Lola T332 Formula 5000

Whoops I forgot where I was and I forgot to add the photos of the Lola T332. Here they areand don't forget to read the post below about this car.

Lola T332 Formula 5000

It's red, it's loud, it's fast, it is a Lola T332 F5000.

Last June at Miller I came across this Lola. I really like this car, I mean who wouldn't like a very light race car with gobs of Chevy horse-power. On top of that the owner John Obialero told me that he also has the full fender body kit so this car can race in open wheel F5000 or with the body kit with the Can-Am cars. The chassis is a aluminum monocoque with the engine as a stressed member and tube sub frame to hold the wing at the rear of the car.

In 1974 Brian Redman became the Formula 5000 champion in a Lola T332. One word of advice from somebody who learned the hard way. Watch out for the exhust pipes when the car is hot. I received a nice burn on my shin while taking some of the pictures in the garage just after John came in from a track session. Ouch.

The Ginetta G4 Part III

Today I am posting a cople more pictures of the Ginetta. One more photo of the car on the track and the rest were taken in the garage. Note the detail in the supports for the rear deck. The supports are really quite simple but very elegant in their execution. It is sort of hard to see the simple detail that they put into these supports but the results are what really counts. Also note the checker flag that they were very proud of.

The Ginetta G4 part II

This Ginetta G-4 was quite impressive. It is a very pretty little car and very quick. Look closely at the photos and you can see some of the changes to the car during the weekend.

The first thing that they did was to take the top off as it was causing lift on the long straight at Miller, an air scoop was put on the rear deck to cool the differential and the truck lid was raised with spacers to act as a spoiler and I guess to also help reduce lift and maybe to aid in cooling the rear end.
In Saturdays qualifying race the Ginetta had to start at the back of the grid of 22 cars. During this race I was on the other side of the track in the area of “Right Hook.” From Right Hook I could see the field take the green flag and by the time the Ginetta had reached the first turn (Sunset Bend) it had passed by my count 5 cars. At the end of the first lap it was up to 14th and each lap it just kept picking off one car after another. With about three laps to go the pace car came out because of an off road excursion of another car at this point I believe the Ginetta was either third or fourth. The two cars in the lead were Porsche 914/6’s. The Red 914/6 seemed to have it over the whole field, as he was able to pull away at will. On the restart the Ginetta passed the other cars and ended up with a well-deserved second place. This was the great drive of the weekend. Saturday night the course workers got together and voted for their favorite car and driver. They awarded this to Jeff Kline and his Ginetta G-4. They took the victory checkered flag and each worker signed it.

Ginetta G4

Ginetta G-4
One car really caught my eye last weekend at Miller Motorsports Park. It was a 1964 Ginetta G-4. This is the first Ginetta that I have ever seen. The one thing that really struck me was how small this car really is. This is/ was a real two seat sports car that when new was driven on the street and was road legal. Today it is a race car but the basis for the street car is still there.

The car was towed from California on an open flat trailer and had a removable hardtop. While the car was in the pit garage I measured the top of the driver's door and it came to the top of my kneecap. Dispite being a very small car it appeared to be big enough for me.

The engine in this car is a 1600 Lotus Twin Cam with twin Weber's.

Stohr WF-1 D-Mod Sports Racer

Last spring at Miller I came across three really pretty sports racers. They are all made by Stohr and are model WF-1. Stohr is pronounced store.

The chassis is a combination of carbon fiber with steel tube front and rear clips to support the engine and suspensions. The Stohr is comparable with Indy and F-1 in that those cars are required that the driver be surrounded by a carbon fiber survival cell. The Stohr is the only DSR (D sports racer) with this type of technology.

The Stohr WF-1 comes with full ground effects underbody. The rear tunnels are integrated into the full carbon fiber floor, the front carbon fiber diffuser balances out the grip to match that of the rear. The rear wing is made also of carbon fiber and weighs less than 5 pound. The rear wing is adjustable in 1-degree increments.

The WF-1 uses any modern 4-cylinder motorcycle engine. The power is transmitted through a Quaife differential via lightened CV joints and hollow half shafts. A lightweight aluminum radiator and large oil cooler cool the engine.

The suspension was developed by Ohlins engineers and driver Mark Jaremko. The WF-1 uses centrer-lock ultra-light racing wheels and Ohlins ST44 double adjustable shocks. The tire size is 8X13 in front and 10X13 in the rear. The uprights are machined from aluminum billet that have extra sleeves installed for increased wheel bearing strength and rigidity. The wheels bearings are large in size to withstand the high downforce that the car generates.

Wilwood billet aluminum brake calipers come with custom brake rotors that are full floating on lightweight aluminum billet hats. Stohr has gone with this expensive brake system as it provided a firmer pedal and longer rotor life. Tilton master cylinders with cockpit adjustable brake bias control are also installed as standard equipment.

The WF-1 weighs 795 pounds and had a wheelbase of 97 inches with a front track of 56 inches and the rear track is 54 inches.

Ooops

I made an ooops in my previous posting. Can you spot it?

Paul

The '59 MG & Sprite:

I guess you could also call this post "the good the bad and the ugly," I somehow mised the race on Saturday afternoon and therfore the action. Apparently during their race another car had spun and while trying to avoid the spinner the MGA and the Sprite came into contact. I first came across the MG and noted the dent and then when i saw a dent in the Sprite, clever me I sort of put two and two together. Asking around I found out what had happened. The spinner that caused the problem, well, he went on his merry way apparently none the wiser about what he had caused. Fortunatley the damage was not to serious and nobody was hurt. That's racing even in vintage racing.

1959 Austin Healey Sprite

Yesterday I posted some pictures of Boyd Mace's '59 MGA, today I am posting a few pictures of a 1959 Austin Healey Sprite driven by James Aretakis. I like the head rest on this car. sometimes for what ever reason I don't get enough information from the driver on his car. In this case he was working on his rear brakes and I did not want to bother him. Not only was this a real nice looking car it shared the garage with a McLaren M6 GT. Now how cool is that?

1959 MGA and Austin Healey Sprite:

1959 MGA and 1959 Austin Healey Sprite:

Last summer at Miller during the Thriller at Miller I came across two more British cars. Both cars were exceedingly well turned out. Unfortunately I did not spend a lot of time with the owners and therefore I did not get a lot of information about them.
The MG is a 1959 MGA and is/ was absolutely stunning. The paint was done in a very nice blue and silver. I don’t recall MG’s done in this combination back in ’59, but what ever it is very nice. The owner is Boyd Mace. Today I am posting a few photos of the MG. I hope that you will enjoy them. Tomorrow I will post photos of the Sprite and then some photos of both cars. This sounds like I have material for at least three days.

Ron's Sprite rebuild.

I know that I have been a little bit slack in posting stuff on this web site, but I have been busy with work and doing an article on Ron's Austin Healey Sprite rebuild. I wrote on of my longer articles with the help of Ron. I wanted to get the story right so I asked Ron to proof read and it to make sure it was correct.

I have posted two sets of photos along with the story of his re-build. I have one more set of photos that I will try and post either tonight or tomorrow. All I need is "time, time, time." Sometimes that is the most foul four letter word in my life. Never enough time.

Anyway check out my other web site. http://hotwheels-paul.spaces.live.com/

Thanks
Paul