Volume 2, Issue 6 - July 1995

Editor's Corner

by: jeff littrell

normally this is the president's corner but judd is too busy planning for the rodeo drive event to write an article this month. by the time you read this the rodeo drive event will be history. the amount of planning that has gone into it is amazing. i fully expect it to be a historic event. look for a write up in the august issue of sempre ferrari.

july's membership meeting will be held on june 27th at the art center in pasadena. remember, the membership meetings are for you! please have the courtesy to rsvp for this event by calling tom brockmiller at (310) 530-1004.

you may remember that a while back we instituted a concept called "sempre ferrari sponsors." the newsletter's production and mailing costs continue to slightly outweigh the advertising revenue. this means that we will eventually go broke without a little help. for a mere $25 a month you can sign up to keep us afloat. we ask that sponsors sign up for 3 months and we need about 3 sponsors. right now the only sponsor is nick paris. if you like reading sempre ferrari and would like to contribute $75 to ensure its success, please call our advertising chairman, nick paris at (310) 376-4656.

my last plea will be for articles again. in case you haven't figured it out, i end up having to personally write most of the reviews of our events. i need your help. if you attend an event and enjoy it, could you please just write up a couple paragraphs and send them to me? variety is the spice of life and i'm sure the readers would love to read your perspective on things.

Oldtimer's Corner - Stupid Car Tricks

by: ed niles

life is a sexually transmitted, terminal condition. ok, but why hasten the process?

like the time i rolled a car over. 360 degrees over. at 25 mph. in a gymkhana. thank you, oh safety belt god!

or the time i ran a ferrari into the wall at the virginia city hillclimb. in one of those slow-motion moments i made the entirely rational decision that it was better to run into the wall than to fall off the side of the cliff, down into automotive hell!

then there was the time that i flipped a borrowed ferrari upside down and end-over-end into a ditch in rural france. (that's twice, oh lord of the safety belts!) all i got out of that one was a little bump on the noggin. car owner jess pourret (god bless him) insisted on having me thoroughly examined by a neurologist (or was it a psychiatrist?). not only that, he allowed me to pay for the car in easy monthly installments!

too bad there isn't a hall of fame for dumb car tricks. just think, i could have been joe di maggio! on a lighter note, i have pulled some tricks which seriously shortened the life expectancy of some of my cars, if not my own. early in my hot-rodding career, for instance, i decided to rinse off some of the accumulated filth on my engine with gasoline and a stiff brush. i poured some gasoline into a coffee can, and then set the can on the nearest flat surface. you guessed it -- the battery. the battery shorted through the can, causing the entire can and its contents to burst into flames! not to forget the car itself.

i seem to have had a great deal of difficulties with batteries. in an earlier car, a '34 ford, i once attempted to pull the battery out of its resting place beneath the floor boards by grasping both posts with pliers. i didn't think six volts could cause any harm. unfortunately, the handle on one of the pliers touched the ring on my finger, and before i knew it, the ring was red hot. then to compound matters, my finger immediately swelled up to the size of a bratwurst, making it impossible to remove the red-hot ring. well, maybe it wasn't life-threatening, but it certainly was finger threatening for a few minutes, before somebody came with the giant nippers to cut my ring off!

if you have ever taken a good look at the engine of a pre-1960 ferrari, you will have observed that there are little rectangular pans under each carburetor, with tubes attached leading to the back of the engine. the idea is that if the float should stick on one of the carburetors, the overflowing gasoline will at least be directed back toward the clutch housing, and then to the ground. uncle enzo had a reason for installing these devices; the spark-plugs are in close proximity to the carburetors. we call these early engines "inside plug engines", don't we? you guess it; one of my friends saw no reason for the little pans and removed them. with predictable results. one of his carburetors overflowed, the engine caught on fire, and before he could do anything about it, the entire car was consumed in flames!

not nearly so dramatic, but ultimately pretty destructive, was a trick we used to use. those of us who were involved with the early ferraris noticed that there would be excessive exhaust smoke when the valve guides experienced a little wear. it became difficult to sell these cars for all their smoke. someone discovered that a racing fuel supplier in glendale also had castor bean oil for use in ferrari engines. it was sold because of its allegedly superior lubricating qualities, but we had another reason for buying it. it didn't burn, and thus didn't smoke. it was an instant cure, we thought, for the dreaded smoking ferrari engine. and it smelled neat. sort of like being at a race meet. what we didn't understand was that the bean oil turned to varnish inside the engine, not to be removed short of dynamite. i have since talked to several mechanics who attempted to rebuild an engine that had had c

