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"Can be" an expensive hobby???

103.194.3.38

JDK

In Reply to: RE: Just like audiophiles... posted by E-Stat on June 29, 2025 at 17:10:19

From your 2nd paragraph, I think it's definitely!
I had a couple of mates back in my 20's-30's who were racers. One a Renault Car Club enthusiast who rallied. The other had two classic race cars - an Elfin F3 car and an Elfin Streamliner sports car (one of only 25 built of the above).
His life could be summed up this way -
Single.
Only owned a house because it had a double garage.
Only had friends who owned socket sets or could weld or tune twin Webers.
He flipped the Streamliner in a race and when it landed it shattered 2 of its cast magnesium suspension wishbones. That was the end of a fifty thousand dollar car. It would be a +$300K car today.
A sometimes thrilling, sometimes scary, always expensive life ;-)
You and your wife might enjoy this - I watched in the weekend. I never knew Jodie Kidd was a car nut at all.

View YouTube Video

Trying to hide from entropy
John K

Edits: 06/30/25

Follow Ups:

RE: "Can be" an expensive hobby??? - E-Stat 06:52:46 06/30/25 (1)
Boy the tires on the Streamliner sure are skinny! Jag C cars used 185/80-16s. By contrast, her Box uses 235/45s front and 265/45s rear on 18" rims. It can corner a full lateral G and its mid-engine design makes for low rotational inertia and thus low drama.

Neat story about Jodie. Note her answer as to how much training she had: zero! The HPDE event is the diametric opposite - it is all about proper and consistent training with instructor at your side.
- RE: "Can be" an expensive hobby??? - JDK 21:33:11 06/30/25 (0)
  Harley's Streamliner had flared wheel arches and when he was racing, he ran modern slicks, on 16" rims.
  Believe it or not, his mechanic was able to get the Streamliner fully road legal, with unlimited plates.
  Since it was a 1960 car, it legally wasn't required to have indicators, or wipers, or a speedo, or many other "modern" luxuries.
  It had a horn, brake lights, parking lights, headlights and dymo labels around the tacho to say how fast at what revs in which gear.
  That was it. Plus racing harness, but legally, it wasn't required ;-)
  
  In street dress it ran those giant diameter Morris wheels and radials.
  And it had a mechanics seat, under a clip-off alloy panel, so I did a few runs with him in it. It was unbelievable.
  At least half of the unbelievable part was driving with somebody who knew racing. Full throttle everywhere, until it was full brakes. He was going 100% power into corners, where in my car I would have been well on the brakes. But the Streamliner weighed all of 400kgs or so, with big discs. It was as good at slowing down as it was at speeding up.
  
  Trying to hide from entropy
  John K
  
  Edits: 07/01/25
RE: "Can be" an expensive hobby??? - Inmate51 05:22:08 06/30/25 (0)
Somewhere on a SD card or hard drive or both, I have a shot of the late great Maynard Ferguson going for a ride in a vintage MG/Triumph race car. It had the number "6" on its side. From Fond du Lac, Wisconsin in May, 2006 at a band party/BBQ. Anyone here have that pic handy?

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