Hi guys:
There seems to be some interest regarding the Superformance GT40 chassis and its level of originality. As most of you know, Pathfinder Motorsports is all about building the most accurate, competitive, and race-eligible GT40s available for a fraction of the price of a Gelscoe car.
It was because of their highly-accurate chassis that we selected Superformance to provide us with their licensed continuation rollers, and also why we have an exclusive partnership with Holman & Moody - one of Ford's original GT40 racing teams - to help us engineer and build very authentic GT40s for the track and street.
Alan Watkins is correct about how Holman & Moody MK II frames are different from the Superformance frame -
in the same way that the original Abbey Panels and Tennant Panels frames are different from the Holman & Moody frame. For more on this, I asked Lee Holman for some clarification and he kindly sent me the following to pass along:
Hi Alan:
Holman & Moody has been working with its partner Pathfinder Motorsports LLC for almost two years, serving as an advisor and builder of GT40R cars for both the track and street. During that time we have had the opportunity to carefully inspect the Hi-Tech/Superformance GT40 frame, and I can confirm that it is an extremely accurate copy of the 1966 frames built by Abbey Panels, and later Tennant Panels. I should know since I have almost a dozen of the original Tennant Panel frames in my shop.
What is also true is that many, if not most, GT40 frames were reinforced and modified by the various teams as a result of racing experience. Here at Holman & Moody, for example, we reinforced several areas of the original frames for our Ford GT40 Mk II program. It is for this reason that there are frequently differences between original frames as delivered from Abbey or Tennant, and those campaigned by Holman & Moody and other teams. The GT40 racing program was very dynamic with unique frame and other changes made to the different cars throughout the years. You might be interested to know that, back in the day, Ford required that after each race the race cars from Holman & Moody be sent to Shelby, and the race cars from Shelby be sent to Holman & Moody, so that each team could see the work and modifications the other team had made.
Regarding the Pathfinder Motorsports GT40Rs, we are very impressed with the quality and authenticity of the frames as they are delivered from Superformance. I believe the Superformance chassis is a very correct copy of the street GT40 that Ford built and sold in 1966. While a very good chassis, they were not intended to have, nor do they need, all of the changes or modifications required to race for 24 hours.
But just as with those original cars, Holman & Moody is making subtle but important improvements throughout the cars we are building in partnership with Pathfinder so as to offer the owner a competitive and reliable race car that is very close to the original race cars. And as you know, we are building several FIA HTP-compliant Holman & Moody/Pathfinder cars that are destined for racing in Europe.
I hope this clarifies some of the questions that have been raised regarding the Superformance GT40 frame. Looking forward to seeing you next week in Charlotte!
Warm regards,
Lee Holman
I have got to admit, one of the really cool aspects of my job is being able to work every week with a legend like Lee Holman - one of the few honest-to-goodness experts on the GT40.
The whole frame issue boils down to this: The frames we use on our GT40Rs are almost exact duplicates of the original frames as they were delivered from Abbey and Tennant Panels, but those original frames were rarely raced without some enhancement and structural modifications by the various racing teams. Just like today's race cars, improvements are made race-to-race, and so too was it back in the 1960's.
A good example is the Pathfinder GT40 shock reinforcement plate that was designed and built for us by Holman & Moody: It wasn't on the original Abbey Panels or Superformance chassis but evolved from street and track experience. This is just one of the upgrades that is now included in the Pathfinder/Holman Moody GT40R.
Interesting conversation guys! I hope this adds to it.
Alan