Car Thread

[healey36]

A great bit of film from the archives:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpepDRqcFCo

Fifty years goes by fast...

[rex desilets]

There were some real pretty cars in 1965!

[healey36]

Sounds like the Fords got themselves sorted for Le Mans, only to get slapped with "performance adjustments"...why can't it be like the old days when you just "run what you brung"?

http://www.autoblog.com/2016/06/17/ford-gt-dominates-le-mans-qualifying-gets-bop-change/

The ghost of Enzo Ferrari must still haunt the paddock...

Healey

[rex desilets]

Sounds like the Fords got themselves sorted for Le Mans, only to get slapped with "performance adjustments"...why can't it be like the old days when you just "run what you brung"?

http://www.autoblog.com/2016/06/17/ford-gt-dominates-le-mans-qualifying-gets-bop-change/

The ghost of Enzo Ferrari must still haunt the paddock...

Healey

Oh, yeah, the ghost of Commendatore hangs around.
How I miss the glory days of CanAm, before Penske/Donohue screwed it up with their blown Porsches. Of course, in those days, if your name wasn't McLaren with the latest monster Chevy engines, you didn't have much of a chance. But still....

[John Webster]

Oh yeah! I remember rooting for the Shadows and watching Fearless John Surtees wrestle the Chapparal 2J whale around Mid-Ohio. Still, the 917-30K was an awesome beast and fun to watch.

[webenda]

the Chapparal 2J

http://www.johnkrill.net/canam/chaparral/chaparral.htm

[healey36]

Jim Hall's high-winged Chapparals were great fun. Brings back terrific memories of watching Can Am on ABC's Wide World of Sports with The Old Man.

Mclaren experimented with a high wing as well:



Can Am was all out racing with beast cars, kinda like NASCAR before the restrictor-plate era.

Healey

[Big Jim]

WG2008 (42).JPG (403.54 KiB) Viewed 4298 times

P1020055.JPG (2.48 MiB) Viewed 4298 times

P1020057.JPG (2.14 MiB) Viewed 4298 times

P1020056.JPG (2.28 MiB) Viewed 4298 times

[rogruth]

I get lost in all the names and initials used in many things these days. I was never a hot-rodder of any type.I was just happy to have a vehicle to drive.
BUT the mention above of Wide World of Sports wakes the memories of the broadcasting of several forms of racing.I remember watching so many types and liked NASCAR type the very least [I hope my neighbors don't see this because it might be my last post ].Even the rally style was better than going in a circle. If they had model railroads they would probably not like going around a circle all the time.

I feel sure all of these various forms of auto racing still go on but I seldom see or hear anything about it.
And what about programs like WWoS? I am not a big sports fan but what I do like is not on TV very often. The Olympics still are a great show because
of the variety.

Now back to cars and people that know something about them.

[rex desilets]

Oh yeah! I remember rooting for the Shadows and watching Fearless John Surtees wrestle the Chapparal 2J whale around Mid-Ohio. Still, the 917-30K was an awesome beast and fun to watch.

I was at Watkins Glen in (as I recall) 1972, when the 917 beast was unleashed. We were standing near the start-finish line. Race started. After a few minutes, silence; Watkins Glen course is that big. After a bit, there's a whine and here comes the Porsche, with nothing behind it. Was there a crash? No: about 3 seconds later here came the field. What? Another lap, and here comes the Porsche and the rest of the field 6 seconds behind it. After 10 laps and a 30 second lead, Donohue backed off and took a Sunday drive home to the checkered flag. Awesome. Killed the series. Only Porsche could afford the $50K price of their motor (seems like a paltry sum these days). In earlier days, wannabe racers could buy last year's McLaren and go CanAm racing for the fun of it. *sigh*

[healey36]

Well, the Fords pulled it off and won their class, whipping Ferrari in their new car. Good for Ford, Ganassi and their Brit team...a pretty amazing effort.

http://www.businessinsider.com/ford-gt-wins-24-hours-of-le-mans-2016-6

Porsche managed to get past Toyota at the end for the overall win...lots of broken hearts over in the land of the rising sun. I was glad to see no Audi's on the podium for a change.

Fox's coverage was horrendous, frequently flipping back and forth between stations. I managed to catch glimpses overnight, but gave up this morning and watched the finish on-line.

And of course the rain was just silly...I don't recall ever seeing the race go off under yellow.

Healey

[healey36]

TRAC 2016 from three weeks ago, with the three Spridgets angled into the pic:



Spent the day with Sarge (blue Midget) and Tony-H (adjacent green Midget) telling tall stories while replacing Tony's fan belt. The Sprite sits thirty or forty feet further up the aisle. Three best-looking cars in the field...notice all of our hoods (bonnets) are down, lol. No concours winners here, and I believe the spot where I parked was declared an EPA Super-Fund site shortly after I left.

Couldn't ask for a better day...

Healey

[MurphOnMillerAve]

..and the Cast-of-Characters sounds pretty darn good, too. Good for you guys! Be well and safe, and well-motored, too, always.
Murph

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Sarge and Healey out for a spin in one of their flivvers.....

[webenda]

What is it?