Tech Tip - Installing Six Point Harnesses

by: marshall buck

i have done this for my 308, without drilling holes in the car. note: these harnesses strap you into the seat really firmly, therefore making it difficult to turn and look behind you for lane changes or backing up. it is recommended that you continue to use your factory ferrari seat belts for street driving.

i purchased a fia/scca legal 6 point harness system, which are available in many different styles. i got "camlock" style buckles but "latch" style are ok too. the system has two inch webbing for the anti-submarine straps with three inch webbing for the lap and shoulder harness. i got the individual shoulder harnesses, not the "y" style. the anti-submarine straps were purchased with the slotted bracket with a bolt hole, although you may want the eyebolt clips here, for ease of removal. the lap belts had the clips for eyebolts and the shoulder harnesses simply had buckles (wrap-around style). some manufacturers of these belts include simpson, stand 21, luke, diest, and autopower.

i found it very easy to attach the new lap belts to two eye hooks (provided with the belts) with which i replaced the stock bolts at the sides of the seats. the stock ferrari threaded holes take standard 7/16 x 20 sae bolts. i reattached the stock belts under the eyebolts.

an example of lap belts with clip-on style ends. these are standard (non-camlock) simpson models. they clip onto eyebolts (provided with belts) that thread into the standard seat belt anchor bolt holes.

the anti-submarine belt brackets were attached with 7mm nuts and bolts to two small custom brackets, fabricated from 1/8 inch thick, 1 1/8 by 3 1/4 inch steel. if you choose to use the eyebolts here, drill 31/64 inch holes. two 8mm clearance holes were drilled on the centerline 2 1/2 inches between centers. these brackets were then sandwiched between the front of the seat tracks and the floor. the stock socket head seat track hold down screws were reused.

a shoulder harness bar was fabricated from one inch o.d. 4130 chrome moly 0.120 inch wall tube. the ends were heated and flattened from one side, then normalized and the bar was power coated with satin black. 31/64 inch clearance holes were drilled 47 1/2 inches on center for the 7/16 x 20 grade 8 bolts, 2 1/4 inches long, which were screwed into the stock shoulder harness attachment points. the tube was given a gentle bend, to conform to the curves in the ferrari's interior, and powder coated satin black. suitable spacers and washers were used, including two (optional) bushings (bmw part 72 11 1 813 915) under the tube ends to provide clearance for the stock shoulder harness clips, which were retained. i passed the shoulder webs around the bar, cinching them with the provided buckles. the loose ends were tied together to keep the harnesses six inches apart at the bar. black tie wraps cinched around the bar keep them from sliding.

an example of shoulder belts with wrap-around buckles. again, these are simpson standard style..

the fire extinguisher may be mounted to the center of this bar, or preferably, mounted to a bracket which is fabricated to attach under the seat tracks at the front of the passenger seat.

the car is now much more suitable for high performance driving, and the stock belts have been retained for everyday tooling around. all this, without any

Desert Fun - Report from the Furnace Creek Ride and Drive

by: michael yedor

sunrise, dark and cloudy, the morning looked like rain. i removed the cover on my 1964 lusso to see the greeting of its smile. somehow the car knew we were about to take off on an outing.

warming up the car prior to departing, i checked all of the gauges to be certain everything was operating in good order before taking off on what later turned out to be an absolute terrific trip. the plan was for all of us to meet at the ontario marriott to receive our briefing, maps and other pertinent information for the club's (foc and fca) first combined death valley run. we were briefed by tino mingori, who gave us the rundown for the trip. prior to departing from the ontario marriott, tino suggested that someone volunteer to follow the other members to the first check point to help anyone with problems along the way. i volunteered with the lusso. everyone in the group looked at me as if i were crazy, having the oldest car. i definitely got the feeling everyone felt the lusso was no up for the job. just for the record, not only did the lusso perform 100% the entire trip, it ran like a top. i have all the confidence in the world driving the lusso anyplace, as it runs better than the day it was built.

michael yedor and his 1964 250 gt lusso in front of the oasis in the desert that is the furnace creek inn.

we had an interesting mix of cars, ranging from 308s, 348s, tr, gtc/4, boxer, daytona, a new porsche, a mercedes sedan, and the lusso, all making for an interesting group of personalities. my driving companion was my father, cy yedor.

the first leg of the trip took us to the world's largest thermometer where we stopped by bun boy for lunch. after lunch we all took off for the second leg of the trip with our plan to stop approximately one hundred miles from our final destination, the furnace creek inn in death valley. we were all able to truly enjoy our cars and what they were built for, driving them hard and fast. tino, myself and the mysterious porsche were all leading the rest of the group. everyone was driving at a pace that they were personally comfortable with. tino and i had our own agenda. i was in front of tino most of the time averaging speeds ranging from 125 mph up to 150 mph and boy was it fun! i know all of the club members really enjoyed having their cars perform for them.

