Photo courtesy of Doug Carter at ApexSpeed

Formula Ford 40th Reunion Photo Gallery

]]> http://essesmotorsports.com/2009/07/29/formula-ford-40th-reunion/feed/ http://essesmotorsports.com/2009/07/07/1957-ferrari-250-tr-at-speed/ http://essesmotorsports.com/2009/07/07/1957-ferrari-250-tr-at-speed/#comments Wed, 08 Jul 2009 03:36:09 +0000 admin http://essesmotorsports.com/?p=717 I’m in the annual short few days at home between the Pacific Northwest (Seattle) Historic Races last weekend and the Portland Historic Races this coming weekend. The first two weekends of July are always hectic, but it is my favorite time of year because of the fun back-to-back race weekends.

The Seattle weekend went great in my newly restored Titan MK6b Formula Ford, winning three of five races in the 21 car FF grid. We also got the FF fast lap of the weekend at 1:44.2. Needless to say, I’m very happy with the car and the restoration.

There are typically many fantastic vintage race cars at the NW Historics and this year was no exception. One of the highlights of the weekend was seeing John Shirley run his 1957 Ferrari 250 TR (Testa Rossa). This car is 250 TR #1 - the first one built - and it retains it’s original engine!!

The Ferrari TR, or 250 Testa Rossa, is a race car model built by Ferrari in the 1950’s and 1960’s. These cars dominated their arenas, with variations winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1958, 1960, and 1961. They were closely related to the rest of the Ferrari 250 line, especially the legendary 250 GTO.

In all, 34 250 Testa Rossas were built, from 1956 through 1961. The phrase “Testa Rossa” means “redhead.” The most well known, the 250TR, was produced from 1957 to 1958; only 2 factory cars and 19 customer cars were built. After the 250 GTO, the 250 Testa Rossa is the second most valuable Ferrari model, often valued at more than US$8,000,000. (courtesy of Wikipedia)

Seeing this car run at speed was fantastic - John didn’t hold back, he drove it hard all weekend! WOW, one of the most valuable cars in the WORLD racing in Seattle!

Testa Rossa 250 #4 sold in May of this year for $12,400,000, a new world record price for a car sold at auction.

This is a 1958 Porsche Speedster VIN 84306 with a Super matching numbers engine #81489 (616/2). It was built on December 19th, 1957, but was sold and titled as a 1958.

I purchased the car, with a fresh high end restoration, in 2006. The previous owner purchased the car in 1968 with 90,000 miles on it, the odometer currently reads 21,000 and 121,000 is the correct original miles.

Kardex Listed Options

• Aquamarine Blue Paint (5707)
• Sealed Beam Headlights
• Speedometer with Mileage Counter
• USA Bumpers

Features

• Full ground up high end restoration
• Less than 1,000 miles since restoration
• Rare Carrera roll bar
• Matching numbers original engine
• Paint is Aquamarine Blue Metallic, a special order color in 1957
• Fresh BBAB transmission from the Pellow auction
• Excellent condition original tool kit
• Original correct Speedster seats in red leather
• All panels correctly dated
• All wheels correctly dated 10/57
• Original spare tire
• All chrome and lights etched properly
• Discreetly converted to 12 volts for bright lights

Engine

• The original 1957 case, #81489
• Rebuilt approximately 15,000 miles ago by Chuck Woodward in Seattle
• Balanced 1720cc, 912 rods, Tricom cam, Aluminum valve train
• Zenith carbs

The car is located in the beautiful resort town of Bend, Oregon. Direct daily flights from LA, San Francisco, Salt Lake, Denver, Portland and Seattle. Fly in, take a vacation and drive it home.

I’m not a dealer, this is my personal vehicle. I’ve set a very reasonable reserve based on recent Speedster sales.

$2,000 Paypal deposit within 24 hours of auction close. Balance due within 5 business days via wire transfer only. Buyer is responsible for any shipping cost. I will help coordinate pick-up with your shipper if desired.

Click on the photos for a larger version…

I have had several requests for underside photos. I took the car to a shop today (8/12/09) and put it on the lift. Here are the underside photos. The battery box, floors and longitudinals were replaced at the time of restoration. Click photo to see a larger version.

