Dom Miliano's Posts - The Vintage Racing League2024-03-29T10:31:14ZDom Milianohttps://www.thevrl.com/profile/DomMilianohttps://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2187404363?profile=RESIZE_48X48&width=48&height=48&crop=1%3A1https://www.thevrl.com/profiles/blog/feed?user=34o8fzwxaqbsj&xn_auth=noAutomotive Photography - Part 1tag:www.thevrl.com,2012-02-10:1465153:BlogPost:3009232012-02-10T15:19:50.000ZDom Milianohttps://www.thevrl.com/profile/DomMiliano
<p align="center"><b>Taking Pictures of Cars</b></p>
<p align="center">Dom Miliano</p>
<p> With the advent of the ubiquitous digital camera, just about everyone these days fashions himself or herself as the next Ansel Adams. But the rules about what makes a good picture and what constitutes “dreck” did not changed when we went from using light sensitive silver crystals to capture our images to using electrons. You still need good composition, good lighting, proper exposure, an interesting…</p>
<p align="center"><b>Taking Pictures of Cars</b></p>
<p align="center">Dom Miliano</p>
<p> With the advent of the ubiquitous digital camera, just about everyone these days fashions himself or herself as the next Ansel Adams. But the rules about what makes a good picture and what constitutes “dreck” did not changed when we went from using light sensitive silver crystals to capture our images to using electrons. You still need good composition, good lighting, proper exposure, an interesting subject and an uncluttered background. And nowhere are these rules more important than in the world of automotive photography. </p>
<p>As a reader of the Vintage Racing League web site, it’s safe to assume that you have more than a passing interest in cars. So it stands to reason that you might be interested in some simple tips on how to shoot the best pictures of automobiles that you have ever made. These apply to sports cars, classics, muscle cars and just about anything else with wheels and tires.</p>
<p><b>The Basics</b>: Photography is painting with light so, naturally, light is my first topic. The best light for automotive photography is “directional” light – that is, light that casts a shadow behind the subject. Practically speaking, that means the best light is when the sun is relatively low in the sky – early morning and late afternoon. In the movie world, they call the last hour of sunlight “the magic hour” or “the golden hour” because of the unique qualities this special light contributes to an image.</p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2202967539?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="500" class="align-center" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2202967539?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="500"/></a></p>
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<p>I prefer late afternoon light because as the sun sets, it keeps getting better and better. Morning light can be just a beautiful but as the sun rises, the light keeps getting harsher and less directional. The worse light is mid-day since it casts dark shadows under the car, causing the bottom edges of the vehicle to get lost in deep shadows.</p>
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<p> The next most important thing is background. A cluttered, tree-filled background or confusing jumble of telephone poles and fences will distract the eye of a viewer and detract from the beauty of a car.</p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2069129472?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="500" class="align-center" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2069129472?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="500"/></a></p>
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<p>Simple backgrounds are best. I like rock walls, ocean settings, gritty urban scenes and open country with mountains or hills in the deep background. If the car is a racer, then a race track setting is ideal. I like to clean up the ground around the car too – picking up cigarette butts and assorted debris makes for a much cleaner image.</p>
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<p><b>The Pose</b>: Just as with people, cars have a “face”. Most people have a “good” side and look best in pictures when their photo is taken from that angle. With cars, the “good side” is a front three quarters shot taken from a slightly low angle so that light can be seen under the car or slightly above eye line to capture the top rdge of the roof .</p>
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<p>Both of these approaches give a good indication of the shape or lines of the vehicle and shows off the grill and headlights.</p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2202992270?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="500" class="align-center" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2202992270?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="500"/></a></p>
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<p>A real insider tip is to angle the front wheel slightly toward the camera. Naturally, if this is a photo shoot for publication in your club magazine or for an ad to sell the vehicle, you should shoot a rear three quarters shot, a full side shot, a head-on and a rear-on shot as well.</p>
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<p>Engine and interior shots are a little trickier because of the lighting challenges. I almost always use a flash to fill in the darker areas and soften shadows.</p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2202992372?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="500" class="align-center" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2202992372?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="500"/></a>On most modern cameras and flash units, you can dial back the power. I start with a minus one full stop (-1) flash setting (keeping the camera at its normal exposure) and then look at the digital screen to see if I like what I got. If not, I adjust – more light or less light from the flash – until I get the look I want. </p>
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<p><b>Advanced Concepts</b>: The camera, or more accurately, the lens is a very important ingredient in the job of making a good picture of a car. I find longer focal length lenses deliver the best pictures of cars. These lenses, called telephotos, give a car a muscular, aggressive look and accentuate (even flatter) the vehicle’s lines. I have taken pictures of cars with lenses as long a 500MM but good images can be made with lenses that are in the 70-100MM range.</p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2202993574?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="550" class="align-center" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2202993574?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="550"/></a>Using a wide angle lens or even a fish eye lens may make a dramatic and graphic picture but I never find them flattering so I tend to use wide angle lenses sparingly when I make images of a car’s exterior.</p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2203008235?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="550" class="align-center" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2203008235?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="550"/></a></p>
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<p>Again, that’s my personal preference. Your judgment may be different.</p>
<p><b> <a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2203010943?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="550" class="align-center" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2203010943?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="550"/></a></b></p>
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<p>There are two schools of thought on the use of tripods for car shots. Some say “always” and others say “never”. And, believe it or not, both are right! One photo editor told me he used a medium format camera for years (big, heavy and slow) to make salon images of cars. It was always firmly mounted on a tripod to ensure an exact composition and tack sharp focus. Then one day, he switched to 35MM and tossed the tripod. Because he was shooing hand-held, he was free to roam around the car at will. He said that freed him creatively and he said he was able to get new and different shots that showed never before seen angles – laying on the ground or shooting down from a ladder. At a car show (as seen in the above shot) no tripod would be possible so you need to be flexible in yoru approach. For him, in this new phase of his art, he found freedom and inspiration. Me, I use a tripod a lot – especially when I have a telephoto lens mounted on my camera. It helps me slow down and make stronger compositions and it eliminates the chance of camera shake (especially if I have had a few espressos!) Two schools, both correct!</p>
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<p><b>Final Tips</b>. I like using polarizing filters on my lenses and I always use a lens shade to help eliminate flare and glare from the sun. The polarizer deepens colors (especially the blue sky) and helps tone down reflections. NOTE - Most modern autofocus cameras require a special type of polarizing filter (i.e., circular vs. linear) so you should read the owner’s manual that came with your camera to be sure which of the two types is recommended. The lens shade (often provided “free” with a lens but not always) fits over the end of the lens and prevents stray light from washing out your image. All of my lenses have them and I use them without exception.</p>
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<p>These are some tips on taking static pictures of your car. Next time we’ll discuss action pictures and the challenges of taking good shots at a car show or concours.</p>
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<p align="center"> </p>Porsche 911Rtag:www.thevrl.com,2011-05-02:1465153:BlogPost:2576972011-05-02T15:46:10.000ZDom Milianohttps://www.thevrl.com/profile/DomMiliano
<p align="center"><b>1967 Porsche 911R</b></p>
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<p>When a car maker with a reputation like Porsche's produces a new competition car, journalists take note, competitors get nervous and customers line up with cash in hand. That's because Porsche has a long history of building fast, reliable cars that can be raced with great success. And this is why the 1967 Porsche 911R is such a difficult model to place in either the production or racing strategy of the German automaker. The reason…</p>
<p align="center"><b>1967 Porsche 911R</b></p>
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<p>When a car maker with a reputation like Porsche's produces a new competition car, journalists take note, competitors get nervous and customers line up with cash in hand. That's because Porsche has a long history of building fast, reliable cars that can be raced with great success. And this is why the 1967 Porsche 911R is such a difficult model to place in either the production or racing strategy of the German automaker. The reason is, in the late 1960's, Porsche was building fiberglass bodied, tube-frame race cars like their 906 and all-steel bodied street cars like the 911. So in 1967, when Ferry Porsche's nephew Ferdinand Piech, head of the experimental department at Zuffenhausen, built two dozen plastic bodied race cars based on a production 911 chassis he seemed to be defying current business practices and (some say) common sense. Strong words? Not to experts who claim that the production of this car (and other expensive, fruitless projects) eventually cost Piech his job and control of Porsche's racing program. Let's take a closer look at the 911R so you can decide for yourself.</p>
<p><a target="_self" href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2069136144?profile=original"><img class="align-center" width="550" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2069136144?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024"/></a></p>
<p>Piech's automotive philosophy, almost obsession, was that fast race cars, had to be light weight. To lighten the 911R, Porsche gave it the automotive equivalent of the "SlimFast" diet. He started with a standard 911 tub, but used thinner steel panels wherever possible. Next, his engineers experimented with fiberglass and aluminum for all of the bolt-on body pieces. For cost reasons, they settled on fiberglass for the doors, trunk and engine lids, bumpers, tail light housings and fenders. These changes saved hundreds of pounds of speed-robbing weight. As has been a Porsche tradition since the fifties, additional weight was saved by being creative. In the 911R this meant thinner glass in the windshield and the use of Plexiglas in the driver, passenger and rear windows. The rears did not open, but instead were fitted with louvers to improve ventilation. The already astoundingly light plastic doors used epoxy door handles, molded to look exactly like their metal cousins. The engineers even made special aluminum hinges to connect the rear deck lid. These hinges were extremely light and allowed the lid to lie open flat across the back window for easier servicing of the motor. In the interior, Scheel brand bucket seats were used instead of the stock Recaros because they were just a little bit lighter. And the work didn't stop there. The rear jump seats were eliminated, as were the passenger sun visor, ash tray, radio and cigarette lighter. Finally, there were only three instruments -- tach, speedo and a combination oil pressure, oil temperature gauge centered around the "Monza" steering wheel. All of this chopping produced a prototype that was nearly 640 pounds lighter than the stock weight of the 911S.</p>
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<p>To power the 911R, Porsche built the Type 901/22; a motor which was very close in design and performance to the one used in the Carrera 6. Displacement was 1,991 cc with a compression ratio of 10.3 to 1 and dual ignition to get more complete combustion. Fuel was fed through Weber 46 IDA 3C carbs. Horsepower was a very respectable 210 DIN at 8,000 rpm with torque 152 foot-pounds at 6,000. These are impressive numbers when you consider how small the motor was and that this was 1967.</p>
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<p>Cooling radiators for motor oil were placed under the front fenders, located so that air coming through the open horn grill slots could pass over them.</p>
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<p>The suspension was basic 911S with wider wheels (sixes and sevens) crammed under the mildly flared fenders. For added stopping power, larger calipers were also used all around.</p>
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<p>The transmission was a strengthened version of the Carrera 6, 5-speed and, unless otherwise requested, came standard with something called the "Nurburgring gear ratios." A limited slip differential was standard, as were stronger half-shafts and universals.</p>
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<p>But enough with facts and figures, just how well did this experiment work? Was the combination of high horsepower and low weight enough to turn a street car into a racer? The answer was, with nearly 50 more horses pushing around hundreds fewer pounds, a definite yes. Quoting Manfred Jantke writing in Auto Motor Und Sport, the handling of the 911R (with Vic Elford at the wheel) was "astonishing." Another writer of the time said that, "it accelerates magnificently." Performance of the 911R was so strong that when Porsche ran it in July of 1967 at a race in Mugello, Italy, it finished third behind two full-race Porsches 910s. Even more telling is that finishing in fourth, behind the 911R, was a more powerful Ford GT-40. And the story does not end there. One month later, Porsche won the "Marathon de la Route" outright in a 911R. All of which prompted Huschke von Hanstein, a Porsche executive at the time, to float plans to build enough 911Rs for homologation in the European GT class. The reason being, unless Porsche built a total of 500 cars, they would not have a viable series in which to race the car. While they could easily build that number, selling them was another matter. Despite the racing successes, Porsche's accounting boys nixed the trial balloon floated by Hanstein. The bean counters felt that because sales of cars were weak all over Europe due to difficult economic times, the total run of 911Rs would have to be limited to two dozen. </p>
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<p>Their decision to scrap the 911R project has made these cars some of the rarest Porsches, the most interesting and the most controversial. Controversial because with a run of only twenty-four 911Rs, 4 prototypes and twenty "production" models, you could say Porsche (really Ferdinand Piech) made a serious business mistake by wasting precious time and money on an obviously fruitless project. </p>
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<p>There is evidence for this because, despite its initial racing successes, there were only a few more competition appearances for the 911R. The most noteworthy were the 1967 Monza world record runs where the car set many world speed and distance records and the 1969 Tour de France and Tour de Corse where the car scored outright victories. These were long distance events where Porsche's reliability contributed greatly to their success.</p>
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<p>What do you think? On the surface, the 911R project looks like a bunch of German engineers, led by their boss, got together to build themselves an old-fashioned hot rod on the company's time. Considering the amount of time and money that was spent, that might not be an unfair judgment. </p>
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<p>And yet, through the benefit of 20/20 hindsight, you could come to a kinder, gentler conclusion. We now know that Porsche was onto something with the 911, however, nearly 30 years ago, the design was as yet unproven. This meant that, only a few years into the model run, the engineers were still learning - trying to find out just how good the 911 really was. You, therefore, could argue that the 911R was a planned project by Porsche's racing department to uncover, in the fiery crucible of wheel to wheel racing, the potential that was sealed in the 911 design. In fact, there is ample evidence that in the mid 1970's, when Porsche tried to cut the cost of its racing effort by using production cars as the basis for its race cars, that they went back to the lessons learned building the 911R as their starting point.</p>
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<p>Revisionist history? Probably, when you consider that a few years after the 911R project, Ferry Porsche, frustrated by the wild spending of his racing department, farmed out the competition program to private teams like Penske and Wyer. But if the time and money spent and lessons learned in 1966 and 1967 to build the 911R eventually paid dividends in cars like the Carrera RS and RSR, maybe Piech was right after all? </p>Driven by Passion - The 2005 Ferrari Superamericatag:www.thevrl.com,2011-04-21:1465153:BlogPost:2597172011-04-21T15:01:31.000ZDom Milianohttps://www.thevrl.com/profile/DomMiliano
