thebear's archive of motorsports trivia

[thebear]

January 16, 1953:

The Chevrolet Corvette was introduced as a show car at NY's Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. The car became an American classic almost instantly. Its sporty fiberglass body didn't look like anything else on the road. Altho some car buffs criticized the sportscar for being underpowered, that didn't stop Corvettes from speeding off the showroom floors.

[JimW]

Originally Posted by thebear

On Dec. 14 2002 the ship Tricolor sank -- in a thick, English Channel fog. No big deal you say. Unless you were waiting for one of the Volvos. SAABs or BMWs on board.

The ship was carrying nearly 3,000 U.S-bound Saabs, BMWs and Volvos - including 358 XC90s. . . . .

For a fascinating display of how it was all done see http://www.tricolorsalvage.com/pages/home.asp. For some photos see http://www.blognewsnetwork.com/membe...olorAutos.html.

What I want to know is what happened to the two muppets who ran into the wreck while it was marked by buoys and guard ships.

Regards

Jim

[Alan Raine]

Originally Posted by JimW

For a fascinating display of how it was all done see http://www.tricolorsalvage.com/pages/home.asp. For some photos see http://www.blognewsnetwork.com/membe...olorAutos.html.

What I want to know is what happened to the two muppets who ran into the wreck while it was marked by buoys and guard ships.

Regards

Jim

Amazing but I think I will avoid 2nd hand Swedish cars for a while!

[JimW]

Originally Posted by Alan Raine

Amazing but I think I will avoid 2nd hand Swedish cars for a while!

Yes but at least 358 XC90s were totally destroyed. Pity there were no Cayennes on board.

Jim

[eclectic]

Surely some useful spares will have been salvaged? just imagine the special you could build using one of the new big BMW engines?

[JimW]

Originally Posted by eclectic

Surely some useful spares will have been salvaged? just imagine the special you could build using one of the new big BMW engines?

Apparently, all totally destroyed to the last nut and bolt.

Jim

[thebear]

Thanks for the update. One always wonders what happens to "the remains".

[thebear]

Steve Fossett’s 26,000 mile airplane trip departing from the Kennedy Space Center is the latest of his adventures. What you may not know is that seven times between 1993 and 1996 he raced sports cars internationally. His first appearance was a DNF at the 1993 Daytona 24hrs in a Pontiac Firebird. His last race was also a DNF at Le Mans in a Kremmer Porsche K-8.

Watch the UK newspapers as he is scheduled to end his record breaking flight at Kent airfield, East of London. Surely his sponsor Sir Richard Branson will be in attendance.

Click HERE for more information.

[thebear]

February Trivia:

1898 - Enzo Anselmo Ferrari is born in Modena, Italy. The rest is history . . .

1918 - Oregon becomes the first state to impose a gasoline tax. The one cent per gallon collected was to be used for highway construction. The rest is . . . .

1936 - William C. Durant, founder of General Motors files for personal bankrupcy.

1951 - Marshall Teague drives a Hudson Hornet to first place in a the 160 mile Grand National stock car race on the sand at Daytona Beach. Teague was the first driver to receive factory sponsorship. Ford, GM and Chrysler followed suit until 1955 when the Automobile Manufacturers Association banned the practice.

February Anniverseries:

1934 Feb. 27 Auto Industry critic Ralph Nader is born in Winsted, CT. The rest . . . .

1937 Feb. 20 "The Captain", Roger Penske is born in Philadelphia PA.

1954 Feb. 6 Daimler-Benz AG unveils the 300 SL gull wing coupe, a production version of its winning racer.

1989 Feb. 10 Ford Motor Co. earns $5.3 billion in 1988, a world record

[thebear]

Steve Fosset is on his way. Click HERE .

[thebear]

Steve Fosset has lost fuel necessary for his saftey margin (~1,000 miles). Click HERE for a real time plot of his flight.

Anyone in the London/Kent area have any local news links?

