[DeTomaso] ZF-can you imagine?

[michaelsavga at gmail.com]

Yes
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-----Original Message-----
From:	Curt Hall <cuvee at sbcglobal.net>

Date:	Fri, 6 Mar 2009 16:58:11 
To: <MikeLDrew at aol.com>; <asajay at asajay.com>
Cc: <JDeRyke at aol.com>; <detomaso at realbig.com>; <kmaguire at landrovermiramar.com>
Subject: Re: [DeTomaso]   ZF-can you imagine?


So...Do think the Big three are failing because of poor quality or poor Management?

--- On Fri, 3/6/09, asajay at asajay.com <asajay at asajay.com> wrote:

From: asajay at asajay.com <asajay at asajay.com>
Subject: Re: [DeTomaso]   ZF-can you imagine?
To: MikeLDrew at aol.com
Cc: JDeRyke at aol.com, detomaso at realbig.com, kmaguire at landrovermiramar.com
Date: Friday, March 6, 2009, 4:50 PM

Oh I long for those days of rocket science being used in the racing  
world.  Maybe we wouldn't have three failing giant car companies if  
they just kept it up.

just my two cents
Asa Jay

Quoting MikeLDrew at aol.com:

>
> In a message dated 3/6/09 12 35 0, JDeRyke at aol.com writes:
>
>
>> Ford, being distrustful of the durability of the
>> 'exotic' ZF, developed their own trouble-prone transaxle for
big-block GT-40
>> racers, and had constant tranny trouble.
>>
>>>> Well, not 'constant' trouble.   They got their doors
blown off at Le Mans
> in 1965 because a subconstractor, in haste to deliver gears on time,  
>  failed to
> properly harden them, and all the big-block GT40s conked out.   So
that's
> once, which isn't "constant".   Ford pretty much pulled back
at that  
>  point and
> spent the rest of the season developing the Mk II to prepare for Le Mans
the
> next year, leaving privateers to campaign Mk Is throughout Europe and
South
> Africa.
>
> If you read the SAE papers on the development of the GT40, written by the
> Ford engineers who did the work, it's really quite astounding.     
> They approached
> the problem of winning Le Mans with the same dedication and scientific
> approach that NASA used to put a man on the moon; the testing,   
> data-acquisition and
> computer calculations were probably very comparable both in type and  
>  quantity.
>  This was something unique in the world of motorsports at that point; by
> contrast, the efforts of the Italians and the Germans were downright  
>  laughable.
> They would just shrug their shoulders, build something, then go race it
and
> see if it worked.   Meanwhile, Ford engineers could tell you the   
> exact service
> life of ever single gear, and every single bearing inside the T44   
> gearbox, and
> accurately predict when and why they would fail--all because of scientific
> design coupled with extensive laboratory and real-world testing.
>
> By the 1966 season they'd ironed out the gearbox details, and they
proved to
> be extremely reliable; I'm not aware of any failures after that?     
> There might
> have been one or two, but they were certainly unusual by that point.   The
> T44 gearbox actually consisted of standard Ford top-loader   
> four-speed internals
> mated to a unique differential unit, housed in a magnesium case.   It was
> carried over to the 1967 Ford GT Mk IV unchanged.
>
> Ford also experimented with a two-speed automatic, and one raced at
Sebring
> in 1966, but failed to finish, and eventually that program was shelved.
>
> The T44 was very much tied to the big-block 427, and when the rules were
> changed to outlaw engines over 5 liters for the 1968 season, Ford   
> pulled out of
> racing (their point had been proven by this point), leaving   
> privateer teams to
> continue to campaign the older small-block Mk 1 design, all of which  
>  by now ran
> the ZF Dash-0 gearbox.   Suitably updated with ever-wider bodywork
covering
> ever-wider wheels, fitted with vented rotors and bigger, better Girling
> calipers, and engines that didn't eat head gaskets like popcorn   
> (unlike those in the
> 1964-66 Mk 1 cars, which had terrible engine reliability problems stemming
> from head gasket issues), against all odds John Wyer Associates   
> (JWA) managed to
> win Le Mans two more times, with the same car, P/1075, in '68 and
'69, which
> didn't bother Ford one bit, since it hadn't cost them anything!
>
> Mike
>
>
>
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