Volume 3, Issue 5 - August/September 1996

Italian and German Fun at Willow Springs

on march 30th, 37 cars ventured to willow springs international raceway for the first annual ogner motorcars race school.

eight 355?s were in evidence as well as a smattering of 308?s-348?s and mondials.

the maranello contingent was pitting with no less than three twin-turbo porsche?s and eight new 993 c-4?s as well as c-4 sports.

with a quick breakfast hosted by michael lederman at the dealership, 15 cars caravaned to willow at speeds of less than 100 mph but definitely not 55. a chp female officer stopped one of the drivers in a wide-body c-4 porsche cabrolet but did not give him a ticket, just a warning. i even cruised in my turbo-diesel suburban with trailer in tow, much to the surprise of the others.

upon arriving at willow everyone was introduced to danny mckeever of fast lane driving school and his band of merry-men (instructors). commencing with forty minutes of classroom instruction everyone went quickly to the course for practice. groups were divided into beginners with moderate skills, intermediate and the fast guys. after numerous laps with and without instructors a bbq lunch was served by monica and michael lederman. robert reilly did the chicken while michael attended to the tri-tips and italian sausage. i must say it turned out great. all the food was gone except for a few scrawny wings, and i gave those to eric.

the afternoon brought on more personal instruction, with quick laps, a wet skidpad and controlled driving situations. drivers were doing over 100 mph average and not a person had a ding or chip on their car. a few "doughnuts" were done by a black twin turbo porsche that ran out of straight-a-way and proceeded to do 360?s two times and keep the car going straight. what?? talent????

with cold beverages trackside keeping the body temperatures down as the sun was really hot we concluded a day of great driving experience.

on september 28th - sunday, we will again have the ferrari-porsche challenge at willow springs. this is an open event for all ferrari club of america members and their family - limited to 25 cars. there will be a timed section and we urge all of you to bring out your cars, get great instruction, and drive at your own pace. no-one gets in over their head as long as they follow the instructors. it?s truly a rare opportunity to learn to drive fast and properly.

marv landon and michael lederman invite you to this drivers school and racing clinic. please contact michael at ogner motorcars - 818-884-4411 or fax 818-884-8747

the killer bbq will be better than ever and families are welcome. be phil hill for a day - a nominal fee entitles you to a day at the track, lots of thrills, plenty of laughs, great food - all a great experience. see you sunday sept. 28.

Upcoming Events

for a complete list of the year's events, see the calendar of events.

F50 Introduction at Ferrari of Beverly Hills

just about everyone in the southern california ferrari world, plus several from the international scene, gathered as guests of ferrari of north america at ferrari of beverly hills on thursday night, july 11 as the national company showcased not one, but two new models!

the invitation to come to the beautiful wilshire blvd. headquarters stated as its purpose to see the new f50. but, after gian luigi buitoni, president of ferrari n.a., made the initial presentation, technical director umberto masoni surprised the gathering of more than 200 enthusiastic guests by projecting slides of the as-yet-unannounced 550 maranello, the beautiful new replacement for the testarossa.

sr. buitoni assured the gathering that we were the first anywhere outside the company to see photos of the coupe. the new car was code-named "f133", but it was later publicly identified as the f550 maranello. it will be first seen in public at the paris show in october.

the star of the party, the f50, sat quietly in the shop between two active bars and a splendid italian buffet, surrounded by admirers. ferrari of beverly hills? showroom was also a busy place, with a lovely selection of the old and new getting a lot of attention.

ferrari notables who attended were: dott. gian luigi buitoni, president/ceo of ferrari north america, who presented u.s. plans; dott. michele scannavini, member of the board of directors, ferrari spa., who shared marketing strategies; umberto masoni, technical director, who made the technical presentations of the f50 and the f133; philippe langksweert, the newly appointed general manager for california, recently from belgium; giampaolo letta, p.r. for north america; and giacomo mattioli, the current gemeral manager, for whom special thanks is due for arranging the event.

although the contingent from the east were late getting from their flight at lax to beverly hills, no one complained during the wait. with plenty of great stuff to eat, drink and look at, what?s to complain about? as a bonus, everyone who attended and signed the guestbook will soon receive a copy of the video of ferrari?s major ?95 events, which was shown by mr. buitoni.

a big thanks is due to ferrari of beverly hills and ferrari north america for yet another phenomenal fca southwest region event.

