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porsche club of america
los angeles region
P-ORSCHERAMA calendar
april -
SCHEDULED EVENTS
!972
STAFF
EDITOR " APRIL 13: DINNER MEETING with MILT MINTER as guest speaker at Santa Ynez Inn, Pacific Gertrude Boothe 696-0866 Palisades - See ,Events, for details. 79%7 S. Forest Ave. APRIL l0 : Reservation deadline fo~ dinner. Whittie2, Calif. 90602 APRIL 9: PCA-0r~a~.ge Coast Region Swap Meet, PARK Porsche/Aud~ in Buena Park - 9:A.M. DIRECTORS APRIL 18: Board Meeting 8:P.M. at Duane Alan,s home. Anyone welcome. 283-7~23 283-7423 APRIL 26 : Technical Meeting at Rusnak Porsche PRESIDENT Duane Alan 1049 B~adahaw Ave. Audl on the Bosch Optical Alignment Machine. Monterey Pa~k, APRIL 23 : Econamy Run and Photo Rallye. Califo~nla 917~4 For details, see ,Ecents ’, page .t~o. MAY 6-7: PCA-San Diego Group Road Race train- VICE PRES. Dale Anderson 459 1219 ing, Bob Bondu~ant School. See , ~.~ents ’. SECRETARY Paul Beam (80%) 9~48 2484 MAY 26-29: Lake Tahoe Memorial Da~ Weekend. TREASURER Lewis Pulley 861-I~3 ~,~ent chairman, Peter Luelsdorf 714/833-3~19 BD CHRMAN George Gedeon 869-78~2 Make you~ reservations early; see ,EVents, " ACTIVITIES Ron Ramage 374-6888 JUNE 10-11: 3tanislaus Rive~ Trip, call 696-0866 PUBLICITY Gerl Boothe Curt Kuebler 398-2217 for information. TECHNICAL Rob’t VanCleave 87~3976 JULY 16-24: 17th-~ PORSCHE PARADE - Lake MEMBERSHIP Corky Kirk ~7 %109 Geneva, Wis. Playboy Club with Chicago P " 0..Box Region as host. See ’h~ents’ for information A~cadla, Calif. 91006 JUNE 24: Summer Dinner-Dance. ~ . JULY 23: D~ive~s School and Road Test. AUGUST 26-27: Trip to Colorado River. ~~ information about PCA activities: SEPTemBER 24: Gay Nineties Picnic. OCTOBER 14-15: Willow Springs Time Trials ~~~ DIAL-A-PORSCHE-CLUB - 398-2217 " OCTOBER 28-29 : Tou~ to Ban Simeon. NOVE~ER 18-19: 0ve~-nlght Nav. Rallye. DEC~IBER 9: Christmas Dinner-Dance. ¢~u~e$~ ~ ~CA
ROMAN
~
MERLIN,
Gabriel & Olsen 15531
Ventt~ra
Blvd., Encino,
Calif.
~
Porsche A udi 91316.
Walter Knaebel, service . E.ricStrower, parts mgr.m~r~~
Tel. 2"/3
986-4522
overseas inquiries ~
comment-CONGRATULATIONS
are in order as DOUGLAS EDWARD BEqAN arrived some three weeks early at JOHN and CONNIE BEVAN,S home., March 21, 1972 at 12:55 p.m. and wouldn,t you know that John was out of town at the time. The baby weighed 7 pounds, 3 oumces and has already succeeded in ousting one red 911S coupe which is for sale. ~aanks to Duane Alan, Tom and EVelyn Terrell, Phil Rive~on, Corky KirM and friend Donna Jean and of course my ever-loving Porsche-provlder, Ralph for assisting with the paper last mo~th. The paper was a few days late this month, due partly to the editor,s procrastination plus having to concours the house once in awhile. So, let’s try it again Friday, April 28th when we,ll put the paper together at the Boothe residence, 7:30 p.m. Call 696-0866. Sunday, March 12th, a work day for Ralph, I was coaxed into entering our 911E in the Orange Coast Region’s WHITE GLOVE CONCOURS after less than a half day,s prepsmation. ~rough dripping fog our good friends, the Terrells and I made our way to the Huntington Beach shopping mall where upon seeing Pat Scanlan with his black 911L, we automatically settled for 2nd place.... There was a rolling presentation where the owners and their cars were announced via the mall,s speaker system and after their photo was taken they were positioned in front of the various shops for speculation. Two white gloves were given to each owner and there was a "Le Mans start" on the judging as the Judges were gathered together and then given 5 minutes to complete each car. Whatever they could find in that length of time counted either for or again.st the car in points. S~un Diego,s Pat Scanlan was first overall, PCA-LA’s Tom and Evelyn Terrell wi~h’~eir 1971 Burgundy T-Targa were second overall and 0CR’s Kelth and Marty Foster with their 912 coupe were third overall. Fred Archer with his beautiful silver speedster was first in the 356 class. I was very surprised to hear my name called for a third place trophy in the 911 class.... The trophies were in the form of a metal sculptured AustroDaimler electric car designed in 1914 by Dr. Ferdinand Porsche. As I understand, these were made by OCR’s Skip Walton. They are as cute as can be and a different type of trophy to say the least. Other cars of interest were on display in the mall, including a 90[~ and Vasek Polak’s 917.... It was a grand show. Gerl
next events
NEXTEVENTSNEXTEVENTSNEXTEVENTSNEXTEVENTSSWAPMEETFORP ORS CHEPUSH~RSNEXTEVENTSNEXT~ APRIL 9th: PCA-ORANGE COAST REGION SWAP MEET at Park Porsche Audi alongside the Santa Ana Freeway in Buena Park, 9:00 A.M. No fee for selling but must register by name and license number. Information: Les or Marje Gunnerson 714/637-2529. .D..INN ..~.k~INGDINNERMEETINGANDRAP SESSI 0NWI THMI LTMINTERPLUSGOODFO 0DDINNERMEETI NGDINN APRIL 13th: DINNER MEETING with MILT MINTER as guest speaker at Santa Ynez Inn, 17310 Sunset Blvd. Pacific Palisades (at Pacific Coast Hwy. ) Make your reservations now and fill in the form below. Deadline is postmark MON. APRIL i0~ Mall your check to Dale Anderson 16051 Anoka Dr., Pacific Palisades, Calif. 90272 or phone 459-1219. Make checks payable to PCA-LA. Cocktails from 7:00 P.M., dinner at 8. Price is $4.50 per person which includes tax and tip and we will be served roast brisket of beef with bordelaise sauce. Treat yourself to a night out and attend. NAME
,
,
PLEASE RESERVE,
ADDRESS
DINNERS AT ~.50 EACH. AMOUNT ENCLOSED
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cont,d, next page
E60~01v~RUNTHROUGHSC ENI C CouNTRYoNP 0RS CHER 0ADS GUES~f 0URC ARSGASI~I LEAGEEC ONOMYRUNEC 0,N,0,
APRIL 23rd: ECONOMY RUN AND PHOTO RALLYE, Porsches only. One class and winner will be the person who most accurately guesses his gas mileage before the event. How well do you know your car? The photo part will be a surprise at the finish. Yore will not need a camera but you will need a navigator. The rallye route will be approximately lO0 miles long and will take about 3-1/2 hours. Entry fee ~$3.00 per ca~. The start will be at DENNY’8 RESTAURANT in downtown L.A. (on Ramirez St. behind Union Station). Starting time is 10:O0 A.M. It promises to be fun so let’s all be there. Information: call Ron Ramage ~61- 3144 or 374-6888. TECHNI CALMEETINGBOBVANCLEAVEI SONTHEBALLWI THGOODTECHNI C ALF~EETINGS TECHNI CALMEETINGTE APRIL 26th." TECHNICAL MEETING on the benefits of proper WHEE% ALIGNMENT at Rusnak Porsche Audl, 337 W. Colorado Blvd. Pasadena, 7:30 P.M. The Bosch Optical Alignment Machine will be demonstrated with an actual wheel alignment prodedure. For information call Bob Van Cleave 874-3976. DRIVINGSCHOOLDRIVINGSCHOOLDRIVINGSCH00LMAKERESERVATI 0NSEARLYDRIVINGSCHOOLDRIVINGS CH MAY 6th and 7th: Joe Ramos of PCA-San Diego is taking reservations for Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving at Ontario Motor Speedway. Phone 714/279-1060 or write Joe Ramos at 7899 Claireraont Mesa, San Diego, Calif.
last events.
PCA GOES TO HAIR
Several seasons ago a new astounding and very successful musical production entitled HAIR was brought to ~.~A. by one of our members (R. Smothers). Although it made many new records our region never gathered to attend it as a group, preferlng the San Diego Region’s version of HAIR, or to use its full name, the HOLTVILLE AIRDROME INTERNATIONAL RACE,gAY (Hooterville to some). We have set a few records at HAIR ourselves, not the least is one of longevity. There’s been at least a dozen Holtville PCA time trlal/drlving practices with a solid LA Region attendance which took away more than its share of trophies. The March ’72 meeting was no exception. More than half a dozen cars from LA were there and almost as many from Santa Barbara Region (led by our former Prexy, "Papa Joe" in the great Green Toad, complete with an enthusiastic crew) depending on how you count Grandpa Bill, the Toad,s number 2 driver. Several regalars from Orange Coast Region, a btmch from Arizona and even Jolly Jim Spears with wife Gladys were there from the Riverside Region. And of course the usual great bunch from San Diego. ~lhe event was well organized by Cliff Berryman and Bob Brown with help from’D~b~ie and Bob Jr. Dieter did the tech bit as well as get the new 6 cylinder monster in George Th~ing,s 904 set for it’s "break in runs". There was also a 904 from Arizona, but Charlie Akly and the Allred crew only brought their 911S GP car (L~ years ago this car won GT class at Sebring). Other interesting cars included Bill Yates’ new 911S (last year~s Le Mans car by Ginther) that went very quickly until Sunday morning and of course Johnny Grean’s 911S ~.Jhich is as fast as it is ratty-looking and Dennis Kagel,s concours ready modified 911. San Diego Region also has some well detailed and fast cars, Joe Ramos’ 911T, Dave Carsten~s 911S and Dave Hamren,s 911~ to name three.. Ursula Grunfeld came down ~¢ith her 91~ to find out ~hat a driver’s school i~ ~ll about. Unfortunately the first fete laps she was on her own to find her way around the course, but then she got help and it was worth the trip. Cliff Yost looked good in his well set up blue $90; those big tires in back make it go. Photographer, Burr 14isevic from Santa Barbara had a tire go bald on his very quick normal speedster so he missed some track time. I missed practice Saturday morning as a result of leaving Cece’s clothes at home (couldn’t find an I. Magnin or Sax anywhere near Holtville) and because HAIR is hard on tires. Dr. Cordell Balna and family brought down 8 wheels and tires for me, but didn’t show up until later having taken the longer "scenic" route. Cordell and I spent the rest of the ~eekend swapping tires around. The best combination seemed to be my big fat tires on his 911S so that’s what we both drove Sunday. . . Saturday was a typical ~arm winter day in the nation’s salad bowl (90 plus d~grees with a slight "3-
HAIR cont ,d. ~ breeze). Mite Goodin came down in his VW to survey the scene and take a few laps. Guess we can count on Mike to be our course Medical Director next Willow Springs. We could have used ~Like,s driving skills on Sunday, tho. There were 75 to I00 entrants and ~unday was a cool overcast day, good for going fast. Competition was tough. It got windy and nasty so we didn,t stay around for the results but I think LA did ok. Joe Korpiel beat out Wolfgang Malke of Santa Barbara and Dr.Mike Long of San Diego in their very fast 914-6’s. Grandpa Bill managed to get by Papa Joe and Bill Roberts in spite of a broken rockerarm for best time in class ’N’. Ed Yates, Zone 8 National Representative, raised a bit of dirt when he spun ~f~ ~he track at the turn before the pit straight, but only damaged his dignity. Earlier, Joe Korpiel spun after getting onto the pit straight causing Betty Bahn and Cece Friesen to move quickly off the new trackside barrier. Three year old Arah Bahn was unpreturbed by it all. When Cordell and I made our timed runs it was the first time on a new tire combination that made the rear end a little loose. Since I’m used to the sensation and the clocks may not have been rcmning on time it gave the hot-shoes a good top time of day to try for. Johnny Crean did go faster and had the fastest time of day when we left. He was followed closly by Dave Hamren and Joe Ramos with some other hot-shoes still to run. Too bad the Allred car left early and Bill Yates had his car up on its trans~orter already. It ,.~as getting more and more windy and we got in some flowing sand around Salton Sea and Indlo which is also a part of the HAIR experience. The Fearless Auto Racing Team (FART) upheld LA region,s reputation even without Cogen’s Heros to help. We had a great time, in fact so good I was speechless for the week after (the doctor recommended bed rest and lots of fluids). Inspire of the heat, colds, sand, tire wear, forgotten clothes, etc., HAIR is a great experience. See you there next time. Nick Friesenp F.A.R.T. Team Driver PCA-LA GYMKHANA AT "T-R-W" On Sunday, March 19, T-R-W in Manhatten Beach was the scene of Porsches that looked like they were doing nothing more than running around in circles. Well, this was the PCA-LA Gymld~ana, which is Just that, Porsches running around in circles. However there was a reason for it, that is, driver and navigator trying to do impossible tricks as fast as possibleJ E~eryone enjoyed their 2 runs so much that we gave them another one each. There were 2 classes, open and closed cars and the cars placed as follows: OPEN: 1 Jim Joln.er/Erich Joiner 2 Colwell/Colwell St. 3 Boothe/.Havens ~ ~nyder/Baughman Riveron/Reyeira 6 Havens/Boothe 7 Grunfeld/Yost
Speedster 150.36 155.31 91~-4 Targa 170.38 Speedster 178.20 189.08 91~-4 Targa 199.85 199.90 91h-4 ’ If you weren’t there, you missed a lot of fun.
CLOSED : 1 Ramage/Wenda 356B 2 VanCleave/Schimplin 3 Mc Inerney 356C 911T 4 Beam~.Beam 912 5 Gray/.Ramage 6 Yost/Yost 356B 7 Gedeon/~Friesen 8 Friesen/Gedeon 9 Baug~m. an/Snyder l0 Yost/Yost 356B
139.70 1~5.32 145.60 1~9.22 lh9.~8 lh9.78
159.54 165.01 165.154 190.47
Ron Ramage RESULTS OF POC/PCA RALLYE, "DESTINATION SOLVANG": NAVIGATIONAL CLASS: let place and Challenge Cup Winner Duane Alan, driver and Dale Boyd, navlgator.~with a 1.35 error. 2nd ~lace was Dave Kalbach and Nick Friesen with ~.69 error.. SOP CLASS and trophy winners : let and 2nd place went to P0C and 3rd was C.L. Ja~u~ek and F. Dunten with 4.94 error, 4th place was Sam and Ann Wang with 5.21 error and Ron Ramage and Mary Ann Wenda with a 7.01 error in 5th. All names are too numerous to mention, but a few points of interest are an Alfa driven by Roger and Linda Sampson in GUEST NAVIGATIONAL came in let with a 1.90 error and GUEST SOP was a VW with 5.13 error in let place and a 240Z with a 5.70 error in 2nd. From PCA the Rudy Ziesenhennes were 7th in SOP with a 9.55 error and Cede Friesen and Terry Foglesong were 10th with ll.91. George Gedeon and George Biel were 5th in NAV. with 12.75 error. -4-
MINUTES OF THE MARCH 1972 MEMBERSHIP MEETING OF THE PCA-LA
secretarial
After the officer,s reports Corky Kirk said we have 3 dealer boards up at this time. He also had a very nice display of "goodies" for club members including name badges which would have to be raised to $2.00. Peter Luelsdorf again announced the Memorial Day Lake Tahoe Weekend. He also said that Ron Ramage and Mary Ann Wenda won Ist prize at the Faschlng Party and there were about 30 PCAers at the party. Duane invited anyone to the board meeting at his home April 18th.... Corky introduced guests, Bob Kenastori from 0CR, 0rval Fairbain from the Dixie Region and Walter Geasford from Salt Lake Region.. ~ Vicki Havens s~unounced that the same group was providing the coffee and cookies ~d would llke to have some volunteers. After coffee break, guest speaker, Alan Johnson gave a very interesting ~k’a~out some of the background for his latest book, "Driving in Competition". MINUTES OF THE MA~RCH I.~72 PCA-LA BOARDMEETING at the home of Duane Alan. It was reported that the perpetual trophy from the POC/PCA Rallye had been returned to Gabriel & Olsen and at the same time an ad for the paper was secured~. Dale ~derson discussed the difficulty encountered in obtaining speakers for meetings. Bob Van Cleave discussed the tech meeting at Rusnak P/A April 26th on wheel alignment. Curt Kuebler showed the sample cover for "Up Fixen’" drawn by Ernie 0zsvath and wanted to get the helpers together to start pasting. Corky passed out new cards he had printed. Duane introduced two young men, Bob Crane and Chris Fryer, who offered the club exclusive rights for a PCA-LA Porsche license plate frame. These could be made up for the club at a minimum order of 100 pair for $190.00. Nicki Alan served dee-licious cake and coffee and the meeting adjourned at 10:20pm. Respectfully submitted, Paul Beam, Secretary PORSCHE CLUB OF AMERICA, INC., LOS ANGELES REGION Statement of receipts and disbursements 2-11-72 to 3-13-72. CASH-0N-HANDFebruaryll, 1972 RECEIPTS: None Total cash to be accounted for: Disbursements: Gertrude Boothe for Forscherama - - - $86.00) Pacific Telephone 9.90) ....
CASH-0 - A O March 13, 1972
95.90
558.44
(Reconciled by checking account statement - Crocker National Bank) Lewis Pulley, TreastLrer NEW MEMBERS: Gary Keys, 944 6th Apt 5, Santa Monica 90403, 393-3353, 1965 356C grey coupe. Ronald Meetin, Bldg. 5-3 Desert Villa, Edwards 93523, (805)258-6217. ’70 911E couoe Mark Markman, 6611 Odessa Ave, Van Nuys 91406, 787-6151, 71 911 Targa Don Dorkowskl, 10~6 W. Huntington Dr., Arcadia 91006, 793-1659, ’69 912 coupe Jesus Sa~dana, 4462 Yosemite Ave., Los Angeles 90065, 254-3728, ’72 911 T Targa George Kinnison, 3~5 Avenida Atezada, Redondo Beach 90277, 378-3993, ’71 T Targa Mark Brown, 950 4th st., #313, Santa Monica 90~03, 394-7~79, ’71 911T Targa A~DRESS CHANGES: Wayne Brady 1301 S. Atlantic Apt. 333 Monterey Park 9175~ Dr. Howard Boller 6130 Nevada Ave. Woodland Hills 9136~ Don Somerville Fountain Valley 18257 Arches Court 92708 (71~)968-0534 Ken Wainwright 2838 Debbie Reynolds Dr. Burbank 91504 Richard Gutschow 1618 Laurel So. Pasadena ~030 E~gene Martin Chatsworth 20714 B Devonshire St. 91311 Bruce Shepherd 1302 Esplanade #215N Redondo Beach 90277 TRANSFER INT0 PCA-LA: Harvey P. Sales, 5417 Russell Ave. #3, Hollywood 90027. He is from the Lone Star Region, Houston, Texas. Formal head count is 216 members. Corky Kirk. -5-
for sale
WHATAD.AYTHI.S.HASB .k~M~ANDWHATASTEWI AMINWHYI TSAI~MO STLI~k~gEINGINLOVE? OREDI TORORMARRI ED ? FOR 3ALE: 1 Kanon Exhaust Extractor fo~ 912, llke new, $20.00. 1 Bursch Exhaust Extractor, 3 muffle~ type (quieter th~n the single), used Sot 6 months, $~5.00. Paul Beam 45~i0 Sancroft, Lancaster, (805)948-2484 FOR SALE: ~fH~S & TIRES - 2 5~ x 15 Porsche Alloy, 2 521 x 15 McAfee Aluminum, 2 7 x 15 Steel w/I0.45 C~aps, 2 4.25 - 700 x 15 Casings, 2 500 - 8.30 x 15 Casings, ~_~ly 911 rear Axle w/bad U-Joint, 911S Headers without heat exchangers, Boge shox for 911/912. Make Offer - Nick Friesen, 481-5571 days, 283-7471 evenings. FOR SALE: Luggage rack, painted, for 356, $15.00.
Duane Alan 283-7423.
FOR SALE: 1971 911S Coupe, signal red, leather seats, Recaro driver’s seat, tinted glass, A~/FM radio, short ratio tranamissiom, adjustable Koni’s, quartz iodine headlamps, low mileage, John Bevan 935-3232, 2~8-2255 evenings. WANTED: Used Targa folding top, any condition ok, Tom Terrell 337-4703. WANTED: 01d 356 B & C wheels and wheel centers, any condition, Ralph Boothe 696-0866
technical WOULDYOUB~W.I EVW.~TYPEWRI TERFROMTENNES Sk~!PESUPHILL ? TECHNI CALTECHNI C ALTECHNI C ALTEC~.. These are notes condensed from RICHIE GINTHER at the TECHNICAL MEETING at his shop. ¯ . . . In 1968 Richie Ginther was working with Dan Guerney for All American Racers when he was asked to form a racing division. When he started with Porsches it was with the short wheel base 911 coupe and he had never had any experience with the 356 and thus knows nothing about it. Everything they have has been developed for the 911 and 91~- series. Their product line has evolved from their own developing of cars and they realized thru demand that there was a market for chassis and suspension products.... ~hey’ve been developing the 4 cylinder engine instead of the 6 because they really don’t have a successful class for the 6. ’B’ production cars include 1969 thru ’71, 2 and 2.2 litre Porsches. Short wheel base cars 196768 coupe, 91~-6 and 1972 2.~ lltre is in ’C’ production. The 2.~ litre Datsun is the most successful ,C, production car now. However, there are problems in using the 2.~. litre Porsche to compete, one being smog laws. It has 37 mm butterflies and Datsun has ~ mm and it can’t be changed to gererate more horsepower, plus being too expensive to develop.. Richie Ginther’s shop provides stiffer suspension for the multi-purpose vehicle, that is, a car used for street driving and racing, too. This type of vehicle would be a compromise and you can start with 15 mm stabilizer bars from the Porsche agency for front and rear. They don’t compete with the factory which ~oes not sell what they offer. The compromise can be moved up a step with 19 mm front and 18 mm rear stabilizer bars. This i.S a bit stiff. Then one can install torsion bars front and rear and of course Koni shocks and then the next step is teflon bushings which is not recommended for this type of car. Rubber bushings deflect with wheels hooked to it thus allowing the suspension geometry to move instead of remaining fixed. One half degree camber and 15 minutes toe-in with teflon bushings and in a turn it will stay there. With rubber bushings toe-in and camber settings will flex. It depends on the individual and what he wants from the car, what he does to it. On the 914 there are stabilizer bars for front and rear which do not come standard and then front torsion bars and stiffer rear springs. Two types of springs are: l) large diameter spring for either the Koni or the standard shock and 2) small springs for the double adjustable Koni shock for the rear. . . To firm up the suspension start with the rear. If one wheel is in the air ~t means the front is stiffer and the rear must be balanced with the front to keep all four wheels down. The rear will not accept a 19 ~m bar with soft torsion bars as it starts lifting the rear wheels. Long wheel base 911’s require stiffer bars on the rear. The standard front and stiffer rear is used on -6-
