Original MKII GULF LH Drive?
- Thread starter Alfonso
- Start date
That's P1015, which came in second at LeMans 1966. All original GT40s were right hand drive except for a few of the MKIIIs.
If any of you, usually driving in LH cars, have drove in England sure experienced many problems..at least during first days, but I've never drove a RH car in a LH road...... Any of you could expalin how is the handling of a RH in a LH road? I ask the question because to me the perfect looking option is the RH car with sill shifter but I dont dare on it...even in my country its a handicap for resale value
Cheers
Alfonso
Cheers
Alfonso
Alfonso,
I debated RH or LH but, decided on LH as I use my fun cars on the road putting on 3-4K miles/yr in 300 mile trips /outing ...Was concerned especally with passing situations (passing trucks in a LH country with RH drive)..So settled on my SPF MK11 (clone of 1015 Miles/Hulme car..exact but, without the red front fender tops and meatballs static cling not painted) with LH drive and center rod shift (I didn;'t want cable but, that's personal desire and not needed) and a 427FE block like original.
All replicas are clones (not original) so all have some compromises and we each arrive at our own compromise threashold (my car represents my threashold)...Was also considering a T44 transaxle but, where I use the car for more pleasure than race here again compromised for roadability.
See my car pics in Superformance Forum under "P2125 on the road ect"
Regards, Steve
ps...let us know what you decide but, I would recommend you talk with Olthoff Racing for your needs.
I debated RH or LH but, decided on LH as I use my fun cars on the road putting on 3-4K miles/yr in 300 mile trips /outing ...Was concerned especally with passing situations (passing trucks in a LH country with RH drive)..So settled on my SPF MK11 (clone of 1015 Miles/Hulme car..exact but, without the red front fender tops and meatballs static cling not painted) with LH drive and center rod shift (I didn;'t want cable but, that's personal desire and not needed) and a 427FE block like original.
All replicas are clones (not original) so all have some compromises and we each arrive at our own compromise threashold (my car represents my threashold)...Was also considering a T44 transaxle but, where I use the car for more pleasure than race here again compromised for roadability.
See my car pics in Superformance Forum under "P2125 on the road ect"
Regards, Steve
ps...let us know what you decide but, I would recommend you talk with Olthoff Racing for your needs.
Alfonso thats the mk II I was talking about.These are not Gulf colors although it looks like.Idrive a RH car in Belgium and besides passing cars I don't find it hard to drive.And maybe its best that its not easy to pass other cars because we have many speed cameras and I would lose my drivers license all the time.Believe me its hard to respect the speed limits in a forty.Alfonso in 2005 I spoke to some spanish people on the "american power on wheels"meeting in august in Belgium since they wanted to buy my forty.You don't happen to be one of them.Emiel
Alfonso,
I have driven LH cars in a RH world (Mustang in England) and RH cars in a LH world (Jaguar D-type in the USA). You will quickly find that you adapt, and it's no problem.
A proper right-hand-drive GT40 with right-hand shifter will always be worth more than a LHD car, in my opinion. Certainly they are worth more in the USA.
I have driven LH cars in a RH world (Mustang in England) and RH cars in a LH world (Jaguar D-type in the USA). You will quickly find that you adapt, and it's no problem.
A proper right-hand-drive GT40 with right-hand shifter will always be worth more than a LHD car, in my opinion. Certainly they are worth more in the USA.
emiel,
Although I have no experience with RH in a LH world I was cautioned about a RH used mostly in highway and back road driving so for me I feel more comfortable with LH and decided to put the cost difference in Olthoff's center rod shift/original shift mech and plate ect. vs the std cable and boot arrangement......Again to me these are all replicas and none will be exact like original (even Hollman's isn't exact) so there are personal compromises in all.
As to $ resale value....I like many of us do these cars for personal desire/pleasure not resale (at least I did'nt do for resale...if I had I would have bought a FORD GT;looked at but not what I wanted). BTW just sold my Cobra after 8 yrs and with 25,000 mi for almost what I paid new (never had that experience with any other car sale and if I ever sell P2125 I will be happy to replicate that but, not concerned if I don't)!
One more thing to consider with the RH and sill shift is ENTRY and EXIT...Try it before you buy and make sure you will be happy . Not saying bad for all but, for me using ther car as a road car it was a deciding factor.
