Finally, We Get The Video Post On Jay Leno's Lotus 26R!

As a fantasy toy, this car is right in my wheelhouse.  It has been finished for some time, but the final post on the build didn't go up until now.  What a Dragon-slayer!  If Jay trailered this car to Robbinsville and spent a week in the mountains, he'd have a ball.  Here's the link to the vid:

http://www.jaylenosgarage.com/cars/lotus/restoration-finished-1966-lotus-elan-26r/index.shtml#item=312694


The epic Jim Clark drive that Jim Hall refers to in the video was in the debut of the Lotus 23, not an Elan 26R.  In May, 1962, Clark led the Nurburgring 1000 Kilometers (with a 1.5 liter twin cam), lapping faster than cars with four times that engine size.  The race started in drizzle, gradually drying out over hours.  At the end of the first lap, Clark led Dan Gurney's 2.0 liter Porsche by 27 seconds.  Both were in the Sports 2000 Class.  Clark continued to build his lead until he became woozy from fumes caused by a broken exhaust header.  Gurney then led until he had transmission failure.  The race was won on a dry track by the Phil Hill/Olivier Gendebien Ferrari Dino 246 (2.4 liter) running in the Sports 3000 Class.  But, while it was damp, nobody had anything for Clark in the little 1.5 liter Lotus 23.

Epic driver, epic car, epic drive: Jim Clark in the Lotus 23 at the Nurburgring in 1962.  This car had the same twin cam
 head (on a cast iron Ford Cortina block) as a Lotus Elan, but was a purpose-built racing car.  The 23 went on to a very
successful run as a customer race car, replacing Porsche (along with the Elva-Porsche) as "the giant killer" in the
sports racing classes. 

Welcome Back, Williams And Martini & Rossi

It looks like Williams has a competitive Formula 1 car in 2014, in Martini & Rossi livery.  Welcome back to TV exposure to two famous names in racing!  F-1 cars aren't pretty, but the new, lowered, noses make them less ugly.

Predictably, Pilote's favorite Martini & Rossi liveried race car: the 1971 LeMans winning Porsche 917K.

Nothing New Under The Sun (Porsche Division)

                                                                                                                                    photo: Sports Car Racing Though Time blog

This is Johnny von Neumann in his Porsche 550 Spyder at the Santa Barbara Road Races in September, 1955.  He came second to Ken Miles in another Spyder, followed home by three more.  Which gives some idea of the dominance of these cars in the small-bore modified classes at the time.

But that's not my point.  Evidently von Neumann was looking for extra brake cooling, because he sawed holes in the nose--which remind me of the (equally ugly) side radiator vents on modern water-cooled Porsches.  These were the days when Spyders were just race cars, not venerated objets d'art worth six to seven figures.  But nobody copied Johnny's massive holes, so they must not have worked.  Or if they did, improved cooling was offset by increased drag and/or aero lift.

                                                                                                                                                                         photo: Julius Weitmann

And this is Michael May's Spyder at the Nurburgring in 1956.  May was a young Swiss engineer who believed that an elevated wing, mounted to the chassis, would improve rear tire adhesion.  But the organizers of the 1000 km race found the modification "unacceptable" and the car was not allowed to start with the wing.  May was DNF in the race.  He anticipated Jim Hall's winged Can-Am Chaparrals by ten years, winged Formula 1 cars by thirteen years, and the first winged factory Porsches by fifteen years.

Above My Pay Grade

Post-practice teardown of Richie Hearn's CART racer at Road America in 1998.

Watchtower has a bum tach in his Bullitt.  His choices are to buy a new gauge cluster from Ford (expensive) or to try to replace only one faulty drive motor himself (inexpensive).  The job can be done with screwdrivers, wrenches, and a soldering iron.  But it's not a simple swap-out: some mechanical skills are required.  Watchtower has them.  He hasn't decided yet which way to go.

Apparently instrument failure is not uncommon on S-197 Mustangs.  So I may face the same choice.   I'd probably buy a new cluster.   I used to enjoy routine maintenance work on my own cars in the era of points and condensers and mechanical distributors.  My skills were only fair, and I had the good sense to not attempt anything that required more than screwdrivers, wrenches, and a timing light.  Hotshoe is replacing the brake lines on his VW Scirocco.  I lack the tools, skills, patience, and confidence to tackle projects far more simple than that.  Even if my joints were still supple, which they no longer are.

All this put me in mind of the best mechanics I've seen: the pros who work on race cars at major meets. It's a delight to watch them work.  That's one reason to get a "superticket" paddock pass for three days for a major event.  When CART was at Road America, the cars were partially torn down after every practice and qualifying session, to the tub and power train--further, if there were problems.  Including data uploads and downloads. There's a job list, usually inside the hauler to protect it from prying eyes. Each mechanic has a specialty and primary area of responsibility, but he also backs up his colleagues. There's no wasted motion.  It's like watching a choreographed dance production.  Unless the car was damaged in the previous session, they usually have it ready to go again inside of an hour.

My Club's 2014 indoor School

The Indoor Driving School signifies spring to me.  Usually we get to do speed-limited conga lines at Autobahn Country Club after classroom stuff.  Conga lines get my adrenalin above trace levels and are a skills and psychological tune-up for the Dragon.  This year, the winter was long and severe enough that we could not use the track yesterday.  It was still partly frozen, with frost heaves in the North Loop.  ACC didn't want us to "stress" a roadbed was was engineered for 6000 lbs., not 18-wheelers.  Sigh...

But I enjoyed the school just the same.  It's a chance to re-connect with gearheads not seen since last fall.  We had a small ceremony to recognize our first Lifetime Member, which was triply gratifying: we were pleased to honor him, he was pleased to be honored, and, typically, he did us proud again.  I went to the afternoon breakout session on working race staff.  It's time to up my game if I'm going to work corners regularly.  Hotshoe attended the breakout session on High Speed Autocross.  After taking several years off, his new Ford Focus ST has his adrenalin circulating, and he may HSAX this season. Nothing would please me more than to see him back on track and to provide him and others with a better corner staff...  It was a good day.

Any day that involves three Porsche 911 RSR clones is a good day for Pilote.  These are ACC member cars.  My club's
racers drive considerably less rarified stuff.  We rent ACC twice a year: pocket change for them.

Ross and Cheryl Fosbender with his Lifetime Member certificate, signifying his decades of contributions to the club.
This was Ross's first outing since heart bypass surgery in January.  He was touched by the honor, which we hoped he
would be and which touched us.  Cheryl's first date with Ross was when he asked her to be his pit crew at a Meadow-
dale race.  Her first big, "extra" paycheck, for teaching summer school, went for a rebuilt race engine for Ross's stick-
axle Corvette.  She worked event staff for 30 years.  That's "a racing wife."  Yesterday, Ross donated his 2-time
HSAX championship-winning Toyota Cressida station wagon "free to a good home."  He hasn't been able to
get it running right since he installed a turbocharger, and neither has a Toyota specialist shop.  He figures a
computer-savvy youngster can get it running, and he needs garage space to restore his Alfa Spider Veloce.

The Chicago contingent for our spring Dragon run is ready--more than ready after a seemingly endless winter.  I won't
speak for Hotshoe, but I've almost forgotten what daffodils and forsythia look like.  We'd be readier still if we'd have
been allowed on track for conga line laps.  On the upside, Hotshoe's Focus ST may see some HSAX laps this season.
The Spec Miata on the trailer in the background is just slumming.

Some Get It, Some Don't

Size Matters

Saw a TV car show promo featuring a customized monster truck with a badge on the fender that said SIZE MATTERS.  Yes, it does: