[Ecurie Martini]

QUOTE (speedyweenie @ 6 Jan 2004, 03:45 PM)For me, the 1950s epitomize auto racing -- for both open-wheeled and sports cars. Great, easily recognizable, powerful machines being wrested around by manly men. Makes modern computer-controlled cars seem cookie-cutter and sterile.

mp

Spot on! I couldn't agree more - although I would add a couple of the thundering behemoths from the 30's as well.

I like them so much that I am replacing my 63' Scaley Classic track with a simpler routed track so I can have a long sweeping corner ( r = 2.2 m) to drift through.

EM

 

[Ecurie Martini]

QUOTE (howmet tx @ 6 Jan 2004, 09:44 PM)Wonderful stuff! Anyone else got pictures of home-made monsters like these? Terrific.

O.K. - You asked for it - hope these Sony Imagstation files load - can't get Starphoto to respond to my password!

The Alfa 12C is a FitzPatrick body, the 8C and the 375 are Mac Pinches - the BRM is a 1/24 very old Merit body with a new chassis done last year and the B/W shot is, as the label indicates, from 1961 - all 1/24 Merit-bodied cars. The bare chassis is for a Lancia -Ferrari - just to show how much you can stuff under one of the smaller 50's GP cars

EM

 

[Ecurie Martini]

QUOTE (howmet tx @ 7 Jan 2004, 02:21 PM)Gaaaaah!

You're teasing me Mr Martini! Please try again. The pics didn't come up on my screen....

Not sure what the problem might be - they came up when previewed them and are here on a revisit - I'll dig up the URL of the album and you can go there directly

http://www.imagestation.com/album/?id=4288084013

This should take you there - it is not password protected.

EM

 

[Ecurie Martini]

QUOTE (thomas @ 7 Jan 2004, 03:06 PM).Man you need webspace -

Only for you would I go to all this trouble: Just created a website:

http://mysite.verizon.net/compass - and - I'll try to load the pictures from there:

If the pictures don't show up - go to the website and right click on a picture and choos "show"

EM

 

[Ecurie Martini]

QUOTE (speedyweenie @ 7 Jan 2004, 09:38 PM)Holy Manoli Al,

What is that TSRF mill doing in the 375? Your driver must really be hairy-chested to drive that beast. Seems like you would lay rubber every time you squeeze the trigger, or toss the tires off the rims completely. Or does the 1/4 thick brass chassis keep things under control?
mp

Thanks for the comment - yes, it is a bit hairy but it was built to run on the Blue King @ Rad Trax (the Olde Pharts Society does funny things @ our annual fest) so I wanted a lot of straight line punch - and got it! Actually - probably too much since the slip-on spring universal didn't do a good job of standing up to the torque of the motor and the (considerable) mass of the chassis and came adrift about half-way through the race. I'm going to swap out the motor and re-do the universal. No problem with the tires, though - Ortmanns on modified BWA rims. It is pretty controllable with my PM controller.

EM

 

[Ecurie Martini]

QUOTE (Swissracer @ 7 Jan 2004, 11:13 PM)Holy crap! Feb '61 ?

that B/W pic shows cars older than me!

and is that old Scaley rubber track they are resting on?

Yep, 43 years ago! Of the 4 cars in the picture, the Vanwall is still in running condition and the other three are in the "restoration" drawer - all still mechanically sound but in need of various body repairs. (The 4CLT will be pretty much a re-body job - I shattered the nose on the bank in 'Vegas three years ago)

Yes, my first track was the original Scaly rubber stuff, which, as you can see, acquired a mirror-like finish after some use. It was subsequently painted with an alkyd paint containing texturing granules and survived two tear-downs and rebuilds until being replaced in '95.

Later today I will post the (still unfinished) history of Ecurie Martini on my newly created Web site. Some have seen it privately and a version was published in VSRN some years ago.

EM

 

[Ecurie Martini]

QUOTE (Russell Sheldon @ 8 Jan 2004, 05:36 PM)Still my favourite...

Winner of the Grand Prix class in the 2000 and 2001 Marconi Foundation Proxy Race. The body is a Classic fibreglass 1037 Alfa Romeo 12C.

-and the inspiration for my 12C - although I never came close to Russell's standards of fit and finish.

Both the 12C and the 8C in my pics are riding on Russell Sheldon chassis like the one he pictured. They are not only beautifully made, they are very strong. The 8C, a Mac Pinches body, was built up last year after 12C body that it carried was destroyed in a spectacular crash (again, on my nemesis, the Blue King @ Rad Trax). The car deslotted in the bank, was hit by a second car, shot down to the inner barrier and bounced off hard enough to go back up and clear the outer barrier, ending up on the floor! The body was pretty well battered but the only chassis damage was a bent front axle.

EM

 

[Ecurie Martini]

QUOTE (TSRF @ 9 Jan 2004, 05:17 PM)The 375 had a lot more horsepower than the period tires could handle. So the TSRF motor fits perfectly in the car, as the driving sensation should be pretty similar.
In other words, not for weenies.

And there is another solution that I am considering: Shelby ran ( and won) the "Giant's Despair" hillclimb in Wilkes Barre, PA in a 375 fitted with dual rear wheels!

EM

 

[Ecurie Martini]

QUOTE (bwaminispeed @ 9 Jan 2004, 01:40 AM)I have heard stories,from independant sources over a span of years that they used to sling the Transporter ariund race tracks for fun,and it did comparable( I was told even faster)times than the GP cars,and this,WITH THE GP CAR STILL ON BOARD).

I have some personal observations that suggest that this may be true:

I believe that the driver of the transport founded a school for continental tour bus drivers now to be found piloting enourmous Van Hools around the Ring of Kerry in the summer months. (these are the busses that presumably carry, in some conspicuous location, an E.U. placard which announces that "This vehicle is entitled to 147% of its allotted lane especially when rounding blind corners")

EM

Survivor of 10 days in the SW of Ireland with wife, daughter and in-laws in a BMW 5 series CDI wagon