing.

Pete Lesler
1967 250SL

[Bill Sgro]

Hey I remember that car!  I think Pete had as much fun building it as he did racing it!!  It sure is a beauty.

[Benz Dr.]

I saw Pete's car several years ago when I stopped by his place. It's really just a shell with a bit of a roll cage in it.
At the time I think he was running a 250SL engine so he must have changed it at some point. He was running a sort of Walter Mitty racer's lounge right at the track. He would haul a big truck to the track equipped with all sorts of tools and things to prep cars. Guys who wanted to race but knew next to nothing about set up would bring their cars to the track and Pete would take care of everything for them. He even had a drivers lounge set up so the '' racers '' could hang out between events.

Claimed he did well enough that it paid all his expenses to race his car.

[treedoc]

Below is an image of a serious Pagoda Rally Car I snapped at the Sydney [Aust] Concourse in 2004. Rumor has it they had invested  a couple of S100,000 to make it competitive, hydraulic suspension, roof welded to the body, 280 twin cam motor.
It had up till them competed in a number of international long distance events, it sure looked the goods
maybe someone else has some other photos of this SL  

[W113SL]

Dr Benz;  You are confusing me and this car with Pete Van Rossum's 230SL. His is a 230SL with a twin cam M110 engine.  Mine use the M130E engine from a 300SEL 2.8 with the Euro Cam which really makes a difference at higher RPM's.

Pete wanted me to drive with him at VIR, bur business and other situations conspired to me selling it.

Thanks

Pete Lesler
W113SL