Goldfeder's Gala

the week commenced for those of us north of san diego with a caravan departing from san juan capistrano on saturday the 18th. the departure point was denny?s restaurant at ortega highway and the 5 freeway. tom brockmiller?s silver 512 tr led a group of about ten 246?s, 308?s, 328?s 348?sand cy yedor?s 560sel on a run "over the hill" via ortega highway to lake elsinore with a destination at deer park for lunch.

the drive was "scenic" and we may even say serene. "they" have tamed one of our old "bonsai" runs from a challenging, high speed event into a "no-pass," laser infested, divided, and well paved highway. oh, well, nothing stays the same. and, thank god, some of us are getting to old to drive like that anyway.

we did enjoy the view of lake elsinore and arrived after an hour at deer park winery in escondido. we converged at the winery with several other fca members from san diego, arizona and nevada. the owner of the winery has an attractive collection of approximately 25 old america cars dating back to the 50s. if you?ve never been there it?s well worth the drive and easily found just north of escondido on highway 15. open daily and free to the public.

judd and faye had arranged for the park to serve us a barbecue lunch sitting just outside the car collection, overlooking the vineyards. our group had increased with the arrival of other cars and we now had about thirty good ferrari friends. thanks to don caverhill and judi givant we were afforded the opportunity to sample some zinnfidel and chardonay with lunch at the winery and a tour of the collection followed.

judd met us at the luncheon and provided a comprehensive six page map covering two different routes (one direct and one for driving pleasure) to his residence in escondido.

judd hosted a barbecue at his home on saturday evening. the local real estate broker should have snapped a photograph of all the ferraris as evidence of the neighborhood?s good taste. it was wonderful. the food, drink, friends and what a view of the sunset. his home was magnificent. there was even some talk of cars, but not a lot.

special guests who came just for the weekend, all the way from ottawa, canada, included jake and sandra silverberg, relatives of rose and murray cogan, and active members of the fca region in canada. of course, they drove the 410sa, what a car!!!!!

it was a great evening highlighted by having 15 people watching espn2 to see michael schumacher qualify for pole position for the monaco grand prix. (i hope you saw schummy in the rain passing alesi and villeneuve at the spanish grand prix on june 2nd ? great stuff).

knowing that the next morning was an early invitation to view symbolic motors in lajolla and on to skeet and sharon dunn?s picnic we departed feeling well satisfied with a day enjoyed and a most full belly.

thanks again faye and judd for your hosting of this fine annual event.

sunday morning i arose early to "clean out" the carburetors with a one hour drive up to mount polamar. it is a drive with several pleasing curves but be careful of the many motor and pedal bikers also taking this route. i missed breakfast hosted by symbolic motors in la jolla but i understand it was a good start to the day.

the highlight of the weekend was the picnic generously arranged by skeets and sharon dunn. if you have never attended the dunn?s annual spring picnic by all means mark your calendar for next year. there cannot be a finer setting for a car enthusiast?s luncheon. the dunns had 10 ferraris on display in their clean garage, including a 312t raced by nicki lauda to the formula one title in 1975. i estimate approximately 150 ferraris were in attendance , with half packed on the front lawn. as usual, the grounds of this 12 acre estate were surgically clean. the picnic broke up about 3 pm and those who left late were able to savor the sound of several of enzo?s best revving their engines as they got up<

Picnic at Skeets and Sharon Dunn's

on saturday, may 18th, ferraris from all over california began converging for what has become the single largest gathering of these magnificent machines within the state. while completely informal in nature, careful organization by both the southwest region of the ferrari club of america and the ferrari owner?s club has ensured that every year some of the very finest examples of enzo ferrari?s creativity have been in attendance.

this year?s event spanned a two day period beginning with a "ride and drive" and barbecue hosted by long time fca member judd goldfeder. the following morning found no fewer than 50 of ferrari?s finest gathering for a light breakfast at symbolic motor car company?s la jolla facility.

