Volume 2, Issue 9 - October 1995

PV Picnic

the cars were beautiful but the picnic was fat

by: tom brockmiller

the south coast botanical gardens and linda and tom brockmiller hosted a fine gathering of friends and ferrari?s, 20 to be exact, in this beautiful setting on the palos verdes peninsula. there were cars ranging from ron pinto's 212 export coupe to the mingori's exquisite 365 gtb/4 and on to two 348 spyders, as well as the brockmiller's 512 tr - a great sampling of vintage to contemporary examples. even denny schue arrived in a brand new ?red? car that had dual exhausts and a ?convertible top.? bob deprincipe's most original and correct dino gt was among the well placed and executed event.

ron pinto's 1951 212 export s/n 175e. this car has run the mille miglia.

background music - italian opera, of course - was supplied by a rather expensive sound system, created in germany and provided, for the sake of mobility, with four bmw wheels - "the ultimate sound machine."

"the ultimate sound machine."

cold drinks of all varieties and a bring your own picnic under the trees, created a setting that was only overshadowed by the cars themselves. the echbergs certainly outdid us all in their presentation of a picnic - champagne on ice, pate?, caviar, and a handsome couple made it all reminiscent of the good old mark dees events - minus the roman togas.

348 spyder owners, the echberg's and tom salken at the picnic. the echberg's red spyder is shown. tom's is black.

the weather could not have been better and the attendees were all interesting. tom salken brought his 348 spyder, marshall and vivi leib were in the truly special 288 gto, the dworak?s had their 328 (moving, we hear, to tahoe -good luck), bill & bonnie inglis and their always immaculate cars - this time a 330 gtc were present, jim tanner, raphael rojas, and hopefully i?ve only missed a few - but - oh yes, the person who always drives the furthest and is the most supportive, our friend john kiland of las vegas brought his new 308 gtb. john?s also preparing a unique 308 gt4 race car - but john, no-one has seen your hidden secret: the 512 boxer. does it exist?

marshall lieb's gorgeous "308" gto

let us also recognize three most special people, the littrells - jeff, sunni and allison, always dedicated to the ferrari cause and displaying his proper touring car - 365 gtc/4. and speaking of a special non-italian fare they picnicked on sushi, but we got to share - thanks.

marshall lieb and friend look at some ferrari art while at the picnic.

guess what? steve tillack arrived with a beauty - i mean two beauties - one was a 330 gts - as in spyder - top down or off whichever strikes you fancy.

next year - as tradition would have it - the brockmillers are planning a bigger and more unique event with live music, casual car judging, and a surprise costume event. however, their first concern is to maintain this event as a casual and relaxed gathering of new and old friends and let the cars be the excuse. we thank them for their past and future efforts.

President's Corner

by: judd goldfeder

three things which happened in the past month put the spotlight on what can be a major problem for those of us who have cars made after 1965 which have difficulty passing the smog ?sniff? test.

1. i received, from the department of motor vehicles, my notice to renew registration which had the dreaded words ?smog certificate required? and a sheet of information regarding how to comply along with it. something caught my eye under the section entitled ?if your vehicle fails.? ?two consecutive waivers will not be issued after january 1, 1995.?

2. a long time friend and club member who owns a 275 gtb called. he had received the same notices and wanted to know what to do since his car cannot pass the exhaust emissions test.

3. another friend called with a similar question.

what is the problem? in the past, cars like mine and those owned by my friends who called, which were mechanically legal but could not pass the sniff test, paid a visit to the ?referee? and were issued a waiver. the legislature, with prodding from washington, has now eliminated the waiver for cars which cannot be repaired to pass the sniff test. this law makes no distinction between cars which are used for transportation and those which are collectable. we can get one more waiver which is good for two years, then no more.

what are our alternatives? move to a county where a smog check is not required, move out of california or enjoy a garage queen.

this is a political issue on which we should make our voices heard. yes, there are many daily drivers out there which pollute and should be repaired or junked. but, what about the collector cars which are driven occasionally and should be preserved as part of our heritage? as the law now stands there will be no exemption for them.

i think the law should be changed. what do you think? to be heard we must join with other car clubs and explain the problem to our legislators. send me a letter with your opinion. if you belong to other car clubs let me know what they are doing about this. if you know a legislator, write to him (or her) and send me a copy of the letter. if you have other ideas call or write me.

keep on driving!

