[DeTomaso] Mikey at Silver state Re: What a great car!

Mad Dog Antenucci teampantera at yahoo.com
Tue Nov 13 12:03:06 EST 2007


AJ,
  Good point!  I am confident that when (not if) Mikey joins us at silver state and writes his impressions of his run we will have to beat the media off with a stick. No one I know does a better job of describing the thrill of driving a pantera then Mike does.
   
  You go Mike! 
   
  Dawg

Asa Jay Laughton <asajay at asajay.com> wrote:
  So Mike,

You're gonna put Silver State on your list of to-dos for next year, right?

Asa Jay

Asa Jay Laughton, MSgt, USAFR, Retired

& Shelley Marie
Spokane, WA

1973 Pantera L 5533
[ASASCAT]

****************************** 
http://www.asajay.com
http://www.351c.info




MikeLDrew at aol.com wrote:
> Hi guys,
>
> I just came home from a trip around noon, to find absolutely stunning fall 
> weather here in northern California. The sun is peering through a high cloud 
> layer, the temperatures are in the high 60s or low 70s, and the leaves are in 
> full color, in some places rivalling anything seen in Vermont.
>
> (In fact the conditions remind me very much like fall in South Korea).
>
> After I sizzled my spindle and wheel bearing, and subsequently sourced 
> replacements and screwed the car back together, my Pantera has been back on the road 
> for a few weeks but it's only been used for a quick, ten-minute shakedown 
> run. I'm going to be working every day for the next week and a half, so today 
> is my only free day for awhile. There are plenty of things I need to do, but 
> with winter's onset not far away, I couldn't bear the idea of not taking the 
> Pantera out for a quick drive.
>
> The car fired right up, as it always does, and within 200 yards of my 
> driveway I was on two-land country roads. I have principally driven these roads 
> either in my Cobra (with mountains of torque for catapult-like launches out of 
> the corners), or my Sciroccos (whose Lotus Elise-matching low weight and 
> inspired chassis design allow for truly silly cornering speeds). Truthfully, the 
> roads that I was on are not ideally suited for a Pantera, but no matter. 
> Initially I was just plonking along at low rpm in 3rd gear (and often 2nd), 
> climbing a steep ridge on a paved road that's little more than a cow trail.
>
> Once down in the valley on the other side, I turned north onto a slightly 
> faster road, although one that is in a poor state, filled with ruts and whoops 
> etc, and cursed with a 45 mph speed limit. I wasn't keen on going all that 
> much faster, since I haven't driven the road recently enough to still have it 
> committed to memory. Eventually it opened up and became a bit faster, although 
> I was still being somewhat conservative.
>
> My Pantera is by *far* the most softly-sprung car in my fleet (in fact a fair 
> bit too soft for my tastes), and the front spoiler kissed the ground on one 
> particularly knarly one-sided whoop. I also noted that my motor is distinctly 
> lacking in any sort of bottom-end urge. The open-chamber heads (TRW forged 
> pop-up pistons giving 10:1 compression at least), rather peaky Comp Cams 
> camshaft and the GTS exhausts together conspire to make it somewhat doggy down 
> below 3000 rpm, and although the motor pulls straight through 6000 rpm, I'd rather 
> not rev the nuts off of it since the connecting rods and crank are stock.
>
> After 15-20 miles or so I came to a T-junction, and then followed a much 
> smoother road as it wound its way through a canyon alongside a river. This was 
> mostly 4th gear stuff, with an occasional drop down to 3rd for tight corners. 
> After climbing the hill and passing the dam, the character of the road 
> changed yet again, with alternating 3rd gear corners (either uphill or downhill) and 
> a few long straights with a few gentle kinks in them, where I was tempted to 
> open 'er up, but instead opted to plonk along at 70 mph or so in 5th gear 
> (given that it's still a 45 mph zone, and this area is where the cops periodically 
> hang out). I was amazed that I drove for mile after mile without 
> encountering any traffic whatsoever going in my direction. One truck appeared briefly 
> in front of me, and immediately pulled off, damn nice of him.
>
> On and on I went, analyzing the road conditions, admiring the beautiful 
> scenery, and listening to the car's various little noises (a sway bar bushing 