Restoration Just Finished - June 2009

Last summer I decided it was time to look for a new vintage racing car and class. I wanted a car that was reliable, fun and realatively inexpensive to campaign. I wanted a car class that is popular - racing is at it’s best when you’re in a class with plenty of other similarly matched cars.

The car and class I decided on is Formula Ford (FF). FF is exactly what I was looking for - plenty of cars in the class, fun, fast and reasonable expenses.

Borrowed from TheKentLives.com:

“Formula Ford originated in the UK in 1967 when the first Cortina powered Lotus 51s were built to replace F3 cars being used at the MRS driving school at Brands Hatch. Their cost, complete and ready to run, was one thousand pounds sterling. Engines were provided by Ford at the princely sum of fifty pounds each! Transmissions were Renault as used in the Lotus Europa and Colin Chapman, consequently, had access to a whole bunch of them! The class was adopted by the SCCA in 1969 and FF1600 soon became the most significant single-seat racing class in the world FF. It was not uncommon to see grids of up to fifty fairly equal cars take the green flag. The thousands of FF chassis produced over the following four decades far outnumber those of any other racing class. The original Ford Cortina engine that powered these rear-engined, tube-chassis cars was replaced when Ford introduced the sturdier, venerable Uprated or “Kent” version in 1971.”

After much online reading and talking to numerous FF drivers, I learned that the Titan MK6 was the model to have. From the Titan Registry website:

“The highly competitive nature of Formula Ford forced racing car manufactures to keep improving their cars. In 1970 CLE introduced the Titan Mk6 Formula Ford, which is considered one of the most successful Formula Fords ever to take to the track. Tom improved the front suspension of the Mk5 chassis by utilizing a two-piece upper wishbone, which fed suspension loads through more of the chassis. At the same time, he redesigned the bodywork to improve down force and clean up airflow. Based on the registry, we believe over 300 Mk6s were built between late 1969 and early 1974, which probably makes the Mk6 the most numerous formula ford ever produced.”

I found this 1970 Titan MK6b, updated with an MK6c nose section, in Utah. I made a marathon three day round trip drive from Oregon to bring the car home. As usual, ‘race ready’ cars never are. Problems started with first track test session and the oil pouring out of the bottom of the pan. It turns out the rear main seal was installed backwards.

Doug Esterbrook from Loyninngs did a great job getting the car into running order in time to make the Formula Ford reunion races at the 2008 Columbia River Classic in Portland. Despite the car and motor being tired, I had a great time, was reasonably competitive and most importantly the car made every track session.

I was hooked, Formula Ford was great fun and super reliable - puuuurrrffect!

It didn’t take long to decide to have Doug do a full restoration over the winter of 2008/09. For 2009 the car is virtually as new - restored frame, rebuilt engine & transmission, new body panels, all new plating, new wheels & tires, etc. Restoration photos are below.

The car came with the log books back to 1974. The Arch Motors number on the frame is 70/70. The original commission plate is missing, but the rivet holes are still in the frame.

History

Log Book #1, 1974 - 1977

Log Book #2, 1977 - 1986

If you have history, photos or other information on this Titan, I would love to hear from you.

1970 Titan Formula Ford Restoration Photos

On the cover of the first log book are the names Steve Cook and David Wilson. Sterling Racing Ser(vice) is written just below their names. I hope to find more information on the drivers and Sterling Racing Service. I assume that was the company that supported the car. Or, with the frequent usage by different drivers, maybe it was an arrive and drive rental.

Starting in 1975 the name Michele Woodruff is signed as the entrant (not driver). This may also support the rental theory.

On March 20th, 1976, Glenn Gray signed his first entry in the log book for the Sears Point Drivers School. His name can be seen on the side of the car in the log book photo below. The inside front cover of the first log book states that the car was yellow. Clearly the car was repainted sometime around 1975/76.

The photo below also shows the original style one piece MK6′b’ nose (pronounced ‘mark six b’). When I bought the car it had the later (and uglier) duck bill style MK6′c’ nose. For the restoration we wanted to take it back to the original spec, so it now has the same nose section as shown below.

