Re: Alan Mann GT\'s
The Jones/Allen book TFTBF, has no specs, pictures or drawings of the chassis modifications. In the Alan Mann Racing chapter, the text states "The suspension design came under close scrutiny, being altered to give lower roll centres, less anti-dive at the front and less anti-squat at the rear." I would think the author should have said more anti-dive and anti-squat, not less. The modifications changed the centre of instantaneous rotation and the front camber, caster and toe adjustments were all made easy by a change in component design. The other references to modifications mostly relate to use of aluminum to reduce weight. The modifications were done by Abbey Pannels and the Alan Mann race team. AM GT40/1 and AM GT40/2 were the only 2 GT40 racecars ever built to receive all aluminum sheet metal bodywork. Documentation shows that a total of 5 sets of front and rear body panels were ordered. The other 3 Alan Mann built cars were MK II GTs'. The MK II cars were sent to Shelby American where Steele Therkleson and others helped ready the Alan Mann cars for the remainder of the 1966 events after LeMans Test Days. I just talked with Steele a few weeks ago. The 3 MK II cars received fiberglass front and rear body sections. Paul Hawkins removed the aluminum panels from AM GT40/2 in order to run in the sports racing group. AM GT 40/1 still has its original aluminum bodywork. No references are noted in the TFTBF book which refer to Paul Hawkins doing suspension modifications that I could find. The use of aluminum on the cars made them fit in the prototype classification.
