Rant: Ugly Car, Picture Doesn't Matter

Two ugly car posts in a row!  Who wudda thunk?!?

MotorWeek: "The 2015 Nissan Murano is all about style."  ...Um... no.  The Gen 1 Murano struck me as distinctive and stylish, if big, for a crossover SUV.  Gen 2, not so much. 

This Gen 3 Murano reminds me of the wretched excess of Detroit-styled cars in the late 1950's.  The fault, dear Nissan, lies not with you: give the customer what he wants.  No doubt market research tells Nissan that this is where the Murano should be headed.  And it weighs over 2 tons while seating only 4, with no pretense to performance.  Epic fail.

Whupped With The Ugly Stick

Below is a link to Jay Leno describing and road testing his Daimler SP 250, and admittedly it sounds good.  I never heard an SP 250 run, and couldn't get past its astonishing ugliness back-in-the-day.  The dealership I worked for in the summers in the early 1960's took a red one in trade and parked it prominently by the front door: "FOR SALE, notice me please."  I washed it; the quality and finish of the fiberglass body was poor.  It was around for a while, and I can't remember if it was sold or wholesaled (because it couldn't be).

In its defense, the SP 250 was designed in the late 1950's and introduced in 1959.  I didn't know that until seeing the Leno video.  I first saw one in 1963.  By then, the Jag XK-E, Corvette Stingray, and Porsche 911 were on the market or just around the corner.  Three designs that became iconic: stiff competition in the styling department.  But then, much lower-pirced sports cars like MG's and even Triumphs looked better.

Another reason I dismissed the SP-250 was that hemi engine.  It may have been as fast as a Jag XK 150 (as Leno says), but pushrods?!?  Even in the early 60's overhead cams were entry-level for my personal pantheon of engineering.  What I didn't know about then was chassis flex sufficient to open the doors.  The SP 250 was worse than "...meh... "

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpzudBhWap0

Twofer Post: Whither FoMoCo?

Above and below: not your grandfather's Ford GT--aero management reminiscent of, but more radical than, the Ferrari
458/488.  The new Ford GT looks like it was designed to go FIA GT racing with the addition of a rear wing and a
revised front splitter.

One of my gearhead pals said of the new Ford GT "They can always stick a V-8 in the back if they need more power."  I doubt that Ford will, or even contemplated a V-8 in designing the car.  The twin-turbo V-6 is said to make 600 h.p.--more than the current LeMans rules allow--and a 5 liter V-8 would be hard to fit in the engine bay.  My customary "Pilote hates creases" complaint is moot because the styling is aero-functional.  I like the cues from the GT 40.  Let's hope it's true that Ford plans to go FIA racing racing with this car.

Design considerations aside, the reason the new Ford GT will never see a V-8 can be found in Levi Tillemann's new book The Great Race: The Global Quest for the Car of the Future.  Tillemann is not a car buff--far from it.  He's a public policy analyst and advocate, and the end of the internal combustion engine can't come soon enough for him.  He had some interesting things to say (in a book talk that I saw) about how various manufacturers and nations--notably China--are working toward electric cars. There are some possible new players, like Google and Apple.

Tillemann interviewed Ford executives for his book, and they said (I paraphrase): "Ford believes the electric car is a generation away, 2035-ish.  So our  research into electric vehicles is long-term.  What we are working hard on is Eco-Boost technology."  I take this to mean smaller engines with higher boost, advanced materials, and "smart" power train management.  The current 4-cam in the Mustang may be Ford's last high-performance V-8 in a car.

"Fully Restored"

Above: a Gulf-Wyer 917 leaving the pits at Spa-Francorchamps in the 1970 1000 Km race: durty girl.
Below: a restored ex-Porsche Salzburg/Martini & Rossi 917 leaving the pits at Spa-Francorchamps circa  2012.
It's a pretty safe bet that no 917 ever left the factory in a condition as pristine as the one below.

Brought A Smile Of Recognition

"Haarrrd a-starboard!"  "All she's got, Cap'n!  She's a light cruiser, not a destroyer escort."