after the end of the second leg my father suggested that i take a new member who presently did not own a ferrari for a ride with me in the lusso for the balance of the trip while he rode in the mercedes. i can personally tell you that my new companion for the last leg of the trip is now truly a believer in ferraris. he is presently on the hunt to purchase a new car and plans to attend events and become active with our club.

no one in the ferrari group received any tickets on the way up. (i think). however, i did pass a c.h.p. car going the other direction at approximately 130 mph when my radar detector went off. the c.h.p. immediately put on his lights and was attempting to turn around when he ran into the rest of the pack in, you guessed it, red ferraris. i can only assume that the reason i did not get a ticket was because of luck and the fact that there were ten other red cars behind me. i'm sure the officer had greater interest in the other cars.

after arriving at the furnace creek inn, we all checked in and relaxed until dinner. prior to dinner we all attended a wine tasting that was arranged by tino and the foc. thank you tino, as we all truly enjoyed it. thereafter we all got together in groups for dinner in the main dining room of the hotel which, i might add, was quite good. the only problem was a few of us did not pack sport coats , which were mandatory in the dining room. we lucked out with the front desk providing us with custom fit vintage food-

Pain, Trains and Automobiles - Report from the Santa Paula Ride and Drive

pain, trains and automobiles. that could summarize the wonderful day many members experienced in santa paula at the event organized by mark dees.

the pain was seeing stan fox crash into the wall on the first lap of the indy 500, causing the entire front of his car from the dash forward to break off and leaving his legs exposed as he flew through the air. ouch! we wish him the best.

of course, there was the added pain of seeing the finish of the race be mired in controversy when the leader of the race, scott goodyear, was black flagged for passing the pace car on a restart with only 9 laps to go. is it just me or are the rule books detracting from the thrill of racing? either way, villeneuve drove a great race, coming back from a 2 lap penalty himself, and all the tifosi where glad to see a villeneuve in the winner's circle again.

the trains aspect of the day was represented by the two train cars located at the old train depot in santa paula. they provided a nice historical backdrop for the event.

oldtimer ed niles hoists a beer alongside friends drew kelley and judd goldfeder.

of course, you all know about the automobiles. ferraris were there in many shapes, sizes, and colors. on the v-12 front we had michael yedor's red 250gt lusso, judd goldfeder's silver 330 gtc, a red 330 gt 2+2, cy yedor's blue 365 gtc/4, jeff littrell's red 365 gtc/4, and a green 456 gt that stopped by for a while in the afternoon. flat 12s were represented by claudio szyszkowski's red 512 bb and tom brockmiller's silver 512 tr. v8s included marshall lieb's gold 308 gt4, a mondial cabriolet, and many 308s and 328s, all red.

after munching breakfast while watching the race on a big screen tv in the hotel across from the depot , everyone enjoyed a great lunch barbecued right there on site. the club is truly indebted to mark dees for all the planning he put into this event - it came off without a hitch.

the inside of the train depot as everyone enjoyed lunch. hi tom!

lucky for us, marshall lieb wasn't arrested for selling merchandise from the trunk of his ferrari. he has been working on creating regalia for sale at the upcoming rodeo drive event and was willing to exchange cash for fca southwest region shirts from many of the members who were there. also lucky for us, no one's eye sight was permanently damaged when murray cogan bared his chest for all to see as he tried on his new attire.

marshall lieb collects money as he sells fca wares from the trunk of his ferrari.

around 2:00 or so a half dozen of the ferraris participated in a drive through ojai to take the scenic route home. this was one of those events that offered something for everyone: racing, eating, socializing, history, relaxing, and driving. hopefully we'll see you next time.

More Desert Fun - Report from the Track Event in Las Vegas

by: jeff littrell

the weather was hot but the new track was fun at the alfa/fca track event in las vegas on june 10th and 11th. the track is now 1.75 miles long with 9 turns and 2 straights, similar to willow springs but much flatter, tighter and slower. it is a challenging track with a couple combination turns with decreasing radii that really test a driver's ability.

the best news is that participation from the club is up, and we're starting to see members like joel quaid get the racing bug and move up from the intro group to the time trials. below is a list of members who made the trek to sin city:

paul porteous relaxes between sessions.

