Hellava good first post is right! Why people must pretend they are something they aren't is beyond me. I have a feeling there are more "stories" out there. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Within minutes of meeting Roland several years ago at an event he immediately pulled out a pic of his McLaren F1(from his wallet) and showed it to a friend and I. I am guessing he never owned one. Or am I mistaken?
Kram your stories are so inspiring, they make me want to start any form of racing....but it's so expensive.
It seems Roland morphs himself into part of everyone he meets. If he met me he would have a legitimate shot at being an asshole!
I told Clarence when they tried to hijack his event in Vegas, that Roland's stories didn't smell right. The point thing that pointed it out, is that she claimed to have raced Ducatis in Europe. Said he'd won a race or two, don't recall the class. He posted a picture of him winning, but the bike, a bevel drive, appeared to be stock, etc., but the class was a modified class. Didn't make sense. I called the European Ducati people that I knew, and no one had heard of him. Maybe he raced them, maybe not, but no one had a clue about him. Sent a significant odor as far as I was concerned. Art
KRAM, not counting the cars you drove at LeMans, if you could drive any car in any year, what car and what year would you choose ? You can have 2 choices.
Thinking small, I would say a well prepared March 86 Formula 3000, for when on song they were a really great car to drive. They were very complicated for in terms of systems they were basically an F1 of the late 70s and thus not too reliable, but they had good balance, were easy to set up and went like stink. They were brilliant fun to drive, just brilliant. So, chice number 1, from personal experience I guess a reliable, well mechaniced one of those in the 1986 International F3000 series. Thinking big, well then, anything that shoved a driver around a circuit so that he ended up winning the F1 World Championship - in that year of course! Focusing just of Formula 1, well the 50s were muscular years with very few cars that handled well, save for the Maseratti 250. (The Lancia\Ferrari D50 had horrible understeer). There were also very few front runners to chose from......The 60s had cars that tended to bust to bits easily yet were a lot easier to drive, so thats appealing (the driving bit, not the bursting). In the 70s the cars stopped killing so many drivers yet remained a tad unreliable, (although there was ONE race where every car that started finished). The 80s were the serious ground effects years - the cars had so little suspension movement that just looking at them in the pits gave you a bad back. They were pretty horrible to drive, what with your eyeballs jiggling about from the bumps. I guess it comes down to a 70s Ferrari, a Lotus 79 or an early 90s Williams. Looking further into it I wouldnt have minded piloting the 1967 STP Paxton turbine car in the Indy 500 of that year. It had a helicopter Pratt and Whitney engine nailed into it, and it flew. The one Id like, please and thank you, would have better bearings in the gear casing, so instead of breaking seven miles from the finish it would take the checkered. I guess Im a mechanical iconoclast at the end of the day. Hey, I'll take the helicopter engine machine for choice Number 2. It really flew. Thanks for asking.
Actually, I was thinking from the endurance car ranks..... I have some thoughts, but won't post them until after you reply so as not to bias you.....
I am not one to fan the flames of gossip, but I find some of these claims posted don't jive with my own experience. I have only met Roland once, but when I did (last fall), he told me (as best I can recall) in the course of several discussions, a-he had a pro racing license from doing some racing in Europe in the 60's (never claimed to win Le Mans, which of course, I would expect anyone who had won Le Mans or even finished in the running, any class, would brag about it or tell someone interested in your driving credentials) b-said that someone asked him to fly out and test drive a McClaren F1 upon taking delivery of it c-that he lives at a small ranch in Ft. Collins and is a driving instructor, and gets asked to a lot of events mainly because people want him to bring his F40. I always wonder when people start gossiping where the truth lies. I think this thread is a poor forum for fereting out the truth of the matter, esp when it comes to what the law calls 'hearsay,' the reliability of which is always suspect in the mind of any reasonable person. As for something breaking on your car when you ask someone to test drive it for you, or sort it out on the track, speaking from a legal perspective, I would think that is a risk that YOU assume, and the driver doesn't assume the risk of repairing or replacing anything broke on the car unless they are renting or buying the car. BTW, -a, didn't you tell me that YOU had won Le Mans and the Ferrari Challenge series a few years in a row?? (Or maybe I just assumed that b/c you had a hot blonde with you.)
A rather dull reply: 1) Mazda 757 1991 2) Mazda 757 1991 - because I know I could have driven it quickly enough.....
Could one of the mods please split this thread into two separate ones? The interesting stories are getting polluted by the non-interesting ones. Mark (Kram) and others: thanks for sharing, amazing stuff! Ciao, Peter
No. Already explained why on page 15, post #282. http://ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=86899&page=15
Tom / Wax: One man's voice: this is a bad call. Understand you have opined earlier, but as one (3-yr+ user), I disagree. Personally, I am fascinated by Mark's (Kram's) stories -- they almost transport us to the event. I hear the noise, sound and fury. And smile at the humo(u)r and the pain of the French administration. I have much less interested in the "outing" of Roland / who said what to whom about what. For me the experience would be richer were they split into 2 threads. Respectfully, I disagree. But it is only one person's opinion. Philip
Sorry to bump this up again, but did anything ever come of this thread / was there a response by Roland?
Roland has/had some serious health problems. It may take a long time for him to heal and be the Roland we know. His health did not allow him to keep the ranch, which is a travesty. He loved it so much. He can no longer do the driving school. Another loss as those that have driven with him will be able to tell. Seeing people here (after re-reading this) going on a rampage....sad!
I am sorry to see Roland is having troubles. He certainly seems to be a nice and generous guy. I wouldn't wish this turn of events on anyone, and hope he has a full and speedy recovery. It is a damn shame about the ranch, too. But Martin, having said that, it doesn't mitigate his behavior in reference to his manufactured race history. They are not related issues. Dave M.