flatchat(Chris)
Supporter
What's the part you need Ollie ?? We could hand carve another one for you /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
Need some help
- Thread starter StiggF99
- Start date
Ron McCall
Supporter
[ QUOTE ]
There is always a tuffguy!!! Go figure
[/ QUOTE ]
You started it ! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/loser1.gif
And by your picture,I figured you could handle it . /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif
Let's see some pictures of your car.
There is always a tuffguy!!! Go figure
[/ QUOTE ]
You started it ! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/loser1.gif
And by your picture,I figured you could handle it . /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif
Let's see some pictures of your car.
Ron McCall
Supporter
Fran ,
Clean out your PM box!!!!!
Clean out your PM box!!!!!
Jim Rosenthal
Supporter
The original GT40 monocoques were pressed steel shapes that were welded into a complete tub by a metal fabricating company named Abbey Panels. This was how virtually all race cars were constructed in those days, to the best of my knowledge. The only exceptions of which I know are the Ferrari P series cars, which used the engine as a stressed chassis member, and Chaparrals, which used a chassis built of FRP- fiberglass cloth, and epoxy and polyester resins. They were both well ahead of their time. I don't think the construction of GT40s was particularly unusual for their time; what WAS unusual was the use of computer aided design, which was in its' infancy then, and the way that all the various parts were made to function as a whole. I do think that the finished tub was very strong and very stiff especially for its' weight. The basic tub was able to take the additional power of the big block Ford engine with very little modification.
The structure of the Mark IV car was different. It was made of a rigid honeycomb aluminum/composite thermoset by being baked in an oven to cure it, reinforced with rivets in rows. I think the material was a Brunswick product- at least they had a hand in building the chassis. I also recall someone telling me that the basic material and construction technique had been adapted from the aircraft industry.
The Mark V chassis were a simplification of the original Abbey Panels tub design, modified by Len Bailey ( I think is the name) the engineer/designer who is responsible for the way the GT40 looks. The Mark V chassis were simpler to build and did not require the machine tool capability of a plant like Abbey Panels (which was no longer in the chassis business at the time the Mark V cars were begun).
The Abbey tubs are rather complex and contain a variety of stiffening ribs etc which are difficult to duplicate if you don't have a bunch of large presses handy. The simplified Mark V tubs are just as rigid, from what I've read. When you see them side by side, you can really understand how the design evolved over time and how it had to be adapted to different times and different construction methods.
The structure of the Mark IV car was different. It was made of a rigid honeycomb aluminum/composite thermoset by being baked in an oven to cure it, reinforced with rivets in rows. I think the material was a Brunswick product- at least they had a hand in building the chassis. I also recall someone telling me that the basic material and construction technique had been adapted from the aircraft industry.
The Mark V chassis were a simplification of the original Abbey Panels tub design, modified by Len Bailey ( I think is the name) the engineer/designer who is responsible for the way the GT40 looks. The Mark V chassis were simpler to build and did not require the machine tool capability of a plant like Abbey Panels (which was no longer in the chassis business at the time the Mark V cars were begun).
The Abbey tubs are rather complex and contain a variety of stiffening ribs etc which are difficult to duplicate if you don't have a bunch of large presses handy. The simplified Mark V tubs are just as rigid, from what I've read. When you see them side by side, you can really understand how the design evolved over time and how it had to be adapted to different times and different construction methods.
Excellent info Jim, but I would question your remark that "most racing cars" of the time were steel monocoques. I'm no expert(but am very old!)and would comment that the vast majority of 60s racers were either rivetted aluminium monocoque and/or steel spaceframe construction. As for the original GT40,I don't know if it was unique - but I don't know of another pure racing car with steel monocoque. The story goes that Henry Ford wanted the the GT40 to reflect the construction of the road cars so insisted on a steel monocoque and I suppose that as a road version was launched later, Ford could always claim that the GT40 was a close relative of the Ford Cortina !