Upcoming Events

these are old. click here for a current calendar of events

driving school at the streets of willow

get off your butt! so, you think you?re mario andretti behind the wheel? prove it! or perhaps you know that your ferrari is more capable than you are? bring yourself up to your car?s potential! either way, you can have lots of fun at the upcoming alfa and ferrari club of america driving school at the streets of willow springs on october 21 and 22.

let?s go through the list of lame excuses you might come up with:

1. i?m too busy - well, its only been on the calendar of events for 10 months now - you could have planned around it. besides, it?s only one weekend.
2. i don?t want to hurt my precious ferrari - believe me, it?ll survive. last time joe maddox brought out his 512 boxer and it did fine. arthur trejo and denise stillman regularly run their 328s. if you still aren?t convinced then rent a toyota celica from danny mckeever (805) 949-9146 or robert dixon (805) 256-0166 of the two driving schools at willow. the cars are race prepared with roll cages, harnesses and fire systems. for between $500 and $800 for the entire weekend they?ll take care of everything, including gas and tires, so all you have to do is show up with a helmet, jump in and learn.
3. it?s too dangerous - well, there is an element of danger - that?s what makes it fun. but, the streets is a smaller and tighter track that the ?big? track at willow so speeds are significantly less. it?s in the desert so there?s nothing to hit - if you spin off the track all you?ll have to do is clean the dust off later. if you really want to be safe, rent a car as mentioned above and you?ll have the benefit of a full roll cage.
4. i don?t have any experience - not necessary. the school is broken up into a number of classes (four last time), according to experience. you will be with other drivers just like you. you?ll get classroom time, skidpad time, track time, and individual instruction.
5. it?s too expensive - you own a ferrari and you?re complaining about spending a couple hundred bucks on a school that is as fun as anything you?ll ever do with your clothes on and might save you or your car from injury in the future to boot? come on! the entry fee is a mere $160. a hotel in lancaster will cost you less than $50/night. you might have to buy or rent a helmet ($80-$170 to buy, $20-$40 to rent). you might need to follow the advice in the july newsletter to get a 5 point harness and fire extinguisher in your car at a cost of about $400 or you can rent a toyota for $500-$800. any way you look at it it?ll be less than the price of a "professional" school for the same 2 full days of high speed fun and learning.

so, i hope to see you at the streets of willow on october 21st. if you haven?t received an entry form please call our competition chariman, marv landon at (818) 953-7800 or the alfa club's paul hightower at (818) 368-1880.

a party in san diego

join with members of the ferrari owners club for two events the last weekend in october.

saturday: an early evening barbecue and dancing under the stars, we hope, to the music of lester lanin, tommy dorsey, guy lombardo or just to barbara, frank, the beatles, or any others who may drop in. all this is at the home of jan and judd goldfeder.

sunday: brunch at prego, one of san diego?s finest restaurants. part of the cost of the brunch is being donated to the san diego automotive museum by the generous folks who run prego. join us to bid summer farewell in beautiful san diego county. there are lots of other things to do here. spend part of saturday at the san diego wild animal park. this is a beautiful facility created over 30 year

The Internet Again

by: jeff littrell

last month i wrote about the internet in general, mentioning that there were a number of different things you could do with it. the things i mentioned were: electronic mail, logging onto and using other computers, getting and putting files, and viewing ?information? on other computers. i went on to discuss electronic mail in some detail and then promised to tell you this month ?how to access a whole wealth of online information about ferraris.?

well, the time has come to let you onto a little secret called the ?world wide web.? if you haven?t already heard of the web you?ve probably been spending entirely too much time in the garage polishing your ferrari. the web is all the rage on the internet for one main reason: it makes accessing gobs and gobs of information really, really easy and compelling.

for fifty years, people have dreamt of the concept of a universal database of knowledge - information that would be accessible to people around the world and link easily to other pieces of information so that any user could quickly find the things most important to themselves. it was in the 1960?s when this idea was explored further, giving rise to visions of a ?docuverse? that people could swim through, revolutionizing all aspects of human-information interaction. only now has the technology caught up with these dreams, making it possible to implement them on a global scale.