<p align="center"> <b>Driven by Passion</b></p>
<p align="center"><b>The 2005 Ferrari Superamerica</b></p>
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<p align="center">Dom Miliano</p>
<p> What is it about a car that speaks to a potential car buyer? For many, it’s price. For others, it’s utility or safety and, of course, performance. But for the Ferrari owner, it’s almost always about passion – an unexplainable, maybe irrational, emotion for the car and the company. I have talked to hundreds of <i>Tifosi</i> over…</p>
<p align="center"> <b>Driven by Passion</b></p>
<p align="center"><b>The 2005 Ferrari Superamerica</b></p>
<p align="center">-</p>
<p align="center">Dom Miliano</p>
<p> What is it about a car that speaks to a potential car buyer? For many, it’s price. For others, it’s utility or safety and, of course, performance. But for the Ferrari owner, it’s almost always about passion – an unexplainable, maybe irrational, emotion for the car and the company. I have talked to hundreds of <i>Tifosi</i> over the years and their feelings for the automobile, the marque and the history come through loud and clear. Of course, Ferrari knows this full well. I heard it described to perfection by no less an expert than Ferrari Head Honcho, Luca Montezemolo. He said that you may love our cars or hate our cars but when you drive them you must feel something, and that something is our passion.</p>
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<p><a target="_self" href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2202972131?profile=original"><img width="450" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2202972131?profile=RESIZE_480x480" class="align-center"/></a></p>
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<p> Jeff Grossman, owner of our subject 2005 Ferrari Superamerica, caught the passion early in his childhood. He explained, “Since I was a young boy I have always had a fascination with the automobile. I had many ear operations when I was about 4 or 5 years old. We were very poor but my parents would scrape together money to buy me a matchbox {car} when I came out of surgery. And I think ever since then I have always been interested in cars. Then I started to follow Formula 1 and, for me, that was the turning point. And following Ferrari, obviously, was incredible. So why do I love Ferrari? That’s pretty much the reason why.” He adds, “I have had other cars; Corvette, Lotus, Porsche. But for me the Ferrari has the mystique; Ferrari has the history.”</p>
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<p><a target="_self" href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2202972291?profile=original"><img width="455" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2202972291?profile=RESIZE_480x480" class="align-center"/></a></p>
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<p>Jeff first fueled his passion in 1994 when he purchased a used 1987 328 GTS. “It was red with a tobacco interior, kind of an unusual interior color,” he explained. He had that car for a while, but says he “graduated” to a new 2004 575M. “The car was black with a beige interior.” He said. “And then the genesis of the Superamerica for me was when we took the black car to Concorso Italiano in August of 2004. I had received an invitation from Ferrari of North America to see their tent on the third hole of the green at Pebble Beach. So my wife and my children and I go to this tent. They pretty much… Well they didn’t frisk us but they made sure there were no cameras on our bodies. And my daughter uses a wheelchair and they even checked her wheelchair out to make sure there were no cameras on that!” Grossman went on to describe what sounded like a setting for a spy movie. “We go into this tent and there is a beautiful Ferrari sitting there and then there was a tent inside the tent and inside that tent was a car sitting under a red cape with spotlights on it.” He pauses for effect, “And they asked us to please gather around the car. All the doors shut and guards are at all the doors. A very nice gentleman from Maranello said, ‘We’re thinking of building this car. We don’t know if we’re going to do it yet. We’re trying to get everyone’s feelings on the subject’. Well, the cape is pulled back and there is the prototype for the Ferrari Superamerica. Well, my jaw must have dropped. And I’m just silent. The whole room is in silence; everyone is captivated. My wife, she leans over to me, and no one else can hear this, and she says, ‘Oh no!’ ” </p>
<p><a target="_self" href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2202972422?profile=original"></a><a target="_self" href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2202972422?profile=original"><img width="455" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2202972422?profile=RESIZE_480x480" class="align-center"/></a></p>
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<p>Jeff says that a couple of months went by with no further contact. Then at his local fall Ferrari Festival, that all changed. He explained, “In October, the dealer principal of Algar, Bob Segal, comes up to me and says, ‘The prototype that they showed at Pebble Beach; they’re going to build that car, are you interested?’ I said, ‘Well, obviously, very interested but I’ve got to put it to a vote.’ ” And, literally, that’s what he did. He said, “That night the four us sat around the dinner table and I said, ‘What’s everyone think?’ ” He smiled and said, “And everyone gave it thumbs up.” However, one of those votes came with a question. Now he laughs, “My wife said, ‘Is it in addition to or instead of?’ ” In wife-speak that meant, what’s going to happen to the black 575M? Jeff explained, “I said, ‘Instead of’ and her response was, ‘That’s the right answer’ ”. So Jeff traded in his 2004 Ferrari and set about ordering the Superamerica.</p>
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<p>To keep the fires burning, in November of 2004, Ferrari held several more “invitation only” preview events at their corporate showroom on Park Avenue in Manhattan. Naturally, Jeff and his wife were invited. And naturally, they came armed with questions for the Maranello factory representative, Giuseppe Bonollo. <a target="_self" href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2202972664?profile=original"><img width="600" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2202972664?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" class="align-center"/></a>Mr. Bonollo confirmed that this Superamerica was really going to be super – with a 540 hp motor (25 more than the 575M), Scaglietti coachwork and the GTC handling package available as an option. All told, he and his wife spent two hours in the showroom, just admiring the car. At the end of the day, he wrote in his journal, “The Superamerica is a work of art.” </p>
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<p>So while Jeff was sure that the Superamerica was for him, he had another hurdle to pass. You see, buying a new Ferrari isn’t like buying any other car. Because only a few thousand cars are built every year, you just can’t stroll down to the dealer and buy one off the lot. (Put away your pens and emails, I know there are exceptions.) But buying a limited edition Ferrari, when the world-wide demand will easily exceed the supply, the procedure is even more involved. Jeff explained, “As it turns out, a couple months go by and there is a process that you have to go through. You have to send in paperwork, driver’s license; all these things, to Ferrari North America and they send all that information to the factory and then I found out a couple of months later that the factory then chooses who’s going to get the car.” Here, Jeff smiles and says, “So somebody upstairs likes me or somehow, I don’t know how, I was fortunate enough to be chosen.” Behind the scenes, Ferrari is doing some detective work to ensure that no one is buying two or more cars from different dealerships; such is the demand for their limited edition cars.</p>
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<p>If you are Jeff Grossman and your passion is for Ferrari and you know that Ferrari’s passion is for racing, then it seems perfectly logical that selecting the options for your Superamerica should come from the performance side of the menu. With Jeff’s car, that’s exactly what happened. He said, “I spec-ed out the car with racing in mind, because that’s the heritage of Ferrari.” He quickly recites the options list from memory, “Full carbon fiber trim, large racing seats, F1 transmission, GTC handling package (this includes the amazing carbon ceramic brakes), Scuderia shields, fire extinguisher, plus all the other neat features like hi-fi, navigation system, even the luggage – this car is pretty much the most fully optioned car you can put together.” I glanced at the window sticker and saw that the price paid for all of the options would buy a pretty nice Ferrari 308 – OK, make that really nice 308.</p>
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<p><a target="_self" href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2202972772?profile=original"><img width="600" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2202972772?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" class="align-center"/></a></p>
<p><a target="_self" href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2202972772?profile=original"></a></p>
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<p>Months go by but finally, in March of 2005, the word comes in that his car has reached the factory floor – the car is being built and will be ready for delivery by June. Because Jeff is so excited about his car and he also happens to live a few minutes from Algar Ferrari, he makes a point to check in every once in a while to get a progress report. In his journal he writes, “June 15, 2005, I went to Algar today and Rick checked on the progress of the car. The car is at stage 20 but Rick informs me that he has spoken to the Ferrari Factory and that it will change to stage 70 very soon which means final testing!”</p>
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<p>Unfortunately, the delivery date started to slip back from an anticipated July 4<sup>th</sup> arrival to one that put it closer to the end of the month. The problem is that Jeff wanted to bring the car to the Concorso Italiano – birthplace of the whole idea of buying a Superamerica. Jeff explained, “I wanted to share it with everyone there. But if I wait and put it on a ship, it’s going to take 30 days and I’ll miss Concorso. So I did a really loony thing. I actually flew the car over in the belly of an Air France 747. So at the end of July, it left Bologna airport, flew overnight to JFK, it cleared customs 2 days later, was delivered to Algar, I had it serviced and then we trucked it to Concorso.” </p>
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<p>As you can imagine, the car was well received by the fans of the blood-red cars. “Concorso was really great. Many people came up to me because it was the only one there. They said how wonderful it was, to actually see the car in the flesh. They had never seen one; they had only seen pictures, and they never thought that they would see a car, especially one that soon. I think it was one of the first 8 in the country.” </p>
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<p>And in perfect storybook fashion, the parents of another young boy came up to Jeff and said that their 8 year old had drawn a Superamerica and they had put it on the board at school. His parents then asked if their child could sit in the car, Jeff recalls, “I said, of course you could! He sat in the car and it was just a wonderful moment.” I guess that’s how a new Ferrari guy gets born. But then another spectator came up to Jeff and asked if his girlfriend can sit in the car and Jeff said no. He said he told the guy, “She isn’t 8. The only girl who can sit in the car is my wife and my daughter.”</p>
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<p>With that as preamble, I am honored when Jeff says, “So do you want to drive it?” These are life’s most difficult moments. Do I chance driving a car that is more valuable than my house, car and bank account all rolled into one? Will I cry and kick my feet like a spoiled brat when it’s time to give the keys back? Will it spoil me for every other car on the planet? Should I just give a polite no? Naaaah!</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I settle into the Connolly hide covered large racing buckets and the first thing I notice is that they are amazingly comfortable and supportive. Are these buckets worth the nearly $12,000 the window sticker says they cost? My large bucket says absolutely yes. The car fires easily and with a few blips of the throttle, I fill the air with the sweet sound of 12 happy Italian cylinders turning fermented dinosaur juice into pure pleasure. At this point in the story, let me remind you that this car has 540 horsepower (or as my German friends say, horsepowers). To put things in perspective, that’s over 300 horsepower more than my daily driver. And let’s not forget that this car doesn’t weigh as much as my daily driver and it has a 0-60 time of about 4 seconds. So when we start off and Jeff says it’s OK to give it some stick, I happily oblige.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>After I pull the “Up” paddle shifter once, and make sure that the front wheels are pointed in the direction I want to go, I do what comes naturally! I seldom run out of adjectives and adverbs – I keep an ample supply in my desk. But when I press the go-pedal to the metal (or carbon fiber), the feeling leaves me speechless. The best I can do is to describe it as what I imagine it’s like going up in the Space Shuttle. You know how in most ordinary cars there is the lag between when you step on the gas and when the gas, engine, transmission all get the command, process it and actually start doing something? Well, it ain’t happening that way here. Ready, aim, FIRE! – it’s like being shot out of a cannon. Bang, zoom!! More accurately, it is like there is a direct connection between the “lets have fun” part of your brain and the rear wheels. Think about going faster and suddenly, no, make that instantly you are doing exactly that. I have driven a lot of fast cars in my day, from a Twin turbo Porsche at Pocono raceway, to auto-crossing a 360 Modena, to a full day pounding a 550 Maranello on the Autostrada and at Lime Rock Park race track and even flogging a 456 M GT from one end of New Jersey to the other; none of these cars, nothing I have ever driven hooks up like this car, grabbed my attention like this car and made me grin like a fool like this car. </p>
<p> </p>
<p><a target="_self" href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2202973055?profile=original"><img width="600" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2202973055?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" class="align-center"/></a></p>
<p> </p>
<p>But Ferraris are also about handling and braking and this car has both in spades. Jeffery lives in a hilly, winding two lane road part of Pennsylvania. Picture blind corners and tight curves linked by short straight stretches of narrow asphalt. In other words, perfect sports car territory. I am following Jeffery’s directions as we make our way quickly around these unfamiliar roads. While the “don’t do anything stupid” voice in my head is still yammering, telling me to take it easy, my confidence builds and I gradually realize that the car’s performance envelope is bigger than my courage and skill. Every corner we whip through can easily be taken at “put me in the slammer” speeds. The grip is nothing short of Velcro. More important, despite my total lack of familiarity with the roads and the car, I never put a wheel wrong. I credit all of that to the handling and predictable, forgiving nature of the car.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>And then there are the brakes. You have to believe me when I tell you that if you ever find the need to apply them in anger, you might actually affect the speed of the earth’s rotation. Really, I think the Italians have done tests. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>When we arrived back at Jeff’s garage (I call it a shrine, he calls it his Galleria in honor of the Ferrari museum in Maranello) we sit and play around with the flip-open electrochromic top. This cool feature gives the owner the benefits of a coupe with the joy of open air driving with just a 10 second push on a button. It even has technology that makes it darker or lighter through some amazing form of electronic magic.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><a target="_self" href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2202976078?profile=original"><img width="650" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2202976078?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" class="align-center"/></a></p>
<p> </p>
<p>Jeff feels that this car was purchased and optioned the way that Enzo would have done it – loaded with racing inspired technology. (Such is his passion, Jeff even suggested to the Factory that all 559 of the Superamericas built come equipped with the F1 transmission as standard.) He proudly points to the “auto” button (for automatic transmission) and states, “I’ve never touched it!” He tells me that he plans to own it, share it with his fellow <i>Tifosi</i> by bringing it to lots of Ferrari events (the week after my visit, he drove it to display at the Reading Concours) and, of course, drive it for the pure pleasure of it all. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>The 2005 Ferrari Superamerica, a car both driven by passion and driven with passion. </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>Porsche 500 and 550Atag:www.thevrl.com,2011-03-29:1465153:BlogPost:2583922011-03-29T14:58:49.000ZDom Milianohttps://www.thevrl.com/profile/DomMiliano
<p style="text-align: center;"><b> The</b> <b>Porsche</b> <b>550 and 550A</b> </p>
<p style="text-align: center;">By Dom Miliano</p>
<p> </p>
<p> When it came out, many automotive writers were falling over themselves trying to be the first to show pictures and write stories about Porsche's new Boxster. But I always like to look back to see where inspiration comes from so let me put things into historic perspective by taking a look at the 1950's Porsche Spyders that serve as its…</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><b> The</b> <b>Porsche</b> <b>550 and 550A</b> </p>
<p style="text-align: center;">By Dom Miliano</p>
<p> </p>