at 9:30 a procession that grew quickly to nearly 75 vehicles proceeded north out of la jolla past the del mar racetrack and into rancho santa fe. nestled comfortably on a low hillside can be found one of san diego?s most famous residences. the former bing crosby estate, known as osuna ranch, and now owned by "skeets" and sharon dunn as been host to this event for over five years. over the next few hours no fewer than 150 ferraris from as far away as san francisco took position on the main lawn in front the dunn?s palatial residence.

in attendance at this year?s festivities were a hypnotic assortment of contemporary and classic ferraris in both road and race trim. the oldest was the last of just seven touring bodied 212 barchettas. this particular car appeared completely original and unmolested much as she must have been when last raced by her first and most famous owner, baron luigi bordonaro di chiaramonte of palermo, italy.

a "barchetta" of a very different design was also in attendance. of a far more contemporary nature, this new f50 was driven down from los angeles by its proud new owner. taking center stage and representing ferrari?s latest technology, this new "barchetta" shares little except her origins and the name of her earlier stablemate.

additional ferraris of particular interest included the ex-scuderia serinisima series one gto; respelendent in its later sedish livery of blue and yellow. additionally striking was the 375 america "agneli" berlinetta speciale. this vehicle also appeared to have never seen the inside of a restoration shop and could have just as easily have been rescued from the proverbial barn rather than out for a regular sunday drive.

as the afternoon wore on, no fewer than 400 individuals enjoyed a picnic lunch amongst the nearly 200 ferraris that continued to gather throughout the day.

one can only dream of the treasures that might appear at next year?s festivities?

Oldtimer's Corner - Surfing the Net... And Wiping Out!

i got my first e mail. gary cowan sent me the following message: "mr. niles, how could you have ever sold the nembo spyder? i?ve always thought it was the most beautiful automobile ever built. sort of the 275 gts/4 done right. the first time i saw a photo of it in dick merritt?s book, i thought i?d died and gone to heaven. what was owning that car like?"

well, gary, there are several answers to your question. first of all, i have to admit that the nembo was certainly one of the most beautiful ferrari bodies ever made, even if it wasn?t an original body. even today, about 30 years after it was built, i can look at pictures of that car and wish i still owned it. so i plead guilty to male pattern stupidity.

but you have to remember that i bought that car in 1967. at that time, it was just another ferrari, albeit a particularly handsome example. and i had borrowed the money for the purchase of the car, and the bank expected me to pay the loan off in 6 months or so. in retrospect, i would have been better off to have taken out a regular car loan, and the car would have been mine in three years or so. but i had one of those loans that said "all due in 180 days".

and the car suffered from some of those niggling little problems that one-offs frequently fall victim to. such things as a top that was ill fitting and hard to work, seats that weren?t too comfortable, etc.

but the real killer (if i may be allowed to put it that way) was that the corner of the left side wind-wing frame was only 2 inches from the driver?s left eyeball. it was almost impossible to drive the car without thinking of hitting a small bump and (as mother used to put it) putting out my eye. (i always used to wonder where it was that i was putting the eye.)

in fact, i?d had quite a bit of difficulty selling the car for that very reason. any number of prospective purchasers responded to my ads, and upon seeing the car, said "i?ll take it, how much?". then they would sit in the car and this look would come across their face. i could tell, after the first two of three lost sales, what was going through their minds.

eventually, i found a buyer who didn?t care about his left eye, and the bank, the buyer and i were all happy campers.

now you, constant reader, may wonder why i?m writing all this in the oldtimer?s corner, rather than simply e-mailing my response. well, the truth is, i am not on the net. jeff littrell had to fax me gary?s letter. until recently, i thought the net referred to something that trout fishermen used, or maybe something that was used by tennis and badminton players.

now this embarrasses me a little bit to make these confessions for god and all to see. i have always thought of myself as a pretty hip dude. i have always tried, for instance, to stay abreast of current fashions, while eschewing the fadish items that won?t last more than a month or so. for instance, i never, in my whole life, owned white patent leather shoes with matching belt, or plaid trousers. well, i did have a leisure suit (an oxymoron, if you think about it) but it was rather stylish if i may be allowed to say so.

