[DeTomaso] round table pizza car

[Charles Engles]

Dear Rich,
             That is an excellent report of an excellent day (morning) at the track. 
             Why are you still doing this?  I think the adage is that you've grown old, but you haven't grown up----and that is a good thing.

                           Warmest regards, Chuck Engles

-----Original Message-----
From: DeTomaso [mailto:detomaso-bounces at server.detomasolist.com] On Behalf Of Rich Hoppe
Sent: Sunday, June 07, 2020 8:00 PM
To: detomaso at detomasolist.com
Subject: [DeTomaso] round table pizza car

Let me start by saying I wanted the car to run at the Fun Rally and in Jan when I put gas in it the 2000 dollar fuel cells let the fuel run on the floor of my garage.

So it took 4 months to get the fuel cells custom built again for 3200 dollars.

I had the car on the Apex motorsports club track for the first time on Sat and it ran great.
I was running with all the $150k-$250k Porsche's RS c or something but I it did not embarrass the mark.

Porsche guys came up to me and said that car sounds so good.  I was driving kind of easy short shifting at  6500  to 7000.  Max hp is 7800.

It is a lot of car for this wheel man.   I need to install better brakes
and newer tires.
I have michelin sport cups but racing slicks would be better.
I thought I wanted to be able to install the original 15 inch race wheels that came with the car so decided to not install bigger rotors. I have wilwood brakes with rotors that fit under 15 inch wheel. Not big enough

Some of the Porsche's are better than this driver on the curves  but not by much and on the straights I show horsepower advantage.

So it was a great day. Only scared myself a few times.  No spins. Each lap is about 140 mph

I have been out on the track before with my Porsche 944 Turbo and I have spun each time out. The turbo and the balance of the car trick me.

I tell people and I believe that the Pantera has a little bit of Devil in it so I am trying to be more  careful when I drive it than the porsche.

It was only 72 to 93 degrees in Phoenix so it was a good day to run and it was fun. I started a7 am and was done by 10;30.  I am going to be 70 years old why do I still like to do this?
Rich