[Healeys] 100 MPH Club

Gary R. Brierton gbrierton at hotmail.com
Wed Apr 11 05:59:30 MDT 2012


1968, on my honeymoon in my BJ8, one year out of the showroom.  My wife and 
I witnessed a rollover accident on a deserted stretch of two lane in Nevada. 
Using the excuse that we needed to get to the next town to notify the 
police, I put my foot down and held it down.  Just over 100 mph, there was a 
loud bang!  Threw out the clutch and coasted to a vibrating stop.  Looking 
under the hood, I initially saw no damage; no oil (well, no more than 
usual), no holes in the engine, no parts scattered about.  Then I saw that 
one fan blade had come off and was halfway buried in the cross-member just 
below the radiator.  If it had let go at any other point in it's rotation, 
the damage would probably been catastrophic, possibly including tire 
shredding.  Unbolted the remaining half-blade and continued back to 
Illinois.  Haven't topped 100 since.
Gary Brierton

-----Original Message----- 
From: Jack Feldman
Sent: Wednesday, April 11, 2012 7:34 AM
To: healeys at autox.team.net
Subject: Re: [Healeys] 100 MPH Club

I nearly did it in an MGC. As bad as they were are  can be made into great
road cars with a few suspension upgrades.

Left the annual MGC meet in Pensacola at 2:30AM. The ride to the freeway
was easy with no traffic. When I got the the freeway, with no traffic I let
it go. Unfortunately, I chickened out at 95MPH (well that *is* over
100kph).

With freeway almost all the way I did the 1,660 plus miles from Pensacola
to Downers Grove In about 18 hours, and that incuded the usual I65 backup
near the Borman in Indiana. The Borman is the rout you use to get around
the south end of Lake Michigan. All traffic going east or west to and from
the northern part of the country has to use it. It has been under
construction for as long as I can remember. I havent counted but my memory
is that it is as least 10 lanes wide as it approaches Illinois.

In honor of my advanced age I now leave for national meets at 4:30AM to try
to get past that Borman block.

Jack
60 BT7
69 MGC
72 MGBGT (now my road car with much modification)
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