The Greatest Tuner of all Time Vs. The Rest

[Thunda Downunda]

Ooops ... time to eat crow ... Lizard King, you're right, it wasn't Shelby American, but rather the nascent Kar Kraft that finally turned the GT-40 into a reliable winner.

As for the above being based on a Lola Mark 6 GT, please read the following excerpts and quotes from:

'retired Ford project engineer Bob Negstad, who was assigned to what would become the GT project in its earliest days...is adamant that the similarities between the Lola Mark 6 and the GT are largely coincidental - Lola was brought into the project, Negstad asserts, because Eric Broadley was a "brilliant fabricator". He ended up doing much of the construction and assembly work on the Ford GT prototype. But it was not in any way his creation. "Broadley was technically naive, a trial-&-error man" working in a "terribly obsolete building lit by a single 40-watt bulb". The attraction for Ford was not Broadley's design expertise, but rather his ability to quickly build what they wanted, plus the availability of a car of somewhat similar configuration (Lola) that could serve as a drivable test bed while Ford's own design was coming together'.

Regarding me saying that the B-O-P alloy V8 was lousy, I regretted that as soon as I posted. Of course it was the 1st all-alloy engine designed for high-production, also in the 1st production turbocar ('62 Olds Jetfire). But it was a dud, tales of core-shift and loose liners abound, and it took Rover to solve this by changing from pressure-cast to gravity-cast construction methods. Of trivial interest, Australia had in 1973 an enlarged 'raised block' 269 CID version of this engine (I own one).

Thanks for your corrections, and I'll try and hit the Duesy post (currently bereft) with something interesting...

[Lizard King]

You seem to know your stuff on the Buick V8. But I've heard that the engine was already good before Rover got it. Obviously it improved over the long time that Rover used it. I know that the turbo engine wasn't successful.

[GTStang]

I'm glad someone finally mentioned his name and I have to agree is Carroll Shelby. He is one of the original tuners and probable the best know. What he did has allowed all of the tuners you have named and other like Saleen, Mallet, Rousch etc.., To even exist. So before you go off naming some other tuner as God remember the tuners from the Past like Shelby and some of the other named here.