Andrew Longman
11-08-10, 01:50 PM
... stop here http://www.simeonefoundation.org/
My folks took me (and son Nicholas -- Trevor had to take SATs :p) there Saturday as a birthday gift.
Very cool collection :D:thumbup:
Vic Elford spoke for an hour.
And they ran in the parking lot the 917, and the Havoline 962 that won Sebring twice and a recreation of the 911 that Elford drove in the 1967 Monte Carlo Rally.
A few notables... Vic described the differences between racing for Porsche and Alfa. Porsche engineers spent a month following LeMans trying to figure out why the 917 would only do 245mph instead of the 250 their calculations predicted. They found they had not calculated that the tires would grow 2mm at that speed and increase the height and drag of the car. :eek:
Alfa engineers, no matter the continent they traveled to, were first and most concerned about the state and location of their canteen. After all they needed all the right pasta and sauce pots and such to make the nourishment they needed to work properly on the cars. :D
The 917 had, to put it kindly, all the craftsmanship and safety engineering of a 40 year old RV camper. Just 3/4" spider tubing and rough fibreglass. I think the safety belt was the only safety consideration I saw. OTOH, 15 years later the 962 was a beauty of engineering with much thought to safety, fit and finish.
The differences in engines was considerable too. 917 = boxer 12 with two distributors, 24 spark plugs 12 intake trumpets (of "cheap looking" fiberglass too) and a transaxle that looked to weigh about 1000 pounds. The 962 had a tidy V6 and transaxle but with a massive chrome turbocharger.
They both looked and sounded marvelous though and I only wish I could have seen either one at full anger. ;)
My folks took me (and son Nicholas -- Trevor had to take SATs :p) there Saturday as a birthday gift.
Very cool collection :D:thumbup:
Vic Elford spoke for an hour.
And they ran in the parking lot the 917, and the Havoline 962 that won Sebring twice and a recreation of the 911 that Elford drove in the 1967 Monte Carlo Rally.
A few notables... Vic described the differences between racing for Porsche and Alfa. Porsche engineers spent a month following LeMans trying to figure out why the 917 would only do 245mph instead of the 250 their calculations predicted. They found they had not calculated that the tires would grow 2mm at that speed and increase the height and drag of the car. :eek:
Alfa engineers, no matter the continent they traveled to, were first and most concerned about the state and location of their canteen. After all they needed all the right pasta and sauce pots and such to make the nourishment they needed to work properly on the cars. :D
The 917 had, to put it kindly, all the craftsmanship and safety engineering of a 40 year old RV camper. Just 3/4" spider tubing and rough fibreglass. I think the safety belt was the only safety consideration I saw. OTOH, 15 years later the 962 was a beauty of engineering with much thought to safety, fit and finish.
The differences in engines was considerable too. 917 = boxer 12 with two distributors, 24 spark plugs 12 intake trumpets (of "cheap looking" fiberglass too) and a transaxle that looked to weigh about 1000 pounds. The 962 had a tidy V6 and transaxle but with a massive chrome turbocharger.
They both looked and sounded marvelous though and I only wish I could have seen either one at full anger. ;)