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Esprit
and the highly modified V-8 of Larry Marsala. For the Marsala car Barry
Spencer had installed larger air damn, drilled brakes, upgraded anti-sway
bar, borrowed Carrera Shocks and Springs, wider Hoosier tires and 100 hp
gain yielded up 10 mph around the track. It was very interesting
to watch the reactions of the suspensions of the different cars when each
was pushed towards the limits by their respective and for the most part
highly competent drivers.
If
I recall correctly it was Mario Andretti who tested a series of supercars
a few months back for one of the major car magazines and as usual most
of the manufacturers (except Lotus) had different springs and shocks and
very likely diff air damns, anti-sway bars, engine management systems et
al. The report had concluded that at the limit the V-8 Esprit was
slightly squirrelly, and the report was essentially correct. The Sport
350 modifications made the Marsala Esprit much more stable and controlled.
Does this mean that Lotus should cheat in testing like the other manufacturers
do, or simply build the V-8 much closer to the Sport 350 model ?
A stall by Rod Metz in a Europa that could have been push started much
more quickly ended the last of the afternoon session. And aside from
a leaky master cylinder and a few other minor glitches everyone seemed
to have had a marvelous time.
For
those of you who came to Thunderhill with or without your Loti, a big hooray
! For those of you who at least drive your Loti on the street or
track some of the time, another yay ! For those of you who have Loti that
run and are not doing anything with them, a big Bronx cheer !! Kudos to
Mr Zender for putting together a delightful track day. And for those of
you who missed it, it appears that John is gunning for a second outing
for July the 10th. It will be a fun event at a safe venue for
a great price, check it out ! |
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