1st Log Book Entries

• 3/2/74, RIR Regional (Riverside Raceway), Steve Cook
• 3/17/74, RIR Regional, Tom Christiansen (sp?)
• 3/30/74, RIR Regional, Steve Cook
• 4/6/74, Sears Point Regional, Steve Cook
• 4/20/74, Sears Point National, Phillip E. Kregan (sp?)
• 5/12/74, PIR Regional, Phillip E. Krega
• 5/17/74, SIR Regional, Steve Cook
• 6/1/74, Laguna Seca, Phillip E. Kregan
• 3/1/75, Sears Driver School, Michele (sp?) Woodruff (entrant)
• 3/15/75, Sears Point Regional, Michele Woodruff (entrant)
• 4/26/75, Sears Point Regional, David Wilson
• 5/17/75, Laguna Seca Solo 1, David Wilson
• 5/31/75, Sears Point Regional, Michele Woodruff (entrant)
• 7/12/75, Laguna Seca, David Wilson
• 7/23/75, Pro Race, Michele Woodruff (track not noted)
• 8/31/75, Sears Point Regional, David Wilson
• 9/6/75, Sears Point Regional, David Wilson
• 3/20/76, Sears Point Drivers School, Glenn Gray
• 3/31/76, Sears Point Regional, Glenn Gray
• 5/8/76, Laguna Seca Solo 1, Glenn Gray
• 5/22/76, Laguna Seca Regional, Glenn Gray
• 7/10/76, Sears Point Regional, Glenn Gray
• 8/21/76, Sears Point Regional, Glenn Gray
• 10/2/76, Laguna Seca Regional, Glenn Gray
• No date, Sears Point Regional/Enduro, FJ Butterfield (sp?)
• 2/13/77, RIR National, Glenn Gray
• 4/2/77, Sears Point Regional, Glenn Gray
• 4/23/77, Sears Point National, Glenn Gray
• 6/26/77, Laguna Seca National, Glenn Gray

Log book #2 for the Titan MK6b covers from August 1977 to May 1986. All log book entries can be seen below. We can see in these photos that the car has change colors again, but still retains the b nose.

We also note that owner/driver Glenn Gray must have relocated to the Washington DC area for a couple of years. The log book shows a two year gap between the summers of 1977 and 1979. Then three race entries on the East coast in the summer of 1979.Then there is a three year gap until the spring of 1982 when the owner and car are back racing in California - now in the southern part of the state.

New owner Eugene W. Good purchased the car and attended SCCA School in July, 1984. He continued racing the car in Southern California.

2nd Log Book Entries

• 8/14/77, SPIR National, Glenn Gray
• 6/17/79, Summit Point Regional, Glenn Gray
• 7/22/79, Summit Point Regional, Glenn Gray
• 8/5/79, Road Atlanta Regional, Glenn Gray
• 4/11/82, WIR (Willow Springs) Regional, Glenn Gray
• 5/16/82, Carlsbad Regional, Glenn Gray
• 5/31/82, RIR (Riverside) Regional, Glenn Gray
• 10/2/82, RIR Regional, Glenn Gray
• 11/7/82, RIR Regional, Glenn Gray
• 12/5/82, WIR Regional, Glenn Gray
• 1/30/83, RIR Regional, Glenn Gray
• 2/27/83, RIR National, Glenn Gray
• 4/17/83, WIR National, Glenn Gray
• 5/31/83, RIR Regional, Glenn Gray
• 9/25/83, RIR Regional, Glenn Gray
• 5/5/84, RIR Regional, Glenn Gray
• 7/21/84, SCCA School Willow, Eugene W. Good (new owner)
• 8/11/84, RIR Regional, Eugene W. Good
• 9/1/84, RIR Regional, Eugene W. Good
• 10/28/84, Hair Regional, Eugene W. Good
• 1/26/85, Willow Regional, Eugene W. Good
• 4/27/85, RIR, Eugene W. Good
• 5/25/85, RIR, Eugene W. Good
• 7/27/85, RIR School, Brad Buy (sp?)
• 10/9/85, Willow Springs, Eugene W. Good
• 4/22/86, RIR Regional, Eugene W. Good
• 5/3/86, RIR Regional, Eugene W. Good