Top Gear's Richard Hammond on Jeremy Clarkson trying to beat the TGV train across France:

James May: "You had Mustangs, didn't you?"
Hammond: "Still have one.  I like them.  But it's a straight-line car.  You know how people who don't ride bikes think Harleys are fast?  It's like that."

The Last Mille Migla

I've posted about details of various Mille Miglias several times, including the last one in 1957.  But the mastery of the drivers who competed in this epic open road race keeps calling me back.  This post is partly an excuse to put up some pictures that give a flavor of the event.

The pictures are mostly from Louis Klementaski's "navigator" seat beside Peter Collins in his Ferrari. Ferrari's reputation, which made it an iconic brand by the early 1950's, began with Luigi Chinetti's LeMans win in 1949.  Then, as now, LeMans got a lot of press coverage.  But Ferrari dominated the the Carrera Pan-America and the Mille Miglia (winning 8 of 11), and was competitive in the Targa Florio--all the great open road races of the postwar era.  But Ferrari itself is not the point of this post.  The pictures are.  You can Google "Klementaski Mille" for more pictures or his website for a broader selection of his work. The account of the Collins/Klementaski drive comes from Chapter 50 of Chris Nixon's dual biography of Mike Hawthorn and Peter Collins, Mon Ami Mate.

The postwar Milles were, just about, 1000 miles.  In 1955 and 1957, the winning speed was about 100 m.p.h. (dry or mostly dry roads both years).  Most of us have done 1000 mile trips, if not in one day.  For this thought experiment, supply your own experience.  Mine is from Buffalo NY to Minneapolis MN (1020 miles) or from Cleveland OH to Tampa FL (1100 miles).  They require 15+ hours, pushing hard on Interstates, to average 70 m.p.h.  When you consider that the Mille was run on 2-lanes and crossed mountains twice, it puts 100 m.p.h into perspective.

Route of the later postwar Mille Miglias.  You can use this map to follow along with the text below if interested.

In 1957, the Ferrari team consisted of Collins/Klementaski and Alfonso DePortago/Ed Nelson in 335 S's and Wolfgang Von Trips and Piero Taruffi driving solo in 315 S's (identical cars with slightly smaller engines).  The 335 S had a 4.1 liter V-12 red-lined at 7500 r.p.m., giving a theoretical top speed of 170 m.p.h.

Top speed was reached before the first Control, and pit stop, at Ravenna.  Near Ancona, Collins passed Von Trips, putting him two minutes to the good as far as he knew.  At the Pescara Control and pit stop, Collins learned that he was definitely in the lead, averaging 116 m.p.h.  Popoli began the climb into the mountains and there was a Control-only stop at L'Aquila.  At the Rome Control and pit stop, Collins was averaging 107 m.p.h.  Viterbo was the fourth Control and pit stop.  At the Siena Control, Collins was averaging 101 m.p.h.

At Radicofani Pass he began to catch the slow-moving early starters in batches, reducing his average speed.  After the Florence Control there was a long climb into the mountains again in 2nd and sometimes 1st gear; around Futa Pass the transaxle began to make noise.  By Raticosa Pass, the grinding noise from the transaxle was bad.  Bologna was a Control and 5th pit stop.  From there the road was flat and straight through Modena.  Parma was a Control and final pit stop.  Collins coasted in with a broken transaxle.  DePortago and Nelson and several spectators were killed in a crash which ended the Mille.   That crash has been thoroughly documented so I won't dwell on it here.  Taruffi won, followed home by Von Trips.

Klementask shoots Collins chasing Von Trips on the long straight roads that characterized the first stages of the Mille.
From the sun's angle, the picture appears to have been taken between Ferrara and Ancona.  "Run as fast as you dare."  

Passing Von Trips.  Shirt and tie?  Well, Mike Hawthorn wore a bow tie when he raced.  Collins wore polo shirts.

Klementaski shot of Collins taking a hairpin on what looks to be the morning climb into the mountains, heading for Rome.

Another '57 Mille hairpin shot.  This is Olivier Gendebien in his class-winning Ferrari 250 GT LWB, one of the earliest in
the 250 GT's long string of wins.  The big bore cars were averaging close to 100 m.p.h. with stretches like these?

Taruffi leads Von Trips across the finish line: 1000 miles in a few minutes over 10 hours.

