Maserati 3500 GT

Here's a link to Jay Leno's video of his restored 3500 GT:

http://www.jaylenosgarage.com/

I loved this car when it came out: so classy.  The body was designed by Touring (Milan).  I thought it was introduced in 1960, but Wikipedia says 1957, which makes the styling even more impressive.  It looks better in dark colors like the blue above, and without the rear vent windows on Leno's car (the early cars had better tail lights too).  But Leno's retention of the original color was a no-brainer with the paint in such great shape.

Even to a 15-year-old, it was clear that the Maserati was a GT, not a sports car.  It was obviously big and heavy (although I'm surprised to learn from Leno's video that the controls are heavy too).  Its solid rear axle, hung from semi-elliptic springs, was hardly state-of-the-art.  It was built for the Autoroutes and Interstates then beginning to spider over Western Europe and the States.  While not as sophisticated as the Ferrari 250 GT, the Maser's huge trunk made it a better road trip car.  The dash and interior were the best Italy had to offer.  It was priced to compete with the 250 GT and the Aston Martin DB 4.  (I remember the XK-E costing half as much, not the 1/3 Leno mentions, but there's no arguing against it as the best value in the GT market).

But when it came to styling, the Italians led the world in the postwar era until the early 1970's.  They cranked out car after breathtaking car.

My Club's Indoor Driving School & Conga Line

How to join the club, register for events, what to expect, safety equipment, basic car preparation, tech inspection,
corner flags, driving technique, and "Do As I Say, Not As I Did That One Time I Just Told You About."

Each March, my sports car club has an Indoor Drivers' School.  It's partly about pitching prospective new members and partly orientation.  For me, it has become the Official Notification of Spring.  In the past few years, the Indoor School has been at Autobahn Country Club.  And I've "worked" the school, which involves the onerous duty of greeting newbies and answering questions.  ;-)   The payoff for workers is free laps in conga lines behind experienced wheel-to-wheel drivers (the newbies pay $20) --all of us in our street cars.

Leaving the pit lane in my conga line.  Somewhere up there, ahead of three Bimmers and a Mercedes station wagon(!)
is our Leader in a Dodge Neon SRT-4.  Behind me, a Miata.

The conga line is a great way to shake off winter doldrums.  I unlearn some of my lazy road driving habits, hone some good habits, and focus once again on driving a proper line.  Renewal.  And lately it has become my annual tune-up for the Tail of the Dragon.  This year our conga leader took it slow: 45 m.p.h. on the straights and 6/10's in the corners.  At the end we did two "fast laps" laps at 60 m.p.h. and 7/10's.  I drove the entire 3.6 miles in 3rd gear.  No shifting or heavy braking lets you concentrate on your lines.  Last year we jumped right in at 8/10's.  I worked hard and erratically to keep up.  It's easier to sort yourself out at moderate speeds before using the wheel and pedals harder.

After three seasons of conga, I'm finally getting the hang of ACC.  Especially the South Loop's Turns 1 and 2 double-apex complex and the North Loop's deceptively tightening Turn 6.  Autobahn is more challenging--and fun--than its flatness might suggest.  My retirement from High Speed Autocross is probably permanent.  It uses up the consumables (tires, brakes) and brings out the limitations of street cars fairly quickly.  My Civic Si feels agile in daily driving; body roll is rarely noticeable.  After a few laps at HSAX cornering speeds, it begins to feel slow to respond to steering inputs and sloppy in the body-roll department: tedious to drive.

But 12 to 18 laps in a conga line, after a long winter, is ideal for blowing the cobwebs out.

46 Years Ago At Sebring (Ford GT 40 Mark II)

Ken Miles in Chassis 110, in the Webster Chicane at Sebring, 1966.

When I posted that Ford built only one GT 40 roadster, I forgot about this one.  Ken Miles and Lloyd Ruby won Sebring 46 years ago next weekend in this Mark II.  They had already won Daytona.  It has passed into legend that Miles was denied a Triple Crown when Ford staged a photo-finish at LeMans. He was a lap ahead of the Bruce McLaren/Chris Amon Mark II when Ford ordered him to back off near the end of the race.  His car had been gridded one spot the behind the McLaren/Amon car at the start, and thus covered a few feet less total distance.  Miles was partnered with Denny Hulme at LeMans because Lloyd Ruby was racing Indy cars in the States.  Nobody has ever won Daytona, Sebring, and LeMans in the same year.