the world-wide web is officially described as a ?wide-area hypermedia information retrieval initiative aiming to give universal access to a large universe of documents?. what the world-wide web has done is provide users on computer networks with a consistent means to access a variety of media in a simplified fashion. using a popular software interface to the web called ?browsers,? the web has changed the way people view and create information - it has created the first true global hypermedia network.

ok, so i?ve convinced you that the web is the 90?s version of guttenberg?s moveable type, now how does it work? well, just like last month you need to get yourself (pc and modem included) onboard with a ?service provider? such as america online, compuserve, the microsoft network, prodigy, or one of the many internet-specific providers. for example, just shove that diskette that aol sends you in the mail all the time into your pc and sign up. or, buy windows 95 and click on the ?sign up for the microsoft network? icon, or go to your local bookstore and buy ?internet in a box.? any of these will do.

once onboard with a provider, you?ll need a software program called a ?web browser.? the most popular is netscape 1.1 but your service provider might require you to use one specific to their system, in which case you?ll be able to download it via your modem. once you have your browser you?re ready to ?surf the net,? all you need now are urls.

uniform resource locators, or urls, are the ?telephone numbers? or ?addresses? of the information on the web. just like the rest of the internet, the web is really just a bunch of individual computers connected together via wire (telephone lines). to access a specific ?page? of information on a particular computer you need to identify it somehow - that?s where urls come in. all world wide web urls begin with ?http://? so a sample url might be: http://www.eit.com/web/www.guide/. in fact, this is a great url for learning more about the world wide web.

now you?re thinking, ?and jeff said this was easy to use?? well, once you get used to urls they aren?t really that bad. besides, the beauty of ?hypertext? documents on the web is that one page can ?link? to many other pages, allowing you t

Oldtimer's Corner - Goldoni

by: ed niles

the other day, roberto goldoni called me up to announce that he was in the city of angels, and could we get together? we had dinner.

roberto goldoni, alitalia's senior captain, is tall and quite distinguished looking with his full roman nose, full beard and full head of hair now turned snow white.

as we enjoyed our leisurely repast, goldoni left us with many examples of roman wisdom in his deep baritone voice. (an example, as a very stylish young thing passed our table, "a thin woman is like trousers with no pockets; you don't know where to put your hands"). toward the end of the evening, roberto suggested that phoebe and i spend our vacation at his beach house, 60 miles from rome. he described it as "like malibu". maybe we will.

unless your name is george neutill, dick merritt, lyle tanner, or gordon culp, you probably will not have met roberto goldoni. he is 55 now, but i first met him when he was 16. he was an exchange student, spending a year of his life going to john marshall high school in los angeles while residing with my parents-in-law.

i must have been 31, my third son had just been born, and i had owned the usual assortment of hot rods, vw's, mg's, austin-healey's, and jaguars when i first met bob. during the 39 years that i have known him, roberto has seen me through 2 marriages and over 100 ferraris. he was responsible for quite a few of them. (ferraris, not marriages).

it happened this way: in 1959, 3 years after i had first met him, i went to europe, taking the grand tour from england, through the continent, ending up in rome. we spent a few days at his family's apartment on via flaminia nuova (his parents are now dead, but he still owns the apartment, and i still remember the address by heart). it was my first trip to europe. i had been advised to "buy a car", as the economics were such that i was almost sure to have some fun and make some money. on the very last day of our european vacation, roberto took me around to some of the dealers in rome who might have used ferraris on hand. at our final stop of the day, we found what was to become my first ferrari.

ah, now you get the connection! remember, in an earlier episode, i told you about the "sale by terror" which caused me to buy my very first ferrari. yes, roberto was responsible.

after i sold that first ferrari, and made a nice profit, roberto and i agreed that he would look for ferraris to buy in rome, he would handle the transaction at the italian end, and i would supply the funds and sell the car over here, after giving it whatever work it needed. if there was a profit, we would share it in some fashion. i never did figure out a way to share with him the fun that i had importing all those cars from italy!

after he had sent me a few cars, i began to realize that his descriptions uniformly said: "in very good over-all conditions". some of them were not. one in particular, a short wheel-base berlinetta, was in such terrible condition when it arrived that i can't put the image out of my mind.

