Volume 1, Issue 5 - November 1994

Skeets 275 GTB/C Wins GT Award at FCA Nationals

congratulations to skeets dunn of rancho santa fe, winner of the gt award at the fca national meet in monterey.

the gt award is often called the most prestigious award given at the fca national meet. it symbolizes excellence in achievement of the club?s primary purpose for existence - that is both the preservation and exercise of the marque. a recurrent theme at fca events is "ferraris were meant to be driven." the gt award embodies that spirit and recognizes those owners/drivers whose sense of pride in their ferraris is such that they keep their cars in concours condition (85 point minimum in 1994), yet drive them in both the rally and on the track to experience ferrari?s competition heritage.

skeets dunn?s gt award-winning 275 gtb-comp.

the award is for those owners who exemplify the true spirit of the ferrari and drive to enjoy the sound of the engine at a shift point and know that inner smile when they feel the suspension bite after taking a late apex. it is for the owner who chooses to venture out onto a less traveled byway some early sunday morning for the sheer joy of experiencing the unique feeling of driving a ferrari as it was meant to be driven.

our gt award recipients will know from their own experience that a ferrari must be driven regularly to keep the shocks from leaking and the brakes from pulling. they know that you learn very little of the ferrari experience from just visiting a concours or a museum.

the ferrari is designed to be driven and skeets did it - congratulations.

275 gtb-competition model

• class winner fca concours
• 4th place in the fca rally
• stopped traffic in turn 11 at laguna seca during the fca track event (that?s a story for skeets to tell)
• gt award winner

congratulations also go out to our other southwest region winners:

• ron hein, the ultimate restorer, his "we just finished the upholstery thursday night" 250 gt series i pf cabriolet won 1st in class at the pebble beach concours on sunday.
• patrick smiekel whose 365 gtb/4 prototype won 2nd in class.

Welcome the First Issue of Sempre Ferrari

welcome to the first issue of sempre ferrari, the official newsletter of the fca?s southwest region. of course, the newsletter is the same one you?ve come to know and (i hope) love, only the name has changed.

from the first issue, we had hoped that we?d come up with a more engaging name than just "the newsletter" and we held a contest to come up with a new title. well, the suggestions flowed in and by the time we put it to vote at the september meeting we had over 20 names to choose from. a special thanks to all the members who sent in suggestions - we need that kind of participation.

as you can see, the winner was "sempre ferrari" which was submitted by none other that our competition chairman and resident italian, frank carlone. sempre ferrari roughly translates to "forever ferrari" and therefore seems quite appropriate. of course, it helps that we can all pronounce it.

thanks to all the members who attended september?s meeting and voted. congratulations to frank carlone for yet another lasting contribution to the club.

Tech Tip - Spark Plugs

by: allen bishop

one of my great pleasures is to read the oft-told tales of pre- and early post-war racing. all sorts of mishaps plagued the drivers and teams of those times, just as is the case today. one frequent source of torment is rarely mentioned today however: spark plug maladies. even the great nuvolari couldn?t always avoid "oiling a plug" which "forced him to pit for a change." today?s spark plugs are the classic quantum leap ahead from even those of 30 years ago.

one of the factors governing how your ferrari performs, be it a 166 or an f355, is the spark plugs. what follows are some observations i have made over the years working on variations of the ferraris in my shop.

to begin with, let?s discuss the current cars. today?s ferrari with its micro-managed fuel and ignition systems requires little in the way of spark plug maintenance. if plug performance is off, something other than the plugs themselves is the probable cause. in the interest of fuel efficiency and emissions, operating conditions within current ferrari engines are very critical. therefore, the plugs should be changed at recommended intervals - always - even if the plugs appear to be ok.

like oil filters, spark plugs are sacrificial; they gradually deteriorate in service and finally this normal drop-off in performance turns to actual "decay" when a certain point has been reached. the factory?s engineers, in conjunction with the plug manufacturer (currently champion) have carefully worked out the proper interval for replacement as well as the correct type of plug for your car. the owner should adhere to the factory?s recommendations for both make and heat range when changing plugs. changing brands can lead to a change in the operating characteristics of the engine. the world is rife with spark plug "conversion" charts between brands, but the reality is that two different makes of plug that are supposedly the same may well interchange mechanically, but have slightly differing operating characteristics. on earlier cars this can lead to happy results, but is a pointless exercise in very late cars, and could lead to operating problems, or worse, physical damage. in some cases, such as the 288 gto and f40, very special and costly plugs are specified. play it safe, don?t deviate!

