[DeTomaso] Bullfrog Blues

Mon Aug 17 08:32:07 EDT 2015

Tom, These mirrors had seen the track at Pocono several times 
previously.  Perhaps they cycled or flexed too many times for the 
aluminum.  Eventually, it may catch up with you as well.

On 8/16/2015 9:18 PM, Tom Shinrock wrote:
> I've had those mirrors on my car for 28 years, during which I did many 
> a track event (and even a trip or two to Phoenix at well over the 
> speeds you encountered) and never experience any problems with the 
> mirrors.
>
> Tom
> 5186
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: John Taphorn <jtaphorn at kingwoodcable.com>
> To: De Tomaso List <DeTomaso at poca.com>
> Sent: Sun, Aug 16, 2015 6:02 pm
> Subject: [DeTomaso] Bullfrog Blues
>
> My son and I took the Bullfrog , my green Pantera, for a drive to 
> Texas World Speedway today. Rob Pink was running his 240z at the track 
> and we thought we would spectate. About 1 mile from the track, the 
> highway narrows and I thought it unlikely the local gendarmes would be 
> on this section as the shoulders are narrow with no safe place to pull 
> over or park with a radar gun. The speed limit is 75 so I hammered the 
> throttle. I not absolutely certain of the velocity, and it may be 
> foolish to disclose on a public forum, however, it was well into 
> triple digits and fast enough to blow off my drivers side Vitaloni 
> mirror. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw it twist. I quickly 
> released the throttle, yet too late as it separated from the Pantera. 
> Fortunately, it did not smack up against the car. I assumed that I had 
> carelessly allowed the set screw to loosen that holds the assembly to 
> the bracket attached to the car. Those personal errors make me upset. 
> When we arrived at the track I had an opportunity to better inspect 
> the problem. To my surprise, the mounting pieces were all still in 
> place and tight. Rather, the aluminum casting surrendered to the air 
> onslaught. This is rather bazaar. See the attached pics to compare 
> with the passenger side mirror. I did not recover the actual mirror. I 
> could not pull over for over a .5 mile down the road and it was not a 
> safe section of highway to walk. I can't imagine that there was much 
> left of the mirror tumbling down the pavement at that speed. I had a 
> lot of time spent prepping that piece for paint - oh well. Perhaps, I 
> had the bad draw of a poor casting. Has anyone else suffered this fate 
> with the Vitaloni. Now, I need to find another matching mirror and 
> convince myself that I had a bad aluminum casting. Maybe I just need 
> to slow down. I was channeling Art Stephens. Dave Hall, what mirror do 
> you have on Limezotica? Those were awesome. JT
> _______________________________________________ Detomaso Forum Managed 
> by POCA Posted emails must not exceed 1.5 Megabytes DeTomaso mailing 
> list DeTomaso at poca.com <mailto:DeTomaso at poca.com> 
> http://poca.com/mailman/listinfo/detomaso_poca.com To manage your 
> subscription (change email address, unsubscribe, etc.) use the links 
> above.
>

-------------- next part --------------
   Tom, These mirrors had seen the track at Pocono several times
   previously.  Perhaps they cycled or flexed too many times for the
   aluminum.  Eventually, it may catch up with you as well.

   On 8/16/2015 9:18 PM, Tom Shinrock wrote:

     I've had those mirrors on my car for 28 years, during which I did
     many a track event (and even a trip or two to Phoenix at well over
     the speeds you encountered) and never experience any problems with
     the mirrors.

   Tom

   5186
   -----Original Message-----
   From: John Taphorn [1]<jtaphorn at kingwoodcable.com>
   To: De Tomaso List [2]<DeTomaso at poca.com>
   Sent: Sun, Aug 16, 2015 6:02 pm
   Subject: [DeTomaso] Bullfrog Blues
My son and I took the Bullfrog , my green Pantera, for a drive to Texas
World
Speedway today.  Rob Pink was running his 240z at the track and we
thought we
would spectate.  About 1 mile from the track, the highway
narrows and I
thought it unlikely the local gendarmes would be on this
section as the
shoulders are narrow with no safe place to pull over or
park with a radar
gun.

The speed limit is 75 so I hammered the throttle. I not absolutely

certain of the velocity, and it may be foolish to disclose on a public

forum, however, it was well into triple digits and fast enough to blow
off
my drivers side Vitaloni mirror.  Out of the corner of my eye, I saw
it twist.
I quickly released the throttle, yet too late as it separated
from the
Pantera.  Fortunately, it did not smack up against the car.

I assumed that I
had carelessly allowed the set screw to loosen that
holds the assembly to the
bracket attached to the car.  Those personal
errors make me upset.  When we
arrived at the track I had an opportunity
to better inspect the problem. To my
surprise, the mounting pieces were
all still in place and tight.  Rather, the
aluminum casting surrendered
to the air onslaught.  This is rather bazaar.
See the attached pics to
compare with the passenger side mirror.

I did not
recover the actual mirror.  I could not pull over for over a
.5 mile down the
road and it was not a safe section of highway to walk.
I can't imagine that
there was much left of the mirror tumbling down the
pavement at that speed.  I
had a lot of time spent prepping that piece
for paint - oh well.  Perhaps, I
had the bad draw of a poor casting.
Has anyone else suffered this fate with
the Vitaloni.

Now, I need to find another matching mirror and convince myself
that I
had a bad aluminum casting.  Maybe I just need to slow down.  I was

channeling Art Stephens.

Dave Hall, what mirror do you have on Limezotica?
Those were awesome.

JT

_______________________________________________

Detomaso Forum Managed by
POCA
Posted emails must not exceed 1.5 Megabytes
DeTomaso mailing
list
[3]DeTomaso at poca.com
[4]http://poca.com/mailman/listinfo/detomaso_poca.com

To
manage your subscription (change email address, unsubscribe, etc.) use the links
above.

References

   1. mailto:jtaphorn at kingwoodcable.com
   2. mailto:DeTomaso at poca.com
   3. mailto:DeTomaso at poca.com
   4. http://poca.com/mailman/listinfo/detomaso_poca.com