Hairy Bikers and Other Petrol Heads

Osgood

Western Thunderer
:)):)):)):)):))

I loved every little detail about that - even the gimbal-mounted brass satnav globe.
And especially the start procedure.....
Even the warning signs (now where can I get those in the uk?).

Now then: if you have a spare frame - I have a spare D Type.......:eek:
 
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Eastsidepilot

Western Thunderer
Nice driving but I doubt if much of that dustbin came from Dagenham.

Being an Essex boy any Ford ( British ) was considered a dustbin :)) , but on a serious note being as it's a left hooker would the shell have come from Holland as I think Ford had a factory in Amsterdam ?........not up on my motors being a two wheel nut :D

Col.
 

Tim Humphreys ex Mudhen

Western Thunderer
According to the Michael's Vintage Racing website the car seems fairly original although the 175bhp quoted for it is pretty ambitious. They have an interesting list of British racing cars that they run.

Tim
 

Overseer

Western Thunderer
Watching the video I was wondering why the old Nascar car was so hopeless going round corners, then I remembered that Nascar races are on steeply banked tracks so they don't need to be built to go round corners on flat tracks.
 

Focalplane

Western Thunderer
Having raced much slower cars out in Malaysia and Singapore, I have to say that corners are the best part of normalizing a mixed bunch of racing cars. Many vintage and classic races (i.e. Goodwood) have a handicap arrangement which we used in South East Asia, though the formulae we used were far from accurate! I was delighted that the Lotus Cortina managed to reach the finish line ahead of the Olds, because I felt sure the Olds would catch up in the end along that fast straight. For once muscle lost out to finesse!

In the late 1990s I was invited by Gulf to Silverstone to watch their McLaren cars race against Porches etc. (but only 2 wheel drive). After a good lunch the drivers came in to tell us what we could expect. Rain was expected so they admitted that coming out of the corners they really had no idea where their cars would be pointing. An exciting race but Gulf was not in the prize money.
 

Eastsidepilot

Western Thunderer
Watching the video I was wondering why the old Nascar car was so hopeless going round corners, then I remembered that Nascar races are on steeply banked tracks so they don't need to be built to go round corners on flat tracks.

I was going to say that Nascars have the suspension and tyre pressures adjusted, usually on the rears only, even during pitstops to suit race conditions and the fact that they are racing anti clock around the oval, so that the set up will have a bias from the right side to left side of car.
But then why wouldn't you set the car up for a conventional circuit that has left and right hand bends, obviously I'd say it's down to weight of the cars, you can see in the video how the Cortina is quicker around the curves being lighter and with a more taught set up but slower on the straights due to lack of horse power.
It made for a fairly evenly match race between those two, as the driver says, he only just beat the big bruiser over the line by a car length, it storms past him just as he crosses the line.

Col.
 

Osgood

Western Thunderer
I don't think even a two-wheel scrambler could follow in the tracks of these MAN KATs (unless the rider wears a snorkel.....)!


Amazing capability - but unless there's something solid underneath it all to get a grip on they're no better than a 4x2 artic!
Edit: It's most likely they are all connected together in a train by straight bars.

This is what they look like without the mud:
MAN KAT.jpg
 
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Boyblunder

Western Thunderer
Amazing. I was just thinking they must have better door seals than any truck I've ever worked on when I noticed one had a door open. Damp.
 
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