TECHNICAL AT RICHIE GINTHER’S SHOP cont,d. the short wheel base car for racing. The Le Marts car had 21 mm front and 28 mm rear with an adjustable front stabilizer bar. They took a standard pressed steel llnk, hack sawed it off and heli-arced a rod on it and made adjustable links for it. They had 17, 18 and 19 mm for the rear. Tire pressure on race tracks is 23 to 2% lbs. all around.... At Willow before you reach the back straight-away there is a turn that when you commit yourself, you think you’re going to run off the road. Thus rack spacers came about because all road cars have ,bump steer’ built in the front end. Standard Porsches have one inch of toe change just by bouncing front up and down (bump to rebound). If you put in rack spacers it brings 40 minutes toe change down to ~ minutes toe change. All universal joints must first be loosened and steering run from lock to lock to let everything neutralize and normalize itself. Unbolt steering rack, get longer bolts, llft up rack and slip spacers underneath mounting pad and put bolt back thru. Then tighten up U-joints and reset toe-in. Sounds simple but it really isn’t.... As for spark plugs, they can’t say what the factory recommends but only what they have had success with. Their shop pulls all platinum plugs out of their cars and recor~nends the standard Bosch plug with extended tip for street use, that is, the W280T30 for hard use and W260T30 for street which is slightly warmer. T30 is a type of tip and they got 22,000 miles from a set which the Bosch people ~anted to take back and show. Like the platinum, the exposed tip has a very short ground electrode. It doesn,t expose into the combustion chamber. In the T30 series the center electrode is well out from the body and has a very long ground electrode which is out into the flame and is self-cleanlng and that is the secret. It was mentioned that use of any plug other than the platinum or what.the factory puts in the car might have a bearing on the ~arranty of a new car if any failures occum relating with the capacitive discharge system. . Ginther says the Bosch CD system is~ very good but when it goes out, it quits c~l~. It retains its charge and if a screwdriver is not carefully handled it will are and can cause damage to the system not to mention the guy with the screwdriver. There is another system which they sell and use for racing which puts out more voltage than Bosch and cannot be shorted out. It also has a 3 year guarantee... Htnnidity does have an effect as wet and dry temperatures and barometric pressure "in the cell calculates corrections factors. On a good day it ~ill read 1.01 or 2 and on a bad day if its 1.06 the horsepower won’t be accurate. SCCA says either Morelll or Bosch distributor is legal on the 91[~-6. Bosch ~s’b~s~ as. it has the shortest advance curve. A distributor can be modified but it is difficult to find someone who does it properly. Early distributors csz be put into any cars and get performance or change the jetting. Their 196T 911S had 20 degrees total at the flywheel and now they are dealing with 40. ¯ They haven’t run the 914 yet but Icnow what it’ll do. VW rated horsepower is ~5 ~d they are getting lifO out of their 1600. Larger displacement and dual carburetors are available on the 914. They have to look out for emission laws as someone will be responsible as the owner of the car. They do not sell gears as they are too expensive so they try to help the de~l~r~ as to parts numbers and where to find them. They put a set of gears in Steve Mc Queen,s car and dealers would call and ask where they could get "Mc Queen gears". They cannot successfully build a dualpurpose engine for street and track--it’w~dn,t run right on the street and would not be fast enough for the track. They have tried to stay away from work on ordlnstay cars as it interferes with their racing program, however they do build racing engines and to feed something into their system as a repetition of what they are doing is easy for them....Richie thanked everyone who participated in the Le Mans effort for the great response, and we would llke to thank Richie for opening up his shop and taking his time to give us a very good technical meeting. The Editor-on behalf of Bob Van Cleave, Technical Chaiz~nan who arranged for the meeting. OUT-OF-THE-MOUTHS-OF-BABES-DEPARTMENT: My almost six yea~ old daughter came up to me the other evening and thrust her Band-Aid encased finger. In ~ont of my nose, exuding an antiseptic aroma. "Daddy, " she announced, "this smells just like the outhouse at Willow Springs!" Dale Anderson -7-
