But Scott,
I keep thinking of that hypo 289 as a convertible spitfire.... and I'm
not sure the stock frame is strong enough... we still need to start on that
tube frame... ;>)
Tom
Original Message:
-----------------
From: Barr, Scott sbarr@mccarty-law.com
Date: Wed, 28 Jan 2004 11:05:37 -0600
To: FOT@autox.team.net
Subject: RE: Was TR Drag Race times, now Hot Rods in general
Speaking of hot rods embarrassing the finer stuff, has anyone else read
Brock Yates' (2003) book "The Hot Rod"? I'm in the middle of it now and
really enjoying it. I keep thinking about that 289 Hi-Po snoozing in the
corner Tom Strange's garage. And that spare GT6 frame and body in my
storage unit... And then I have to remind myself that my new Spitfire
racer is only 75% complete...
Must focus....
Scott
-----Original Message-----
From: BillDentin@aol.com [mailto:BillDentin@aol.com]
Sent: Wednesday, January 28, 2004 10:03 AM
To: BFEKENG@aol.com; FOT@autox.team.net
Subject: Re: TR Drag Race times
In a message dated 01/28/2004 9:25:23 AM Central Standard Time,
BFEKENG@aol.com writes:
> In the 50's They didnt know what to do with the TR's
> & they had to race with every thing on them, tops side curtains
> et al. By the mid 60's I was running in the 12.80's about
> 108 MPH with one or two runs at 12.50 & 110 mph.
> I would think a good vintage racer would be a low 13.00
> second machine & about 100 mph.
>
To put that in perspective, in the 1950s John Reimer (Caledonia Automotive
Service) an old Hot Rodder who went on to greatness in both road and circle
track racing, built an MG-T with a Corvette engine to go road racing
against Augie
Pabst. The car went great, but wouldn't stop or turn, so he took it Drag
Racing. His best times were similar to Ken's TR2 mentioned above. Those
elapsed
times sound slow by today's standards, but in the 1950s...that was FLYING.
KUDOS to Ken and his crew in the little four banger. Retired now, in the
1990s
Reimer restored his MG-T, added some modern brakes, rubber, and a custom
intake manifold with six carbs. He ran the car often at ROAD AMERICA. It
was a
hoot to watch him embarrass cars like the Scarab, LOTUS 23B, etc., etc.
Bill Dentinger
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