another member who really made an extra effort was our illustrious competition chairman, marv landon. marv couldn't participate in this event because he had to attend a wedding on saturday but he still went through the expense and effort to fly out sunday, rent a car, and drive to the track just to make sure all us fca guys weren't giving the club a bad name. drew kelley must get some mention also for taking his own special, 14 hour route in his 330 gtc from downey to las vegas just to watch the rest of us drive around the track. think about that next time you look at your ferrari languishing in the garage.

although you can't tell, joel quaid is smiling ear-to-ear behind that helmet as he comes in from a some hot laps.

but my favorite member of the weekend was joel quaid. joel has a beautiful blue 348 ts that he bought to drive on the street. but as happens to so many of us, he came out to willow a while back, participated in the intro group, and got the racing bug. he has subsequently installed a 5-point harness and fire extinguisher in his gorgeous cream colored interior and dramatically improved his driving skills by working with instructor brad gray. in las vegas he had the foresight to sign up for the novice time trial group and therefore got more track time than anyone else. he got to follow the instructor's car around the track to learn the racing line and also got classroom instruction on time trial techniques. as a result he had a lot of fun and greatly reduced his track times. his ferrari is no worse for wear either.

joel quaid's 348 chases niel miller's mondial through turn 3 at las vegas speedway park.

member and perennial track hound marshal buck out classed the field in his corvette to win the race on sunday while the rest of us worked on our time trials.<

Formula One Update - Monte Carlo

formula one returned to monte carlo on may 28th, the same day as the indy 500. historically dominated by the late great ayrton senna, the crown of monaco seems to have been passed down to michael schumacher who won for the second time in two years.

ferrari appeared to be on race winning form after first qualifying; alesi taking pole and berger right behind him but it was not to be. by the end of final qualifying hill was on pole from schumacher by eight tenths of a second, a huge margin. berger had slipped down to the second row and alesi the third. the qualifying order of the top six was: 1. hill; 2. schumacher; 3. coulthard; 4. berger; 5. alesi; 6. hakkinen.

on race day at monaco, unlike at spain, there was actually a green light. unfortunately this meant that the fia could use their speed traps. at the start there was a fairly short period between the red light and the green. hill got away well into the first corner but slightly further down the field there were problems. alesi made a good start and came up along the inside of coulthard, in a blind spot where he couldn't be seen. berger had made a good start as well and was nosing ahead of coulthard on the outside, but not enough ahead. as berger turned in, he touched coulthard and some debris went flying, coulthard rebounded onto alesi, and then back onto berger. coulthard rebounded onto alesi one more time; alesi was by this time hitting the brakes hard and coulthard, going forward much faster than alesi still, rode over alesi's front left wheel. coulthard was catapulted into the air, starting his spin there, and when he hit the ground again he was still in a spin and he came to rest in the middle of the track. both ferraris and coulthard's williams were out for the restart as the red flags came out!

fortunately ferrari, knowing monaco's record for starts had had the foresight to bring two spare cars, allowing both drivers to restart.

the restart was clean and the order afterwards was: 1. hill; 2. schumacher; 3. coulthard; 4. alesi; 5. berger; 6. herbet. hill and schumacher traded fastest laps for the first 12 laps and alesi swept past coulthard on lap 18, when coulthard lost all gears but second.

on lap thirty schumacher began to lap half a second faster than hill and on lap 23 hill got held up by a backmarker so schumacher got right on hill's tail. hill ducked into the pits on lap 35, taking 8.5 seconds and giving schumacher the lead. it was expected that schumacher would pit soon but it would a long time before he did....

as soon as hill had dived into the pits schumacher had begun pushing his benetton to the limit to get as much of a lead over hill and alesi as possible. the running order was: schumacher; alesi; berger; hill, but berger pitted on the next lap giving third place to hill.

alesi began blitzing away at schumacher's lead, the two trading fastest laps, on worn tires, both lapping much faster than hill or berger who had already pitted. schumacher dived into the pits on lap 35 taking 10.2 seconds and emerging in second place with a sizable lead over hill. alesi also pitted on lap 37 taking 10.7 seconds and emerging 10 seconds behind schumacher but only 3 seconds ahead of hill.

on lap 44 brundle, who had been pushing really hard to try and make up for a 10 second penalty given to him for a jump start, spun. this on its own wasn't surprising, but alesi was just coming up to lap him and was collected and put out of the race. although it was feared at first that he was injured when the marshals manhandled him out of his car he was fine. still, the ferrari was out and the hopes for a great second place finish were dashed.

the drivers now just strolled in rather leisurely to the finish. schumacher winning by 30 seconds after hill made his second stop. the finishing order was: schumacher; hill; berger; herbert; blundell; frentzen.

