Penske Museum and Historic Daytona 24H photo spam (Not Autocross Related).

 

It’s been a while since I write, but it’s also been a while since I raced. I was very eager to participate in the FIRM autocross but Hurricane Milton had other plans and the event was, cancelled. There will be a christmas autocross on Dec 22 to compensate and I will be there. I am looking at the fastest and easiest way to get my alignment done at home and will post on the subject will probably come in the next few weeks. In the meantime I have visited two places worth sharing. The first one was the Penske Racing museum in Scottsdale AZ (Me and the fam evacuated there during Milton because I had to be there for work anyway). The second one was the Historic Daytona 24H where you meet some beautiful cars. I took some photos (I’m not the best photographer) but I will share the photos and the things I found to be interesting.

Here are the photos from the Penske Museum:

The penske PC1, it raced in F1 in 1974 and 9175 beautiful car that wasn’t very successful. It was designed and built in the UK for the captain’s f1 bid. Driven by Mark Donohue and John Watson. The engine was a Ford Cosworth DFV which I think is to credit for the reason the UK is the silicon valley of motorsport today.

This is Gil de Ferran’s CART Reynard 2Ki champion. This was probably the golden age of US Open wheel racing. Big crowds, big sponsors, tire and chassis wars. Most drivers actually made a living in the series and in terms of top speeds, these cars were the fastest open wheelers of any series anywhere.

Mark Donohue’s 1972 indy 500 winner. It’s incredible how fast car design was moving at the time look at the next car and you wouldn’t believe there is just a 5Y difference.. 

Tom Sneva’s 1977 Indy 500 pole winning car. Look at how much cleaner the engine and fairings are compared to the ‘72. Also note the much larger front wings. 

The final one is Scott Mclaughlin’s V8 Supercar which is what a road racing muscle car should look like. These cars are clean, have big grakes, big spoilers and big rear wings and if you don’t follow them do, the races are awesome. I hope to look more into these beasts while I work on making the Challenger faster.

Daytona Historic 24. I have a thing for endurance racecars, classics even more. So I took a fe photos.

Ran into a McMerc (Mclaren Mercedes) SLR just outside of the paddock. This car is like good wine, it gets prettier over time.

Porsche 962 GTP. Marino Franchitti was driving it. Every one of these was a little different as Porsche struggled to meet demand so they had many shops build them. There are a few road going examples from Schuppen as well. I had the chance to get a close up of the rear brakes. As you can see, slotted and not drilled. Also note the blacking tape on the two front brake cooling ducts near the nose of the car. This probably means they were struggling to heat up the brakes. Remember racing pads have a minimum temperature where they don’t work very well.

Lola B2K. Here’s some more in depth technical info on this car in Mulsanne’s corner . This one also allowed a peek at the engine with the valve covers removed. This car has the 6.0L Ford V8 that a few teams ran back in the day. According to the Lola Heritage Register, this is chassis HU-07 I can't find who raced this car in 2001. Note the injectors pointing into the velocity stacks in the intake.

Bad photos, beautiful car. This is a Bizzarrini. Designed by Giotto Bizzarrini who designed the Ferrari 250 GTO and led the “Palace Revolt” after a falling out with Enzo. Sadly the Bizzarrinis were not very successful at racing but they are beautiful.

Got a chance to photograph the naked rear end of a Cadillac DPi racer. Theser started racing in 2017. Note teh similar layout to the Lola (2000) but with a third middle  damper. This is the heave damper which only works when both wheels are moving at the same time but it doesn’t do anything when the car rolls. It’s especially useful for controlling the dynamic ride height when the car’s aerodynamics are height sensitive. Also look at how much more tightly packaged this car is when compared to the Lola.

The Lola T-70 one of the prettiest cars out there. Lola made more than 100 cars starting in 1965. This particular one is driven by Gerard Lopez. Former Lotus F1 team president and owner of the french Bordeaux soccer team.

The Jagermeister Porsche 935K3 was a crazy creation of a crazy time. This specific car won the 1979 24 Hours of LeMans. It is kept in pristine conditions.

This 1985 Lola Corvette GTP races was for sale. A cool $375,000 and it can be yours with many spares.

Rear and cockpit views of ALP Racing’s 2012?? LMP1 Lola Judd. Note the carbon brakes and the ceramic coating on the headers. Also the gold foil on the back of the monocoque to control the temperature in the cockpit. The quick release assembly for the rear wing subassembly is super strong, this gives you an idea of the downforce it produces.

This Daytona Prototype has the racing equivalent of a CAI haha. These cars were awesome, they were fast, cheap to operate for motorsport standards and bulletproof. This formula saved US sportscar racing after the 2009 crisis.

First produced in 1971 the Chevron B19 was a contender in the european 2L championship. These ran on 2.0L 4 bangers. These cars were very tightly packaged and very simple designs but were beautiful. Look at the alternator positioning on the back of the gearbox.

Look at the front camber on this Acura DPi.

And the prettiest car there, the 1973 Gulf Mirage. I am a sucker for the Gulf livery and this car was incredible to see in real life. It was very small and tightly packaged and it must be a blast to drive. Almost like a go-kart.

I promise I won’t make a lot of these spams, but sometimes when cool things like this happen, I will share them. Will be working on more Autocross posts and will share the evolution of the Challenger soon. The historic 24H is a must and I suggest if you live in Central Florida to come and watch. It's about $60 for a Saturday and Sunday ticket and, if you like being up close and personal with racing history, it's definitely worth it.