The Strange, Short, Career of Porsche 917-003

Apologies up-front for a post that can interest only other Porsche 917 freaks.  In its day and in retrospect the 917 became famous for four things: 1) Porsche's first "big league" racing sports car, 2) the audacity and financial risk of building 25 prototypes to turn them into FIA-homologated "production" racers, 3) a very unsuccessful first season, 4) complete dominance when it was finally sorted.  The story of 917-003 is a footnote to that lost first season.

Walter Naher's Porsche 917: Archive And Works Catalogue is the botany book when you want to get into the weeds of the 917.  Most of the facts in this post come from Naher's book.  Chassis 003 had two small aerodynamic tweaks, one unsuccessful and one apparently immaterial, that appeared on no other 917's.  (None of the pictures here are from Naher's book, although it has many previously unpublished photos.)

917-003 at the LeMans Test Days, March, 1969.  If Porsche didn't already know the 917 was unstable at high speeds, it
was learned here.  On the L tail, fins angled about 5 degrees from the centerline of the car were tried (as shown here)
for the first, last, and only time.  The car lost 1000 r.p.m. on the straight, and the drivers reported no improvement
in stability.  (The original, standard, short tail was also tried, with even worse directional stability.)

Porsche learned that the original 917 was unstable at racing speeds at the LeMans Test Days in March of 1969.  After the Test Days, wind tunnel tests were scheduled, but Porsche couldn't get a date in Stuttgart's wind tunnel until May.  The tests validated that the stabilizing fins tried on 003's L body in March were worse than useless.  But there was not enough time to design and test aero fixes before LeMans, in June.  So the 917 L (but not 003) ran at LeMans as originally designed.  (The cars were a handful, and DNF.)

Similarly, the Spa-Francorchamps 1000 Km race in early May did not allow time for validated changes to the K body.  Jo Siffert tried 003 (with a short tail) and set a time that would have put him on pole for the race.  But he was so skeptical of the car's drivability that he chose a 908 instead.  003's race number was transferred to 024/002, to be driven by Gerhard Mitter and Udo Schutz.  Having brought two 917's, Porsche was determined to get some actual racing experience with the car.  This did not work out well: 024/002 retired on lap 1 with a broken valve spring.  (It probably worked out fine for Mitter and Schutz.   ;-) )

The other interesting aero tweak on 003 at Spa was the fairings behind the front wheels and in front of the rear ones.  The fairings are clearly visible in the picture below and also if you look closely at the picture above at LeMans (six weeks earlier).  These fairings, very similar to those that appeared on the 908/2 "flounder" body in 1970, were used on no other 917 as best as I can discover.

003 was disassembled at the end of June.  Some parts were apparently used for the prototype Spyder (027) and chassis 003 was scrapped in December, 1969, after a crash.  Naher doesn't explain the crash, so I hypothesize that what was left of 003 was still being used as a test mule after the June disassembly.

Above: A clear view of the lower wheel arch fairings on chassis 003 at Spa in May, 1969.  Below: chassis 024/002 at
the same Spa event (shown for comparison purposes).  024/002 has the standard lower side bodywork used on the
917 from prototype 001 through the end of its career and the conclusion of the 1971 season.

This picture shows the wheel arch fairings used on the 908/2 "flounder."  A higher hood and sill profile, along with the
wheel arch fairings, were used to clean up--streamline--the bodywork of the original 908.  Ever-widening tires were
also accommodated.  The flounder's configuration was very successful and Porsche did not fool with it.

After the 917 K's aerodynamics were finally sorted out by the Horsman tail late in 1969, the car also received a new wider, squared-off, nose for 1970.  It provided for bigger brake ducts and wider tires. The Horsman tail was faired around the upper sides of the 917's now much wider rear tires.  The slippery L body wasn't sorted until the late spring of 1970, after a car with higher upper rear fins was crashed in testing.  The solution, which led LeMans for hours in June (but was DNF), was a larger rear wing.  After that, the L's bodywork was tinkered but basically unchanged: problem solved.  

But, aside from 003's, the lower side pods on all 917's remained the same from beginning to end.  Naher does not mention 003's fairings in his remarkably detailed history.  We are left to wonder why they were tried at all, only once, and abandoned.