berger's third place finish means that ferrari continues to be the only team

Formula One Update - Canadian Grand Prix

on june 11th jean alesi finally received the victory he deserved, and he couldn't of done it on a better day. not only was it the second day of our las vegas track event and the day of the huntington beach concours honoring ferrari, it was also jean's 31st birthday, he was sporting the number 27 of the late legendary gilles villeneuve, and it was his 91st grand prix since 1989 when he made his debut.

qualifying had been dry and largely uneventful as a fairly predictable man came out on pole, michael schumacher, taking his 5th pole in 6 races. damon hill finally out qualified his "number 2" team mate, coulthard. the qualifying order was: schumacher, hill, coulthard, berger, alesi, herbert.

after the parade lap the cars roared onto the grid engines revving high, the note of the ferrari engine clearly distinguishable above all the other comparatively dull sounding engines. remember back a couple of issues where sempre ferrari quoted berger as saying that ferrari should be in a position to win by the time of the canadian grand prix? well, the prediction was about to start unraveling towards its final dramatic conclusion. gerhard berger clearly fancied his chances of getting into the lead by the first corner; his car was not facing straight ahead of the grid as all the others were but angled towards his right, towards the gap which existed between schumacher and hill.

the red light came on and the cars started revving their engines up, the ferrari's exhaust note gaining more and more identity as the revs climbed. the green light came on and the field stormed towards the first corner, all jostling for position. both hill and schumacher made good starts but the car's length between them made all the difference as schumacher got into the first corner first; coulthard came along side hill but had learned from monaco and backed off the throttle too late. hill keep his place. herbert stormed ahead of alesi but alesi blitzed straight back into 5th place.

by the end of the first lap schumacher had built up a lead of 2.5 seconds, eclipsing all of the opposition and making it look like the race was another forgone conclusion. the order at the start of lap 2 was: schumacher, hill, coulthard, berger, alesi and barrichello coming up to form the last of the top 6. half way through the lap, however, coulthard came out to try and get ahead of hill. going off the driving line, he went up onto a damp bump on the track causing his rear end to lock up and him to spin off. the two ferraris who were following hard behind and had to take evasive action to get past coulthard safely, berger having to slow more than alesi, giving alesi third place. a close call for ferrari!

the new order on lap 3 was: schumacher (who was still building up an insurmountable lead), hill, alesi, berger, barrichello, irvine. although schumacher was in first place and hill remained in second place, the fastest car on the track was alesi's ferrari. alesi was lapping 7 tenths of a second faster than schumacher.

jean alesi pilots the ferrari in the canadian grand prix.

schumacher continued pulling away from the field and alesi continued catching hill, reeling him in at the rate of half a second a lap by lap 5. alesi kept on gaining on hill until on lap 17 coming up to a fast right hander alesi dived onto the inside line and turned in late, forcing hill to back off on the throttle and eliminate any chance of hill counter attacking immediately. berger was trying to follow alesi on lap 18 but a martini was deliberately blocking him. after the martini received a 10 second stop-go penalty for jumping the start from which he had just rejoined. he was promptly given another penalty for blocking berger.

on lap 26 berger repeated almost exactly the pass that alesi had done on hill, again taking hill and blocking any chance of counter att

Classified Ads

for sale: for daytona: transaxle, complete - price negotiable. ring and pinion gear set - nos ferrari, standard 10/33 ratio - $2950. borrani rw4075 7 1/2" x 15 wire wheels, set of 4 - $2800. set of 2 each 8" and 9" by 15" ferrari campagnolo racing wheels - $3600. set of 4 7 1/2" by 15" cromodora wheels - $1600. for 308: set of 4 ferrari qv cromodora 7" and 8" by 15" wheels - $2400. marshall (310) 559-3947, fax (310) 836-3763.

for sale: harness bar, $195. with grade 8 bolts to attach to 308, 328, brackets for submarine strap, instructions. have model for daytona and others available too. marshall buck (310) 559-3947, fax (310) 836-3763.

for sale: 1984 308 qv s/n 50171. red with tan leather. 8,800 original miles. major service completed. perfect throughout. $48,000. contact germaine (310) 697-9958 or john (818) 912-2976 (eve), (818) 331-3333 (days).

for sale: 1974 porsche rs carrera. one of the original 500 built. 61k original miles. white with full black leather interior. recaro factory seats, factory a/c, factory sunroof, special order black headliner. chromed polished wheels, new dunlop high performance tires. recent motor rebuild by andial 2,100 miles ago. $23,000 obo. original california car. contact michael at (310) 474-2693 or (310) 470-7096.