even at age 71, i know who jerry garcia was, and in fact, i own several of his neck ties. i bet you didn?t know that jerry garcia designed neck ties, did you?

so as painful as it is, i now confess that i?m digging in my heels at the idea of being dragged into the digital age. o.k., i have mastered programming the vcr, and i have a digital telephone answering machine that tells me how many messages i have and when they were received, and even tells me whether it?s going to save or erase. and my secretary and my wife both have reasonably up-to-date computers, one of which is equipped with sound and cd rom and even a tape back-up. but i am not on the net. yet.

i?m having enough trouble with the computers themselves. i?ve already bought at least 6. as soon as i get a "state of the art" mo

Physics of Racing - Part 11: Braking

by: brian beckman

there are a couple of ways of looking at this problem. brakes work by converting the energy of motion, kineticenergy, into the energy of heat in the brakes. converting energy from useful forms (motion, electrical, chemical, etc.) to heat is generally called dissipating the energy, because there is no easy way to get it back from heat. if we assume that brakes dissipate energy at a constant rate, then we can immediately conclude that it takes four times as much time to stop from 200 mph as from 100 mph. the reason is that kinetic energy goes up as the square of the speed. going at twice the speed means you have four times the kinetic energy because 4=22. the exact formula for kinetic energy is 1/2mv2, where m is the mass of an object and v is its speed. this was useful to mark because braking from 100 mph was within the range of familiar driving experience.

that's pretty simple, but is it right? do brakes dissipate energy at a constant rate? my guess as a physicist is "probably not." the efficiency of the braking process, dissipation, will depend on details of the friction interaction between the brake pads and disks. that interaction is likely to vary with temperature. most brake pads are formulated to grip harder when hot, but only up to a point. brake fade occurs when the pads and rotors are overheated. if you continue braking, heating the system even more, the brake fluid will eventually boil and there will be no braking at all. brake fluid has the function of transmitting the pressure of your foot on the pedal to the brake pads by hydrostatics. if the fluid boils, then the pressure of your foot on the pedal goes into crushing little bubbles of gaseous brake fluid in the brake lines rather than into crushing the pads against the disks. hence, no brakes.

we now arrive at the second way of looking at this problem. let us assume that we have good brakes, so that the braking process is limited not by the interaction between the pads and disks but by the interaction between the tires and the ground. in other words, let us assume that our brakes are better than our tires. to keep things simple and back-of-the-envelope, assume that our tires will give us a constant deceleration of 1g = a = 32 ft/sec2. the time t required for braking from speed v can be calculated from: t=v/a which simply follows from the definition of constant acceleration. given the time for braking, we can calculate the distance d, again from the definitions of acceleration and velocity: x = vt - ½ (a/t)2. remembering to be careful about converting miles per hour to feet per second, we arrive at the numbers in table 1.

the numbers in the table are in the ballpark of the braking figures one reads in published tests of high performance cars, so i am inclined to believe that the second way of looking at the problem is the right way. in other words, the assum

Huntington Beach Concours d'Elegance

by: wally clark

the ferrari contingent were well represneted from the 250 testa rossa of check betz and fred peters to the new cars brought by ferrari of beverly hills (a 456 gt, a f355 spyder and a f512m). the italian classics class was dominated by ferraris and the winners were:

class 12 early cars (street)
first jeff barney 1965 ferrari 330 gt 2+2
second gerald chapman 1973 pantera
third mike greico/fai 1967 ferrari 275 gtb/4

class 12 late cars (street)
first tome white 1988 ferrari 328
second steve elworthy 1986 ferrari 328 gts

class 12 all cars (concours)
first check betz/fred peters 1957 ferrari 250 testa rossa
second bart and diana mcgrath 1972 ferrari dino 246gt evoluzione
third vinny mandzak 1979 ferrari 308 gt4

other class winners of note were judd goldfeder?s 1935 bentley 3 ½ sportsman saloon which took first in class for pre-1939 bentleys. also, southwest region member bill hair took a second in class with his 1959 rolls royce silver cloud i. judd also entered his ferrari 365 gtc, but cars with flat tires in concours events don?t win! best of show was taken by a non-italian car, a spectacular 1938 mg ta "tickford" owned by gene roth.

many thanks to all the ferrari club members who served as judges and who supported the show. next year the featured marque will be mercedes benz.