<p> When it came out, many automotive writers were falling over themselves trying to be the first to show pictures and write stories about Porsche's new Boxster. But I always like to look back to see where inspiration comes from so let me put things into historic perspective by taking a look at the 1950's Porsche Spyders that serve as its inspiration. However, I'm not going to talk about Porsche's RSK or even their beloved Speedster. Rather, I want to tell you about an earlier model with a heritage curiously similar in many ways to the Boxster prototype.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> First, if I told you that there were headlines that shouted: "Porsche Unveils New Prototype at International Auto Show," would you believe that the show was the Paris Salon, not the Detroit International and the year was 1953, not 1993? Well, in October of 1953 Porsche unveiled a silver, mid-engined, two seater prototype they called the Type 550 and it took the automotive world by storm much like the Boxster did 40 years later.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><a target="_self" href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2202967539?profile=original"><img class="align-center" width="500" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2202967539?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024"/></a></p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> Like the Boxster, the Type 550 prototype was introduced well before Porsche had decided on a final shape for the body and it wasn't until a year after the Paris show that Porsche had a single production Type 550 to sell. The similarities continue when you consider the reasons why each car was brought to market. Today, Porsche is building the Boxster to prop up its entry-level sales. It's seen as the car that will get people excited about Porsche again. In 1953, the Type 550 was brought to market to satisfy its need for a true racing Porsche. Back then Porsche realized that winning races helped sell cars. So while their Type 356 cars were sporty and reliable, they were regarded as too heavy and too soft by Porsche engineers for the rigors of all-out racing. The Type 550, and later the 550A, were designed to be light, powerful, space frame cars capable of winning on Sunday and bringing in customers on Monday. So like today's Boxster, increased sales was Porsche's vision for their new Type 550.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> The Type 550's roots began with the Glockler-Porsches - home-built specials that won many German races in 1950, '51 and '52. Evolving from the Glockler's basic design of tube frame, light-weight body with mid-engine, the first two 550's were hand built in late 1952 and early 1953 by Porsche to compete in the Le Mans 24 hour race. Constructed quickly and simply, these early cars featured a ladder frame made of welded steel tubes with a half dozen cross members. Fitted over this chassis was a one-piece skin built of aluminum to which was fitted a trunk, doors and deck lid. Powered by their 1500 Super pushrod motor, Porsche number 550-01 won its first race at an event called the Eifel Races which was held at the fabled Nurburgring. Porsche 550-02 joined 550-01 at Le Mans and together they scored a 1-2 victory in the 1500 cc class, setting a track record in the bargain. Porsche's marketing instincts about winning races to sell cars proved accurate because after Le Mans, both Type 550's were refurbished at the Factory and then sold to wealthy Central American businessmen for entry in the five-day Carrera Panamericana. Here too the cars proved strong and fast, building on an already rapidly growing reputation for reliability. </p>
<p> </p>
<p><a target="_self" href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2202967715?profile=original"><img class="align-center" width="400" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2202967715?profile=RESIZE_480x480"/></a></p>
<p> </p>
<p> Encouraged by their early victories with the first two Type 550's, Porsche used the most logical recipe for continued success: more horsepower and lighter weight. The additional power came from an Ernst Fuhrmann-designed motor called the Type 547. This is the famous (or infamous) roller bearing, 4 cam motor making 110 bhp at a lofty 7,800 rpm. Porsche purists will note that the Type number, 547, precedes the Type 550 by 3 digits. This is because the design of the motor began before the design of the car. Evolutionary changes to the Type 547 improved power over the years until, in the later forms, it was rated a respectable 135 bhp at 7,200 rpm. </p>
<p> </p>
<p> The original design of the Type 550 chassis was simple (some say crude) and relatively heavy. That's why over the winter of 1955-56, Porsche designed a new, stronger, lighter, and stiffer space frame chassis for their racing efforts. Despite the similar looking exterior sheet metal, this was essentially a new and vastly improved race car. It was given the designation of the 550A, although the changes to the basic structure were so significant, you could make a case for assigning a new "Type" number for it.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> Weighing in at a scant 1170 lbs., the goal of improved power to weight ratio was reached with this new design. To further improve the car for competition, larger drum brakes were fitted up front and a larger fuel tank (34.3 gallons) was added. Testing showed a standing kilometer time of 26.6 seconds at a speed of 127.5 mph. Top speed was a respectable 150 mph; amazing when you consider the small size of the motor and the simplicity of the aerodynamic testing employed in designing the body.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> The first race for the 550A was the Nurburgring 1000 km event. Happily, Porsche's mid-winter homework was rewarded with a 1-2 class win (fourth and sixth overall) and they were encouraged to attempt a try at the famous and difficult Targa Florio. With Umberto Maglioli at the wheel of this nearly 450 mile race, victory was theirs as Porsche finished first overall, despite only running a 1500 cc motor against much more powerful competition. And so the secret to Porsche's success was revealed: good design, superb preparation, faultless reliability and an aggressive and skillful driver. Unfortunately, Porsche have been playing around with that recipe these days, but that's for another story.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> Dry stats and dusty history are interesting, but how did the drivers back then really feel about their Porsches? Let me quote from Stirling Moss' wonderful book <b>"My</b> <b>Cars,</b> <b>My</b> <b>Career"</b> on his impressions of the Porsche 550A.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><a target="_self" href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2069132743?profile=original"><img class="align-center" width="400" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2069132743?profile=RESIZE_480x480"/></a></p>
<p> </p>
<p> "Huschke von Hanstein offered us one of his works (550A) Porsches... It proved just a joy to drive and we were able to go giant-killing amongst the works Ferraris which really were deeply satisfying. What impressed me most was that rugged-sounding air-cooled engine behind my shoulders winding up to 7,400 rpm while at the same time feeling utterly unburstable. ... we still won our class by miles ... lapping only two seconds slower than Phil Hill's pole position time in the Ferrari Testa Rossa. It had been thoroughly enjoyable as we had forced the Ferraris to run harder than they had wanted, all day long."</p>
<p> </p>
<p> So what did all of this mean to the Porsche nut who, back in the 1990’s stared pictures of the Boxster prototype? To the optimist, it meant that the new car would be good right "out of the box" and that it would evolve into a classic (which it has!) Network Resources. If you were a pessimist, I suggest you go back to reading Consumer's Reports and leave the dreaming about Porsches to the rest of us.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><a target="_self" href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2202968606?profile=original"><img class="align-center" width="500" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2202968606?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024"/></a></p>One on One with Derek Belltag:www.thevrl.com,2011-03-25:1465153:BlogPost:2579982011-03-25T11:38:32.000ZDom Milianohttps://www.thevrl.com/profile/DomMiliano
<p align="center"><b>Interview With One Of Racing's Greats: Derek Bell</b></p>
<p align="center"><b>by</b></p>
<p align="center"><b>Dom Miliano</b></p>
<p><b> </b> Derek Bell is one of the most successful sports car drivers in history. His career spans three decades and is highlighted by 5 wins at one of the most difficult races in the sport of motorcar racing - Le Mans. To the casual fan, his name is probably most closely associated with Porsche or with his occasional duties as…</p>
<p align="center"><b>Interview With One Of Racing's Greats: Derek Bell</b></p>
<p align="center"><b>by</b></p>
<p align="center"><b>Dom Miliano</b></p>
<p><b> </b> Derek Bell is one of the most successful sports car drivers in history. His career spans three decades and is highlighted by 5 wins at one of the most difficult races in the sport of motorcar racing - Le Mans. To the casual fan, his name is probably most closely associated with Porsche or with his occasional duties as Formula 1 commentator for Speed Vision, but for a while back in the late '60's, Derek Bell was hand-picked by Enzo Ferrari himself to carry the Ferrari colors into battle on Grand Prix circuits all over the world. Your reporter fortunately caught up with Bell at track side and he graciously agreed to a game of twenty questions.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><a target="_self" href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2069105826?profile=original"><img height="833" width="589" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2069105826?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" class="align-full"/></a></p>
<p> </p>
<p><b><i> How did you get started with Ferrari?</i></b></p>
<p>DB: "I was running Formula two in my third year or maybe my fourth year and I was racing...at Hockenheim when Jimmy Clark, bless his heart was killed, and...suddenly Ferrari said, 'Give him a test drive.' At the same time I had a test drive with another Formula 1 team, the Cooper Formula 1 team, and I was the one that everyone was wanting to have, it seemed - rightly or not I'm not sure!"</p>
<p><b><i> For a young driver, this must have been unbelievably exciting, which team did you decide to go to go to?</i></b></p>
<p>DB: Eventually, I signed for Ferrari as a Formula 2 driver. And my first race I was on pole at Monza in Formula 2. Following that I went to Zandvoort and I won my first race there...and so that was that. Then Ferrari picked me up and said, 'How about a Formula 1 test drive?' And I did...a race in England called the Gold Cup at Oulton Park, it was a non-championship race, but everyone was there. And then I went to do the Italian Grand Prix."</p>
<p><b><i> That must have been amazing, to be in Italy with the Ferrari colors...</i></b></p>
<p>DB: "Well that's it, I mean, you can hardly describe it. You have to be a great Ferrari fan or a Ferrari driver to appreciate it. And I know Michael Schumacher respected it two years ago when he won there. Obviously, I didn't win. To win in a Ferrari must be out of this world. And I did sort of...have empathy for him when he actually won because I know what it's like just to drive for them at Monza in your first Grand Prix, let alone...win it. It's very, very special, you just can't imagine what it's like to be in a red Ferrari at Monza."</p>
<p><b><i> What was it like to deal with Enzo Ferrari? The reports of the way he treated some drivers makes him sound cruel and cold?</i></b></p>
<p>DB: "I had a great relationship with him, which is amazing really. My wife at that time was an English lady and she was very ill and I remember every day the Old Man used to say to me, 'How's your wife today?' - we used to speak French together. I said, I don't know, it's too early, I haven't had time to phone yet. He said, 'Come on, we'll phone her up.' We would go to his office and phone the hospital to see how she was. He was an amazing sympathetic man like that."</p>
<p><strong><i>That doesn't sound like the same man who didn't send flowers to the funeral of a former driver?</i></strong></p>
<p>DB: "Ferrari, the whole time with me was always very, very careful and they just wanted me to learn and gain experience. It was really strange because historically everybody in the Ferrari papers and magazines and anything I had read about Ferrari was always Ferrari pushed his drivers to the brink of death and all that sort of thing."</p>
<p><b><i> And you still drove for him!</i></b></p>
<p>DB: "Now I was very nervous about this because I just didn't want to die that early. I wanted to have a bit more of a career. And the Old Man never, ever pushed me. The whole thing was, just go out there, gain experience. </p>
<p><b><i> You were a young, aggressive guy, how did they manage to keep you reined in?</i></b></p>
<p>DB: "Well, (for example) I came to the United States Grand Prix and they said, 'Just go out and as long as you qualify, get on the back of the grid, it doesn't matter.' And they wouldn't let me go out and get a time. They never let me never do more that one lap at a time. Try new brake pads, try new disks, try this, try that. And (of course) I started at the back of the grid." </p>
<p><b><i> What happened in the race</i></b><i>?</i></p>
<p>DB: "Once the flag dropped, I was allowed to go. And I got well up. I came carving through the field, from like twelfth up to seventh or something. (But) they never, ever pushed me."</p>
<p><b><i> Why do you think that was? </i></b></p>
<p>DB: "It was like they were bringing me on for the next year, it was a strange situation. Yet the next year, they didn't know what they were going to do." </p>
<p><b><i>How much did the Old Man have to do with the day to day running of the team?</i></b></p>
<p>DB: "He had a lot to do with it, but I wouldn't know how much. I know he knew what was happening. (But) you never saw him around the race shop. You only ever saw him in his office. And I saw him at the test track when I had my first formula one test."</p>
<p><b><i>That must have been special...</i></b></p>
<p>DB: (Laughs) "Yeah it was. It was chucking down with rain and I went out in a Formula 1 car and I had never sat in a Formula 1 in my life before. And it didn't have wet tires it was on what we call a sort of dry setting or intermediate tires. And it was quite uncanny. I sort of got there and the engineer leans in the car and says, 'If you crash da car, the last time you'll ever drive a red car. Maybe a green car, (which is the British colors) but never another red car.' No doubt, I had to go out and prove that I was worthy of a Formula 1 drive." </p>
<p><b><i> No pressure.</i></b></p>
<p>DB: No pressure. (laughs) And it was chucking with rain and I had sort of a dry tire, not quite dry, and I went out and I get to the first corner and there's the Old Man sitting in his 2+2, watching his new boy and I'm going, Oh My Lord! And there is this fine line between disaster and success in any test drive you have. The Old Man had never seen me drive before...So I went out and I obviously I was good enough. I didn't fall off the road. And it's a matter of being in that point between falling off and staying on and I guess I did it well enough to fool them and they put me in a Grand Prix!"</p>
<p><b><i> You have driven for two of the biggest names in racing.</i></b></p>
<p>DB: <b>THE</b> biggest names.</p>
<p><b><i>Yes, Ferrari and Porsche - how are they the same?</i></b></p>
<p>DB: Totally different. They're totally different. I had all my success with Porsche but I never felt I was driving for Professor Porsche. I felt that I was driving for the name Porsche. I was driving for the engineers, the mechanics and everybody that works at the Factory. Where as with Ferrari, I felt I was driving for the Old Man. And it was a much more emotional thing driving for Ferrari. The Ferrari mechanics cried if you won and cried if you didn't. But Porsche, it was very much more part of a business. And I was very lucky to experience both. But I still have a very strong affection for Ferrari but I don't quite know why because I didn't win many events <for Ferrari>. I would have loved to have been a star and to have achieved something, but...</p>
<p><b><i> What's the best car you ever drove?</i></b></p>
<p>DB: In a way, I would have to say the Porsche 917, at the same time I love the 333SP Ferrari which I drove at Daytona... The car is absolutely outstanding. It's like a Formula 1 car with more bodywork. For that reason, I love it. When I got out of it, from my first test in it...I was just grinning from ear to ear. And I said, that's why I started racing, was that sensation I had when I drove that car. It was the buzz you get from driving a race car now, a REAL racer. </p>
<p> </p>
<p><a target="_self" href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2202967822?profile=original"><img width="500" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2202967822?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" class="align-center"/></a></p>
<p><b><i> Racing is such serious business; did you have time to kid around when you were at Ferrari?</i></b></p>
<p>DB: (Laughs) Well, I was talking to the team manager <after the Italian Grand Prix> about how we kept ourselves in shape for the races and he did say that you shouldn't make love one week before a race. I said that's all very well for you, but we race every weekend. The manager said, 'No I mean when I say making love I mean when you must crawl from the bed the next day. That's making love!'</p>
<p> </p>
<p><a target="_self" href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2202967935?profile=original"><img width="400" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2202967935?profile=RESIZE_480x480" class="align-center"/></a></p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>Mid-Life Crisis Racing - Especially for you Porsche Guys and Galstag:www.thevrl.com,2011-03-23:1465153:BlogPost:2577012011-03-23T16:01:24.000ZDom Milianohttps://www.thevrl.com/profile/DomMiliano
<p align="center"><b>Mid-Life Crisis Racing</b></p>
<p align="center">by</p>
<p align="center">Dom Miliano</p>
<p> I'm a sucker for old race cars, especially old Porsche race cars. Unlike today's automotive designs, where aerodynamics dictates the look of a racer, thirty years ago a car's shape was more a reflection of the builder's instincts than anything else. Back then, fast cars had swoopy metal fenders, ignitions with points, Italian carburetors and treaded tires that were closer in…</p>
<p align="center"><b>Mid-Life Crisis Racing</b></p>
<p align="center">by</p>
<p align="center">Dom Miliano</p>
<p> I'm a sucker for old race cars, especially old Porsche race cars. Unlike today's automotive designs, where aerodynamics dictates the look of a racer, thirty years ago a car's shape was more a reflection of the builder's instincts than anything else. Back then, fast cars had swoopy metal fenders, ignitions with points, Italian carburetors and treaded tires that were closer in footprint to a space-saver spare than the rubber on your family's grocery getter. Yes, those were simpler, and some would say better, times. The joke people my age can tell is, "<i>Do you remember when the drivers were fat and the tires were skinny?</i>" Well, if you go to a vintage race, you will see that time has stood still. The great old cars are back! The tires are still skinny, the drivers are still fat and seeing them race is more fun than watching ten Indy Racing League events. </p>