[thebear]

February 10, 1966


Ralph Nader testified before the US Senate, reinforcing his earlier claims that the automobile industry was socially irresponsible & detailing the peculiar methods the industry used in attempting to silence him. Nader's '65 book, Unsafe At Any Speed: The Designed-In Dangers of the American Automobile, had become a sensation a year earlier. Nader attacked the automotive industry's unwillingness to consider the safety of the consumer, or as Nader himself put it, "insisting on maintaining the freedom to rank safety wherever it pleases on its list of considerations." Nader's heaviest criticism was leveled at the Chevrolet Corvair, a car that had been involved in a high number of 1-car accidents. GM responded to Nader's criticism by launching an investigation into his personal life & accusing Nader of being gay & anti-Semitic. Nader filed an invasion of privacy suit against GM, & ultimately exacted $425,000 from the automotive giant. By bringing the public's right to safe automobiles into the spotlight, & by directly challenging GM in court, Nader created the methodology for contemporary consumer advocacy. The National Traffic & Motor Vehicle Safety Act, which in '66 mandated seatbelts, owed its existence to Nader's initiative, as do the other federally regulated safety standards which are common practice today.

[thebear]

February 11, 1951

Hornet Stings Big Three:

Marshall Teague drove a Hudson Hornet to victory on the beach oval of the 160-mile Daytona Grand National at Daytona Beach (FL), beginning Hudson's extraordinary run on the NASCAR circuit. In 1948, Hudson introduced the revolutionary "step-down" chassis design that is still used in most cars today. Until Hudson's innovation all car drivers had stepped up into the driver's seats. The "step-down" design gave the Hornet a lower center of gravity &, consequently, better handling. Fitted w/a bigger engine in '51, the Hudson Hornet became a dominant force on the NASCAR circuit. For the 1st time a car not manufactured by the Big 3 was winning big. Excited by the publicity generated by their success on the track, Hudson executives began directly backing their racing teams, providing the team cars w/everything they needed to make their cars faster. The Big 3, fearing that losses on the track would translate into losses on the salesroom floor, hurried to back their own cars. Thus was born the system of industry-backed racing that has become such a prominent marketing tool today. The Hudson Hornet would contend for nearly every NASCAR race between '51 & '55, when rule changes led to an emphasis on HP over handling.

Seven years later on the same date, 2/11/1958 he died at age 37 after attempting to raise the closed-course speed record at Daytona.

[thebear]

NASCAR used to open on the road course at Riverside

For the last 23 years, NASCAR has opened its premier stock car racing season w/the Daytona 500, long enough for many followers to think it has always been that way.

But it hasn't.

Riverside International Raceway, a sprawling road course that twisted its way thru what is now Moreno Valley east of Riverside for 3 decades, was long the site of the opening race of the '65 Grand National (later Winston Cup & now Nextel Cup) season. Every year from 1970 to 1981, Riverside was 1st & Daytona, NASCAR's Super Bowl, was 2nd.

It was an anomaly in stock car racing because all of the other races were on ovals. Riverside was the only track where drivers turned right as well as left.

That came about as a case of, "You scratch my back & I'll scratch yours."

Big Bill France, who had founded NASCAR a few years earlier, wanted a West Coast presence to give his fledgling organization some credibility outside the South. Les Richter, who had the task of making Riverside profitable, wanted major stock car racing.

"When Big Bill (he's the grandfather of Brian, the France who runs NASCAR today) heard about the races we'd run on our track, he called me late in '62 & asked about coming to Riverside," said Richter, now a consultant for International Speedway Corp., parent company of California Speedway, Daytona International Speedway & other tracks.

"I couldn't have been more pleased because I knew Riverside needed a big stock car race to survive & I thought NASCAR would be better than USAC [the U.S. Auto Club, which had a thriving stock car division at the time]."

Negotiations moved so quickly that Riverside had a race the following January, & as an added treat, a 2nd race in the summer.