LeCercle Concours

this year?s lecercle concours d?elegance began with a reception at the airport marina hotel on saturday night. honoring judges, entrants and various officials associated with the concours.

we had a nice turn-out of ferrari folks and the food was delicious. the highlight of the evening was the factory fresh ferrari f355b which was brought by the gian giacomo mattioli, area sales manager and put on display in the hotel lobby. as you can imagine, the car drew a lot of attention from the many people in the hotel as well as from our group. ferrari north america has only two company owned dealerships in the world and they are both in california. mill valley, north of san francisco and beverly hills. this reflects the importance of our marketplace to ferrari.

sunday morning arrived bright and sunny for the arrival of over forty ferraris. a most impressive display of vintage to contemporary models. alignment of cars was mainly by year and model with the judged and exhibition cars together. the ferrari judging was done by members of the ferrari club of america who we really wish to thank for their efforts. we were lucky to have an old friend and visiting official in the form of anne bluntschl from cavallino magazine fly down from san francisco. it was great to see her again. while all was accomplished pretty much without a hitch, the special first place trophies, as prepared by ferrari north america, did not arrive for the winners so certificates were issued. we promise that these trophies will be worth your wait.

we wish to thank fred bogardus and shin takei for really creating a successful event. also special recognition to shin yoshikawa for his most beautiful artwork in the form of a 250gto cut-a-way and the concours posters. thank you, sir.

for your edification we offer the following list of the winning cars:

What I Did For My Summer Vacation - the One Lap of America, Part 1

by: jeff littrell

well, that?s what kevin wyum asked me last may when he proposed that i drive his car in the road racing portions of the 1996 car and driver one lap of america. your first, completely ill-reasoned response is "of course!" then, once you?re at least verbally committed, you learn all the details, one by one.

first, there?s that half of the $2,000 entry fee that is needed immediately. ok, $1,000 to race on tracks like road america, lime rock, watkins glen, summit point, and michigan international speedway doesn?t seem too bad. heck, a normal track weekend at willow costs $250 or so, right? now you?re financially committed.

oh, did i forget to mention that you only get to run two laps at each track? well, yes, as a matter of fact you did. of course, i do get practices laps, right? no???? what do you mean i get to do ¾ of a "reconnaissance lap" only? what the heck is a "reconnaissance lap" and how am i supposed to learn a track and race on it with only ¾ of a lap experience -- hell, the tires won?t even be warm! what? a standing start? what kind of craziness is this? who ever heard of running laps at a road course from a standing start? oh, and both of the timed laps are cumulative so a mistake in either one costs you big time.

did i mention paying half of the consumables? yeah, you know, tires (we can?t run r-rated autocross or racing tires so we?ll need those trick new bridgestone so-2s at $329 a pop), fuel (don?t forget, the car needs 115 octane race gas or we risk blowing the motor), etc.

you?re starting to get a feeling for the completely unique event that is one lap of america. dubbed as the successor to the infamous brighton sea to shining sea cannonball run from the early seventies, the one lap is organized by car and driver columnist brock yates. you might recall that brock drove a ferrari daytona across the united states in a ridiculously short amount of time, during the heyday of that completely illegal organized chaos. then he went on to make a virtual living from its intrigue. he wrote the screenplay for the movie cannonball run (don?t waste your time ? rent the much better gumball rally instead), opened the cannonball pub in his hometown of wyoming, new york, and continues to milk it for all its worth by organizing the annual cannonball recreation event, the car and driver one lap of america.

the format is simple. get a bunch of car nuts together in whatever they want to run. arrange for about 3 hours track time at about a dozen or so race tracks around the country. plan a route that just barely allows one to drive from one track to the next without needing to speed. cram the whole thing into seven days time and you?ve got what has been called "an entire race season in one week."