<p>So, if your club's Driver's Education events are too tame and single marque club racing too much like a NASCAR Sunday afternoon fender-banger to suit you, you might be ready to get started in the civilized sport of Vintage Racing. But how do I get started, I hear you say? Glad you asked, because, here's the middle-aged guy (or gal's) guide to Mid-Life Crisis Racing.</p>
<p> <a target="_self" href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2202968744?profile=original"><img height="436" width="625" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2202968744?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" class="align-center"/></a></p>
<p><b>The Car:</b> As a Porsche guy, I have my prejudices. If you're like me, you probably wouldn't want to go vintage racing with anything less than a Porsche. There are very sound reasons to go with the boys from Zuffenhausen. Since the beginning, Porsches have been quick, great-handling and brutally reliable. Happily, over the decades, not much has changed. But which Porsche? The answer, I'm afraid, comes down to money. If you have an unlimited budget, you will be able to race classic machinery like a 550, a 4 Cam Speedster, my favorite, the RSK or more modern cars like the 904, 906, 910 and even the relatively recent 917 and 935. It is important to note here that every Vintage Race sanctioning body has a list of cars that it will allow to run its events. A car's age and rarity usually dictates in which club and at what events it will be allowed to compete. The VSCCA (Vintage Sports Car Club Of America), for example, has very strict rules (some say too restrictive) that only allow selected sports cars with a proven race heritage (i.e., log book) that were built before 1960, to compete in its events. Besides the age and history, the cars also have to be presented for competition equipped as they were originally raced. Except for mandatory safety updates, this means 1950's brakes, engines, carbs and wheels. And while some creative interpretation of the rules does occur, the VSCCA tries very hard to keep the cars true to the spirit of the group. </p>
<p><a target="_self" href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2202976562?profile=original"><img height="267" width="413" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2202976562?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" class="align-center"/></a>Another popular Club that welcomes Porsches is the SVRA (Sportscar Vintage Racing Association) and their rules allow "younger," and therefore cheaper, cars to compete in their events. This is where you will find the 356 B and C and early 911s. In fact, for many experts, the best car to go vintage racing in is a pre-1970, 2.0 liter 911. While these cars aren't considered exotic and won't get you into some "invitation only" events, the 2.0 Liter motor when done right is bulletproof, revs freely, makes great noises and pumps out enough horsepower to surprise and entertain you. The engine and suspension research & development done by SCCA racers since the 911 first turned a wheel in anger is readily available and so are all of the "go fast" parts. So if the body is rust free, you will only have to worry about the mechanical bits, the safety items like a roll cage, fuel cell and safety belts, plus expendable items like gas, oil and tires. Unfortunately, if the body has been attacked by "iron worms", the cure can add many dead presidents to the price of cooling your vintage racing passion. How much will you have to spend? Unless you're doing the work yourself, figure about $10,000 to $15,000 for a very solid early 911 chassis (note, these prices can vary wildly with concours cars reaching the stratosphere); add another up to $15,000 for a quality rebuild on the motor and $5,000 for a rebuilt transaxle. The needed extras are a safety cage for about $800, $500 for a good racer's seat, $250 for cam-lock 6-point belts, $500 for a double-action fire suppression system (double action means you can activate it from inside the car or a course marshal can do so from outside), $500 for a fuel cell, $250 for a racing steering wheel and $100 for a safety net. Total cost for a race-ready early 911 should be in the $35,000 - $50,000 range. Not cheap, but you're worth it, right? And while this “low-budget” car won't get you in to the most prestigious events, there are dozens of tracks which hold several Vintage events every year. Also, there are rallies, hill climbs, and even purely social events where your 911 would be welcomed by all. That's why I'm certain that you won't feel deprived if you aren't invited to a few exclusive racing venues. </p>
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<p><a target="_self" href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2202976629?profile=original"><img height="381" width="638" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2202976629?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" class="align-center"/></a></p>
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<p><b>Tow Vehicle:</b> But how do you get your car to the track? The easy answer is you tow it, and this is where it can get expensive. If you want to run the occasional race, say, two or three local events, you can probably skip buying a tow vehicle. Unless you trash your car during a race, you can almost always drive your Porsche to the track and change to your race tires in the paddock. However, if you really get bitten by the vintage race bug, eventually you will want to run events at the far flung corners of the country - Sebring, Road Atlanta and Moroso in the South , Lime Rock, Pocono and Watkins Glen in the Northeast, Road America and Brainerd in the Midwest and Laguna Seca and Infineon in the West. To do that, you will have to tow your car. In the past, that usually meant buying a truck or SUV with a big motor and a trailer. The price for this option is rather steep. Almost any new SUV will run at least $30,000 and simple trailers can run from a few thousand to many times that for a fully enclosed model. Then you have to find a place to keep the rig, pay for insurance, and feed a thirsty SUV with expensive gasoline. However, don't despair; there are less expensive options for getting your car from here to there. Vintage racing is so hot today that there are companies which will provide full racing services like car prep, safety inspections, engine / transmission maintenance, car transportation and even between-race storage. In doing research for this article, I watched the people from Klub Sport in Lake Park, Florida field nearly a dozen Porsches for a Vintage Fall Festival event at Lime Rock in Connecticut. They furnished mechanics who checked each Porsche before and after every race. They provided secure paddock space for their customers and even fed the drivers (and one hungry journalist) over the course of the race weekend. Sure there is a price for this service, but ever one of the customers I interviewed felt that this was the "only way to fly." </p>
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<p><b>The Driver:</b> <b> </b>Even though you may have been driving in your local club's track events for years, that ain't racing! Only racing is racing. To run vintage events safely and competitively, you will need a medical checkup, some schooling and a license from one of the vintage sanctioning groups. The schools run by the clubs are less expensive, but you'll need your own car, completely sorted out with all of the required safety gear before starting. That's why, for most of us, taking an accredited drivers school like Skip Barber or Bob Bondurant (and there are MANY other great ones) may be a better option. These schools all have professional instructors and (no pun intended) an excellent track record for safety and for turning out qualified vintage race drivers. The costs can run as high as $5,000 for a full week's instruction, but in the end you will have learned everything you need to know to be safe on a race track in real wheel-to-wheel competition.</p>
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<p><b>Maintenance</b>: One thing to consider when you select a vintage race car is what it will cost to keep it running. The people at Klub Sport told me that to be competitive in the 356 group, you had to have a very hot motor that may not make it through a full season of racing. Anyone can tell you that the more horses you coax out of a motor the shorter its life will be (read Hand Grenade). That could mean a mid-season rebuild if you want to stay with the front runners. Other maintenance items are fuel, oil, brakes, tires, entry fees and body and paint work. That's because even if you don't hit anyone or anything, stone chips and scratches happen during races and will have to be fixed. </p>
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<p><b>Speed Reading: </b> If your interest is aroused, you will probably want to learn more about this fast growing form of racing. The best sources of information about vintage racing are web sites like this one and the growing number of magazines dedicated to the sport. There are two I read regularly: Vintage Motorsport and Victory Lane. Each has a different editorial approach but both celebrate vintage racing and are well worth the subscription price. Books on wheel-to-wheel racing can be ordered from the nice folks at Classic Motorbooks - my favorite is "Driving in Competition" by Alan Johnson. They have just about every facet of the automotive spectrum covered in their thick catalog and you will want one if you aren't already on their mailing list. And you can check the Vintage Race Web on the Internet at:</p>
<p><b><a href="http://www.team.net/www/vintage-race/vinclubs.html">http://www.team.net/www/vintage-race/vinclubs.html</a></b></p>
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<p><b>Next Steps:</b> The best way to get started is to attend a vintage race and get caught up in the excitement. Search one of the vintage magazines for a race near your home and then go buy a ticket. Once there, go right to the paddock and talk to the racers about what it's like out there. Find out what Vintage Club they run with and ask how to join. Even if you don't have a vintage car, the club will find a way for you to participate and share in the fun. Remember, it's never too late to have a happy childhood.</p>
<p align="center"> </p>Drivers Say The Silliest Thingstag:www.thevrl.com,2011-03-23:1465153:BlogPost:2576002011-03-23T16:00:00.000ZDom Milianohttps://www.thevrl.com/profile/DomMiliano
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<div class="Section1"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2202967682?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-center" height="426" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2202967682?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="623"></img></a><br clear="all"></br></div>
<p align="center"><span class="font-size-4"><strong>Silly Things Race Car Drivers Say</strong></span></p>
<p align="center">by</p>
<p align="center">Dom Miliano</p>
<p>Some say the silly season starts after the last checkered flag has dropped. Not so. If you pay attention, at every race, drivers really…</p>
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<p align="center"><span class="font-size-4"><strong>Silly Things Race Car Drivers Say</strong></span></p>
<p align="center">by</p>
<p align="center">Dom Miliano</p>
<p>Some say the silly season starts after the last checkered flag has dropped. Not so. If you pay attention, at every race, drivers really say some of the silliest things imaginable. And it's not always their fault. Sometimes the TV catches them right after some bozo has run over the back end of their car and then we get to hear uncensored comments that add new meaning to the word "colorful." One I can remember vividly was A.J. Foyt trash talking about Jeff Andretti who had just made a bone head move and took both himself and a frustrated Mr. Foyt out. And Jeff is A.J.'s Godson.</p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2202968029?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" class="align-center" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2202968029?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="532" height="977"/></a></p>
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<p>Unfortunately, most times you and I only get to hear driver's silly statements after they have had some time to calm down and prepare themselves for the camera. Usually they are interviewed by a gracious pit lane "reporter" after their car has limped back to the pits with steam and titanium parts training out the tail pipe. We see the well groomed reporter with the microphone lean in through the crowd and ask something original and shocking like, "So what happened out there?" Immediately, the driver makes the change from frustrated competitor to diplomatic sales guy. He (and sometimes she) almost always answers, "Well, you know, the Valvoline, K-Mart, Pep Boys, Preparation-H, Weed Eater, Chapstick, National Public Radio, Bosch sparkplug, Ginsu Knife, Pepsi, Ford was running great. This was the best race car I have ever had in this, or any other lifetime, and the team did a great job this weekend like every other weekend with the setup, you know we were fast right out of the truck, and even though we only qualified 23rd and were running dead last, our Goodyear tires were perfect, but you know, I guess Satanic forces in the cosmos made something let go in the engine and well, that's racin'..."</p>
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<p>Let me clue you in, as soon as you hear a driver say, "Well, you know..." I can guarantee that the next 89 words you will hear will be the sponsors names, their toll free 800 telephone numbers and nice words meant to suck up to sponsors, crew and car owner.</p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2202967567?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" class="align-center" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2202967567?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="560" height="414"/></a></p>
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<p>Just once I want to hear a driver come in and say something like: "This piece of crap was slow Friday, it was slower when the morons from the tire company screwed with my tire pressures on Saturday and now, after running around like a rolling roadblock for 20 laps, it's sitting in pit lane dripping oil like a slice of cold pepperoni pizza because my tightwad sponsors wouldn't give us enough money so we could hire something better that these minimum wage, mouth breathing, room temperature IQ mechanics, one of whom forgot to tighten up the 39 cent oil clamp that just fell off and dumped 19 quarts of 10W-40 on the fastest corner on the track. But hey, that's racin'" </p>
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<p>I think the dumbest interviews are after crashes - especially if the driver being interviewed screwed up and caused the shunt. The driver usually starts with, "Well, you know, we were running good but we got a little loose and down in turn 4 we got together with the number 23 car and well, that's racin'...." </p>
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<p>"We" got loose? I want to know what's with the "we" stuff anyway? They did away with riding mechanics sometime around the Lincoln administration. So if there was a "we" in the car that got loose that “we” was you pal! But, I guess, if I just smacked a five hundred thousand dollar race car into unforgiving concrete (is there any other kind?) or into someone else's five hundred thousand dollar race car (and then concrete), I would want to share the credit with as many people as I could. I might even blame the guy interviewing me!</p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2202976736?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" class="align-center" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2202976736?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="411" height="519"/></a></p>
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<p>But racing is such big money these days that I don't think you will ever hear an honest interview anymore. That is unless you count the "interview" Arie Leuyndyke gave as he passed another driver during the Indy 500 a while back. It seems the other driver did something that annoyed Arie and he waved back the classic one finger salute (no, he was not telling him that he thought he was number one...). This gesture of affection, naturally, was caught on the in-car camera and replayed at least once on national TV by ABC Sports. I think their new motto is "The thrill of victory and the middle finger of frustration." </p>
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<p>But hey, well, you know, I guess, that really is racin'?</p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2202978082?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" class="align-center" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2202978082?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="551" height="372"/></a></p>15th Annual Greenwich Concours - A Ferrari Rich Environmenttag:www.thevrl.com,2010-09-28:1465153:BlogPost:2069542010-09-28T19:22:59.000ZDom Milianohttps://www.thevrl.com/profile/DomMiliano
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</font></font></font><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left"><font color="#000000"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">Greenwich is a quiet little town on the Connecticut coast blessed with art, culture, beautiful scenery and, more important to us car crazies, a bunch of people willing to turn one of their lovely parks, once a year, into a top level, charity concours d’elegance held to benefit AmeriCares.…</font></font></font></p>
