Bill and Sal,
Pardon my ignorance. I have not seen any of the aforementioned cars in person.
I naturally assumed that the information in the Holland Triumph Club web page
was accurate. The information states that the picture is a replica of the
Lemans Spitfire. Webster defines replica as "a close reproduction or
facsimile.... COPY, DUPLICATE." Naturally, I assumed that as a replica, the
cars were true to the original. Apparantly, not so in this case. I learn
something new every day. "Old dog...New Trick."
Thanks for the info.
Joe Curry
Bill and Sal Birney wrote:
> Listers (but not of the red dwarf kind, the poms will understand)
>
> >1. The segment on spitfires showed works race cars which had a
> >"hatchback" like appearance.
>
> Somebody will probably beat me to the punch, but here goes (problem with a
> massive time difference)!.
>
> The works Spitfires used at Le Mans used a fibreglass hardtop, which was
> produced from a mould taken from the first prototypes of the GT6, so in fact
> the GT6 begat the works Spitfire looks, not the other way around (this was
> already reported by someone earlier). The cars retained the panel behind the
> seats (between the cockpit and the boot lid), with no bootlid being used.
> These hardtops mimic the GT6 in coming down to the top of the rear valance.
> A small bootlid/hatch was used in some of the cars (especially the rally
> versions) to allow access the the boot area from outside the car. A large
> "monza" type of fuel filter was fitted to the side of the hardtop, directly
> behind the driver (rhs). Other body mods included the rampant use of
> aluminium, the fairing in of the headlights, and a much reduced grill
> opening at least (ie that's what you can see from the published photo's I've
> seen)
>
> The hardtops in the URL supplied by Joe Curry are "Ashley" hardtops, and
> have the cut off rear, and a larger bootlid, they were a period after market
> accessory. In fact the blue car is written up in the latest Triumph World.
>
> As an aside, the factory were also developing a works GT6 entery for Le Mans
> when the competition department was scaled (or shut) down. This was the
> GT6R, there are a couple of pictures of the engine compartment, complete
> with triple webers, in Graham Robsons "the Works Triumphs".This car would
> have been quite radically different to the road cars it can be assumed
> (after all the 'works' Spitfires had aluminium shells, 8 port 1147 engines,
> a radically different aerodynamic shape etc, etc)
>
> As another aside, a company from Scotland (Chic Doig is how they spell it I
> think) had a part completed Le Mans Spitfire replica at the TSSC
> International Meeting last year (and yes I did want to hide it in my
> backpack and take it home with me).
>
> Time to get off the soap box,
>
> Bill and Sal Birney
> '70 GT6+ (RHD)
> '67 Spitfire MkII (Sal's)
> birneybs@onaustralia.com.au
--
"Thanks to the Interstate Highway System, it is now possible
to travel across the country coast to coast without seeing
anything." -- Charles Kuralt
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