If it's time to place orders for paraphernalia, sign me
up for two sweatshirts, 4 tee shirts and 4 decals...all
large. So as to avoid the "what is the true color of BRG"
issue, I prefer red (like my car), but either is acceptable.
Please forgive my suggestions for modifying the logo
design but old habits are hard to break. I've spent 30
years as a designer of which 10 were as a professor of
architectural design at Georgia Tech. I guess I've just
never learned how to turn the process off. In my opinion,
Design, in its finest sense is a process which never
achieves a ststed goal. It is an evolutionary intellectual
endeavor which always gets closer to but never achieves
perfection. Criticism of "design" is another thing
altogether. But as Teddy Roosevelt wrote in 1916 "It is not
the critic who counts...." My remarks were intended to be
considerations upon which to elevate the design, not in
anyway to denigrate it.
So much for the not so subtle art of self defense.
RE: Brake Pedal Height
I have a heavy duty Lucas generator box full of used
master cylinder carcasses left over from a series of
abortive attempts to solve the dual-brake conversion
syndrome for my TR-4. The closest I got to a solution was
using a clutch master for the rear brakes and some "unknown
source" master for the front connected with a wobbly home-
spun bias bar. The solution I got close to was a false
promise at best. I went from brick hard pedals which would
only slow the car down gently to super spongy pedals which
might stop the car at the last 1/2 inch of travel. As my
learning curve on simple hydraulics soared, so did my
cost/frustration index. Not without a measure of humility, I
then turned the problem over to Neil Estes of Neil's
Restorations. His shop is nested in with Bob Wagner and
Lamar Keene, owners of Atlanta Imported Auto Parts in
Decatur, GA. Neil's solution was to install a vacuum boosted
TR-6 dual master cylinder. I have three races on this system
and I have to say that the brakes have been a total non-
issue. It still takes considerable effort to lock-up the
tires on a dry surface, but it can be done. Other than new
plumbing and a machined modified spacer, it seemed to go
together in a rather straight forward fashion...at least
that is the way it looked from a non-participating paying
customers perspective. Neil didn't bitch and moan (a quality
for which he revered by many) about the unprecedented genius
required for the mechanical organ transplant. And I don't
remember being shocked at the cost and the resultant
mechanism is of superior performance. So I conclude two
things. First, the TR-6 master cylinder solution, if
carefully installed, is a good one and, second, sometimes we
get ourselves in a corner where we have to lean on a friend
to help bail us out. "Amici Triumphi" contributes a great
deal in this direction and I appreciate it.
Richard Taylor, ATL.
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