when we had dinner the other evening, i gently chided roberto about that turkey, and a few others almost as bad, and he gave me another bit of roman wisdom: "in italy, there are only two kinds of ferraris; new and used!" it reminded me of dean batchelor's expression. "there are only four kinds of wine: red and white, good and bad."

it was after the short wheel-base berlinetta arrived in such outrageously poor condition that i devised a check list, on which roberto could grade every part of a car on a scale of 1 to 10. in all honesty, i must confess it didn't help much.

the short wheel-base berlinetta of which we are speaking bore serial number 2689, and it was an alloy-bodied berlinetta of 1961 vintage. with the car came the carta di circulazione, the ita

Buying an Older Ferrari - Part I

by: chris kantarjiev

a year or so ago, i came into a modest inheritance. looking into what i wanted to do with the money, i realized that while i would be sensible with most of it, some portion should be spent on satisfying "frivolous" goals. one of those goals has been to own a front-engined v12 ferrari - a car that enzo had a hand in, a car with the sounds and smells and sensations of "that" era, complete with crackle finish paint on the valve covers and a brace of webers in the valley.

so we went looking. prices are down, but still pretty astronomical. it was clear that we weren't going to buy one of the more desirable cars (gee, a 250 swb california spyder or 275 gtb/4 sure would be nice, but...) so we looked around at the less desirable "compromise" cars. pretty quickly, the 330gtc came to the top of the list. phil hill has called this car "the best road going ferrari ever built": full irs with a transaxle in the rear, lovely pininfarina lines, a reasonable sized trunk.

peter fraser offered a ride in his gtc, which was a lot of fun. we went over to patrick ottis's shop and talked about older cars; everyone was trying their best to warn us about what we were getting into. i've been living with older british sports cars for a while, and the stories sound much the same - there are just more parts, and the parts are lots more expensive.

my girlfriend and i have three two-seat cars (a daily driver convertible each, fiat turbo spyder for her, triumph tr4a for me, plus my autocross car, a triumph gt6+) between us already, plus an old morris minor traveller for hauling parts, wheels, garden supplies and groceries. they all run, but two of them are project cars, always needing a little this and a little that. we decided that we really didn't want another project car; rather, something in good shape that we could drive regularly, take to the track once in a while, and just live with.

330gtcs in this condition seem to be pushing $80k or more. doable, but on the edge; that kind of money translates into a car that you worry about taking anywhere. neither of us believes in locking cars away and treating them as investments - these cars need exercise. so we looked around some more.

and started thinking about a 330 gt2+2. the series ii looks essentially like the gtc, but has a longer wheelbase (by about 40cm), four seats (the back seats are real, not just an applique suitable for children), the same engine but a live axle in the rear. and costs a third to half of what a gtc would.

it's probably the second least "desirable" car (competing with the 250 gte 2+2), but that doesn't matter to us. a car in this price range is one that we could feel comfortable driving on a multi-day trip, or just driving to the beach for dinner.

last weekend we visited a very nice car (s/n 8679), for sale at a independent dealer in monterey. the car is complete (no books or tools, though), has a decent respray, original interior in good shape. we took a drive; no smoke on startup, no smoke on downshift and acceleration (i was amazed). i was also amazed at how heavy all the inputs are, and how big the car is (remember that i normally drive relatively tiny cars, plus i had spent the previous two days in a formula ford); not to mention how effortless acceleration was.

so we're counting our pennies, talking to the insurance agents, and trying to figure out how we get a third-party inspection (know any decent ferrari mechanics in monterey?).

yes, it's a sedan. a big sedan. but for less than the price of a lexus or clone, what a sedan! and besides, we need one to fill in the automotive wardrobe.

thursday last i told the salesman ("sammy") that i'd like to get a mechanic to look over the 330gt2+2 we're looking at. he sputtered a bit, and asked who i had in mind. i had talked to patrick ottis<

Formula One Update

i don?t have the energy to write up the belgium and italian grand prixs, besides, you have surely already read about them by now anyway. suffice it to say that in both races ferrari was running 1 and 2 but didn?t finish either race.

we had the top two pole positions in belgium but blew it on mechanicals. in italy we were gridded third and fifth and later inherited the lead so that the two ferraris were leading the race, much to the delight of the tifosi. again, mechanicals ruined the day. it looks like speed is up but reliability is down. so much for finishing in the points every race?.

i guess we'll see next year just how good schumacher really is.

