Hi all, Terrick here. Years ago, shortly after a fresh rebuild of
FrankenMotor in my '74 maple brown TR6 (block from a 68 TR 250, pistons
and rods from a 72, head from a '71, valves from something
else....c'mon, I'd owned the car for all of 4 hours before I blew the
"balanced, blueprinted bla bla bla motor it came with and those were all
the parts I had left to make a new one) I took a speed run to the lake.
There is a downhill grade just past Grand Beach (1 of Playboy's Top 10
beaches ofthe 70's - too bad I was only about 10 then) with a 70 degree
right followed by a nearly 90 degree right hander up an incline. For you
F1 fans, it's very much like a backwards Eau Rouge. FLAT OUT IN TOP,
SHOWING 6300 RPM, NEEDLE WAS BOUNCING BETWEEN 115 AND 120. THE CAR FELT
LIKE IT WAS PREPARING FOR LIFTOFF FROM ABOUT 110. I WONDER IF THAT'S WHY
THE TOP SPEED WAS "LIMITED" TO ABOUT 105?
I regularly ran my car at our local race track on the other side of the big
lake (Winnipeg) and on short tyres I get nearly a true 95 mph on a 1/3
mile straight. With the short tyres, that is also near redline.
I can't sa enough about the value of balancing the motor and gong with a
free flow exhaust and/or header on early cars. The difference in mid and
top end is fantastic!
Dve "Speed Rcer" Terrick.
PS. At our World of Wheels ISCA car show (in progress, in the show) a
former owner started to tell me about his '67 he sed to drag race with a
similar setup to my GT. I'll post ET's when he sends me photos and his old
trophies. ...said something about them looking good in front of the car
that looked "identical" to his!
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