Pictures from Monterrey 2003

[Turk]

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[Turk]

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[Turk]

Then there was also this one.

[Turk]

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[Turk]

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[Cal Metal]

Snakeeyes:

Like Seinfeld's Soup Nazi: "No more questions from you!!! Wait two years!!!!!!!!!!"

Turk:

Remington said that on the GT-40, 427 FE "bundle of snakes" exhaust, the first two sets were formed by hand. He gave me a glance like even he was impressed. Believe me, with Phil, that doesn't happen too often.

[Turk]

So, we can put Mr. Remington down as a Big Block Fan!

YEEEEESSSSSSS!!!!

TURK

[Cal Metal]

Phil has never commented one way or another on the merits of the BB v. SB. His only argument with the FE is that the weight made the GT a bear to stop. His assignment: fix the brakes and make them work. Some nifty engineering that he came up with, including a quick change rotor.

[RICK LAKE]

Snakeeyes and The Turk Thanks for the great picture of this rare motor. It's a real shame at one of the best info cobra guys had too HOG UP your question and answer time and not share. Tanks alot Cal. Next time you leave him home Rick Lake ps It's okay Cal this is what it takes to stay number1.

[PDHse]

Cal, im a bit ignorant on these matters. On Richard Masons Dragonsnake the logos are gone. Were they painted on or are they some sort of removable decal.

[Cal Metal]

Paul:

They are cling on decals.

Rick:

What Snakeeyes forgot to mention is that he spent most of his time either at the hospitality tent, imbibing on gallons of Chardonay and grazing at the buffett on Coho Salmon, Lobster Thermador and Oyster Rockefeller, not to mention the various desserts, including baked Alaska and Boston creme pie, or he was up at Terry's motorhome grilling filet mignon and scarfing down bags of Reeses's M&Ms. His mouth was too full to ask many questions.

The most provative query I heard him ask Phil all weekend was, where he might find the nearest restroom.

[PatBuckley]

Cal-

If I remember right, wasn't the Calliope engine used (unsuccessfully) in the Honker Can Am car? I think it only ran a few races - driven by M. Andretti - who decided it was un-drivable.

Regarding the brake issue you talked about - I remember that most of the big cars of the time were having problems with brake rotors cracking which was caused by the constant huge temperature variations in the brakes...four mile straight, 200 -220 mph speed, followed by a 35 mph corner, etc. At night the ambient temps could get quite cool, exacerbating the problem.

As a 16 year old I came up with a "fix" for this consisting of brake ducts that would close off (using a bimetallic spring ) so that the brakes could be kept hot when going down those long straights - they would then open to allow cooling as the brakes were heated up going into a corner....I thought this would be better than having to replace cracked rotors all the time.

In retrospect I realize this idea was very simplistic and probably wouldn't work - in any case, at the time I thought it would, so I sent a letter off to Jim Hall ( I loved the his cars!) and actually got a letter back from Jim expressing his appreciation. He said an "engineering evaluation would take too long" - a nice way of putting it, I thought.

I still have the letter.

Thanks for thie pictures, BTW.

Pat Buckley

[Cal Metal]

Pat:

Don't know the story on the Honker motor.

Great story on Jim Hall. Frame that letter.

[RICK LAKE]

Pat Buckley Pat your idea was used on other cars. I saw an old article about this. The only draw back was that the brake pedal had to be pumped to get the brakes back. Theanswer was a valve that limited the amount of fluid that flowed back into the master cylinder. They how have these valves on all cars and springs to hoild pads in place. You could have been the Jim Gates of Brakes Rick Lake

[RICK LAKE]

Cal Metal Thanks for straighten the story out Cal. I am gald to see your mind and memory is in better shape than your friends. I guess that Snakeeyes only eats beef being from Texas. It's really nice that you brought him with you to try other kinds of food Keep up the charity work. It's nice to help out other people Rick Lake

[snakeeyes]

Pat, that's an interesting question you raise on the Honker. I'll have to take a look at Pete Lyons' "Can Am" book and see if there is any discussion of the Calliope there.

I had a chance to meet Pete Lyons while walking the paddock on Sunday. What a genuinely nice guy. He seemed really flattered when I complimented him on his writing. Like Brock, he took the time to chat with a stranger.

...and as for you, Cal, Terry K. and I are still trying to figure out how you fit all of those Reese's Pieces into your elf-like frame. I bought THREE BAGS of them over the course of the weekend, and each day they were MIA after you came by the motorhome...

As far as the hospitality tent, I was allowed into it on Sunday morning (in between meal services, naturally), but only on condition that I surrender my access wristband back to Cal when he decided to grace us with his presence. Shortly thereafter, a couple of security thugs mysteriously appeared and booted me back out with the minions...Cal, didn't I see you speaking with one of them just before that?

[speed220mph]

Pat, About the Calliope engine, it was Ford's attempt to build a competitive Group 7 car for CanAm competition. Having been at KarKraft at the time, I pretty much know the story. The Calliope three-valve engine is shown in the accompanying pix. Trans is a C-6 automatic combined with a 9-inch final drive in one case, thus an automatic transaxle. The fuel-injected engine had dual cams in the block! Chassis was from the Mk IV GT-40.

Ford decided to turn the car over to the Agepough (spl?) brothers, who didn't have the necessary resources (money) to campaign the car successfully against the Lolas and McLarens. It was too heavy and the engine wasn't fully developed, so a 429 was installed in its place, thus becoming the 429er. It didn't do a whole lot better.

Check out this web site for the restored Honker: http://www.surreymotorsports.com/restore/honk.asp

As for a description of the engine and why it was developed, here's another web site to look at: http://phystutor.tripod.com/stang/engines/exotics.html

[dkjos]

Tom,
Thanks for the nice Ford engine history links! Since I spent Sunday at an IMCA oldtimers event, I have to ask if you have any equivalent resources that cover the T/A/B 4 cylinder engines or the V8-60. The event was a blast... two Ranger powered sprints, one unrestored, an extremely fast "B" powered '30's sprinter and an old V8-60 midget from Texas, still with what is probably the original paint job.

[speed220mph]

Dick,

You're welcome.

I just noticed that the SOHC 289 they talk about was installed in the Mustang I obtained from Ford Sept. 1966 under the employee purchase plan. There are pictures of the car in my photo gallery I just took recently. The HiPo now develops around 375 HP in current trim. I'll try to find some photos of the SOHC engine in my pile of stuff and post it.

About the IMCA oldtimers even, I sure would have liked to have attended it. My roots are in dirt track racing, more specifically a super modified with a 312 Y-block. What a boat anchor, but we won with it because guys running hi-revving Chevies hadn't figured out how to keep them together.

Sorry, I don't have info on the engines you refer to.