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</font></font></font><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left"><font color="#000000"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">Greenwich is a quiet little town on the Connecticut coast blessed with art, culture, beautiful scenery and, more important to us car crazies, a bunch of people willing to turn one of their lovely parks, once a year, into a top level, charity concours d’elegance held to benefit AmeriCares. </font></font></font></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><font color="#000000"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">2010 marked the event’s 15<sup>th</sup> annual meeting and as usual, Bruce and Genia Wennerstrom, founders and co-chairs, once again assembled a jaw dropping selection of the world’s finest automobiles. This two day event showcases American cars on Saturday and then clears the deck on Sunday for the best cars from far-off shores. While I am 100% American, my automotive passions lie across the pond so, naturally, Sunday morning saw me speeding north up Rt. 95 for what I was sure would be a grand show. </font></font></font></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Times New Roman">Fans of the blood red cars could not have been disappointed because in the Italian Car Corrals they had coaxed owners of some of the world’s most important Ferraris to display some of their cars. Am I exaggerating? You be the judge. First, drawing shutter snapping spectators like bees to honey was James Glickehaus’s one-of-a-kind Ferrari P 4/5. The crowds were 3 deep around this Pininfarina-designed creation and, as is often cited about great works of art – the pictures do not do it justice.</font></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><font color="#000000"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">It’s a good day when you see one Ferrari but I quickly run out of adjectives when I see two perfectly prepared 250 GT Lussos parked close by and such was my luck because a few feet apart were Mark Lonenburg’s 1964 and Arthur Estey’s 1963 Lussos (Lussi?). People say that the Lusso may be the world’s sexiest car and based on these beauties, you would be hard pressed to mount a counter argument. </font></font></font></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman"><font color="#000000">Everywhere you looked, there were more Ferraris – Tim Lynch’s 330 GTC Coupe was displayed by Tom Papadopoulous’s 330 GTS Convertible, both from 1967. Another crowd favorite was Michael Franz’s 1974 246 Dino – magnificent in red over tan leather. I am partial to the 1960’s 250 GT’s and there were two of the finest around on the field – Randall and Kathleen Poliner’s 1960 Series II Cabriolet an all time classic, and a 1962 250 GT presented by Miller Motor Cars – Greenwich’s long-time, local Ferrari dealer. But as I passed a gold Daytona Spyder and a 2009 Spider 16M, my eyes were drawn to a 1954 250 GT that whispered “race car” with its roll bar, exposed rivets and plexi-hood-mounted wind screen. The car’s owner, Randall Poliner, said that he had only just purchased the car 2 months ago but that he had been driving it on Long Island the day before and laughed, “It’s a lot of fun! But, it’s not like getting in and driving anything modern.” His daughter saw us talking, ran up and gushed, “I fell in love with the sound…” Randall then referred me to Tom Papadopoulous, the owner of the shop that had done the research and restoration work on the car and he provided some of the car’s history. First he showed me the serial number plate - 0383GT – and he explained that it was discolored because this car lived through the fires during the Detroit riots! He went on to explain that his research showed it was built to be used in competition with a big racy clutch and huge carbs. He described it as a “Prototype TDF” and “Was born to be a race car.” He said there is evidence that the car ran in the Tour de France, was used in hill climbs, ran the</font> <span class="boxcontent"><span style="COLOR: #444444">Rallye Sestriere and competed in the USA at Watkins Glen, Lime Rock and Sebring. He said, while it’s closer now to the way it was originally built, they were still working on some details, like replacing the wind shield with a period correct piece. Regardless, it was beautiful and when the owner fired it up for the judges, everyone smiled!</span></span></font></font></p>
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<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman"><span class="boxcontent"><img width="721" alt="" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2202997596?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024"/></span></font></font></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman"><span class="boxcontent"><span style="COLOR: #444444">Fifteen years is a long run for any show but if the</span></span> <font color="#000000">Wennerstroms can continue to attract the same level of cars, I don’t see any reason we can’t have 15 more.</font></font></font></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"></p>BMW Art Cars - Sexy Cars in the Citytag:www.thevrl.com,2010-08-23:1465153:BlogPost:2013312010-08-23T14:01:03.000ZDom Milianohttps://www.thevrl.com/profile/DomMiliano
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<p style="TEXT-INDENT: 0.5in; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><font color="#000000"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">If you were to make a list of the ten most car-unfriendly towns in America, New York City – and in particular the borough of Manhattan – would probably top the charts. This is a berg famous for crater-sized pot holes, ticket happy Meter Maids and sneaker-clad, room temperature IQ, mouth-breathing, car stereo snatchers (in Da Bronx, BMW stands for break my window). So when I heard that BMW was going to display a quarter of its Art Car collection in Grand Central Terminal, I pinched myself and then checked the calendar to see if it was April Fool’s Day! A free car show in a city that chews up automobiles and spits them out; no way Jose. But wow, was I wrong! Using the Google and the Internets, I was able to confirm that several of BMA’s icons of art and speed were coming to town and staying for over a week. And while I still couldn’t figure out why this was happening, every good Bimmerhead knows the drill - get the cameras and go to town. </font></font></font></p>
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<p style="TEXT-INDENT: 0.5in"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Times New Roman">At the NYC preview, BMW NA’s VP of Marketing, Jack Pitney, said “BMW is proud to bring the works of some of the world’s most respected artists to New York City as part of a free public art installation,”</font></p>
<p style="TEXT-INDENT: 0.5in"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Times New Roman">A very nice bit of corporate largess, but that was only the “what” of what was happening – what about the why? But, hey, this is New Yawk, so why not leave it to politicians to dip deeply into the booster-ism bandwagon to bring clarity to this automotive incongruous juxtaposition. Mayor Mike, I really deserve three terms, Bloomberg explained, “Arts and culture is our City’s signature industry, and it also nourishes many others. New York City’s vibrant cultural life is a big reason why so many people want to live here, and it draws visitors here from around the world.” If you can’t find your political BS thesaurus, let me translate: “Cars, schmars, show me the money!” But politics is not my game; I love cars so I had to visit the show to see for myself if this crazy idea worked.</font></p>
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<p style="TEXT-INDENT: 0.5in"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Times New Roman">No need for suspense, gosh, darn – it works! First a little plug for Grand Central Terminal. This is a magnificent, fully restored Beaux-Arts structure that remains alive and vibrant, despite threats to raze it by the same kind of Philistines who tore down Pennsylvania Station. Seeing the BMWs in Vanderbilt Hall – a limestone and marble cavern so big I think it has its own Zip Code – stopped me and, while I was there, a few hundred other people dead in our tracks.</font></p>
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<p style="TEXT-INDENT: 0.5in"><font color="#000000"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">The display of these four cars, BMWs painted by Andy Warhol, Frank Stella, Roy Lichtenstein and Robert Rauschenberg, were artistically lit and arranged, with simple to read signs and the results were simply mesmerizing. So much so, I wound up spending almost two hours in the hall, reading the stories of how each car and artist were brought together, watching the continuously running video of how the work was done and listening to commentary on my cell phone for each car available via a toll free number provided by BMW (These guys think of everything). </font></font></font></p>
<p style="TEXT-INDENT: 0.5in"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Times New Roman">In addition to the 4 automotive pop-art icons, there was a pro basketball court sized canvas striped with multi-colored tire tracks that were laid down by a contemporary artist named Robin Rhode. Rhode sketched out his intended design, just as artists have done for centuries, and then directed a driver who was driving a specially modified, paint-squirting Z4 as his brush. Above the “canvas” was a large screen video showing how this work was conceived and executed using the newly redesigned Z4. BMW even set up a web site at</font> <a href="http://www.bmwusa.com/playz4"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman">www.BMWusa.com/playz4</font></a> <font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman"><font color="#000000">called “Expression of Joy” that will let anyone experience the fun of the new Z4 (virtually, of course). And for you I-phone / I-Touch owners, they have a free downloadable paint-by-car app that will test your own artistic genius. Very cool… </font></font></font></p>
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<p style="TEXT-INDENT: 0.5in"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Times New Roman">As fascinating as the cars were, the cross section of people stopping to look at the Art Cars was, to me, even more intriguing. In a town where cars can be a bona fide liability, people of all ages were drawn by the magnetic pull of these special cars. I wanted to ask the people what they thought of the display but this was, after all, Manhattan. I expected the response to my questions would be, “Hey, I got ya art cars right here, pal!” I decided to ease my way into the task by floating around the edges of the crowd, listening to conversations to take the pulse of the onlookers. I heard one person say (by the Warhol M1), “It looks like he got a bucket of paint and just threw it.” This twenty-something’s companion replied, “I got a paintball gun; maybe I could be the next Picasso?” as Rodney Dangerfield used to say, “No respect, no respect at all!”</font></p>
<p style="TEXT-INDENT: 0.5in"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Times New Roman">I eventually got up enough nerve to speak to Ricardo Ventura, one of the army of well-spoken security guards providing 7X24 protection at the exhibit. I wanted to know, having been around these cars for 8 hours a day, did he have a favorite? “Oh yes,” he said. “The Stella; it’s a beauty.” He envisioned himself cruising the mean streets in a full race BMW 3.0 CSL coupé – Oh yeah, he’s hooked!</font></p>
<p style="TEXT-INDENT: 0.5in"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Times New Roman">I spoke to a woman named Julie who was in town from Pittsburgh as she was giving the Lichtenstein 320i the once over. She said, “They’re different… They all have their own little personalities.” But she was quick to add, “I’d like to drive the little sports car over there.” She smiled and pointed at the paint splattered Z4 on the canvas across the hall. Julie’s friend, Elaine, also from Pittsburgh, laughed when she walked by the Warhol car saying, “It looks like he started to prime it but didn’t get very far…”</font></p>
<p style="TEXT-INDENT: 0.5in"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman"><font color="#000000">I saw one guy, he said his name was Werner, studying the cars so intently that I had him pegged as a die-hard BMW nut. I asked him what he thought of the display. “I love ‘em, a nice combination of technology and art.” was his reply. And then he admitted, “I’m a BMW driver myself. I have a 530D.” Yes, “D” as in Dr. Diesel’s wonderful creation which identified him as visitor from Germany. He was only too happy to tell me all about his BMW. “It’s a weapon!” he said. </font></font></font></p>
<p style="TEXT-INDENT: 0.5in"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Times New Roman">My last victim was a woman named Nancy who admitted to being a real, genuine, NYC resident. I selected her for an interview because she wearing a way-cool hat with a ring of yellow flowers added for artistic effect. “These are beautiful art objects,” she offered. Then she added, “Art doesn’t have to be on a canvas and art doesn’t have to be in a museum.” Her authoritative pronouncements should have given me a hint at her profession. “I’m an art historian,” she said matter-of-factly. (From Yale, I learned later.) How often do you get to speak to an Ivy League art expert? So I decided to I ask her if she thought this is serious art. “Serious,” she laughed. “That’s another question!” She simply described them as a “wonderful fusion of art and cars,” and left it there.</font></p>
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<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left"><img width="721" alt="" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2202987734?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024"/></p>
<span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA"><font color="#000000">So there you have it. BMW, for any number of wonderful reasons, gave both native New Yorkers and hundreds of tourists a generous and thought provoking gift. And I for one applaud them for doing it. Thanks Guys! </font></span>Interview with DEREK BELLtag:www.thevrl.com,2010-08-20:1465153:BlogPost:2002242010-08-20T22:44:52.000ZDom Milianohttps://www.thevrl.com/profile/DomMiliano
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</font></span><p align="center" class="Preformatted" style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 0in 47.95pt 95.9pt 143.85pt 191.8pt 239.75pt 287.7pt 335.65pt 383.6pt 431.55pt"></p>
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</font></span><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 0in 47.95pt 95.9pt 143.85pt 191.8pt 239.75pt 287.7pt 335.65pt 383.6pt 431.55pt" class="Preformatted" align="center"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><font color="#000000"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><strong>DEREK BELL </strong></span></font></span></p>
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<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 0in 47.95pt 95.9pt 143.85pt 191.8pt 239.75pt 287.7pt 335.65pt 383.6pt 431.55pt" class="Preformatted" align="center"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">by</span></p>
<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 0in 47.95pt 95.9pt 143.85pt 191.8pt 239.75pt 287.7pt 335.65pt 383.6pt 431.55pt" class="Preformatted" align="center"></p>
<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 0in 47.95pt 95.9pt 143.85pt 191.8pt 239.75pt 287.7pt 335.65pt 383.6pt 431.55pt" class="Preformatted" align="center"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Dom Miliano</span></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 0in 47.95pt 95.9pt 143.85pt 191.8pt 239.75pt 287.7pt 335.65pt 383.6pt 431.55pt" class="Preformatted"></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 0in 47.95pt 95.9pt 143.85pt 191.8pt 239.75pt 287.7pt 335.65pt 383.6pt 431.55pt" class="Preformatted"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Derek Bell is one of the most successful sports car drivers in history. His career spans three decades and is highlighted by 5 wins at one of the most difficult races in the sport of motorcar racing - Le Mans. To the casual fan, his name is probably most closely associated with Porsche or as a commentator with a distinctive voice for Speed, the cable TV car-crazy channel. However, for a while, back in the late '60's, Derek Bell was hand-picked by Enzo Ferrari himself to carry the Ferrari colors into battle on Grand Prix circuits all over the world. Your reporter recently caught up with Bell at track-side and he graciously agreed to a game of twenty questions for the friends of MYVRL.</span></p>
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<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><img width="484" alt="" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2069105826?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024"/></span></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 0in 47.95pt 95.9pt 143.85pt 191.8pt 239.75pt 287.7pt 335.65pt 383.6pt 431.55pt" class="Preformatted"></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 0in 47.95pt 95.9pt 143.85pt 191.8pt 239.75pt 287.7pt 335.65pt 383.6pt 431.55pt" class="Preformatted"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">MYVRL: How did you get started with Ferrari?</span></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 0in 47.95pt 95.9pt 143.85pt 191.8pt 239.75pt 287.7pt 335.65pt 383.6pt 431.55pt" class="Preformatted"></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 0in 47.95pt 95.9pt 143.85pt 191.8pt 239.75pt 287.7pt 335.65pt 383.6pt 431.55pt" class="Preformatted"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">DB: "I was running Formula two in my third year or maybe my fourth year and I was racing...at Hockenheim when Jimmy Clark, bless his heart, was killed. And suddenly [Enzo] Ferrari said, ‘Give him a test drive.’ At the same time I had a test drive with another Formula 1 team, the Cooper Formula 1 team, and I was the one that everyone was wanting to have, it seemed – rightly or not, I’m not sure!” </span></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 0in 47.95pt 95.9pt 143.85pt 191.8pt 239.75pt 287.7pt 335.65pt 383.6pt 431.55pt" class="Preformatted"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">MYVRL: For a young driver, this must have been unbelievably exciting. Which team did you decide to go to?</span></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 0in 47.95pt 95.9pt 143.85pt 191.8pt 239.75pt 287.7pt 335.65pt 383.6pt 431.55pt" class="Preformatted"></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 0in 47.95pt 95.9pt 143.85pt 191.8pt 239.75pt 287.7pt 335.65pt 383.6pt 431.55pt" class="Preformatted"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">DB: Eventually, I signed for Ferrari as a Formula 2 driver. And my first race was on pole at Monza in Formula 2. Following that I went to Zandvoort and I won my first race there...and so that was that. Then Ferrari picked me up and said, 'How about a Formula 1 test drive?' And I did...a race in England called the Gold Cup at Oulton Park, it was a non-championship race, but everyone was there. And then I went to do the Italian Grand Prix."</span></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 0in 47.95pt 95.9pt 143.85pt 191.8pt 239.75pt 287.7pt 335.65pt 383.6pt 431.55pt" class="Preformatted"></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 0in 47.95pt 95.9pt 143.85pt 191.8pt 239.75pt 287.7pt 335.65pt 383.6pt 431.55pt" class="Preformatted"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">MYVRL: That must have been amazing, to be in Italy with the Ferrari colors...</span></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 0in 47.95pt 95.9pt 143.85pt 191.8pt 239.75pt 287.7pt 335.65pt 383.6pt 431.55pt" class="Preformatted"></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 0in 47.95pt 95.9pt 143.85pt 191.8pt 239.75pt 287.7pt 335.65pt 383.6pt 431.55pt" class="Preformatted"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">DB: "Well that's it, I mean, you can hardly describe it. You have to be a great Ferrari fan or a Ferrari driver to appreciate it. And I know Michael Schumacher respected it [a few years ago] when he won there. Obviously, I didn't win. To win in a Ferrari must be out of this world. And I did sort of...have empathy for him when he actually won because I know what it's like just to drive for them at Monza in your first Grand Prix, let alone...win it. It's very, very special, you just can't imagine what it's like to be in a red Ferrari at Monza."