Non-Volvo car chat megathread

[BlackBart]

Won't start any idea what is wrong?

Clean the spark plugs...?

[BlackBart]

This pic that Mo posted is disturbing in several ways -

1. It's a fake plastic Cobra Daytona coupe. We don't know the replica manufacturer or if it was a kit car.

2. This roll cage has completely failed. It didn't bend - it became completely disconnected from the chassis. That's not just weld failure (which would be bad enough). Was it just through-bolted into a tube frame and plastic body?

3. This doesn't appear to be a race track with guardrails - was somebody hooning this thing and went into the trees? Trees don't move - very bad. (maybe it flipped over the rails and into the trees)

4. A lot of money and effort wasted....and was someone killed?

[BlackBart]

To get back to more cheerful, here's the very first Shelby Daytona Coupe, 1964. Pete Brock used the aero theories of Kamm (the Kammback) in the very sharp cut-off tail (very similar to the Alfa GTZ above). He lengthened the wheelbase and slid the engine and cockpit way back to make it handle more like a mid-engine car. They added a Gurney flap or spoiler on the rear edge to eliminate lift. Every surface was made more slippery. The same engine made this car's top speed 20 mph faster than the roadster's, which is critical at Daytona, Sebring, and Le Mans.

158647346.jpg (120.42 KiB) Viewed 1554 times

Shelby was building a secret weapon coupe to take on Ferrari in the prototype class at the 1964 Le Mans. It was to have a NASCAR 427 with aluminum heads instead of the 289, pushing them over 200 mph on the straight. It was never finished, Ford never got all the parts delivered to the shop in Italy. Ferrari won the top three spots in 1964. Shelby came back in 1965 and won the World Championship for sports cars in the GT class.


<EDIT> I think I'm wrong about lengthening the wheelbase. They used the same chassis as the roadster. The uncompleted 427 had a longer wheelbase to fit the engine in.

[BlackBart]

Here are all six Shelby Daytona Coupes at the Goodwood Revival. Too bad they're just motoring around...



A well-made replica at the Daytona classic, in-car



A genuine one at Spa.. great sound

[MoVolvos]

Won't start any idea what is wrong?

Block Party.png (1.54 MiB) Viewed 1540 times

Won't_Start.jpg

Block Party was a blast?

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[BlackBart]

Speaking of great cars going fast on race tracks, here's the fantastic Ferrari 250GT SWB chasing the "Breadvan" at Imola. Great sounds and in-car footage.

The SWB is in my view nearly perfect in looks, size, sound, mechanicals - but in the day, they didn't have the aerodynamics or the torque to catch the lower, more powerful GTO, which is essentially what the Breadvan is.

I think the story is that Ferrari fired his two main engineers, and they started a new race car company funded by Ferrari's best customer. Ferrari was so pissed off he said I'll never sell you a GTO or any other Ferrari. So that guy, Count Volpi, told these engineers and coachbuilders to build a faster GTO for him, and they had to base it on the existing 250GT SWB. They moved the engine back and lower, and put the crazy Kammback body on it, and it beat the GTOs at Le Mans in 1962. There's only one.

I love the sound from 2:40 to 2:55, that Ferrari V12 wail.

[BlackBart]

Block Party was a blast?

That must have made a big noise when it let go.

[MoVolvos]

Block Party was a blast?

That must have made a big noise when it let go.

Coulda had a V8 and more fun but no, they had to have a Blast at the Block Party.

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[abscate]

Won't start any idea what is wrong?

Won't_Start.jpg

Goodness. Catastrophic failure. Looks like an expensive block and parts.

Hello, FCP? I need a 55 gallon drum of JB Weld

Here are all six Shelby Daytona Coupes at the Goodwood Revival. Too bad they're just motoring around...

Great cars now doing the weekly recycled bottle return run.

[BlackBart]

Great cars now doing the weekly recycled bottle return run.

That's so true. But if you look up the Goodwood videos, they hold some all-out racing between the oddest combinations of old racecars. They're all kind of 45 minute or an hour heats. Huge 427 Ford Galaxies versus a bunch of buzzing Mini Coopers. You'd think, well this is a farce, the Ford will walk away. But no, those damn little Coopers brake way later than a Battleship Galaxie, and beat them in the corners. On the straights, the 427 waltzes away and it starts all over again - every single lap! It's a hoot.

Then there are real races of similar or identical historic cars - a whole track full of blasting GT40s or XK Jaguars. They bump fenders and slide across the grass into the tire wall, it's something to watch. Billionaires with million dollar cars can easily afford $30,000 in body work before the next event, ho hum.

Then you get the guys in the wooden spoke race cars, wearing full race suits, sitting way up exposed in the cockpit, leaning and sliding sideways around corners. It's a bit frightening to see the speeds they drive those things.