"PORSCHE HISTORY IS INTERESTING" says Ken Pu~dy __ Pa~t I
, etcetera
So many people have wTitten so much about Porsche that by now it becomes difficult to write a new history. To start with the car: ~he Porsche automobile didn,t exist in 1947. Today it’s well known and much sought after in every country of the West, although the factory builds so ~ew cars that the total must be spread thinly to cover the world: 8,270 in 1961, about 10,000 in 1963. It is probably the best small car money can buy. Many experts think so. It’s strangely roomy, surprisingly comfortable. It’s quick, agile, very fast and it sticks splendidly to the road--any road. The stamp of old-fashloned German workmanship is on it. Indeed, in the firm’s early days, each engine was assembled by one man, who was entitled, when he had finished it--the job took 25 hours--to hammer his initials into the aluminum crankcase. The factory abandoned this practice some years ago, but the mark of one man, Ferdinand Porsche, is still on the car from end to end. Like all great innovators, Porsche didn,t have to sign his work to make it recognizable. .He started early. In 1890, when he was 15, he installed electric light~n~ ~n his father’s house in Bohemia. The job required more than merely wiring the house and plugging it into a public utility outlet. Electricity was rare in those days, available in only a few big cities. Porsche first had to make the stuff in the basement with a generator, then send it upstairs; and he built the generator, too . .The feat impressed Porsche senior, who ~as a tinsmith by trade and considered his calling to be so noble that he had insisted his son to pursue it. But he conceded that the boy might have another talent and allowed him to go to Vienna and apprentice himself to a firm of electrical engineers. The boy was able to go to school part-tlme, and by 1900 he was working for an ambitious coach-builder named Lohner. In fact, he was more than an employee; he was almost a partner. .The Paris Exposition of 1900 showed examples of the automobile, the new’w~n~er of the world, and one of them was called the Lohner-Porsche. It was startling, not because it was an electric car, which was common enough, but because it had two motors. They were located in the hubs of the front wheels, which they drove. This made the wheels heavy, of course --253 pounds each--and the batteries weighed another 900 pounds. Although it was cumbersome, the electrical drive worked well: the car could do 2~ miles an hour, or 37 flat-out as a racer. The 2~-year-old Porsche had produced it in ten weeks. It was something of a sensation, but even Porsche didn’t realize that it demonstrated only half of a really bright idea. .If you owned a car around the turn of the century, and if you weren’t too’o~dl you competed with it. Porsche was a superior driver, and in September, 1900, he set a new record in a hill-climb competition near Vienna. It was right after this run, or, very possibly, during it, that the second half of his brig~at idea occurred to him: instead of using
batteries, why not use a generator to supply the power? He put one in and called the result--which ran on gasoline--"Mixed Drive." It’s a system still in use all over the ;~orld: Trains using it run tens of thousands of miles every day. It was a basic, ingenious and most useful idea--and it established Porsche as a figure of consequence in the new automobile age... "Porsche History" will be continued.