</span></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 0in 47.95pt 95.9pt 143.85pt 191.8pt 239.75pt 287.7pt 335.65pt 383.6pt 431.55pt" class="Preformatted"></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 0in 47.95pt 95.9pt 143.85pt 191.8pt 239.75pt 287.7pt 335.65pt 383.6pt 431.55pt" class="Preformatted"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">MYVRL: What was it like to deal with Enzo Ferrari? The reports of the way he treated some drivers makes him sound cruel and cold?</span></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 0in 47.95pt 95.9pt 143.85pt 191.8pt 239.75pt 287.7pt 335.65pt 383.6pt 431.55pt" class="Preformatted"></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 0in 47.95pt 95.9pt 143.85pt 191.8pt 239.75pt 287.7pt 335.65pt 383.6pt 431.55pt" class="Preformatted"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">DB: "I had a great relationship with him, which is amazing really. My wife at that time was an English lady and she was very ill and I remember every day the Old Man used to say to me, 'How's you wife today?' - we used to speak French together. I said, I don't know, it's too early, I haven't had time to phone yet. He said, 'Come on, we'll phone her up.' We would go to his office and phone the hospital to see how she was. He was an</span></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 0in 47.95pt 95.9pt 143.85pt 191.8pt 239.75pt 287.7pt 335.65pt 383.6pt 431.55pt" class="Preformatted"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">amazing sympathetic man like that."</span></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 0in 47.95pt 95.9pt 143.85pt 191.8pt 239.75pt 287.7pt 335.65pt 383.6pt 431.55pt" class="Preformatted"></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 0in 47.95pt 95.9pt 143.85pt 191.8pt 239.75pt 287.7pt 335.65pt 383.6pt 431.55pt" class="Preformatted"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">MYVRL: That doesn't sound like the same man who didn't send flowers to the funeral of a former driver?</span></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 0in 47.95pt 95.9pt 143.85pt 191.8pt 239.75pt 287.7pt 335.65pt 383.6pt 431.55pt" class="Preformatted"></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 0in 47.95pt 95.9pt 143.85pt 191.8pt 239.75pt 287.7pt 335.65pt 383.6pt 431.55pt" class="Preformatted"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">DB: "Ferrari, the whole time with me was always very, very careful and they just wanted me to learn and gain experience. It was really strange because historically everybody in the Ferrari papers and magazines and anything I had read about Ferrari was always Ferrari pushed his drivers to the brink of death and all that sort of thing."</span></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 0in 47.95pt 95.9pt 143.85pt 191.8pt 239.75pt 287.7pt 335.65pt 383.6pt 431.55pt" class="Preformatted"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">MYVRL: And you still drove for him!</span></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 0in 47.95pt 95.9pt 143.85pt 191.8pt 239.75pt 287.7pt 335.65pt 383.6pt 431.55pt" class="Preformatted"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">DB: "Now I was very nervous about this because I just didn't want to die that early. I wanted to have a bit more of a career. And the Old Man never, ever pushed me. The whole thing was, just go out there, gain experience. </span></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 0in 47.95pt 95.9pt 143.85pt 191.8pt 239.75pt 287.7pt 335.65pt 383.6pt 431.55pt" class="Preformatted"></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 0in 47.95pt 95.9pt 143.85pt 191.8pt 239.75pt 287.7pt 335.65pt 383.6pt 431.55pt" class="Preformatted"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">MYVRL" You were a young, aggressive guy, how did they manage to keep you reined in?</span></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 0in 47.95pt 95.9pt 143.85pt 191.8pt 239.75pt 287.7pt 335.65pt 383.6pt 431.55pt" class="Preformatted"></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 0in 47.95pt 95.9pt 143.85pt 191.8pt 239.75pt 287.7pt 335.65pt 383.6pt 431.55pt" class="Preformatted"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">DB: "Well, (for example) I came to the United States Grand Prix and they said, 'Just go out and as long as you qualify, get on the back of the grid, it doesn't matter.' And they wouldn't let me go out and get a time. They never let me never do more that one lap at a time. Try new brake pads, try new disks, try this, try that. And (of course) I started at the back of the grid." </span></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 0in 47.95pt 95.9pt 143.85pt 191.8pt 239.75pt 287.7pt 335.65pt 383.6pt 431.55pt" class="Preformatted"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">MYVRL: What happened in the race?</span></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 0in 47.95pt 95.9pt 143.85pt 191.8pt 239.75pt 287.7pt 335.65pt 383.6pt 431.55pt" class="Preformatted"></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 0in 47.95pt 95.9pt 143.85pt 191.8pt 239.75pt 287.7pt 335.65pt 383.6pt 431.55pt" class="Preformatted"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">DB: "Once the flag dropped, I was allowed to go. And I got well up. I came carving through the field, from like twelfth up to seventh or something. (But) they never, ever pushed me."</span></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 0in 47.95pt 95.9pt 143.85pt 191.8pt 239.75pt 287.7pt 335.65pt 383.6pt 431.55pt" class="Preformatted"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">MYVRL: Why do you think that was? </span></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 0in 47.95pt 95.9pt 143.85pt 191.8pt 239.75pt 287.7pt 335.65pt 383.6pt 431.55pt" class="Preformatted"></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 0in 47.95pt 95.9pt 143.85pt 191.8pt 239.75pt 287.7pt 335.65pt 383.6pt 431.55pt" class="Preformatted"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">DB: "It was like they were bringing me on for the next year, it was a strange situation. Yet the next year, they didn't know what they were going to do." </span></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 0in 47.95pt 95.9pt 143.85pt 191.8pt 239.75pt 287.7pt 335.65pt 383.6pt 431.55pt" class="Preformatted"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">MYVRL: How much did the Old Man have to do with the day to day running of the team?</span></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 0in 47.95pt 95.9pt 143.85pt 191.8pt 239.75pt 287.7pt 335.65pt 383.6pt 431.55pt" class="Preformatted"></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 0in 47.95pt 95.9pt 143.85pt 191.8pt 239.75pt 287.7pt 335.65pt 383.6pt 431.55pt" class="Preformatted"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">DB: "He had a lot to do with it, but I wouldn't know how much. I know he knew what was happening. (But) you never saw him around the race shop. You only ever saw him in his office. And I saw him at the test track when I had my first formula one test."</span></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 0in 47.95pt 95.9pt 143.85pt 191.8pt 239.75pt 287.7pt 335.65pt 383.6pt 431.55pt" class="Preformatted"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">MYVRL: That must have been special...</span></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 0in 47.95pt 95.9pt 143.85pt 191.8pt 239.75pt 287.7pt 335.65pt 383.6pt 431.55pt" class="Preformatted"></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 0in 47.95pt 95.9pt 143.85pt 191.8pt 239.75pt 287.7pt 335.65pt 383.6pt 431.55pt" class="Preformatted"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">DB: (Laughs) "Yeah it was. It was chucking down with rain and I went out in a Formula 1 car and I had never sat in a Formula 1 in my life before. And it didn't have wet tires it was on what we call a sort of dry setting or intermediate tires. And it was quite uncanny. I sort of got there and the engineer leans in the car and says, 'If you crash da car, the last time you'll ever drive a red car. Maybe a green car, (which is the British</span></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 0in 47.95pt 95.9pt 143.85pt 191.8pt 239.75pt 287.7pt 335.65pt 383.6pt 431.55pt" class="Preformatted"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">colors) but never another red car.' No doubt, I had to go out and prove that I was worthy of a Formula 1 drive." </span></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 0in 47.95pt 95.9pt 143.85pt 191.8pt 239.75pt 287.7pt 335.65pt 383.6pt 431.55pt" class="Preformatted"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">MYVRL: No pressure.</span></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 0in 47.95pt 95.9pt 143.85pt 191.8pt 239.75pt 287.7pt 335.65pt 383.6pt 431.55pt" class="Preformatted"></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 0in 47.95pt 95.9pt 143.85pt 191.8pt 239.75pt 287.7pt 335.65pt 383.6pt 431.55pt" class="Preformatted"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">DB: No pressure. (laughs) And it was chucking with rain and I had sort of a dry tire, not quite dry, and I went out and I get to the first corner and there's the Old Man sitting in his 2+2, watching his new boy and I'm going, Oh My Lord! And there is this fine line between disaster and success in any test drive you have. The Old Man had never seen me drive before...So I went out and I obviously I was good enough. I didn't fall off the road. And it's a matter of being in that point between falling off and staying on and I guess I did it well enough to fool them and they put me in a Grand Prix!"</span></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 0in 47.95pt 95.9pt 143.85pt 191.8pt 239.75pt 287.7pt 335.65pt 383.6pt 431.55pt" class="Preformatted"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">MYVRL: You have driven for two of the biggest names in racing.</span></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 0in 47.95pt 95.9pt 143.85pt 191.8pt 239.75pt 287.7pt 335.65pt 383.6pt 431.55pt" class="Preformatted"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">DB: THE biggest names.</span></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 0in 47.95pt 95.9pt 143.85pt 191.8pt 239.75pt 287.7pt 335.65pt 383.6pt 431.55pt" class="Preformatted"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">MYVRL: Yes, Ferrari and Porsche - how are they the same?</span></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 0in 47.95pt 95.9pt 143.85pt 191.8pt 239.75pt 287.7pt 335.65pt 383.6pt 431.55pt" class="Preformatted"></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 0in 47.95pt 95.9pt 143.85pt 191.8pt 239.75pt 287.7pt 335.65pt 383.6pt 431.55pt" class="Preformatted"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">DB: Totally different. They're totally different. I had all my success with Porsche but I never felt I was driving for Professor Porsche. I felt that I was driving for the name Porsche. I was driving for the engineers, the mechanics and everybody that works at the Factory. Where as with Ferrari, I felt I was driving for the Old Man. And it was a much more emotional thing driving for Ferrari. The Ferrari mechanics cried if you won and cried if you didn't. But Porsche, it was very much more part of a business. And I was very lucky to experience both. But I still have a very strong affection for Ferrari but I don't quite know why because I didn't win many events <for Ferrari>. I would have loved to have been a star and to have achieved something, but...</span></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 0in 47.95pt 95.9pt 143.85pt 191.8pt 239.75pt 287.7pt 335.65pt 383.6pt 431.55pt" class="Preformatted"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">MYVRL: What's the best car you ever drove?</span></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 0in 47.95pt 95.9pt 143.85pt 191.8pt 239.75pt 287.7pt 335.65pt 383.6pt 431.55pt" class="Preformatted"></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 0in 47.95pt 95.9pt 143.85pt 191.8pt 239.75pt 287.7pt 335.65pt 383.6pt 431.55pt" class="Preformatted"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">DB: In a way, I would have to say the Porsche 917, at the same time I love the 333SP Ferrari which I drove at Daytona…. The car is absolutely outstanding. It's like a Formula 1 car with more bodywork. For that reason, I love it. When I got out of it, from my first test in it...I was just grinning from ear to ear. And I said, that's why I started racing, was that sensation I had when I drove that car. It was the buzz you get</span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">from driving a race car now, a REAL racer. </span></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 0in 47.95pt 95.9pt 143.85pt 191.8pt 239.75pt 287.7pt 335.65pt 383.6pt 431.55pt" class="Preformatted"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">MYVRL: Racing is such serious business, did you have time to kid around when you were at Ferrari?</span></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 0in 47.95pt 95.9pt 143.85pt 191.8pt 239.75pt 287.7pt 335.65pt 383.6pt 431.55pt" class="Preformatted"></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 0in 47.95pt 95.9pt 143.85pt 191.8pt 239.75pt 287.7pt 335.65pt 383.6pt 431.55pt" class="Preformatted"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">DB: (Laughs) Well, I was talking to the team manager <after the Italian Grand Prix> about how we kept ourselves in shape for the races and he did say that you shouldn't make love one week before a race. I said that's all very well for you, but we race every weekend. The manager said, 'No I mean when I say making love I mean when you must crawl from the bed the next day. That's making love!'</span></p>
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<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><img width="485" alt="" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2202967935?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024"/></span></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 0in 47.95pt 95.9pt 143.85pt 191.8pt 239.75pt 287.7pt 335.65pt 383.6pt 431.55pt" class="Preformatted"></p>BMW’s Ultimate Driving Machine – Boris Saidtag:www.thevrl.com,2010-08-20:1465153:BlogPost:2002182010-08-20T22:32:40.000ZDom Milianohttps://www.thevrl.com/profile/DomMiliano
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt"><font color="#000000"><font face="Times New Roman"><strong>BMW’s Ultimate Driving Machine is B</strong></font></font></span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt"><font color="#000000"><font face="Times New Roman"><strong>oris Said!…</strong></font></font></span></p>
<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="center"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt"><font color="#000000"><font face="Times New Roman"><strong>BMW’s Ultimate Driving Machine is B</strong></font></font></span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt"><font color="#000000"><font face="Times New Roman"><strong>oris Said! </strong></font></font></span></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt"><font color="#000000"><font face="Times New Roman">In a world of racecar drivers as exciting as vanilla ice cream and decaf coffee, BMW’s Boris Said is an extra large serving of Chunky Monkey washed down with a double shot of espresso. When other drivers are talking “sponsor speak” or, more likely, holding their tongues, Boris seems to be able to say and do things that will, let’s say, get your attention. Like the day a few years ago when I first met Boris at Lime Rock Park’s Memorial Day media event. By virtue of comparable height, he was co-driving a PTG M3 that weekend with the legendary Hans Stuck. The other PTG cars were being co-driven by P. D. Cunningham, Brian Cunningham, Mark Simo and Johannes van Overbeek. At the noon press conference, Boris declared that he and Hans were the <strong>“Short drivers Suck</strong>” racing team. His joking and good humor was infectious and helped keep the other scribblers attending the event laughing and focused on the activities of the PTG Team - no small feat.</font></font></span></p>
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<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman"><img width="721" alt="" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2202967567?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024"/></font></span></p>
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<p style="TEXT-INDENT: 0.5in; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt"><font color="#000000"><font face="Times New Roman">After lunch, to give the journalists a racer’s eye view of the track, Lime Rock offered on-track “thrill rides”. You had a choice: hot laps in the Skip Barber Racing School Dodge Vipers, driven by their instructors or in racecars specially equipped with passenger seats driven by the pros. Being a Certified Bimmerhead, I said, “Screw the Viper,” I wanted a ride in the PTG M3 lightweight. Joy of joys, my pilot was Boris Said. As I jumped into the car, I was surprised to see that he was wearing a cheap looking, open face helmet (think Jack Nicholson in Easy Rider) – better to see his patented huge grin plastered on his face! Maybe it was his good-natured jab at short drivers or maybe it was his wonderful flash of white teeth, but as I buckled up my belts I bragged fateful words: “You can’t scare me.” Boris just said “Ha!” and snicked the lever into first. Just then, I happened to look over my shoulder and saw a Viper coming down the main straight going full tilt boogie. We, on the other hand, were stationary and in pit lane. As my words were still echoing inside the stark interior of the M3, Boris was already blasting through the gears. In a tick, Boris had powered us out of pit lane and onto the track sliding, drifting, SCREAMING, into Big Bend – Lime Rock-speak for turn one. To my utter amazement, we beat the Viper to the corner. By a lot! By a whole lot!!</font></font></span></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoBodyTextIndent"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Times New Roman">Somehow, we got through Big Bend without braking or even lifting and headed toward the Esses; a quick, left right slalom onto no-name straight. By now, my head was jerking from side to side from the tremendous g-forces generated by the grippy slicks and Boris’ spectacular car control. I yelled over the roar of the un-muffled engine, “How many g’s?” Boris said, “2 something, I don’t know, but THAT’s not the cool part…(big smile here) I’ll tell you when we’re gonna do the cool part.” We got through no-name and blasted up the climbing turn, again without lifting. I felt the whole car get light as we crested the hill and wished I hadn’t had the extra helping of BBQ for lunch. He kept accelerating as we approached West Bend and, with barely a whisper of a lift of the throttle, we went through that corner faster than I have ever gone in 30 years of driving around Lime Rock. We then attacked the diving turn, all four corners clawing, scrambling, and begging for every bit of traction. I managed to glance over at Boris and, to my amazement, he had a look of complete relaxation on his face. We did three more laps like that, every one as quick, every one as smooth, passing everything on the track. But as fast as we were going, I began to realize that he was probably only going 9/10s, seeing as this was for fun, the race for the money came on Memorial Day (a race he and Stuck won, I must add). After we came down the diving turn on our last lap, Boris yelled, “Hey! This is the cool part,” and with that he nailed the brakes as hard as he could. It was like we hit a wall! My eyeballs nearly popped out of my head and hit the windshield. It was like Smoking Joe punched me in the solar plexus. (You get the picture?)</font></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoBodyTextIndent"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Times New Roman">Boris looked over at me, smiling (if possible) even more now than usual. As we coasted into pit lane and said, “That’s the cool part, good brakes. Real good brakes.”</font></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoBodyTextIndent"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Times New Roman">So even if he didn’t scare me, he did get my attention. OK, I wasn’t THAT scared.</font></p>