There had been a Grand National at Riverside in '58, won by Eddie Gray, but the 1st big one under Richter's administration was Jan. 20, 1963. Dan Gurney, an experienced road racer, won in a Holman-Moody Ford, the 1st of his 4 consecutive Motor Trend 500 victories. Then Parnelli Jones won one & Gurney won another before the Southern boys figured out what road racing was all about.

USAC was even more upset than the NASCAR home guard. Before the '63 Golden State 400 in June, USAC banned Gurney, Jones, A.J. Foyt & Rodger Ward from racing, threatening to keep them out of the next year's Indy 500 if they drove in the rival series.

USAC's stock car division eventually proved to be no match for the newer NASCAR & ceased operation in '84.

After driving on tracks all year long where they turned only left, the high-speed racing gypsies from the Carolinas found it nearly impossible to keep their wheels on the asphalt as the 2.62-mile course zigzagged its way up thru a series of switchbacks called "esses" from the 2nd to 6th turns.

Richard Petty, who had already won two Grand National championships before he mastered Riverside for the 1st time when he won in '69, had a devil of a time adjusting to the esses.

"Why didn't they just straighten out the road?" Petty said at the time. "There's nothin' there but dirt, nothin' to have to go around. It's no wonder I couldn't get much experience on a road course 'cause I couldn't stay on one long enough."

Bob Steinbrinck, who broadcast Riverside races for 15 years on the radio, remembers Petty well.

"For the 1st four or five races, I don't think Richard was on the asphalt once except when he crossed it," Steinbrinck recalled. "He went straight across the dirt, never coming close to the corners. There'd be a big cloud of dust following him up the esses, but he always seemed to hit his mark when he got to Turn 6 at the top of the hill."

Junior Johnson, who once earned his living running moonshine thru the Carolina hills on roads w/more curves & dips than Riverside, had his troubles too. Asked how he could stay on more dangerous roads at blinding speeds in the Piedmont & not Riverside, he said, matter-of-factly, "Back home, the roads have trees to keep you honest. Our here, there's nothing to miss so you just take off anywhere you want."

The closest Johnson came to winning was a 2nd to Gurney in 1965.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
There had been NASCAR Grand National races in Southern California before Riverside, at short tracks such as Carrell Speedway in Gardena, Willow Springs north of Lancaster & Ascot Park, but none on a major league track.

In the '50s, when NASCAR ran races on the West Coast, others would be scheduled the same weekend on the East Coast.

In '62 there were 62 races scheduled & it wasn't until '72 that the season was pruned to 31, a figure that has remained pretty constant. Sunday's Daytona 500 will be the 1st of 36 this year.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Racing in January proved a gamble. One race, the Winston Western 500 in '72, was delayed by fog at the start & cut short when more fog enveloped the course after 149 of 191 laps. Maybe that's why Petty won; he didn't have to race thru the esses for the last 42 laps.

The '67 race was postponed a week & in '69 a race scheduled for Jan. 23 didn't get started until Feb. 1, two weeks later.

"It was a terrible hardship for the boys to have to tow out to California twice a year & then to have one of them postponed twice was awful tough on the pocketbook," Petty said at the time. "Some of the boys stuck around [Riverside] & that cost extra sleeping money & some went back home & came back. Then there's some slick cats who just went to Las Vegas to watch the rain."

A tragedy in the '64 race, when2-time national champion Joe Weatherly was killed as his car slammed the wall at Turn 6, led to an important safety innovation. Weatherly had no shoulder harness & it was determined that his head hit the wall, killing him on impact.

Shortly after that, NASCAR made shoulder harnesses mandatory & introduced the window safety screen that protects the head & upper body from such disasters.

Weatherly & Riverside will always be remembered in Norfolk (VA), where Weatherly is buried. His headstone has a replica of the Riverside track w/an X marking the Turn 6 spot where his fatal accident occurred.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Racing was more primitive in the days before R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. brought corporate leadership into NASCAR in the early '70s, sprucing up rundown tracks, expanding purses & offering incentives to run the entire schedule.