Steve
Although I have no experience with RH in a LH world I was cautioned about a RH used mostly in highway and back road driving so for me I feel more comfortable with LH and decided to put the cost difference in Olthoff's center rod shift/original shift mech and plate ect. vs the std cable and boot arrangement......Again to me these are all replicas and none will be exact like original (even Hollman's isn't exact) so there are personal compromises in all.
As to $ resale value....I like many of us do these cars for personal desire/pleasure not resale (at least I did'nt do for resale...if I had I would have bought a FORD GT;looked at but not what I wanted). BTW just sold my Cobra after 8 yrs and with 25,000 mi for almost what I paid new (never had that experience with any other car sale and if I ever sell P2125 I will be happy to replicate that but, not concerned if I don't)!
One more thing to consider with the RH and sill shift is ENTRY and EXIT...Try it before you buy and make sure you will be happy . Not saying bad for all but, for me using ther car as a road car it was a deciding factor.
Steve
Alfonso
Emiel was correct in saying the car was not in Gulf colours. At the practice in 1966 Le Mans the car was painted Light blue with White stripes outlined in Dark blue. The F. English entry MK1 was in a similar colour scheme. And a mechanic got run over when he confused the two cars. The red patches were added to the car for the race to help with identification. The Light/ Power Blue Gulf colours were first used for the 1967 entry M1 Mirage. They were from the Wiltshire Oil company that Gulf had recently acquired and thought more attractive to use than the proper Gulf Colours of Dark blue and Orange. It is still thought that if the staged 1966 deadheat had not been done the no1 car of Miles and Hulme would have been the winner!
As for right hand left hand drive all MKII and most GT40's were Right hand drive since the most races were conduct in Europe clockwise circuits with the pits being on the right hand side. Indeed some of the MKII's had the drivers door handles adapted for easy entry (By putting in a circular depression to make the door handle more accessable). This was especially relevant for the Le Mans start.
Regards Allan
Emiel was correct in saying the car was not in Gulf colours. At the practice in 1966 Le Mans the car was painted Light blue with White stripes outlined in Dark blue. The F. English entry MK1 was in a similar colour scheme. And a mechanic got run over when he confused the two cars. The red patches were added to the car for the race to help with identification. The Light/ Power Blue Gulf colours were first used for the 1967 entry M1 Mirage. They were from the Wiltshire Oil company that Gulf had recently acquired and thought more attractive to use than the proper Gulf Colours of Dark blue and Orange. It is still thought that if the staged 1966 deadheat had not been done the no1 car of Miles and Hulme would have been the winner!
As for right hand left hand drive all MKII and most GT40's were Right hand drive since the most races were conduct in Europe clockwise circuits with the pits being on the right hand side. Indeed some of the MKII's had the drivers door handles adapted for easy entry (By putting in a circular depression to make the door handle more accessable). This was especially relevant for the Le Mans start.
Regards Allan
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I'm building mine as a LHD for a couple of reasons;
1) It's what I'm comfortable with and have driven LHD for roughly 40 years now.
2) The GT40 has limited visibility in the first place. Couple that with a RHD in a LHD world (USA) and you have increased your risk factor by an order of magnitude that I cannot even imagine.
Bottom line for me was - The risk exceeded the potential increased value of a crashed RHD GT40.
1) It's what I'm comfortable with and have driven LHD for roughly 40 years now.
2) The GT40 has limited visibility in the first place. Couple that with a RHD in a LHD world (USA) and you have increased your risk factor by an order of magnitude that I cannot even imagine.
Bottom line for me was - The risk exceeded the potential increased value of a crashed RHD GT40.
I am sure that at Sebring and Daytona the pits are on the left? But I suppose Henry Ford was only interested in beating the Ferraris at Le Mans? So all the Ford GT's 289 and MKII were right hand drive as well as the MKIV.
Regards Allan
Regards Allan
The Bias of the corners may well have played a role in it also..
For instance - my home racetrack is Brainerd International Raceway. It's got 10 turns and is run clockwise. The corner bias is 7 rights 3 lefts. Right-side weight is a better thing than left side weight on this track. But given that these cars have dual fuel tanks one can bias the weight for sprint races by filling only one tank..