the rules are simple. the overriding rule, as printed on the cannonball bumper stickers, is "there is only one rule ? there are no rules." in reality, you can drive anything you want as long as it passes a simple technical inspection, runs on street tires, and is driven for the entire event. you can have up to three people in the car, you can?t have any support crew or vehicles following you, and you must run the same tires for the entire event. this year?s one lap saw cars ranging from new porsche 911 twin turbos to a chopped chevy blazer with corvette suspension, to an oldsmobile delta 88.

but don?t think that the competition isn?t serious. over half the entrants are one lap veterans and they don?t spend thousands of dollars just for the privilege to sleep in their sports cars for a week. they want to win! there are factory-sponsored entries from porsche, mosler, renntech mercedes, pontiac, cadillac, and others, most sporting professional drivers. kevin and i, we were just a couple guys who met on the internet and

F50 at Beverly Hills

by: earl gandel

the invitation to come to the beautiful wilshire blvd. headquarters stated as its purpose to see the new f50. but, after gian luigi buitoni, president of ferrari n.a., made the initial presentation, technical director umberto masoni surprised the gathering of more than 200 enthusiastic guests by projecting slides of the as-yet-unannounced f550 maranello, the beautiful new replacement for the testarossa.

sr. buitoni assured the gathering that we were the first anywhere outside the company to see photos of the coupe. the new car was code-named "f133", but it was later publicly identified as the f550 maranello. it will be first seen in public at the paris show in october.

the star of the party, the f50, sat quietly in the shop between two active bars and a splendid italian buffet, surrounded by admirers. ferrari of beverly hills' showroom was also a busy place, with a lovely selection of the old and new getting a lot of attention.

ferrari notables who attended were: dott. gian luigi buitoni, president/ceo of ferrari north america, who presented u.s. plans; dott. michele scannavini, member of the board of directors, ferrari spa., who shared marketing strategies; umberto masoni, technical director, who made the technical presentations of the f50 and the f133; philippe langksweert, the newly appointed general manager for california, recently from belgium; giampaolo letta, p.r. for north america; and giacomo mattioli, the current gemeral manager, for whom special thanks is due for arranging the event.

although the contingent from the east were late getting from their flight at lax to beverly hills, no one complained during the wait. with plenty of great stuff to eat, drink and look at, what's to complain about? as a bonus, everyone who attended and signed the guestbook will soon receive a copy of the video of ferrari's major '95 events, which was shown by mr. buitoni.

a big thanks is due to ferrari of beverly hills and ferrari north america for yet another phenomenal fca southwest region event.

Ferrari Challenge Report

road atlanta

some things were unchanged, though. steve earle was again on pole for the first race, with paul frame sharing the front row. they were followed by peter sachs and tom popadopoulos, both back in the series after missing the texas event; all were in f355s. carlos hank jr. had the 348 class pole, ahead of emile assentato and points leader jim kenton.

a number of new drivers joined the series at road atlanta: ugo colombo, lawrence stroll, benny caiola, and clifford park in f355s, and michael louli and bill schuchter in 348s. the ferrari of ontario team made its first 1996 appearance, with pak, louli and paul kiitchener, an active 1994 competitor returning to the series.

steve earle led every lap of the first race, pressured by paul frame and tom papadopoulos; neuman and sachs encountered various problems, and neither was a factor in the results. papadopoulos got past frame and was able to hold on for second place. carlos hank jr. not only won his class, but finished an outstanding third overall, just ahead of frame and jim mccormick. assentato and de quesada joined him on the podium.

results of the first race were used to set the grid for the second. this race was probably the most exciting of the 1996 season, with multiple lead changes and more than a bit of controversy. tom papadopoulos took the lead from earle at the start, but after a pause to rebuild the chicane on the backstretch earle got past him coming down the hill before the start/finish line. earle was unable to pull clear of the white f355 on his tail, but an encounter with lapped traffic and waving yellow flags decided the results. earle was assessed a stop and go penalty for passing under a yellow flag, dropping him to fifth in the f355 class. papadopoulos took the win, only four seconds ahead of paul frame. jim mccormick took third, just ahead of carlos hank, sr.