Bill Gazaway, a tough ex-Marine who ran Riverside's garage area w/an iron fist, kept drivers, mechanics, writers & hangers-on at arms' length. No one could get away w/anything.

Except one time.

Gazaway caught a radio personality passing his credential thru the fence, &, after ordering him off the premises, he called Richter & told him the man was off limits & to not let him buy a ticket. Richter informed all his ticket help of the edict & the incident was the talk of the paddock.

The next day, as the race queen for the late-model sportsman race rode to the starting line, who stepped out to open the door but the radio guy, beaming under his colorful cowboy hat.

Sadly, for racing fans at least, Riverside succumbed to urban sprawl in '88 when Fritz Duda, a Riverside attorney who had gained control of the property, bulldozed the track to make way for the Moreno Valley Mall at Towngate & a housing development.

[thebear]

February 20, 1937

Legendary driver & designer Roger Penske was born on this day. While he drove & designed a variety of race-car models, Penske is most famous for his achievements in Indy car design, a field that he dominated for many years. Penske cars won 3 consecutive Indy 500s from '87 to '89 & 11 Indy 500s in 23 years. Overseeing the development of his team cars, Penske created an empire that would redefine Indy car racing. Asked why the Penske car was so successful, champion driver Emerson Fitipaldi explained, "The Penske is consistent & easy to adjust. That's why it wins." In addition to his achievements on the track, Roger Penske also changed the Indy game by founding CART (Championship Auto Racing Teams.) Penske created CART as an attempt to increase Indy car team owners' control over Indy 500 rule changes, then dictated by the USAC.

February 20, 1993

Ferrucio Lamborghini died on this day in 1993, leaving behind a remarkable life story of a farm boy w/big dreams. Born on his family's farm outside of Bologna, Italy, Lamborghini grew up tinkering w/tractors. He enrolled in an industrial college near Bologna, where he studied machinery. Graduating just before WW II, Lamborghini then served as an engineer in the Italian Air Force. After the war he returned to his family's farm & began assembling tractors from leftover war vehicles. Lamborghini built such high-quality tractors that by the mid-1950s, the Lamborghini Tractor Company had become one of Italy's largest farm equipment manufacturers. But Ferrucio dreamt of cars. In 1963, he bought land, built an ultra-modern factory, & hired distinguished Alfa Romeo designer Giotti Bizzarini. Together they set out to create the ultimate automobile. In 1964, Lamborghini produced the 300 GT, a large & graceful sports car. By 1974, Ferrucio Lamborghini had sold out of the business bearing his name, but the company would never deviate from his initial mission to create exquisite vehicles at whatever cost.

[thebear]

February 23, 1958

In a bizarre twist, Argentine racing champion Juan Manuel Fangio was kidnapped by Communist guerrillas in Havana, Cuba, one day before the 2nd Havana Grand Prix. Members of the July 26 Movement (M-26-7) & followers of Fidel Castro & Che Guevara, the kidnappers hoped to make a political statement by kidnapping the world-famous Fangio before he could defend his title at the Havana G/P. "We wanted to show that Cuba was living in a situation of war against the Batista tyranny," explained Arnol Rodriguez, a member of the kidnapping team. In a moment fit for a Blake Edwards film, revolutionary Manuel Uziel, holding a revolver, approached Fangio in the lobby of his hotel & ordered the race-car driver to identify himself. Fangio reportedly thought it was a joke until Uziel was joined by a group of men carrying submachine guns. Fangio reacted calmly as the kidnappers explained to him their intention to keep him only until the race was over. After his release to the Argentine Embassy, Fangio revealed a fondness for his kidnappers, refusing to help identify them & relaying their explanation that the kidnapping was a political statement. In the meantime, the Havana G/P had been marred by a terrible accident, leading Fangio to believe that he had been spared for a reason. Years later, Fangio would return to Havana on a work mission. He was rec'd as a guest of the state, & he expressed his gratitude w/quiet eloquence, "Two big dreams have come true for me: returning to Cuba & meeting Fidel Castro." Fangio was famous for winning races; he became legendary by missing one.