<p style="TEXT-INDENT: 0.5in; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"></p>MOMA Honors the Automobiletag:www.thevrl.com,2010-08-20:1465153:BlogPost:2002052010-08-20T21:42:31.000ZDom Milianohttps://www.thevrl.com/profile/DomMiliano
<p class="MsoTitle" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><strong><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman" size="2">MOMA Honors the Automobile</font></strong> <font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman" size="2">By: Dom Miliano</font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font size="2"><font color="#000000"><font face="Times New Roman">When you try to think of a city that makes a habit of…</font></font></font></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoTitle"><strong><font color="#000000" size="2" face="Times New Roman">MOMA Honors the Automobile</font></strong> <font color="#000000" size="2" face="Times New Roman">By: Dom Miliano</font></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><font size="2"><font color="#000000"><font face="Times New Roman">When you try to think of a city that makes a habit of celebrating the automobile, for most of us, New York probably doesn’t come immediately to mind. So you might be surprised to learn that, every year about a million people go to the NY Auto Show and more than double that used to visit the late, lamented Louis Vuitton Classic concours in Rockefeller Center. So when the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) chose to celebrate the acquisition of three new cars with an exhibit called AUTObodies: Speed, Sport, Transport, no one should have been surprised.</font></font></font></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><font size="2"><font color="#000000"><font face="Times New Roman">MOMA has had a decades-long fascination with beautiful, yet functional, mechanical things. High tech looking Swedish saw blades, sensuously sculpted glassware, delicate Italian table lamps and, of course, beautiful automobiles are all part of their permanent collection. Naturally, Italian cars are prominently represented. As you enter the exhibit, you are greeted by a blood red 1946 Cisitalia “202” GT Car. This was the very first car acquired by MOMA and easily its most beautiful. Built by Pinin Farina (as he was called back then), this car’s design broke “many rust-covered rules” that said you had to have a box for the people and a box for the motor. Pininfarina said. “The car had to have pure, smooth, essential lines.” As you stand and stare at the elegant simplicity of its design, you can sense what the exhibit’s curator, Peter Reed, calls a design that, “seems to epitomize a sense of postwar optimism.”</font></font></font></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><font size="2"><font color="#000000"><font face="Times New Roman">The other car in the exhibit that Forza readers will find interesting is Alan Prost’s 1990 Formula 1 Ferrari 641/2. This is a John Barnard design and it exudes his penchant for a “homogenous shape.” In a 1993 interview he is quoted as saying, “Unless there’s a really strong reason to have a break in a line, with an eyebrow or a blister or something like that, then the lines should all be flowing. I think there’s an inherent aerodynamic quality to that.” Again, standing along side the car, sighting down its flanks, you can almost feel the wind being cheated by the genius of his design and sense the tons of downforce generated by the huge front and rear wings. It is not often that mere mortals can stand so close to an F1 car. But with this exhibit, anyone with the price of admission can stand inches away from a car that won 6 Grand Prix races. You can study details that a few years ago were guarded with the same passion as military secrets. I was in the F1 paddock at Montreal when this car was being campaigned and a mechanic thrust his hand in front of my lens as I was trying to make an artistic photo of the car’s nose – “Enough of that, mate!” he said. Now, anyone can snap away and no one notices.</font></font></font></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><font size="2"><font color="#000000"><font face="Times New Roman">The other cars in the exhibit – a 1963 Jaguar E-Type, a 1959 VW Type 1 (i.e., the Beetle), a 1952 Willys-Overland Motors “Jeep” and a Smart Car (product of the DaimlerChrysler Group) – all represented what the Museum’s curator called breakthroughs in speed, sport and transport. Curator Peter Reed writes, “The six automobiles in the…collection…are innovative designs representing a range of purposes, such as speed, sport and transport. Individually, the automobiles are recognized for their aesthetic excellence, functional capability, historical significance, practicality, or affordability.</font></font></font></p>
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<p style="TEXT-INDENT: 0.5in; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><font size="2"><font color="#000000"><font face="Times New Roman">I guess that most New Yorkers have seen a Jag, VW and Jeep, but the Smart car’s unique packaging had most exhibit visitors circling its tiny 8-foot shape. I could almost read the minds of real City dwellers dreaming of how they could squeeze the Smart car into a precious on-the-street parking space (always a major coup). Having personally done battle for over 30 years in the dog-eat-dog world of City parking, the Smart would be my current weapon of choice. It combines a dent resistant body with a size that would let you park in spaces that would be a tight squeeze with a motorcycle. Add to that a certain hip sense of style and you have a design that transcends mundane transportation. </font></font></font></p>
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<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left"><font size="2"><font color="#000000"><font face="Times New Roman"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><img width="540" alt="" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2069124573?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024"/></span></font></font></font></p>David Donohue on the 2009 Daytona 24 Hours Victorytag:www.thevrl.com,2010-08-20:1465153:BlogPost:2001952010-08-20T21:00:37.000ZDom Milianohttps://www.thevrl.com/profile/DomMiliano
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<div style="FONT-FAMILY: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><div><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><b><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman"><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1282336730_0" style="BORDER-BOTTOM: #366388 2px dotted; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; CURSOR: hand">David Donohue</span> on the Daytona 24 Hours…</font></font></b></p>
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<div style="FONT-FAMILY: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><div><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="center"><b><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman"><span style="BORDER-BOTTOM: #366388 2px dotted; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; CURSOR: hand" id="lw_1282336730_0" class="yshortcuts">David Donohue</span> on the Daytona 24 Hours Victory</font></font></b></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman">I had the good fortune to hear David Donohue speak about the Daytona 24 Hour Race at an event held at the Simeone Foundation (a wonderful automotive museum outside <span style="BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; CURSOR: hand" id="lw_1282336730_1" class="yshortcuts">Philadelphia</span> ). It was so interesting that I thought you car crazies would love to hear his insights on this memorable win for Brumos and Porsche.</font></p>
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<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><img width="486" alt="" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2202967409?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024"/></font></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">Donohue was quick to say that this great victory – a win that occurred 40 years to the day after his father Mark’s win – was a team effort. Donohue explained, “Because of shoulder surgery, Darren Law (one of his team mates) had to do the bulk of the testing.” He made it clear that the race is just the tip of the iceberg – preparation, testing and teamwork are what won the race for Brumos. He said, “You don’t get a lot of track time really [at <span style="BORDER-BOTTOM: #366388 2px dotted; CURSOR: hand" id="lw_1282336730_2" class="yshortcuts">Daytona</span> during race week].” The reason is simple, “Porsche says that the life of the motor is 28 hours.” You since this is an <span style="BORDER-BOTTOM: #366388 2px dotted; CURSOR: hand" id="lw_1282336730_3" class="yshortcuts">endurance race</span>, you don’t want to put any more miles on the equipment than is necessary. He said, “Preparation starts months ahead so when you roll up for the race, you HAVE to be on the mark.” </font></font></p>
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<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><img width="721" alt="" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2202967507?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024"/></font></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman">Testing days are strictly regulated by the Rolex Sports Car sanctioning group and further controlled by the availability of the series’ spec tires. “We test for Daytona in November, December and do final testing in January,” he said. “We did 3,800 miles of testing at Daytona.” And, while he didn’t use these words, you could tell that testing and preparation were his team’s “unfair advantage.” He joked, “There was some wimpering from [Chip] Ganassi, but they didn’t even show up [at some of the test dates]. Then he added, “We took every opportunity [to test] and it showed in the race.”</font></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman">The preparation was so good; they rolled off the truck and barely had to change anything. “The car was absolutely spot on,” he bragged. “We only made one top-gear change.” And the results? “We put the car on the pole right out of the box!”</font></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman">If you watched the race on Speed, you heard the commentators touting “Porsche power” as the reason for their ability to take and hold the lead and their eventual victory. Not true, says Donohue. “There is no replacement for displacement.” Since the other teams have bigger motors with similar <span id="lw_1282336730_4" class="yshortcuts">horse power</span>, their cars have greater torque; so the power of the motor wasn’t their <span id="lw_1282336730_5" class="yshortcuts">secret weapon</span>. “There is nothing like torque,” he lamented. “I raced a Viper so I know the benefits of torque in a <span style="BORDER-BOTTOM: #366388 2px dotted; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; CURSOR: hand" id="lw_1282336730_6" class="yshortcuts">race car</span>.”</font></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman">One of their secrets was that the car was “trimmed out” meaning it had a low down force configuration making it less easy to drive in the infield sections but much slipperier aerodynamically on the banking. This configuration was learned as a benefit of all of that testing.</font></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman">But even with great preparation, stuff happens. One of Donohue’s 3 co-drivers, Antonio Garcia, had an incident exiting the pits and the shunt and the time to fix it cost the team nearly 3 laps. But Donohue said, “the crew never gave up and when we got the car back on the track, we wrung the engine by its neck!’ They set the fuel map to full rich and he said, “We beat the heck out of the engine from 11:45 until the end of the race!” But here is where having really reliable “Porsche Power” really counted. “At the end of the race, the engine had seen better days,” he joked. “It had lost oil, lost water but it kept going!”</font></p>
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<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><img width="721" alt="" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2202967544?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024"/></font></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman">So Donohue, Darren Law, Antonio Garcia and <span style="BORDER-BOTTOM: #366388 2px dotted; CURSOR: hand" id="lw_1282336730_7" class="yshortcuts">Buddy Rice</span> teamed up for a monumental win for Brumos, Porsche and car 58. But Donohue was quick to praise his crew. “These guys have a crappy job,” he said. “We get treated like fine athletes; they have a 32 hour day with no rest.” Plus he praised his co-drivers. “I wasn’t supposed to drive the final hour but it just worked out that way,” he confided. The team was so strong that the “green lap average” times for all 4 drivers were within 3 tenths of a second. Plus, he added, “The 59 car came in third, just 8 seconds behind the 58 [race winning car].”</font></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman">Donohue went on to take questions from the floor for another 45 minutes about racing, <span id="lw_1282336730_8" class="yshortcuts">Jay Leno</span>, the value of PCA DE, how much he enjoyed Auto-Cross and he even gave a hint about how good the new <span style="BORDER-BOTTOM: #366388 2px dotted; CURSOR: hand" id="lw_1282336730_9" class="yshortcuts">Porsche Panamera</span> is.</font></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">This was a rare opportunity to hear a true insider share insider secrets about one of the greatest wins for Porsche at the Daytona 24 Hours and now you have the facts as well. <span>Enjoy!</span> </font></font></p>
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</div>The Three Kings - A Porsche Odyssey in Three Acts - by Dom Milianotag:www.thevrl.com,2010-08-20:1465153:BlogPost:2001892010-08-20T20:46:54.000ZDom Milianohttps://www.thevrl.com/profile/DomMiliano
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><b><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><font size="3">A Porsche Odyssey in Three Acts - by</font></span></b> <b><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><font size="3">Dom Miliano…</font></span></b></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><font size="3">A Porsche Odyssey in Three Acts - by</font></span></b> <b><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><font size="3">Dom Miliano</font></span></b></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><font size="3">Quick, make a mental list of the 3 most desirable Porsche street cars ever made. I bet you included in your daydream a 356 Speedster possibly a 356 Carrera or maybe even a 356 Roadster. I know if I were making a list, one or all of these would be on it. However, there are some people who aren’t satisfied with castles in the air. When it comes to making dreams come true, there are people with the will and the resources to turn wishes into reality. So when I found out that one of our readers had actually thought up and then acquired a “356 dream car garage” and these cars had had won some of the most prestigious awards in the world, I went to investigate – camera and notebook in hand - to tell you the story. </font></span></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><font size="3">Act One - When I first met Ray Minella, he was sharing his 356 Carrera Cabriolet with me – one of my favorite P-cars ever. This was a drop-dead gorgeous light ivory cab I wished was in my garage. But at the same time, Minella was restoring another Carrera – a coupe – and the Cabriolet went for a good cause – the purchase of a new ’05 Carrera GT. But let’s start at the beginning, Christmas 1994. Minella explained, “I started looking for a Speedster around Christmas and there was a New Hampshire company which advertised in "Excellence Magazine" that offered the opportunity to buy a turn-key, "brand new" 356, finished just the way you could have ordered it from the factory.” Minella added, “It sounded good to me, so I arranged to go see them.” What he found was a black/black '56 Speedster “un-restored” in their showroom, and he bought it on the spot. He explained, “I wanted the car done as white/red, and they agreed to make it perfect for a fixed price!” As often happens with these kinds of things, progress was slow. Ray said, “The car was supposed to be started in April, then June, then July.” When the car hadn't been started by the end of July, he went to see them and found a few surprises. “The car had been hit,” Minella said, “And that it would be a lot more expensive to restore than they had originally anticipated, particularly as they had by now decided that I was quite serious about wanting a "perfect" car.” Being a good business man, Ray called the deal off and got his money back – just in time as it turns out because the shop shortly went belly up. But the question remained, if he really wanted perfection, what was the right Speedster to buy?</font></span></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><font size="3">The right car, as it turned out was right around the corner in the Porsche restoration shop of John and Ray Paterek. It was here that Ray met PCA chief concours judge Pete Bartelli who was in the process of spending a few of the more than 3,500 hours invested restoring his 1955 Speedster. Was it fate that the car was white, with a red dashboard installed? Who knows, but despite the fact that it was a bare painted shell, Minella described it as “love at first sight”. </font></span></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><font size="3">Bartelli had started the project six years before and had literally brought it back from the dead – early restoration photos show a Swiss cheese-like rusted hulk. Ray and Pete engaged in a bit of checkbook diplomacy and after a period of negotiation, Bartelli agreed to sell the car provided Minella fund the remainder of the restoration to national concours specs. There was one more condition - that the car would be entered in the upcoming Porsche Parade in San Antonio . This was the first time Minella had ever heard of the Porsche Parade, or a concours other than Pebble Beach , but it sounded like fun to him and since it was the only way he would sell him the car, Ray was in with both feet!</font></span></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><font size="3">Over the next ten months, Minella got an education in professional restoration. He explained, “The car came together in a spectacular way and participating in the completion of the Speedster was invaluable, as I got to see first hand what was involved in restoring a car to a ‘national concours’ standard.”</font></span></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><font size="3">He discovered that the devil is in the details. For example, the wires for the turn signal and horn run down the steering wheel column and they were originally held in place by little tin ties. Amazingly, Bartelli had a NOS set found in 1984, and in the spirit of perfection, donated them to the cause. This level of obsession carried over to the piston rings (a NOS set found in their original plastic containers). The tires, from Coker made from vintage molds and the wheels which are all correctly "date stamped" for the month and year of the car’s manufacturer.</font></span></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><font size="3">But the ultimate was the tool kit (Bartelli is a renowned tool kit junkie). Not only did it have all the right tools, but it included an original Mesko gauge with the little foil tag attached to the gauge with a string. The tool kit bag itself was stitched together by Ray Paterek from the parts of two bags, with re-stitching in the original holes!</font></span></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><font size="3">When it was done, Bartelli towed the car to Weldon Scrogham's shop in Virginia for him to do a final critique of the car (Scrogham won the Parade’s Manhattan concours 4 times so his opinion has weight). </font></span></p>
