500 Mondial, S.II 0556(0446)MD

the SCCA rules for that year dictated a "roll post", soon changed to the roll bar and then roll cage.

 

Dad discovered while on the track at Road America for FCA 2009, that the 55 year old drum brake linings were past shot. We disassembled and he drove the shoes and drums to Rochester Clutch in upstate NY (where a lot of the NASCAR folks have their brake/clutch work done). Ferrari SpA graciously provided the original specifications for the lining depth (7mm), and Rochester made sure the drums were truly circular, re-lined the shoes, and matched that lining radius to the drums.

Dis-assembling/assembling the shoes is a major pain, since the return springs seem to me to be overdesigned; they are huge (about the size of one's index finger) and require an immense amount of force to close the 3/4" gap between them and lock them into each other. It took us about an hour to get the first (of 8) sets hooked.

Our friend ( and cousin) Harlan Hadley came over yesterday to see what we were up to, saw the spring issue, saw a pair of long-nosed needle nose pliers nearby and asked "do you mind if I destroy these?" Harlan and I sketched a little bit and took turns using the bench grinder and dremel on the pliers. I did some additional tweaking this morning and now we have a tool that reduced the spring task from 60 minutes to about 4 seconds. Now I think Harlan and i will get rich selling this device to the, oh, five guys in America who really could use it.

The pliers now have a narrow hook on the one side, and a machined cup in the other face, which is about 1/4"? shorter than the other leg.

Progress, and very satisfying work.

Pics - the spring arrangement; the new tool; and the 4-second operation - grab and twist.
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dammit - they probably saw my pics and are making it as we speak . . . .

 

From an email my father wrote to his historian buddies;

"Dear Dinosaurs,

This unbelievable saga has added another chapter.

This past week we took the little blue car to Millville, New Jersey for the 2010 Ferrari Club of America National Meet. By some miracle we did not share in the torrential rain which blanketed the eastern mid-Atlantic states on Thursday, the day of the Concours competition. The judges did their work and at the end of the day the little blue car had another Platinum Award to add to the shelf. I also went through the seven page Coppa Bella Machina check list with the inspector including the mandatory road trip to check out brake pull or steering wheel shimmy or missed shifts or a myriad of other proper car operating details.

On Saturday the air was chilly and the sun was very bright. The opportunity to bed and test the new brake linings was at hand. After a couple of laps as a passenger in an instructor car I headed out. After a few laps the brakes settled in and probably were working better than at any time over the past fifty years. The motor could not have felt stronger and seemed anxious to really get going.

By the third session I was very comfortable about the course, braking points were deeper in the approaches, the curbs at the apexes were slight enough to not unbalance the car, the sound of a very healthy motor and the whole experience was really enjoyable. The grin on my face must have been visible even behind the full helmet face shield.

At the awards banquet the dream started all over, somewhat reminiscent of 2008 at Pebble Beach. When all the camera flashes were finished, our table had the following for the little blue car:
Platinum Trophy
Coppa Bella Machina Trophy
Best Scaglietti Designed Race Car Trophy
Phil Hill Best Competition Car Trophy
and
Enzo Ferrari Best of Show Trophy!

I think that completes the trifecta: Pebble Beach, Cavallino and FCA National, plus similar results at Mar-A-Lago, Reading Concours and Milwaukee Masterpiece. Methinks that I should now retire the car from the Concours rat race, and see if I can have a few more fun laps on a track.

Saturday was just an incredible day and the experience of the track laps brought back many memories of the good old days in the sixties.

Enough for now.

Best regards,

Robert"

The Coppa test was pretty funny - probably 2/3 of the 7-page check list was N/A for our car. Our Coppa judge, Wayne Obry, was still getting the bugs out of his teeth after the check ride, when he got to one of the checklist items which was something like "excessive drafts" . . . .

I'll have video, including in-car, up on youtube in a week or so. I'll post the link.
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many thanks for posting the pics, Ron. We had a great day!

Peter, thank you for the head's up on the VIR events; I'll be in touch. and Harlan H says Hi!