[thebear]

March 8,1936

1st stock-car race run at Daytona

Daytona Beach (FL) staged its 1st race strictly for stock cars on a combination beach & public roadway course. The race is remembered as the impetus for today's NASCAR. However, race or no race, NASCAR never would have come into being w/out the efforts of Bill France. Having moved to Daytona in '34, Bill France opened a garage there. He fixed & raced cars, finishing 5th in Daytona's original race. The city claimed it lost money on the event & enthusiasm for city-sponsored racing waned. The next year the Daytona Elks persuaded the city to stage a Labor Day road race for stock cars. The city lost money again. At that point, Bill France & local club owner Charlie Reese took over the promotion for the Daytona race. With Reese's money & France's work, the race established itself as a successful enterprise. Racing halted during the war, but afterward France returned to Daytona Beach & persisted at race promotion. Reese died in '45. France went on to promote races all over the South. In '46, he staged a National Championship race at the Old Charlotte Speedway. A news editor objected to France's calling a race a National Championship w/out any organized sanctioning body. France responded by forming the National Championship Stock Car Circuit (NCSCC) in '46. On December 14, 1947, France called a meeting to reorganize the growing NCSCC. Racing officials gathered at the Streamline Hotel in Daytona Beach to hear France call for major changes in the operation of the circuit. He demanded more professionalism & suggested that the organization provide insurance for drivers & strict rules for the race cars & tracks. A new organization to be incorporated later that year as the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) emerged from the meeting, w/Bill France, former mechanic, as president.

[thebear]

March Trivia:

1901 New York State is the first state to require license plates. They cost $1.

1924 Rand McNally publishes its first comprehensive U.S. Road atlas.

1927 Volvo starts production of it's first car, the OV4. SKF, the ball bearing manufacturer provided credit and loan guarantees. 297 are produced by 66 workers.

1959 Mario Andretti drives and wins his first race. The place was Nazareth Motor Speedway in Pennsylvania and the car was a '48 Hudson.

[thebear]

March 23, 1956
Studebaker-Packard looks for a merger

The Studebaker-Packard Corporation halted merger talks with the Ford Motor Company to pursue talks with the Curtiss-Wright Corporation. Studebaker-Packard itself was the result of a merger in which the large Studebaker firm merged with the small & successful Packard line. After WW II the independent car manufacturers had a difficult time keeping pace with the production capabilities of the Big 3, who were able to produce more cars at lower prices to meet the demands of a population starved for cars. Independents began to merge with one another to remain competitive. Nash-Kelvinator & Hudson Motors merged successfully to become American Motors (AMC). Paul Hoffman, the manager of Studebaker, realized his company would have to merge or perish. He negotiated an arduous merger between his company & Detroit-based Packard Motors. The merger took over 5 months to come thru, as unionized labor on both sides balked at the proposal. Finally, in October of '54, Studebaker & Packard merged to become the country's 4th largest car company. Hoffman chose Packard President James Nance to lead the new operation. Nance, spiteful of the inefficiency that Studebaker brought to his company, generally ignored the input of his colleagues, instituting his own policies in an attempt to turn around the fortune of his new company. His policies failed, & renewed labor problems brought Studebaker-Packard to its knees. In '56, Curtiss-Wright purchased Studebaker-Packard. The failed merger between Studebaker, which had been in operation since the late 1890s, & Packard was emblematic of the post-war independent manufacturers' scramble to consolidate. While Studebaker-Packard failed, AMC was able to stay alive into the '70s, when it was bought by French giant Renault.