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<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><font size="3"><img width="721" alt="" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2202976489?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024"/></font></span></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><font size="3">In San Antonio, Minella, who Bartelli had invited to his Parade co-entrant, was given 2 jobs – wipe the nuts and bolts under the car with degreaser to keep the humidity-induced rust at bay and showcase the car to onlookers in an effort to garner votes for People’s Choice (an award considered by many to be the highest honor at the Parade Concours). Minella said, “I did everything but kiss babies to get the message across - this car is a work of art.”</font></span></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><font size="3">All went well until the morning of the Concours when they had a major disaster. The unrelenting humidity and heat loosened the epoxy holding the hood handle bolts onto the handle. When Bartelli went to close the front hood he pulled up on the chrome hood handle. To his horror, the lower attachment of the handle separated completely from the hood and the soft pot metal bent upwards at a horrifying angle. Minella said, “Imagine that happening an hour before the concours, after a seven and a half year restoration!” Fortunately, John Paterek was there and he managed to force the handle back into position. However, Minella said, “If you looked closely, there was a slight humpback shape to the handle.” Happily, in the 356 Division judging, the car received a score of 299.1 points, which was the highest raw score ever received in a Parade Concours.</font></span></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><font size="3">Minella said, “Things looked good as we headed into the Restoration Group judging against the other division winners, until someone forgot about not touching the hood handle. Uh, that someone would be me...”</font></span></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><font size="3">During light dusting, Minella mistakenly pulled up on the handle and re-damaged the fragile piece. Minella explained, “Pete looked like he was having an aneurysm as he lunged in vain, watching me lift the handle.” They were able to put the handle back in place without anyone noticing, and were fortunate enough to have the same judge for the exterior they had in the division judging. Minella laughed, “He didn't notice that the hood handle now looked a lot like a humpback whale!”</font></span></p>
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<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><img width="721" alt="" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2202981330?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024"/></span></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><font size="3">The tale of the tape was first in the 356 Division, the Grand Prize for Restoration and the People's Choice Award. Not bad for his first Porsche Parade! But the awards weren’t over because at the 50<sup>th</sup> Parade in Hershey , Pennsylvania in 2005, the Porsche family, Jerry Seinfeld, Karl Ludvigsen and Peter Schwartzenbauer selected it as the recipient of the Honorary Judge's Trophy. Minella adds, “In addition to the car, I got something I hadn't bargained for, a lifelong friend in the person of Pete Bartelli who is referred to by my kids as ‘Uncle Pete’ ”.</font></span></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><font size="3">Act Two - After his great experience in San Antonio , Minella decided that it would be great fun to do it all over again. But why settle for “just” a Speedster? Why not do it again with one of the rarest Porsche production models made – 356C Carrera 2. Ray learned a valuable lesson with the Speedster – buy the right car up front. And to do that, you have to ask an expert. Enter Bill Doyle – the most famous Carrera engine builder around. His advice, "If you just want to show the car at concours events, get whatever car appeals to you the most because you won't be driving it. If you want to drive the car, get a Carrera 2. And while you're at it, get a 356C car with disc brakes, because the C cars stop as well as go!" They didn’t make many Carrera 2’s so where does one start to find such a car? It’s a small world, as it turned out because Weldon Scrogham (remember him from Minella’s Speedster?) was liquidating a car collection and he had just sent Doyle a list of the cars. Minella said, “One phone call later and Scrogham confirmed that a 1964 356C Carrera 2 Coupe was available and at price that in retrospect seems like a bargain but at the time was all the money in the world.”</font></span></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><font size="3">Unlike the Speedster, the Carrera 2 coupe was a very respectable “older” restoration and a car that was mechanically sound and ready to be driven. Naturally, Minella drove it. In fact, he did so, happily, for two years until, while he was pulling it into his garage, he heard his son Michael yell, "Daddy, daddy, the car's on fire!" A leak in the fuel line resulted in an engine fire and while he was able to put the fire out before it burned up the car and his house, the car was quite damaged. He said, “As far as I was concerned, the fire represented Divine Providence telling me to restore the car, so I got right to work!”</font></span></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><font size="3">Because Jim Newton, owner of Auto Associates, had done such a wonderful job with his Carrera 2 Cabriolet, it was a foregone conclusion that he would be the principal restorer of the C2 Coupe. Jerry McCarthy at Kam Motosports would do the engine and Paterek Brothers got the nod to do the interior.</font></span></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><font size="3">Despite the fact that the car was a decent driver, Newton found problems that far outweighed the effects of the fire. As often happens, the real damage had been hidden under the previous restoration. Newton said, “The front passenger side fender had been badly hit and contained maybe an inch of Bondo.” He added that there was the usual rust along both sides of the doors and a sunroof had been crudely cut into the top. An even greater challenge were the front oil coolers – they were shot and beyond hope.</font></span></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><font size="3"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Newton</span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">found a "donor car" with a clean, undamaged top, and the home-made sunroof was sliced off and replaced – possibly the first time for that operation! (The Cardex showed the car was delivered without a sunroof – a wise move.)</span></font></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><font size="3">The rust repair was handled using new old stock parts and Minella says that the results were, “perfection itself.” The oil coolers, however, were made of "unobtainium". But sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good because one of Minella’s friends, Stu Zeh, was also in the process of restoring a Carrera 2 Coupe and had found a Porsche dealer in Germany who had NOS oil coolers. Amazingly, he had four sets! So Stu bought one set but Minella, using what he learned from the Speedster restoration, bought the other three. Problem solved!</font></span></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><font size="3">Not every challenge is for big stuff. Sometimes, little things can throw you a serious curve. Take something as simple as adding an optional temperature gauge. Minella had a beautiful NOS gauge and he shipped it to Newton with a dealer accessory book from the period to show him where to cut the hole to mount it. However, in conversation with Richard Price, a two-time Parade Concours winner, he happened to mention that the '64 optional temperature gauge was of the inside/outside variety. Minella said, “I felt a combination of dread and panic. Was my gauge correct?” Naturally, it was just an outside temperature gauge. Worse, Newton had already cut the hole in the dash. Many phone calls later, it was discovered that no one had seen one in years. But once again, Stu Zeh came to the rescue, having spotted a NOS one at a shop in California while prowling among the shelves of spare and broken parts. After Minella convinced the owner that his car was "worthy", a substantial check was Fed Ex'd and the problem was solved!</font></span></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><font size="3">The paint and the interior were the next challenges. The original color was Irish Green, with a black interior. While Minella favors originality, he didn’t like the green/black combination. Working with John Paterek, who had an original dealer sample book, they chose a shade of light brown that was correct for '64.</font></span></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><font size="3">One problem that they didn’t expect was with the Irish Green paint. The sample that came from the original Glasurit formula did not match the green paint Newton found in a hidden area inside the glove compartment. Naturally, they knew the glove compartment color was correct because it wouldn’t fade hidden away. After some detective work, they found that Glasurit didn't have the right paint code for the 1964 color. Instead, they had mistakenly switched it with a '68 911 color - not the same shade. </font></span></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><font size="3">Minella said that there were dozens of decisions to make and original parts to find over the two years that it took to do the restoration. But, he explained, it all came together with a frenzy of activity during the few days leading up to the 2002 Parade in Boise , Idaho . In fact, the Intercity Express truck waited patiently for six hours as twelve people finished the car before wheeling it into the hauler. Minella mused, “Restorations take as much time as you have. In fact, they take ALL the time you have.”</font></span></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><font size="3">Minella experienced little drama during concours preparation at the Parade – at least until he went to drive it to the Concours site. Before starting the car, he grabbed the gas tank handle and gave it a good crank to open the fuel line to the engine. The car roared to life and ran well - for about four blocks! It turns out; he twisted the handle the wrong way and starved the engine. After several suspenseful moments and attempts at pushing the car (with a strong assist from Richard Price – a fellow competitor), Minella had a flash of brilliance. He said, “It occurred to me that the engine sounded like it wasn't getting gas, so I cranked the handle in the opposite direction, listened to the electric fuel pump ack ack the gas down the line, and I turned the key. Vwoooommmmm!” He added, “I felt like a complete moron.”</font></span></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><font size="3">And while he didn’t win the concours at Boise , the car did get judged very well with 297.1 points and a Zuffenhausen Level of Achievement Award. His real win was the making of 2 new friends – Stu Zeh – his parts finder and Richard Price, who stopped his own car to try and help get him to the Concours field. Minella said, “Better guys you cannot find.”</font></span></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><font size="3">The Carrera 2 Coupe had a happier ending the next year in Tampa where it took a Gmund</font></span></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><font size="3">Level of Achievement Award for scoring 298.1 points as well as the Grand Prize for Restoration.</font></span></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><font size="3">Act Three – Minella was pretty sure that Irish Green Carrera 2 Coupe was his last project until he found out that his friend, Ed Hershey, had bought a 356B Twin Grille Roadster (one of just 256 built) that that had undergone a financially troubled, decade-long restoration. Ray explained, “When Ed bought the car it was ‘almost’ done - supposedly.” Then he said something pretty profound, “One of the things you learn along the way is that some people are temperamentally suited to undertake restorations, and some people aren't.” It turned out, his friend Ed wasn't. The slow nature of the project drove him crazy, and after six months, he approached Minella to see if I'd be interested in taking over the project. He said, “I asked Pete Bartelli if he'd like to do another car together and he readily agreed”</font></span></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><font size="3">Once underway, they found that this car was cursed with the “benefits” of a prior restoration. When they stripped off the paint, they not only found the usual rust problems, they even found rust under a number of the patches from the prior restoration.</font></span></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><font size="3">Wanting to make the car even more special, Minella and Bartelli decided to outfit this car with very rare Rudge “knock-off” wheels. “As they were a $400 option and the car itself was $3,600,” explained Minella, “Not many sets were ordered.” After looking for over a year, Bartelli found a set in Atlanta and with no negotiation on price, he had his Rudge wheels! </font></span></p>
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<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><font size="3"><img width="721" alt="" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2202981932?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024"/></font></span></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><font size="3">They had to do a lot of digging to find the outside mirror - a Pontil Stabile type found through Victor Miles but the rear view mirror which was missing in action was found in a long forgotten box in Minella’s garage.</font></span></p>
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<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><img width="721" alt="" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2202982294?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024"/></span></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><font size="3">They got lucky with the unique Twin Grille tool kit because '62 was the only year the wrenches in the tool kit were stamped "Porsche". They actually had a set of wrenches ($2,000 for 4 these days) but needed a very special chrome Mesko tire gauge with dual measurements on the dial but no numerical markings. The gods smiled because they found a perfect, correct gauge ten days before the concours! They even found a copper hammer to pound the Rudge knock-off spinners on at Gullwing Motorcars.</font></span></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><font size="3">Their last bit of excitement occurred four days before the car left for Portland when the re-chromed headlights arrived without headlight glass. Newton found a set of vintage headlights in their original boxes just two miles from his shop in Connecticut .</font></span></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><font size="3">Maybe third time is the charm, but there were only a few things that had to be taken care of at the Parade site - an ink mark was found on the tonneau cover bag on Sunday that needed two hours of rubbing to make disappear and a missing set of rubber bands that hold the wires connecting the tail lights to the electrical system.</font></span></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><font size="3">At the site, Minella estimates that the five people there spent another 70 hours or so in prepping the car. And as it turns out, it was necessary as there were three former Parade winners and a former 356 Division winner in the 356 Restoration-Full Division.</font></span></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><font size="3">The resuts? Minella’s car received 298.6 points, while Neil Goldberg's 356A Coupe was awarded 298.0, with 297.6 for Skip Shirley's Twin Grille. Minella says, “I think the Rudge wheels provided the needed "wow" factor.” And as the 356 Division winner, he was once again in the Group finals. Minella says, “For the third time, we won the Grand Prize for Restoration and the only Gmund Level of Achievement Award that has been presented at the Parade in the last three years and the 3rd 356 winner ever.” He added, “It was also gratifying to receive 298.6 points, the third highest Restoration Group score in eleven years.”</font></span></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><font size="3">So that the story of Three Kings in 3 acts – and as you can imagine, these accomplishments will be a tough act to follow, although I hear a GT3 RS (some would call that the new Carrera2 Coupe) is on its way to join the family.</font></span></p>
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