Anyone going to the 928uk oc meet?
12-05-2008, 07:02 PM
#31
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I build and run historic race cars for a living, most of my time is spent working on a mixture of McLaren M1B/C mid 60's Can Am small block cars plus a 1971 March 717 8.8 litre big block car. I also run a few saloons ranging from mid 50's MG Magnette, original Cooper S and a few mid 60's American V8 touring cars like the Ford Falcon Sprint and Mercury Comet Cyclone. The Can Am cars are my real passion, so it seemed appropriate. 
I walk past a M8D several times a day & have worked on a few Mustangs + Falcon + Dart for circuit racing. One of my street cars has 8.0ltrs 
12-05-2008, 07:26 PM
#33
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Original Mini Cooper! Lucky sod......i'm getting all nostalgic! My first car. Got a bit carried away with it and fitted a Metro turbo engine when I destroyed my 3rd unipart gold seal gearbox (bit of a theme with me and gearboxes ). Good job my dad was working for Beans engineering at the time......
). Good job my dad was working for Beans engineering at the time......
12-05-2008, 08:16 PM
#36
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Rare car. Denny drove 3 different M8D's that year, one was an M8E tub retrofitted to D spec at the end of the year. I haven't seen a factory car racing recently, the only active D in the country i know is John Grants M8C/D. Lovely cars, almost as good as the 717, 
which was designed after the M8F by the same designer, so had a few improvements over it. They are all awesome, not a lot to match them on sheer grunt and spectacle.
which was designed after the M8F by the same designer, so had a few improvements over it. They are all awesome, not a lot to match them on sheer grunt and spectacle.
12-05-2008, 08:47 PM
#37
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Rare car. Denny drove 3 different M8D's that year, one was an M8E tub retrofitted to D spec at the end of the year. I haven't seen a factory car racing recently, the only active D in the country i know is John Grants M8C/D. Lovely cars, almost as good as the 717, which was designed after the M8F by the same designer, so had a few improvements over it. They are all awesome, not a lot to match them on sheer grunt and spectacle.
which was designed after the M8F by the same designer, so had a few improvements over it. They are all awesome, not a lot to match them on sheer grunt and spectacle.
12-05-2008, 09:37 PM
#38
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I'm not that up on individual cars and where they are at now, it can be a complete minefield, but it looks like there were originally 4 M8D cars (including the car Bruce was killed in at Goodwood 
M8D-2 ), but there are now 5 M8D's accounted for as the damaged original M8D-4 (that had M8E-1 tub, it was the prototype M8E car back speced) tub was repaired later and built back up with parts from Trojan. The car that did most of the races was the damaged and then retubed with another M8E tub (80-10) car. Denny started the season in M8D-1, that was taken over by Motschenbacher when he got M8D-4 (that started as M8E-1 tub then was damaged and retubbed with 80-10), M8D-3 was the Gurney and Gethin car and that ended up in M8F spec later becoming the team spare for 71.
So there are now two M8D-4's, one with M8E-1 tub, one with 80-10 tub. It's all very confusing at times because they were changing the cars so often back then and repairing them on the fly, it wasn't unheard of for cars to have chassis plates swapped around to get the paperwork sorted quickly.
Hope to see you tomorrow Martin.
M8D-2 ), but there are now 5 M8D's accounted for as the damaged original M8D-4 (that had M8E-1 tub, it was the prototype M8E car back speced) tub was repaired later and built back up with parts from Trojan. The car that did most of the races was the damaged and then retubed with another M8E tub (80-10) car. Denny started the season in M8D-1, that was taken over by Motschenbacher when he got M8D-4 (that started as M8E-1 tub then was damaged and retubbed with 80-10), M8D-3 was the Gurney and Gethin car and that ended up in M8F spec later becoming the team spare for 71.So there are now two M8D-4's, one with M8E-1 tub, one with 80-10 tub. It's all very confusing at times because they were changing the cars so often back then and repairing them on the fly, it wasn't unheard of for cars to have chassis plates swapped around to get the paperwork sorted quickly.
Hope to see you tomorrow Martin.
12-08-2008, 07:14 PM
#40
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And nice to meet you John, I forgot to say that when you mentioned the March I thought there's somebody on PH who's mentioned a March, nice to see you on there as well. I hope some of what I said was helpful, I do tend to go on & on !
12-08-2008, 11:31 PM
#42
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Rare car. Denny drove 3 different M8D's that year, one was an M8E tub retrofitted to D spec at the end of the year. I haven't seen a factory car racing recently, the only active D in the country i know is John Grants M8C/D. Lovely cars, almost as good as the 717, which was designed after the M8F by the same designer, so had a few improvements over it. They are all awesome, not a lot to match them on sheer grunt and spectacle.
which was designed after the M8F by the same designer, so had a few improvements over it. They are all awesome, not a lot to match them on sheer grunt and spectacle.
12-09-2008, 12:10 AM
#43
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Hi Donald, Bruce was driving an M8B in that race, sadly he never got to race the M8D. Mario Andretti was driving a McLaren M6B Ford, which lost an engine, Chris Amon was the Ferrari driver in the 712P, which did it's engine also.
I would have loved to see these cars race in period, but to be able to keep them running and racing now is just fantastic. I've been lucky enough to drive the March Big Block Can Am car at Silverstone and the Goodwood FOS and there is nothing like them, incredible acceleration. I drove it indoors at a motorshow in Spain earlier in the year too, that was quite surreal with all the noise and proximity to concrete walls.
The 917/30 pretty much killed off Can Am (it was on it's way by then anyway but they gave it a good kick in that direction), Porsche were just too good for the opposition, as with most motorsport series when you get the serious manufacturers involved things go pear shaped. Mclaren tried to fight back with the M8F turbo, but the engine and gearbox wasn't strong enough to handle the torque. The Most fun response they made was when they slotted in a 10 litre Chevy for Denny to drive, went like stink for a while.
I would have loved to see these cars race in period, but to be able to keep them running and racing now is just fantastic. I've been lucky enough to drive the March Big Block Can Am car at Silverstone and the Goodwood FOS and there is nothing like them, incredible acceleration. I drove it indoors at a motorshow in Spain earlier in the year too, that was quite surreal with all the noise and proximity to concrete walls.
The 917/30 pretty much killed off Can Am (it was on it's way by then anyway but they gave it a good kick in that direction), Porsche were just too good for the opposition, as with most motorsport series when you get the serious manufacturers involved things go pear shaped. Mclaren tried to fight back with the M8F turbo, but the engine and gearbox wasn't strong enough to handle the torque. The Most fun response they made was when they slotted in a 10 litre Chevy for Denny to drive, went like stink for a while.
12-09-2008, 12:12 AM
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12-09-2008, 10:03 AM
#45
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John:
Thanks for the corrections & information- I promise; I really was there/here! I was in my last year or so of high school and I think they gave away tickets. Must be a real kick to drive one of those beasts, good for you.
And thank you for the link as well- just in time for Christmas wish list- amazing how primitive the courses were then.
Thanks for the corrections & information- I promise; I really was there/here!
I was in my last year or so of high school and I think they gave away tickets. Must be a real kick to drive one of those beasts, good for you.And thank you for the link as well- just in time for Christmas wish list- amazing how primitive the courses were then.