earlier ferraris can be made to run well on several makes of spark plug simply because the running conditions within the engine are not nearly as critical, assuming good tune and mechanical condition. my personal choice for years has been the ngk from japan. the reason is simple. ngk pioneered the use of copper for the center electrode in their plugs. the use of copper for this element is a natural choice for two reasons. first, copper is an excellent electrical conductor and second, this material reaches operating temperature very quickly while also able, to a degree, to shed excess heat. in recent years, champion has also adopted copper center electrodes, along with the marketing of a line of very high performance plugs which several ferrari mechanics use regularly. an example would be the n6yc ("c" being for copper).

in the last few years, i have used the "v-type" ngk plugs in the v-12s exclusively. aside from being suitably expensive for the application, these little guys really fit the bill. they use a metal called "palladium" for their central electrode. palladium has all the positive assets of copper, with even greater resistance to heat and the adverse effects of high voltage. the end point of the center electrode in the v-plugs is very small in diameter; for this reason they are often called "fine wire" plugs. this tiny firing tip operates at a high, but controlled, temperature, making these plugs very resistant to

Tech Tip - Motor Oils

by: ed hackett

while i hesitate to add to the traffic jam of information highway metaphors being proliferated by the media lately, i found the information below while speeding along the infobahn. given last month?s tech tip on "fluids - the life blood of your ferrari," i thought this article on motor oils would make a good follow-on. as far as i know, the information is accurate but all the standard disclaimers apply. jeff(ed.).

choosing the best motor oil is a topic that comes up frequently in discussions between motoheads, whether they are talking about motorcycles or cars. the following article is intended to help you make a choice based on more than the advertising hype.

first, i will answer a couple of questions asked by another. yes, it is ok to mix mineral and synthetic oils. one of the early synthetics used was a polyalkylene glycol. this was totally incompatible and would gel when mixed. this has not been used for years for automotive lubrication. all common synthetics used for engine lubrication now days are a polyalphaolefin (mobil 1) or a dibasic organic ester type (amsoil). these are fully compatible with conventional oils. in fact golden spectro and agip sint 2000 are mixtures of mineral and synthetic oils. it is always best to mix oils with the same rating (sg). this insures that the additive packages are compatible and will maintain their effectiveness.

all engine oils use an organic zinc compound as an extreme pressure/anti-wear additive. spectro adds more to their motorcycle oil than to the car oil because zinc is a poison to catalytic converters. you will also see that some "car" oil contains more than their motorcycle oil. the difference in zinc content between .11% and .16% is insignificant to the converter. the little data i saw on the oils packaged by the motorcycle manufacturers indicated that they were no better than the top automotive oils. (many are in reality just repackaged and in some cases slightly reformulated top grade auto oils).

oil companies provide data on their oils most often referred to as "typical inspection data". this is an average of the actual physical and a few common chemical properties of their oils. this information is available to the public through their distributors or by writing or calling the company directly. i have compiled a list of the most popular, premium oils so that a ready comparison can be made. if your favorite oil is not on the list get the data from the distributor and use what i have as a database.

this article is going to look at six of the most important properties of a motor oil readily available to the public: viscosity, viscosity index (vi), flash point, pour point, % sulfated ash, and % zinc.

viscosity is the measure of how thick an oil is. this is the most important property for an engine. an oil with too low a viscosity can shear and loose film strength at high temperatures. an oil with too high a viscosity may not pump to the proper parts at low temperatures and the film may tear at high rpm.

the weights given on oils are arbitrary numbers assigned by the s.a.e. (society of automotive engineers). these numbers correspond to "real" viscosity, as measured by several accepted techniques. these measurements are taken at specific temperatures. oils that fall into a certain range are designated 5, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 by the s.a.e. the w means the oil meets specifications for viscosity at 0 f and is therefore suitable for winter use.

multi viscosity oils work like this: polymers are added to a light base (5w,10w, 20w), which prevent the oil from thinning as much as it warms up. at cold temperatures the polymers are coiled up and allow<

Book Review - "Salute to Ferrari"

by: judd goldfeder

louis klementaski and jesse alexander. these two legendary racing photographers do not need any introduction to us. their pictures of racing ferraris and other cars too are legendary.

this new book, published just in time for the monterey event, is a work of art. oversize (9 1/2 x 13), a limited printing on very fine paper--63 pages, each one is a work of art. to quote from the descriptive memorandum which is included with the book:

"in making salute to ferrari, we wished to create a book to which the reader would wish to return time and again, always gaining new insights and impressions from its images."

i have opened it several times and never tire of gazing at the pictures, which are beautiful and exciting. so far my favorite is on page 54, giorgio scarlatti leaping from a flaming ferrari at the nurburgring. the comments, written by the photographers, while short, are personal and give me the feeling of "being there."

i generally find books of photography to be boring but this one is alive and timeless.

jesse alexander
post office 5400
santa barbara, ca 93150