Lance;
I couldn't resist commenting on those "Pontiac Tri-powers, etc" that you
mentioned. I can't answer for the "etc" but the '65 GTO Tri-power that I
owned had pretty good brakes. Their drums weren't all that big but I had
the sintered metallic HD brake option and they never let me down, even
driving through the mountains at high speed.
My friend's first-year 396 Camaro was another story-- it wouldn't make
one stop from 65mph without brake fade. That was a scary car; ...and he
was very disappointed with it.
Regards, Neil Tucson, AZ
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-land-speed@autox.team.net
[mailto:owner-land-speed@autox.team.net] On Behalf Of Joe & Lynne Lance
Sent: Thursday, April 08, 2004 10:05 PM
To: land-speed@autox.team.net
Subject: Re: Kids racing
John;
I remember those 57 Chevies and all the GM "muscle cars" of that era
(Pontiac Tri-powers, etc) they all had dinky little 8 inch diameter
brake
drums that faded instantly when you touched the brake pedal at 60 MPH.
In those days the Pennsylvania code required that all hydraulic brake
lines
had to be hard copper. But GM switched irresponsibly to steel brake
lines
(probably to save a few cents per car) years before dual master
cylinders
were required as OEM stuff. A lot of those steel brake lines rusted and
failed because of our salted Pennsylvania winter roads--almost got
killed
once for that reason and I was behaving at the time--always wondered how
many people got hurt/killed for the same reason and never knew the
reason
why.
I quit high speed road racing with my modified Stude in those days after
I
realized my valves were floating at high RPM in third gear while I was
focused on racing another guy and not paying attention to the
speed---meant
I was over 100 MPH on a two-lane public road at high risk with a
non-functioning brain and that was too scarry-- even if my 57 Stude did
have
12 inch diameter finned brake drums.
Unfortunately, some of my young friends didn't have a similar learning
experience until it was too late. What scares me these days is being
tailgated (like 2 feet away) at high speed by young ladies (who seem to
have no sense of vehicle dynamics) while they talk on a cell phone and
play
with their hair at the same time---find that kind of driving attitude
more
scarry than young guys doing stop-light drag races with their Rice
Rockets.
Lance
|