[thebear]

March 26, 1920 Chrysler leaves GM

Walter P. Chrysler resigned as executive VP in charge of automotive operations for General Motors (GM). Born in the western Kansas railroad town of Wamego, Chrysler grew up around Union Pacific engineers. Early in life, he formed the idea of becoming a locomotive engineer himself. Working his way up from the position of janitor, he achieved his lifelong engineering dream by the time he was 20. Chrysler's attention gradually shifted to the automotive industry. "To me it was the transportation of the future," he explained, "& as such I wanted to be a part of it. That was where I saw opportunity." In 1912, while employed by the American Locomotive Company, Chrysler was offered a position in Flint (MI) by Buick President Charles Nash. The job promised only half of his current salary, but he took it anyway. As a manager at Buick, Chrysler revolutionized the company's mass production capabilities, & distinguished himself as an irreplaceable part of the GM team. However, in 1916, William C. Durant regained control of the company he had founded & Chrysler's mentor, Charles Nash, was forced out. Recognizing Chrysler's value, Durant offered him the presidency of Buick, a title worth $500,000 a year. Chrysler had previously made $25,000 a year. Heeding warnings from Nash that Durant was a micro-managing tyrant, Chrysler did not immediately accept the offer. Eventually, tho, the money was too good to turn down. Among his many accomplishments as head of Buick, Chrysler's greatest achievement may have been initiating GM's purchase of the Fisher Body Plant, on which the company relied for its products. GM purchased 60% of Fisher's stock, & gained control over one of its most important components. Eventually, William Durant lived up to Nash's warnings. He began to meddle in Buick's affairs, infuriating Chrysler to the point of despair on numerous occasions. One day, Chrysler reached the boiling point during a board meeting & walked out. Longtime GM President Alfred Sloan later recalled, "I remember the day. He [Chrysler] banged the door on the way out, & out of that bang came eventually the Chrysler Corporation."

[thebear]

March 26, 1901 Mercedes debuts

The Mercedes was introduced by Gottlieb Daimler at the 5-day "Week of Nice" in Nice, France. The car, driven by Willhelm Werner, dominated the events at the competition. Mercedes cars were conceived at the same venue in Nice two years earlier. After seeing a Daimler car win a race there, businessman Emile Jellinek approached Gottlieb Daimler w/an offer. Jellinek suggested that if Daimler could produce a new car model w/an even bigger engine then he would buy 30 of them. Jellinek also requested that the cars be named after his daughter, Mercedes. Daimler died before the Mercedes was released, but the car carried his name to the heights of the automotive industry. In '04, a Mercedes clocked 97mph over a 1-kilometer stretch, an astonishing feat in its day.

[thebear]

March 26, 1932
Auto legend passes away

Henry Martyn Leland, the founder of Cadillac & Lincoln, died in Detroit (MI) at the age of 89. Leland was born in Vermont, the 8th child of New England farmer Leander Barton Leland & his wife Zilpha Tifft Leland. He began his industrial career as an apprentice engineer at Knowles Loom Works in Worcester (MA). With the outbreak of the Civil War, Leland began work at the U.S. Armory in Springfield (MA). After the war, Leland served as an engineer & mechanic in a series of manufacturing firms in New England. He distinguished himself as a tireless worker & an exacting supervisor only satisfied w/his own high standard of quality. Leland was a real New Englander, a Presbyterian stickler w/good manners & a titan's work ethic. He moved to Detroit to run a company w/his old partner Charles Norton that was to be financed by Detroit lumber mogul Robert Faulconer. After successfully runnning, for a few years, as a supplier of various machine-shop products, Leland & Falconer gained entrance into the automobile industry at the request of Ransom Olds. Olds needed a supplier of transmissions for his Olds Runabouts. Leland wasn't the only major player in the automotive industry to get his start w/Olds. Olds also hired the Dodge brothers to manufacture the bodies for his cars. After a successful run supplying Olds transmissions, Leland was asked by the Detroit Automobile Company to appraise their holdings, which they were preparing to liquidate. Leland surprised them by recommending that they hang on to their facilities; he offered to run their car company for them & revealed to them an engine design he had come up w/which produced 3 times the HP of Olds' engines. The Cadillac Car Company was born, named after Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac, the founder of Detroit. The 1st Cadillacs came on the market as low-priced cars, but soon, due to Leland's high standards, the car was marketed as a luxury item. The car company that became a symbol of excess & ostentation in the '50s began as the product of a puritanical perfectionist. Cadillac distinguished itself further by becoming the 1st car company to introduce a self-starting mechanism. Charles Kettering invented the system at the urging of Leland, who was said to be distraught over the death of a friend caused when an errant crank-shaft broke the man's arm & jaw. In '08, William Durant & GM bought the Cadillac Motor Car Company for $4.4 million in cash. Leland continued to run Cadillac, & it became GM's most successful marque. Eventually, Leland & Durant fell out over GM's participation in WW I. Leland had been to Europe just before the war, become convinced that the war was inevitable, & that it would decide the future of Western Civilization. Durant's disinterest in the war cause infuriated Leland so much that he quit. He went on to found Lincoln, which he named after the man he admired most & for whom he had cast his 1st vote as a 21-year-old, Abraham Lincoln. Leland was never able to escape financial trouble w/Lincoln, & he ended up selling the company to Henry Ford. Ford eventually ran Leland out of the business, most likely as a result of some personal jealousy on Ford's part. Nevertheless, Leland was responsible for creating the luxury marques for America's two largest automotive manufacturers.

