Flathead ( Ford) Racer @ Teretonga

[Jac Mac]

I had the doubtful honour of doing several laps @ Teretonga in this car about 40 odd years ago, since then it has gone thru a lengthy restoration process where all the original handling traits have been faithfully preserved & perhaps even added to.. Watch and enjoy, to those of you from the top heavy side of the planet have a good look around at the scenery around the most southern racing circuit in the world ( If you can tear your eyeballs away from those skinny front wheels...YouTube - Flathead racing .wmv

 

[flatchat(Chris)]

Good one Jac,. There's a few of those old buzzards running around here ,usually in historic group K events -- nearly as quick as Cobras and Mx5s:laugh:
Most of the contraptions in this area are from the hands of a great character - Dick Vermeulan -- Chris Vermeulan's uncle ( Bike champ)

Anyway, they are good to watch and they do drive Flat Out !

 

[Ron Earp]

Very cool and great sound! I was just at a car museum in San Diego that had one of these style racers with a flathead Ford in it. Can't believe you guys can mix open wheel with closed wheel, the SCCA here would have a shit fit!

 

[Randy V]

Very nice!!!

Those skinny tires have their work cut out for them - that's for sure... Beautiful track too..

Having built and played with a number of Flatty V8s - every time I hear one up around 5,000 RPM, I can't help but thing about the crankshaft flexing like a spaghetti noodle while being restrained by 3 little main bearings... Totally amazing what they would live through though...

 

[Kevin L]

Great video, thanks for sharing

 

[Russ Noble]

Watch those front wheels pointing every which way. Guess its just as well he doesn't have to use one of his hands to change gears as well.

 

[Jac Mac]

IIRC the old girl was capable of doing the whole lap in top gear, but it was more convenient to shift into second for the elbow( entry to main straight ), in one of the laps I think mark downshifts into turn two,[ for grass track racing it had a clip/hook on the steering column that he used to lock it in second gear as these old tarts used to love jumping out of gear when abused] also Im told the sound interference is from the magneto.

On the occasion I drove it Stewy [owner] had done a few laps & told me to watch how much the outside front tyres rolled under while cornering, well I did a few laps and had a really good look around the car while it was under cornering loads, then came back to the pits & gave him the following list of things to 'look' at while doing his next stint;
1. stop looking at the front tyre & note how much the front wheel center's are deflecting.
2. after that notice that the brake drum is not spinning on the same plane as the wheel rim..
3. note the gap between brake drum & back plate is wider at top ( stub axle & or hub lugs bending!).
4. look at the split A-Frame where it attachs to rear axle tubes, in spite of being tight these were moving in roll due to chassis mounts now being approx 18" apart.

Its one of those cars, Flatchats [buggies] is a better description, that if you use plenty of nyloc nuts & leave all of the bolts just snug rather than really tight it would probably be a lot easier to drive

 

[Dalton Veitch]

Good grief!! No matter how much it has been restored, you'd need testicles like a bull to drive that machine. Great video, though.

 

[Ron Earp]

well I did a few laps and had a really good look around the car while it was under cornering loads, then came back to the pits & gave him the following list of things to 'look' at while doing his next stint;
1. stop looking at the front tyre & note how much the front wheel center's are deflecting.
2. after that notice that the brake drum is not spinning on the same plane as the wheel rim..
3. note the gap between brake drum & back plate is wider at top ( stub axle & or hub lugs bending!).

Whoa!

:stunned:

Another advantage to closed wheel cars. You can't see all that nasty stuff happening!

I'm wondering if folks quit racing because they get some sense.

R

 

[Jac Mac]

Yep, & then spend a large amount of their time trying to prevent others from making the same silly mistakes sometimes as with this car with little success... the rear end location is a classic example of the four sided triangle with that fourth side being of non fixed length or location, except no one has told the chassis that!!!

 

[Leon]

Great video Jacmac, I was thinking to my self that I hadn't seen him make a gear change and I was impressed as to how well it seemed to go getting past quite a few cars. At the start, that little Black car on his right is a Beautiful car. I had a good look at it at Timaru SFOS last year. and the guy on the left taking to grass almost, they drive pretty hard these Southern Boys, Great stuff!!! Cheers Leonmac.