But I learned in preparing this post that, at Sebring, Miles had lost a lap to the Mark II coupe of  Dan Gurney and Jerry Grant when he pitted to change a cracked brake disc.  He got the lap back, but was still well behind when Gurney's engine blew on the back straight on the last lap.  An astonished Miles cruised by to win.  So, if he was robbed at LeMans, Miles was Sebring's Cinderella.  He was killed at Riverside Raceway early the next year, testing the successor to the Mark II, the Mark IV used by Gurney and A.J. Foyt to win LeMans in 1967.

Chassis 110 had an unusual and star-crossed history too.  Ford Advanced Vehicles (England) asked Abbey Panels, builder of the steel GT 40's, to do an aluminum roadster tub early in 1965.  It was sent to Kar Kraft in Detroit, who built "X-1" using a 7-liter NASCAR engine and an experimental automatic transmission.  It had Ford's 1965 LeMans Prototype front bodywork, including lights.  They ran it in four Can-Am races that fall with little success: it was bigger and heavier than purpose-built Can-Am cars.  At the end of the season, Ford shipped it to Carroll Shelby in Los Angeles.

That winter, Shelby American rebuilt the car into a new "standard" GT 40 Mark II for the 1966 championship season--the one pictured above.  Chassis 110 was slated to race at LeMans too, but took such a pounding from Sebring's bumps that it was parted-out for other Mark II's after its return to Los Angeles.  The aluminum tub was scrapped.  So, while two GT 40 roadsters were built by Ford, a steel Mark I and an aluminum Mark II, only the Mark I survives.

When Two Bales Are Barely Enough

Jo Bonnier's Cooper-Maserati on the outside of Burnenville at Spa-Francorchamps.  Good thing it wound up with the heavy end pointing toward the course.  He climbed out (one guesses carefully) and walked away.  It appears that his spin went through a full 360 degrees plus 90 (or even 810), so it must have started soon after corner-entry.  With luck or skill or both, he scrubbed off enough speed that two hay bales slowed him just enough.  Belgian Grand Prix, 1966.

Sublime On The Ridiculous: Ciudad Alcaniz

Alex Soler-Roig winning the VI Premio de Ciudad Alcaniz in his Porsche 917 in 1970.  Look at the spectators!

This picture is surprising.  The Mille Miglia "went under" in 1957 because it was too dangerous for spectators.  The Targa Florio would go under in 1973 for the same reason.  By 1970, all international races, including the Targa, had Armco guardrails between the spectators and the cars at "authorized viewing areas."  Other pictures of Alcaniz show guardrails.  But not here.

Although Alcaniz was part of the Spanish national championship series, the picture has the flavor of a local club race.  Another picture of the start of this race, partially obscured, shows five cars including another 908 and two small GT's: a skimpy grid.  A 917 at Alcaniz reminds me of the scene in Blazing Saddles when The Waco Kid asks Sheriff Bart "What's a dazzling urbanite like you doing in a rustic setting like this?"  (Speaking of dazzling urbanites,  Alex Soler-Roig was a wealthy Barcelonian who raced internationally with mixed results in sports cars and poor results in Grands Prix from the mid 1960's to the early 1970's.)

The map shows that (however it was laid out) the circuit was tight, and ran at least partially through the city.  It's hard to imagine a car capable of 200 m.p.h., built for World Sports Car Championship events, in a more muscle-bound situation.

Google map of Alcaniz today: population 16,000, about 150 miles west of Barcelona.

Fun With Search Terms (#1)

I sometimes check the stats for this blog.  It's interesting to see which posts are read the most (Porsche stuff, by a long way; after that, it's all over the map).  Like most bloggers, I post mostly for myself and whoever's out there with similar interests.  But the stats give some insight into what might entertain readers.

"Search Keywords" is useful.  What are people looking for?  Most keywords are unsurprising: iconic cars or racing names.  Or very specific, like "BRE Datsun SCCA specs" or "NHRA Super Stock rear suspension" or "Porsche 917 Kyalami 1969."  These searchers were on a mission.

Some of them are funny.  In fairness to the mis-directed, I've posted about one or more of the keywords, and the search engine plopped this blog into their laps.  Here are a few collected over the months, and the thought that came to my mind.