[thebear]

April 06, 1934

Ford introduces whitewalls

The Ford Motor Company announced white sidewall tires as an option on its new vehicles at a cost of $11.25 per set. Whitewalls soon became associated w/style & money. By the '50s, whitewalls were standard on many cars, & it would be hard to imagine a '55 Corvette w/out a corresponding set of whitewall treads. The popularity of whitewalls continued well into the '60s. Car companies offered different width white bands in a race to make their whitewalls whiter. Henry Ford was never known as a fashion revolutionary, but he was onto something w/the whitewalls.

In the 1962 James Bond film "Dr. No", 007 drives a Sunbeam Alpine w/wire wheels & special-ordered 5" white-wall tires. The Sunbeam Alpine was a small but stylish sports car which James Bond drove in Jamaica for the film. Altho it contained no special modifications, it was of great help to Bond during the mission. On his way to Miss Taro's house, Bond got into a chase w/the three (3) blind assassins in a hearse. Bond out-maneuvered the hearse, sending them off the face of a cliff.

[thebear]

The Shelby Group 2 Race Cars
1966 ... The beginning of Trans-Am racing


During the mid-'60s, pony cars were hot. The Ford Mustang was selling so well the other manufacturers came out w/their own version of the short trunk cars. Owners & enthusiasts started taking their pony cars to the race track making sedan racing ever more popular. SCCA began to take notice & for '66 established a professional series called The Trans-American Sedan Championship. This series of races was made up of 7 professional races at different tracks across the U.S. The manufacturer w/the most points at the end of the series would win the 1st ever Manufacturer's Trophy. The Trans-Am, as it became known, featured races from 200 miles to 2,400 miles. The races ran from 2 hours to 24 hours & required pit stops for gas & tires.

Group 2 cars were divided into only 2 classes, over 2L & under 2L. The maximum displacement was 5L (305 ci) w/a maximum wheelbase of 116". Plus, eligible cars had to seat 4 people eliminating the '65 GT-350. In the beginning, the GT350s were set up as 2-seaters to qualify for SCCA's B/Production class. The rear seat was removed & replaced w/a fiberglass shelf. Ford wanted the Trans-Am Trophy. After the great success of the GT-350, Ford immediately turned the project over to Shelby American.

Shelby American built sixteen '66 Group 2 Notchback Mustangs, all for sale to independents. Chuck Cantwell (GT-350 Project Engineer) & Jerry Schwartz (fabricator & mechanic) were given the job of developing & prepping the cars. The Mustangs were built to GT-350R specs. The main differences between the Group 2 car & the GT 350R were cosmetic. The Group 2 Mustangs were required to be close to stock w/steel hoods & front ends. The GT 350R had a fiberglass hood & front apron & plastic side & rear windows. The Group 2 cars used OE glass. OE interior & seats were also req'd for the Group 2.

The GT 350R & the Group 2 Mustang had a lot of similarities. Both cars had:

racing type pins for the hoods & trunk
7x15 American racing magnesium wheels
lowered A-arms
34 gallon fuel tanks w/3.5" quick release cap & splash funnel
trunk mounted battery
Stewart Warner electric fuel pumps
six CS gauges housed in a special instrument housing (fuel pressure, oil temp, 0-160 mph speedo, 8,000 rpm tach, oil pressure & water temp gauges)
four point roll bar
3" competition lap belts w/shoulder harness
18 quart Ford Galaxy radiator
oil cooler w/remote oil filter
tube headers w/2.5" straight pipes dumping out just in front of the rear tires
"Monte Carlo" stabilizer bars to strengthen the front end
export brace (named after the brace used on Mustangs for export)
11.3" front disc brakes
10"x2.5" wide rear drum brakes
1" front sway bar
16" 3-spoke wood steering wheel
OE Ford valve covers on the 289 cid w/special breather
Koni shocks
Detroit Locker
3.89 final drive gearing
19:1 quick steering
Borg Warner T-10 C/R 4-spd trans
7.5 quart finned cast aluminum oil pan
over ride traction bars
Shelby American racing 289 w/an aluminum hi-rise & 715 cfm Holley carb rated at over 350 hp.

The Group 2 Mustangs were based on the Mustang GT. All Group 2 cars had the stock GT package including fog lights in the grilles. The lenses & bulbs were replaced w/high intensity driving lights for better use during night driving. Most Group 2 racers came w/a 1/2" rear sway bar & a Panhard rod. Some of the cars came w/a scooped out fiberglass panel between the passenger compartment & the trunk allowing a spare tire to be mounted. The spare would not fit in the trunk w/the larger gas tank. A spare tire was not req'd during racing. It is possible this option was shared w/the four Group 1 race cars Shelby America sent to Europe. This a rare item to see today in restored cars. The SCCA required a metal bulkhead between the driver's compartment & the gas tank early in '67. Any car raced during '67 had to have the bulkhead replacing the fiberglass spare tire mount.

The 16 Group 2 Mustangs were painted white w/black interiors. All cars were sold to independent teams. Shelby did not run a Group 2 Trans-Am team in '66. Only one car was completed in time for the Trans-Am race at Sebring in '66. Three were to be available. The 1st car went to Cooper, Clark & Associates. They paid $6,414 for the 1st Group 2 car in a bidding war. Later Group 2 Mustangs sold for $5,500.

Shelby-prepared cars placed in 5 out the remaining 6 races. Independent teams drove non-Shelby Group 2 Mustangs to wins at Mid-America Raceway, the Virginia 400 & 2nd at Briar 250. Ford & Chrysler fought for the lead in points up to the last 2 races. At Green Valley, Brad Booker & John McComb driving a Shelby Group 2 Mustang beat out the "Team Starfish" Barracudas & Group 44 Dodge Dart to win tying the standings at 37 each for Chrysler & Ford.

The last race of the season was at Riverside (CA). Shelby sent Jerry Titus to drive a Shelby Group 2 Mustang. During the qualifying on Saturday Titus set a track lap record of 1:41.9 at an average of 91.854 mph to earn the #1 spot for the race on Sunday. The race started w/a LeMans type start. Titus flooded his Mustang leaving him next to last to start. A later broken oil filter cost him almost 2 laps while it was being replaced. Titus fought his way thru the 34 cars to finish 1st ... 48 seconds ahead of the Tullis Group 44 Dodge Dart. Mustang & Ford won the 1st Trans-Am Manufacturers Trophy.

[thebear]

April 13 1902

Leon Serpollet drives Oeuf des Paques (Egg Barrel) along the Promenade des Anglais at Nice France. He sets a new Land Speed Record of 75.06mph in his steam powered car, without benefit of any type of brakes except his engine.