[DeTomaso] 5100miles to Le Mans and back!

Tue Jul 22 17:06:39 EDT 2008

Hi all

Lisa and I came home this weekend after more than 5100miles on the road 
in our Pantera. We drove all the way from the top off Norway, to the 
south, spent a couple off weeks there before we headed down to the Le 
Mans Classic meeting. Last week we drove all the way back.

When my old Cleveland engine called it a night on a track day last year 
after a lot off previous small breakdowns, I decided to go for something 
else.
I was never satisfied with the performance, the rpm willingness, and the 
reliability from my previous Cleveland engine. I know that you can build 
a very healthy Cleveland which would take a lot off beating, and last 
for many years. To me it seems to be so many traps you can fall into, 
and also quite expensive if you choose to go for the best parts.
I was being tempted by modern technology that the Ford modular engine 
offered. I had planned to either build a supercharged or turbocharged 
engine myself, but instead I bought a mostly finished engine once built 
by Lance Nist. It is a crate 4,6 litre Cobra dohc engine with twin turbo 
chargers. It has some clever solutions with the inter cooler built into 
the plenum.(Lightning style) , and the water cooled oil cooler is a 
built together with the oil filter. The front of the engine does not 
intrude into the firewall so it is possible to build a flat engine 
cover, and of course it is a direct fit onto the zf.
I changed the engine this spring, and we barely got it on the road a 
week before we started on the long trip.
The whole trip went smoothly beside the fan drive belt breaking twice, 
and I had to replace the water pump because off insufficient water flow 
at low engine rpms.

I am very satisfied with the performance from this engine even if the 
dyno test was showing a bit lower numbers than expected.  It delivers 
torque right from the start, and at 3100rpm it is at its peak torque 
(510lb/ft). The torque curv stays flat for another 500rpm before it 
begins to fall. The max hp (500) is reached at 6000 rpm, and stays flat 
to 7500rpm.
With some bigger turbos the numbers could have been much higher, but I 
think that the temper off this engine suits the Pantera very well. It is 
also fun to be able to rev more than 7000 rpm without being afraid that 
the engine should explode any second.

The LeMans Classic is a very fun event to attend to and I would 
recommend any car nut on the forum to come over to the next Classic in 2010.
I'll be there, but I can not guarantee that  we will drive the Pantera 
though. It is very expensive with todays gas prices. Imagine how 
expensive it is going to be in a couple off years.

Best regards

Kjetil, and Lisa
Norway

Patrick Hals wrote:pm
> Candy 2862 did extraordinary well at the most important European Classic event, ( by far) beating all 4 other Panteras in plateau 6 ( from 1972 to 1979 ) with a stricly legal 351 Cleveland ( not a huge stroker, just legal 351 CI )  The second Pantera ( my ex PNX194 that I bought in 2004 from Phil Stebbings, the UK DT club secretary )  ) finishes at more than 9 minutes.... There were close to 100.000 people attending the event. 
>     Not the slightest problems during the 5 sessions of 50 minutes ee we aach, except a flat tyre due to debris on the track at night in practice ( many others had the same prob, there were some very bad crashes, anywhere you hit the fence in Le Mans, it is VERY  bad for the car and the driver, because of the very high speed everywhere , and the narrow track size ) 
>     Thanks to all of you who helped me with the 18 months nightmares cooling prob, and more especially Guy Trigaux, John Taphorn and Mad Dawg :>)) Without your wise advises, I'd probably have quit after 5 or 10 minutes. Pat Mical did a really great job with my 4 new improved A arms ( 20 seconds faster than 2 years ago with the Warhol Pantera, with the very same engine !!!! ) Do you know that Candy at Le Mans used a rear set of ultra soft Avon 15-26-15 slick tyres... It was glued to the road, and was, still, slipping in the Dunlop curve, challenging prototypes successfully... this is to tell you the car was going like a missile. ( I was able to follow a very good ex Reggazzoni 1979 M1 BMW¨Procar on the track) 
> Mike Drew shot thousands of photos from places on the track where I wouldn't stay if I was sober....( but Mike is so young and unconscious, and still drinks Budweiser :>)) Thanks also to the clubs who came from all over Europe , sometimes from very far ( Hi Charles, Phil, Geoff, Colin, Roger, Kjetil, Lisa, Roberto, Florence, Anne Françoise, Stéphane, Giuseppe, Carla Bruni, Pamela Anderson, Brad Pitt, Arnold Shw.... ) to visit and encourage me. Special thanks to my dedicated, passionate and competent French mechanics, Rodolphe, Jean Phi and Dominique. Now that I have them instead of Belgian ones, the car works as it should ( this is Europe, man :>))) Also, the fact that Candy was wearing Dawg's "Team Pantera Racing - some fear" on the front spoiler really helped improving the lap time :>))
>     Classification and all other results can be found on www.lemansclassic.com ( grid 6, number 56, in the results section ). Look at Google "Le Mans Classic 2008" for other pics. They'll keep coming in in the next few days.
>     I finish 23rd overall, 7th in GT class  ( there were more than 70 cars participating in my grid ) and 13 th in the performance index classification )
>     Best Pantera at Le Mans, best lap time... beating lots and lots of protos !!! 
>     Will be back with more details as soon as possible ( back to work.... )
>     Unforgettable souvenirs... see my website in a couple of weeks for a full story and tons of pics  www.detomasogr4.com ) 
>     I thank you all for your support and continuous enthusiasm.
>     I am glad and proud I have been able to give the marque its right place at Le Mans . Get your airline tickets NOW for the 2010 edition. I will see you all at Vegas next year , with news about the ADA Pantera LM too. 
> Now, Dawg's idea about a US Pantera team at LMC is just a great idea, ( the Warhol car is still for sale, but the price has just raised :>)) but the US drivers will have to learn what high speed driving and extreme braking really means ( just pulling your leg, folks :>)) 
> Christophe d'Ansembourg is a major shareholder of the Inbev family ( the company that bid over Bud ), and he drove a 917 Porsche in plateau 5. Christophe is a very good friend of mine, and one of my neighbours in Brussels. His car unfortunately had an engine problem ( more expensive on a 917 than on a Pantera .... ) but he can manage this, I'm sure. Keep drinking Bud !
>     Pat
>     2862 - 2342 - 9628 - 3679
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