> squeak here, a spring perch clonk there, and occasionally the slight hiss of 
> sliding tires on a particularly tight corner). 
>
> Eventually I got to the intersection of Hwy 128 and 121, and elected to turn 
> around. Continuing would have taken me into the heart of the Napa valley, 
> with its associated traffic, and I would have had to then grind back around to 
> my house in freeway traffic--no thanks!
>
> So I did a 180 and headed back towards home. My confidence in both the road 
> conditions and the car were a bit higher, and so the speeds picked up 
> somewhat. I started to encounter a bit of traffic, and had to sit for a mile or two 
> behind a truck pulling a huge camper trailer before he pulled over. Right 
> away I then came across a VW Beetle who also quickly pulled off, and then a 
> small pickup loaded with junk.
>
> Everyone that pulled over for me received a cheerful toot of the Fiamm air 
> horns and a big smile and a wave of thanks. I also noted that I wasn't alone 
> in seeing the opportunity to exercise my car on this beautiful day; I exchanged 
> waves and beeps of the horn with the drivers of a Ferrari 308, Porsche 911 
> cabriolet, and a '67 Corvette convertible that I encountered going the other 
> way.
>
> After a small, tight, 2nd gear section I came across an older man in an Olds, 
> who immediately moved to the side to let me by; a Chevy Blazer coming the 
> other way saw what was happening and HE pulled over and motioned me past too! 
> Gotta love people like that!
>
> As I passed this guy, the road happened to be rather straight-ish, with huge 
> oak trees on either side (a most unforgiving form of vegetation should you 
> manage to impact it at speed). A group of four crotch-rocket riders was stopped 
> up ahead, and I saw them all look up appreciatively as they heard me storm 
> around the old man in 2nd gear, so I left my foot on the mat and zinged it up to 
> 5500 or so before selecting 3rd, keeping it there as I blasted past them; 
> they waved and got the Fiamm beep too.
>
> Still accelerating, I rounded a gentle bend and then as the road straightened 
> out, encountered a rather abrupt rise; while still hard on the gas in 3rd 
> gear, the suspension bottomed and then the car briefly left the road and launched 
> skywards, rpm shooting up for an instant before the car gently settled back 
> to the pavement again, lurching slightly on the balloon tires (crappy BFG 
> 305/50s on 10-inch Campys in the back). It must have sounded interesting to the 
> motorcyclists!
>
> Into 4th gear and off the gas, to slow back down to 65-70 or so for a 
> half-mile or thereabouts until crossing a narrow bridge with a 20 mph right corner on 
> the far side. Onto the brakes, down into 3rd gear and back into 'ambling' 
> mode...my general objective was to establish a controlled pace, whereby I'd 
> drive the car quickly, but not so fast that I was required to brake for every 
> approaching corner. Conserving momentum, and smoothly flowing from one corner 
> to the next was my chosen style (unlike when I'm in the Cobra, which is all 
> about full-throttle, wheel-spinning exits out of the corners and eyeball-popping 
> braking coming into the next ones!) I actually felt as though I was driving 
> quite slowly, until I would rush up behind a car that was practically parked 
> in the road in front of me, look down at the speedo and discover that he was 
> driving the speed limit (which meant that I most assuredly was not).
>
> I finally got home after about 75 miles of driving, with the car still 
> behaving perfectly (occasionally there's a bit of detonation, which might be down to 
> old gas/cheap gas/bad gas, must fill up with The Good Stuff next time and see 
> if it still does it). I left it idling in the street as I got out to open 
> the garage door (damn remote conked out about seven years ago, gotta fix that 
> someday), and I couldn't help but look over my shoulder at the car crouched 
> there with its front tires against the driveway, and think,
>
> "What a great car!!!!"
>
> Mike (no cruise control for me!)
>
>
> **************************************
> See 
> what's new at http://www.aol.com
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Mad Dawg Antenucci 
Team Pantera Racing 
  The 1st & still the only vintage race team in open road racing 
www.teampanteraracing.com



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