emile assentato won the 348 class ahead of points leader jimkenton; carlos de quesada was again on the podium in third place. kenton maintains his 348 class lead, but de quesada had closed to within five poitns, a difference of only one position at a single race. steve earle holds a strong 65 point lead in the f355 standings, but jim mccormick is ahead of paul frame in second, again by only a five point margin.

canadian grand prix

first, as you would expect from an event managed by the fia, the corner workers, safety equipment and such were to the highest standards. cameras and video recorders covered every inch of the track, making the stewards job much easier.

second, this race saw the largest field of the 1996 challenge series. the 28 cars which appeared were divided between 11 f355s and 17 348s; only defending champion george robinson?s 348, suffering from an electrical problem, failed to make the grid for the race.

and third, the ferrari challenge was one of the highlights of the weekend. not all the 101,000 spectators were in the stands when the race started but those who were spent much of the race on their feet, cheering the ferraris on. there was racing ? with passing all through the field, and battles in both classes up to the checkered flag.

steve earle once again took pole position, but a tight battle through the first few turns left him spinning at the side of the track as the field went by (he later set fastest race

Buying an Older Ferrari - Part 8

by: chris kantarjiev

sunday. the word for today is hot. tolerably cool until el paso, amazingly hot through tucson. (turns out it was their first 100+ day of the year.) the a/c couldn?t keep up during the worst of the afternoon, but we were glad to have it. wish the windows were tinted even a little bit; the huge greenhouse and the black interior aren?t helping. that and i?m getting outside air at my feet. temps pushed up past 190, fuel pump has started drooling a bit at shutdown. we spent 16 hours on the road today, made it to yuma, az, almost 700 miles. we?re beat, but that was environmental more than the car - a smooth comfortable ride. making about 18mpg today, two quarts of oil.

monday. a day of contrasts. we leave yuma early to cross the desert while it?s cool - don?t even switch on the ac. sand dunes - i don?t think i?ve ever seen them on an inland desert. shortly thereafter, alpine hills/mountains - pat says that the only thing missing to make it seem like we?re in switzerland is cows in the pastures. heavy winds during the climb, temperatures are almost too low - probably need a warmer thermostat. drag our way through san diego and hit midday traffic in los angeles. breathe a big sigh as we turn off onto highway 1 and head north. make a short day, stop in morro bay. power steering isn?t great for the twisties, almost too light - until you start pushing hard, at which point the steering is great but the tires really aren?t up to it. in fact, the handling is as good as my autocross car (modulo the rotten tires) - despite the fact that it weighs 75% more! only 11 hours today, 540 miles, about 15 mpg and two quarts.

tuesday. morning inspection shows that the radiator is seeping and the power steering reservoir is quite low. sure enough, there?s fluid under and around. sigh. but it?s a gorgeous day to see san simeon and head up the coast to pacific grove. a driving day - third and fourth gear through the twisties all day, concentrating on the road and trying to see the ocean. down into the 14s for mpg today.

wednesday. an easy drive home to palo alto. overall, 1967 miles, 16.3mpg, 6 quarts of oil. that?s maybe a little high, but we were expecting 500 miles/quart, so i?m not too worried - there are certainly still some leaks!

since then, we?ve done lots of more-or-less minor repairs. pulled the radiator (boy is that a job!) to get the leaks resoldered, and realized that someone had installed the wrong cap, causing it to overpressurize. fixing that fixed the leaks (we had a nasty little episode where she overheated and blew her coolant just as we drove in to get an estimate for insurance purposes.) while the radiator was out, i replaced the front crank shaft seal, which was the major remaining oil leak. and had the alternator rebuilt, which solved all the charging system problems.

i fixed some misconnected wiring that prevented the interior lights from working. there were several other electrical oddities as well.

after about a month of searching, i determined that yes, the power steering pump was a zf copy of a gm part (or vice versa) and found a rebuild kit. that solved the shaft seal leak, and we?ve chased down a couple other leaks in the p/s plumbing so it now doesn?t leak at all.