Physics of Racing - Part 3: Basic Calculations

part 3: basic calculations

by: brian beckman

in the last two articles, we plunged right into some relatively complex issues, namely weight transfer and tire adhesion. this month, we regroup and review some of the basic units and dimensions needed to do dynamical calculations. eventually, we can work up to equations sufficient for a full-blown computer simulation of car dynamics. the equations can then be "doctored" so that the computer simulation will run fast enough to be the core of an auto racing computer game. all of this is in keeping with the spirit of the series, the physics of racing, because so much of physics today involves computing. software design and programming are essential skills of the modern physicist, so much so that many of us become involved in computing full time.

physics is the science of measurement. perhaps you have heard of highly abstract branches of physics such as quantum mechanics and relativity, in which exotic mathematics is in the forefront. but when theories are taken to the laboratory (or the race course) for testing, all the mathematics must boil down to quantities that can be measured. in racing, the fundamental quantities are distance, time, and mass. this month, we will review basic equations that will enable you to do quick calculations in your head while cooling off between runs. it is very valuable to develop a skill for estimating quantities quickly, and i will show you how.

equations that don't involve mass are called kinematic. the first kinematic equation relates speed, time, and distance. if a car is moving at a constant speed or velocity, v, then the distance d it travels in time t is d=vt or velocity times time. this equation really expresses nothing more than the definition of velocity.

if we are to do mental calculations, the first hurdle we must jump comes from the fact that we usually measure speed in miles per hour (mph), but distance in feet and time in seconds. so, we must modify our equation with a conversion factor, like this:

if you "cancel out" the units parts of this equation, you will see that you get feet on both the left and right hand sides, as is appropriate, since equality is required of any equation. the conversion factor is 5280/3600, which happens to equal 22/15. let's do a few quick examples. how far does a car go in one second (remember, say, "one-one-thousand, two-one-thousand," etc. to yourself to count off seconds)? at fifteen mph, we can see that we go d =15 mph times 1 sec times 22/15 = 22 feet or about 1 and a half car lengths for a 14 and 2/3 foot car like a ferrari. so, at 30 mph, a second is three car lengths and at 60 mph it is six. if you lose a race by 1 second, you're losing by somewhere between 8 and 11 car lengths! this is because the average speed at a race at willow springs is between 80 and 110 mph. every time you plow a little or get a little sideways, just visualize your competition overtaking you by a car length or so.

the next kinematic equation involves acceleration. it so happens that the distance covered by a car at constant acceleration from a standing start is given by d = 1/2 at2 or 1/2 times the acceleration times the time, squared. what conversions will help us do mental calculations with this equation? usually, we like to measure acceleration in gs. one g happens to be 32.1 feet per second squared. fortunately, we don't have to deal with miles and hours here, so our equation becomes, d (feet) = 16a (gs) t (seconds)2 roughly. so, a car accelerating from a standing start at 1/2 g, which is a typical number for a good, stock sports car, will go 8 feet in 1 second. not very far! however, this picks up rapidly. in two seconds, the car will go 32 feet, or over two car lengths.

just to prove to you that this isn't crazy, let's answer the questi

Classified Ads

for sale: 1986 328 gtb s/n 61181. red/black, 38k miles. a rosso corsa beauty: second owner since 8k miles. excellent goodyear tires, recent service (oil, filter, a/c, throttle). all records, tools, spare, ready for immediate enjoyment. $43,500. r.a. moore (310) 377-9859.

for sale: 1990 348ts top. excellent condition. list at $3,592.30 - make offer. also, luggage - never used - make offer. call tom at (909) 606-1061.

for sale: 1990 348ts. black/black, cd. excellent condition with only 6,000 miles. $76,000. call helena at (818) 854-088 days or (213) 255-2288 eves.

for sale: 1972 bmw 3.0 csi. blue/blue, original, injected, 4 speed. good running car, needs paint. $8,000. call jeff at (310) 449-7384 days.

for sale: 1989 ferrari testarossa. red with tan interior, exceptional condition, only 13,000 miles. id#: 0082197. all services performed texas car - now in southern california. $89,000. call jess at (714) 562-1139.