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Originally posted by Excaliber
Wait,,,,,,,,I must have heard that wrong. Are you suggesting some of the 1965 records are STILL standing???? Is that possible in our high tech, wind tunnel design modern technology day and age? ,,,,,,it's only been a mere 35+ years. Man, were the Coupes THAT good?? Amazing!
Ernie
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Ernie, I'm unsure of exactly which specific records still hold in the National and International Class "C" category (where the Coupe competed), but some I'm sure still are standing, simply due to their incredible feat of endurance. For instance one that I recall was something you don't think about happening at Bonneville... and that's the endurance record where the Coupe set an average of 170 mph for 12 hours! That was just one of the 23 records set in November of '65 by the driving team of Craig Breedlove, Tatersoe and Tom Greatorex. 500 mile Nascar races take 3 hours to perform and rarely dom they average 170. Now, consider TWELVE hours at 170!!!! And that was almost 30 years ago.
And you're right, not only were the coupes good back then, but Peter Brock confidently states that the new Superformance-Brock Coupe is incredibly better than the one he designed back in the 60's. And why shouldn't it? He knew it best back then, he knows it even better now.
One interesting note in history was when he fought tooth and nail back then add his wing spoiler on the back. Peter said he knew this would stabilize the car at higher speeds, but of course in an era with a lack of aerodynamic knowledge, tunnels and testing, everyone rebuked his theories. Finally they let him have his way and he was right, it stabilized the car incredibly. Peter, even back then, had an uncanny "eye for aerodynamics", knowing what would work without the advantage of a tunnel to test it in. That's probably Peter's biggest gift, among many other skills and attributes.
Over the decades Peter "wished he could have another chance" in fixing all the little details that no one could have ever anticipated back in the Dark Ages of the 60's... and Jimmy Price let him have that chance with this car.
The Superformance-Brock Coupe, they way I understand it, was never really intended to be a "reproduction" of anything in particular. It just so happened Peter was incredibly familiar with his original body design and knew exactly what and where to make the improvements he's always wanted to. I myself was stunned to find out that the GT-40 drivers were somewhat "scared" by the wicked and unpredictable handling of their GT-40's, and after jumping out of the '40 and into the Coupe with the spoiler on the rear deck, they reported it was *much* more stable and predictable at those same higher speeds, and higher. By looking at the '40's sleek and arrow-like styling, one would assume that car could hit 300... but by the racers testimony, not so.
And did you know that Peter Brock also created the striping design on the GT-350 Mustangs too? The guy is simply amazing, and that would be one of his minor contributions to history ;-)
By the way, some are calling the Superformance-Brock Coupe their "dream car"... but in reality, it is Peter Brock's Dream Car :-)
/Randall