>Simon challenged:
>
>Golf, tennis, and anything involving weaponry has clearly gone the route
>you suggest. So what is your race car, a weapon of war to be made more
>effective at defeating the enemy, or a relic to be dusted off and
>exercised as it was, in the company of like-minded preservationists?
Brian riposted (keeping the dueling theme going):
Yes. My race car is both. And I see no conflict. I make my race car as
effective as possible by tuning, tweaking, and learning, using materials
and techniques current to the period. It's a living, breathing racecar,
not a snapshot of a race car. In the day, they probably didn't race the
same on Sunday as they did on Saturday, let alone over a period of
years. They developed them as hard and fast as they could, using the
technology they had access to, and within (mostly) the rules of the
class. So I see no conflict if I do the same.
What I don't do is re-create all the suspension pickup points to get
computer optimised roll curves, put 6 pot vented disc brakes on a car that
had drum brakes, etc. etc. etc. But if I put a 9/16" sway bar on the car,
when the factory shipped it with a 1/2" sway bar - no problem. If I run
different spring rates, or lower the car 3/4" in front, or use better brake
pads, no problem. That's in the spirit of *my* vintage racing. running
slicks on a 1965 sportscar ain't, running carbon fiber anything ain't,
running big brakes ain't, running an engine that hadn't been invented when
a car was made ain't.
Now, I've got friends who do run their cars as snapshots of time and
history. I think that's great. They love to get the most out of the hand
the car builder dealt, and they have a fine time doing it. I can't quite
get my head around the idea of big slicks, disc brakes, carbon fiber body
work on a 1930's Morgan Trike anyway...
Brian
Brian Evans
Director, Global Sales
UUNET, An MCI WorldCom Company
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