[DeTomaso] ZF-can you imagine?

[Kirby Schrader]

And if some of you aren't aware... Mike Trusty and Jack Houpe in  
Arkansas both know the guy who owns 1075...
And his name is associated with Arkansas and a certain large store  
which you can probably guess...

The only car to win Lemans twice, as far as I know... Not just the  
same model, not just the same make... the SAME car!

Amazing....

That HAD to piss off Enzo big time... Last year's car handing him a  
loss AGAIN?
:-)

On 6 Mar 2009, at 6:41 PM, mikeldrew at aol.com wrote:

>
> 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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