"hanging ship engine"  Huh?  And how did that get you here?

"American car colors"  Would you say I have a plethora of colors, Jefe?

"Meadowdale"  It's heartening that people are searching on Meadowdale.  Hope they're not all over 60.

"Allard chassis plate"  Like the Shelby GT 350 plates you can buy on Ebay for $2.50?

Saw this on a GT 350 that looked authentic enough at a vintage race.
Mentioned it to a guy knowledgable about Shelby Mustangs.  He said
"You can get those on Ebay for $2.50"

"Pininfarina spider restoration experts"  Uh...not on or near this blog...

"ultimate 458"  Redundant.

"Lotus nice"  Yes, they are.

"small block 331"  You must have had a ton of hits: decades at the top of the racing tree.

"Maserati Birdcage rolling chassis"  Good luck with that.

"Lotus XI for sale"  Ditto.

"Lotus Eleven inside"  If you find one, it won't have much of an inside.

"Alleggerita Honda Fit"  Why yes, they will!

"slot pilote 1960"  We didn't have slot cars back in the Cretaceous.  Our Matchbox cars fell off the banister.  Guess what this was:

Driverless Car Rant

Driverless cars are coming, and sooner rather than later.  They're not just for techno-geeks any more.

"Highway safety" and environmental advocates want them.  The insurance industry wants them: way fewer accidents.  The Peeps will want them: you can multitask, or turn yours into a family room.  I've seen TV and web pieces on driverless cars published by reporters like the one below who are scared of driving, or think it's a waste of time that could be spent doing something--anything--more interesting and useful.

Public authorities want them: fewer traffic stops, accident investigations, and signage.  Red-light-runner problem in your town?  Viola!  The driverless car.  Police officers can be freed up to investigate crime. Fewer patrol cars and associated costs.  (This presents some interesting public policy problems.  Some states are already moving away from gasoline taxes to fund road repair because fuel-efficient cars are drying up the revenue stream.  Driverless cars won't help to fund police departments with traffic fines either.)

Perfectibility of driverless technology aside, most people just don't care about sensual and psychological engagement with a car.  Performance-oriented drivers complain that electric power steering removes road feel.  Traditionalists  among us prefer stirring the gearbox and mastering three pedals to "floppy paddles." This puzzles normal drivers: "Why would you want to manipulate the transmission?  That's what D and R are for!  If you can feel the tires' slip angles working, you're going too fast!"  We who like to drive cars are, and always have been, 10% of the population at best.

Jay Leno rightly predicts that twenty years hence, maybe sooner, the only place we'll be able to use our toys is at track days.   We'll take public transportation to work, or carpool in very clever 4 to 6 person modules inspired by Leafs, Priuses, LaCrosses, and hybrid minivans.  In urban and suburban areas, anyway.  (It will be surprising if the first vehicles to go driverless aren't fleet trucks, from 18-wheelers down to UPS and Fedex.  The human aboard will perform functions now done in the office, like dispatching and route-planning).

Here's a taste:

  

http://science.discovery.com/video-topics/gadgets-and-tech/brave-new-world-driverless-car.htm

I'll be convinced that the technology is perfected when a driverless car can navigate the Tail of the Dragon in 15 minutes.  On my current cars, I usually leave the Stability Control switched on.  I would switch the ABS off most of the time if I could.  If I'm forced to buy driverless car capability, it'll be switched off all the time.  Except when commuting in freeway rush-hour traffic.

Ugh.

Ugh!

Ugh, ugh, UGH!

If he thinks he'll have his feet up, and not be belted-in, he's got another think coming.  And why is he reading a codex
book instead of a Nook or an iPad?  If we're gonna do this Brave New World stuff, let's do it.

The "styling" of the green car reminded me of this, which is more what I have in mind for "the driving experience."
Stan Mott did a series of cartoons for Road & Track around the turn of the decade in 1960.  According to Stan, the
Cyclops was built by Piero Martini from aluminum Cinzano signs he stole from Italian roadsides.  Automobili 
Cyclops installed a highly-tuned single-cylinder motorcycle engine in the back.  This is Martini himself
demonstrating the LeMans model, with a suitcase air-brake for the Mulsanne Straight.