much phoning and faxing located an extra set of seat rails . we decided not to undo the original work from the factory, so we pulled off the modified bits from the seat and put on stock ones; all the original fitting holes were still there. so now pat can drive the car comfortably.

other than that, we?ve gone over the interior several times with lexol and hide food. i pulled the rear shocks and stiffened them a bit. i put redline mtl into the tranny to ease the shifting a bit. we spent a while f

Time Trials at Willow

by: ray tsui

the event was sponsored by the alfa romeo owners of southern california, and those arosc folks run a well-organized show. despite the heat, there was a good turn-out of cars for the various race, time-trial, and lunch-time touring sessions. i was hoping to see more ferraris, but perhaps the hot weather was too much of a deterrent. i did get to meet tom brockmiller and marv landon, two of the regulars based on the reports in previous newsletters, as well as other "trackies" from the region. [jeff, please help me out with the names here as you see fit.]

it had been a few years since i last drove my 328 at willow springs, and many of the landmarks i recalled using for reference points on the track seemed to have disappeared. (or perhaps it was just a case of my memory not being what it used to be!!) so i spent most of saturday?s sessions learning the track and developing a rhythm. since it was my first attempt at a time-trial, the arosc folks provided drivers like myself with quite a bit of classroom help. paul [jeff, i don?t remember his last name; he drives the famous "dunestang"] has the reputation of a fine racer and did a very good job as an instructor as well.

the time-trials were held on sunday afternoon, at which time the temperature was definitely on the warm side (even for somebody from phoenix). drivers with similar projected lap times were grouped together and sent out onto the track at 10-15 seconds intervals. each driver was given 5 timed laps as well as a warm-up and a cool-down lap. in class, we learned to maintain a good gap between cars during the warm-up lap so that one has a better chance of getting 5 clean laps. strategies were also discussed on how to minimize losing more than 1 clean lap in case one catches the car in front or is being caught from behind. time-trialing is definitely more involved than the simple open-track events that i?m used to, and it was a lot of fun.

the 5 laps came and went quickly for me. i think i messed up only one of the laps; it?ll be interesting to look at the times to see if that?s the case. unfortunately, with a long drive back to phoenix waiting for me, i did not stay for the post-event "do-dah" during which the times were posted and awards handed out. so i?ll have to wait like the rest of you. still, it was a fun-filled weekend and i look forward to my next opportunity in time-trialing.

class nf - ferrari

Classified Ads

for sale: daytona parts: transaxle, complete, rebuilt: $10,000. borgo nos competition high compression pistons: (12) $3,600. ring and pinion: nos ferrari 10/33 ration: $2,850. campagnolo competition wheels, (2) 8x15, (2) 9x15: $3,000. borrani 7 1/2x15 wheels rw4075 record. very good condition (4) $2,600. marshall buck: (310) 559-3947.

for sale: 1986 328 gtb, s/n 61181. red/black, 38,000 mi. a rosso corsa beauty; second owner since 8,000 mi. excellent goodyear eagles, recent service, filter, clean oil, ac, all records, tools, spare. ready for immediate enjoyment. make offer. r. a. moore (310) 377-9859.

for sale: exhaust system (new), 94 testarossa 512-tr $6,000. for more information please call oscar (415) 435-6170.

for sale: 1981 ferrari mondial 8 coupe s/n 35857, primered, interior and glass burned out. engine, trans and body in good condition. easy to build into a track car or cut off the roof and make a motorized flower pot. $11,000 or trade. joseph alphabet, (714) 650-1322; fax: (714) 642-2963

parts for sale: for 330 gt 2+2 series i: transmission $3,000; tailight assy $150 each; headlight assy w/ rim $250 ea. for 308: front and rear bumpers, very nice $500 ea; distributor (complete) $400; exhaust system (early non-original $350. joseph alphabet, (714) 650-1322; fax: (714) 642-2963

memorabilia for sale: ferrari at rodeo drive heavy canvas banner from 1993 showing the 348 spyder. 78" high x 41" wide, double sided, seven colors, very decorative, very historic. $1,500 obo. joseph alphabet, (714) 650-1322; fax: (714) 642-2963