Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2006/05/02
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Most racing cars were/are designed round the gearshift linkage(!) A straight linkage is the most important part of gearbox feel and shift speed. The most common cause of unreliability and overtaking before foolproof electronic shifts was missed shifts which caused damaged dog rings in the 'box. This is absolutely crucial for a 24 hour car. The gearshift linkage exits the 'box on the right on the GT40, which is based on the Lola GT. Getting a nice linkage down the centre of a mid-engined car of this layout is not possible so the lever is on the fuel pontoon next to the RH door, hence RHD. The road cars may not have had the same 'box. A friend of mine had one for many years but sold it to buy a classic F1 car for Thoroughbred Grand Prix racing (good fun). It was certainly right hand drive. Frank On 1 May, 2006, at 22:50, Didier Ludwig wrote: > Peter, > In John Allens book "GT40 - The legend lives on" (btw a must for > all GT40 aficionados) almost all of the genuine GT40 race cars made > from 1965 to 68 are shown, and I could not see one left hand driven > example. > > Paul, > are you shure all GT40 Mk-I and Mk-IIa were built in UK? I believed > that Holman & Moody assembled the Mk-I and Mk-IIa in their factory > in Charlotte/USA? Their famous crazy golden-pink Mk-II, from Le > Mans '66, 3rd place, #5, driven by Bucknum/Hutcherson, is my > personal favourite GT40 for ever -see http://tinyurl.com/ekc6m > > Didier > > > > >> I was about to say pretty much the same thing. The UK-manufactured >> cars (race and raid) were RHD except possibly for those for >> mainland European customers for road use (von Karajan had one for >> instance)and the few built for the US in the UK. There was a long >> history of sportscars being RHD which faded out in the 60s or 70s >> as I recall. >> >> Peter Dzwig >> >>> You must have a long arm to reach that gear stick! :-) >>> Only kidding. I guess you're talking about the Mk IV, which was >>> made in the States, some for racing and some for the road. I >>> believe they only made 12 of these all together, and the racing >>> ones - including the 1967 Le Mans winner - were certainly right >>> hand drive. I'm assuming the road cars were LHD. As indeed some >>> of the (only 7 in total) Mk IIIs probably were, those that were >>> intended for US non-race customers. >>> As usual my statement was quite as definitive as it should have >>> been... Sorry. >>> I understand a lot of US circuits are anti-clockwise, notably >>> those used for NASCAR - is this true? If so it would have made a >>> lot of sense for Kar Kraft, builders of the Mk IV, to build some >>> LHD racers. >>> I think we can assume that almost all of the 111 cars built at >>> Slough in England were RHD, and at least half the 12 cars built >>> in Michigan were RHD, so I'll modify my original statement: >>> "Almost all GT40s have the steering wheel on the right". >>> Replicas built after 1967 are, of course, a different thing >>> altogether... >>> Paul Hardy Carter > > > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information