The story of Porsche U27 continues;

On Sunday November 8^th U27 was loaded onto the trailer for a trip up to the Petersen Museum in Los Angeles; rather uneventful trip really – sorry, but there is just no- way that I can make this part of the cars journey any more juicy. Unless of course you count lighting off U27’s 2.0 liter motor in the parking structure of the museum and then driving up the circular ramp to the 3^rd floor……the noise………….GLORIOUS J Damn I love this car !

We would like to thank some nice folks at this time…Jim Jaqua, who got us in touch with the right folks so that the car could be part of this magnificent display and of course Tom McIntyre at the Petersen; who has been nothing but gracious and helpful. Thanks guys!

Our good friend Tony a2z and I drove up to the Petersen last Thursday for the Trans-Am Tribute; what a day!

The original Trans-Am series was, in the opinion of most, THE best racing series that ever happened in the U.S. I can not think of a time in motor sport when manufacturer involvement was greater. How much they were involved and how strong their desire was to win was about to be revealed, and in an entirely new light……reality was that Chevrolet, Ford, Mercury, Pontiac and Mopar knew that winning in this series was going to sell cars….lots and lots of cars!

At 2:00 pm a panel discussion started and MC’ing the event - the ever popular Dave McClelland. Dave has been the voice of motor sport for some 50 years…this man digs cars and it is rather obvious that he knows his stuff and has done his homework. The topic for this panel was “The Golden years of Trans-Am and “creative thinking”. Rather quickly relabeled as “Cheetin’ in the hood”.

The panel; a virtual who’s- who of Trans-Am racing; Buzz Dyer, Tony Adamowicz, Peter Brock, Tony DeLorenzo, Frank Dobias, George Follmer, Mac Tilton, Gib Hufstader, Dick Guldstrand. Ronnie Kaplan, Parnelli Jones, Horst Kwech, John Martin, John Morton, Jan Nelson, Tom Yeager, Bill Preston, Ron Fournier, Jerry Schwarz, Robert Barg.…you get the idea…the discussion was simply fantastic.

What started off as a discussion of absolute commitment…as Tony Delarenzo explained “it was win or loose your job” rather quickly turned into the “cheating” or as some suggest “an interpretation of the rules” or…”it ain’t cheating unless you get caught” debate. Stories from back in the day started to flow…..funny……oh my God; funny! Parnelli was perhaps one of the first to point out that Ford did not cheat…..after a room filled with laughter had settled just a bit, a question was posed about some of the Mustangs being smaller than their production counterparts by an inch….everywhere!!!. Seems that ‘old Parnelli did not have any recollection of that…..hmmm. Remember, the Trans-Am series was a production based racing series. These cars were the same cars that you and I could buy off of the showroom floor- right? As it turns out…..um….NO…..not even close, not after these guys were done with them!  

As the discussion continued, it became rather apparent that “the bending of rules” was not the exeption…. in fact, what was being done, how it was being done, who was doing it, how it was hidden, how it worked….all of it great stuff. Seems however, that even though our panel was spilling all the beans, they were still deep in denial….with the exception of course of all of the modifications that where done in the name of “safety”….like huge Corvette brakes on Camaro’s. It amazed me just how much was done in the name of “safety”

Some of what was being done to the cars was pretty darn innovative….Did you know acid dipping a body of car would lighten it …substantially? But, if it stays in the tank a bit too long…well, panels can get rather thin. So, what if an SCCA tech inspector inadvertently puts his arm on the roof of the car - Sam Posey’s car - and it dents the crap out of the roof, in fact, quite badly…the rule infraction resulted in the team having to drive to a local dealership, cut the roof off of a brand new car and weld it onto the race car ….one late night race weekend fix. Penske was a little smarter about it…apparently they had the same issue…car was in the tank a little too long. The fix…a vinyl top. Story goes that the tech inspectors thought the viyal was an attempt at an aerodynamic advantage….nope, top was too thin.

Did you know that if you packed Gasoline in dry ice, you get fit 23 gallons of fuel into a 22 gallon tank? Bill Preston did….seems Bill worked for Sunoco back in the day and helped the Penske team. He did swear up and down that the Sunoco fuel delivered to the Penske team was legal….”We took fuel from the best tanks that we had and it was at the upper end of the specifications, but, legal”

Fuel tank size was limited to 22 gallons….what if the fuel filler neck could hold another few gallons?

Seems Penske wanted to give the Camaro’s a bit more aero…enter metal man extraordinaire Ron Fournier …refit/ re-manufacture the front fenders so that they end up lower in the front than stock…shorten the radiator support so that the nose of the car can be lowered as well, but, it all has to” look” right…cut and weld the radiator support so well that no-one can see the weld ….now the cool part……build in another rule infraction that is blatant, but, easily fixed; creating a diversion that takes way from the real masterpiece…BRILLIANT! These guys were good!

Seems that the 1967 Camaro’s had too much weight on the nose of the cars, move the front wheel assembly forward by 1 ½”…oops…wheel base measures too short….move the rear axle assembly forward by 1 ½ “….hey….it measures perfect AND….150 pounds have been effectively transferred to the rear of car….can you say more grip! Good???  These guys were great. Keep in mind that all of these modifications were engineered in such a way that they could not be seen or if nothing else they would be very, very difficult to detect. The rules stated that suspension mounting points could not be altered…..yeah ok. So Mr. Guldstrand…any other tricks??? 

After a race, cars were weighed to insure that minimum weight requirements were met….gota be sure that no-one is cheating right? So leave your helmet in the car…what??? Seems George Follmer may have had a helmet that weighed somewhere around 100 lbs just for the occasion….must have been tough driving with that thing on his head for three hours!!!!

Cars had a minimum ride height as well…so…..if the ride height of your car is too low and you know it won’t pass tech….slide a floor jack under the front end and jack it up a bit….now even if the tech inspector trips over the bloody jack……really happened!

There was obviously far more discussed and the two hours went by very quickly…a very, very fun two hours with some of the greatest in the sport….is there a better way to spend an afternoon…Legends in motor sport, the best of the best- from the best racing series ever; fantastic!

A cocktail reception followed…a chance to again spend some time with Doug Magnon from The Riverside International Automotive Museum and even an opportunity to chat with racing legend Bobby Rahal for a short bit. Seems Mr. Rahal is in the process of putting together some fantastic vintage racing events….neat stuff…more in the line of what Goodwood does in England….we hope this works out well for him.

Dinner was great and we were treated to some fantastic vintage Trans-Am footage and an auction of  earlyTrans-Am memorabilia benefiting the museum; including one of George Follmer’s diving suits…seems no-one could lift the helmet out of his trunk…..

There are 20 vintage Trans-Am cars currently on display at the Petersen from the golden age of Trans-Am including, of course, Porsche U27, an exhibit that is worth seeing; treat yourself….

O.C.C.E