SAAC Forum

Steve:

Keep up the good work. These photos are priceless documentation and many have been unseen. Even if the photo has been published before, you can look at it for more critical details that you might have missed the first or fifth time. Plus internet searches for photos and details aren't always found under the usual search terms like Shelby, GT350 et al. The RIR publication is an obvious example, plus it brings up other questions. Like does anyone know the author's name Eric Hauser?

IMHO mid-engine styling is difficult to create a distinguished look. View the cars in profile. There's air intakes behind the rear door edge and the shape is dictated by air flow management. Big C8 styling twitter complaint was that it looks like a Ferrari which looks like a Lamborghini. . .

Ford pulled off a unique profile thanks to the GT's flying buttresses. Glad Corvette "borrowed" Ford styling and not the other way around. 

Stumbled across the factoid that author Garth Stein had attended a driving school. Combine that with one of the producers being a professional racer and a genuine track atmosphere will be created. It makes a difference.

Bring tissues to the theater. Started reading the novel and there were tears in the first two pages.

FYI: Book was published in 2008.

FYI Addendum: Reason why the track and race scenes are authentic is that one producer Patrick Dempsey is a racer with 4 Le Mans starts in addition to 64 other professional starts. 

Hope SEMA is tracking this issue.

Don't lose sight of the fact these car building reality programs are aimed toward the visual. So if the construction details, parts etc aren't exactly right, it doesn't matter. What matters is the visuals and the dramatic story arc such as how they replaced the floor pan in half an hour in order to meet a car show or auction deadline.

Interesting observation. The miracle is that Ford even built it to begin with.

And let us not overlook that we have the freedom to drive anytime, anywhere on any public road of our choosing.

He had quite a career. I'm glad most of it was with Ford. As Father of the Mustang, he got his image on both Newsweek and Time covers, which was the analog equivlent of a couple of million of today's Twitter followers.

Besides the Mustang, he also championed the Mustang II. Save the scoffs, this model maintained Mustang's unbroken mechcanical lineage.  And consider the Lincoln Mk. III, which put Lincoln on the map for personal luxury car buyers.

And don't over look that Iacocca hired Shelby to breathe performance into the Chrysler vehicle line-up. Chrysler/Shelby interjected turbocharging into the performance environment decades before it was fully embraced by manufacturers. Iacocca wasn't done yet. In 1990 he approved Dodge Viper production.

If there was a career downside, not of his making, it was getting bounced from Ford. Ultimately, he was living proof of not getting mad, but getting even.

I would at least change the steering wheel. (File under comment; snark)

QuoteCurious juxtaposition of the display being positioned in front of graphics illustrating some heavy-duty military hardware.

Not so curious after all, he replied.

A reminder that Ford had their Ford Aerospace Corporation that was a contractor for air-to-air and ground-to-air missiles and space systems. Ford Aerospace was also involved in building the Mustang GTP's carbon fiber tub. Then it was tested using computer finite element analysis, which was a big deal in 1985. 

QuoteI was at 16 LeMans where Ford won and talked to the guy who built the latest Ford GT (Larry) and the stuff that goes on behind the scenes is amazing.  The bottom line is that it is very difficult to just tune a car and put your best team out there and assume you will win.  Balance of performance is one factor but politics is huge as well.

Agreed. My point was that specifications such as fueling time and fuel capacity are easily defined and should be enforced. And I think you're right about the race politics angle.

Filed under Advocate; Devil's

Based on the Jalopnik article, the rules about minimum fueling time and fuel volume seem pretty straight forward. Rule minutiae perhaps. But the team should have known them, particularly if a potential disqualification could occur.

Or should the rule standard be, it ain't cheatin' unless you're caught. 

Quotejust chiming in on the Henry Ford II scene:   first of all, Tracy Letts is one of our greatest living actors (and playwrights), and he kills it in this film . . . second, the particular scene we're discussing is funny as hell, and has some unexpected nuance.  yes, he's scared shitless, but he's also very emotional about being in such a fast and highly developed automobile that bears his grandfather's name.  so, yeah, he's crying, but he doesn't come across as a sissy.  on the contrary, the movie makes it clear that LeMans is "the Deuce's" no-expense-spared vendetta to get even with Enzo for humiliating him over a possible sale of Ferrari to Ford . . .   guys, the movie isn't perfect, and every time Ken shifts from third to fourth and the revs go UP, you will cringe.  but it's a very good (Hollywood) movie (NOT a documentary), and i think you'll all be satisfied watching it on the big screen.
JMHO,
Alan

Crying and being scared shitless doesn't come across as a sissy? Really?

I never expected a documentary, but creation of a narrative spell that isn't broken. HFII crying; spell broken. Revs go up; spell broken. IMHO

Check Edsel Ford II's twitter feed and see what he thinks of the trailer.
BWT I wonder if the screen writers interviewed Mr. Ford. He was there.   

My hopes for this film are totally corroded.

Start with the images of the replicas in reply #66. The real cars didn't have mirrors and that would be a simple thing to correct if they had researched original photos. Then there's car number 98. Who drove that?

Did anyone see the interview of Matt Damon and Christian Bale up in the flag station just prior to the Indy 500? The interviewer asked what was one thing they took away from doing the film. Damon answered, paraphrasing, ". . .that driving 230 mph, they didn't know whether or not they could slow down. . .".  Really? I think adequate braking capacity would be a key design feature of car entered in a 24 hour race.

Check out the iMDb listing for the film https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1950186/?ref_=nv_sr_1?ref_=nv_sr_1 where they included a picture of a 1966 Ford. Also check out the technical advisor in the cast and crew list.

As a final annoyance, even the media coverage sucks. In the Entertainment Exclusive https://ew.com/movies/2019/05/24/ford-ferrari-first-look-matt-damon-christian-bale/?utm_source=instagram&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=entertainmentweekly_entertainmentweekly&utm_content=like2buy&utm_term=curalate_like2buy&fbclid=IwAR3XypZzJ4fNWXgLmYQRIIONoB6BQm4RyjNzHT_2YxnQdh9FGYd8Nz_lszg write up, the writer describes the film as

Quote. . ."this true story of the triumph of the misfits."

Misfits? They were a talented group of racers and fabricators that were at the top of their racing game.

For me, it'll be the little visual things that would be so simple to make accurate that'll be most annoying because people making the film didn't really care. It's Hollywood, but ultimately, maybe I'm too close to the subject.