how fast are the Daytona Coupes?

[Daniel Jones]

> Excellent post.

Thanks.

> Good data presentation.

The forun software removed all the multiple spaces which really screwed up
the tables but if anyone cares, they should be able copy the data to an
editor and align the columns.

> You might find Mulsanne's Corner interesting. They have very good articles
> on current sports car as well as old and the aerodynamics therein.

Thanks for the link. It does look interesting.

> There was a bunch of front lift in that car. Enough that it would not turn
> at 120 mph. We were quite careful with this car from then on.

Wow, that's the lowest speed I've seen for someone having a front lift
problem in a Pantera. That usually doesn't crop up until considerably
higher speeds but most owners have corrected Ford's ride height changes
which probably contribute to the problem. Ford installed one inch tall
spacers in the coil-overs to meet minimum bumper and headlight heights.
They also got scared and dialed in a bunch of understeer via alignment
settings and a smaller rear sway bar. Most owners remove the spacers,
add a Euro-GTS rear bar, and re-align. A better solution is to go to
ride-height adjustable coil-overs and dial in a little rake and add a
front blade type spoiler. Makes a big difference to front lift.
A couple of Swedes ran their stock body Pantera to over 200 MPH at
Bonneville this year with only a few degrees of rake and a front spoiler.

> Plus, Kevin refused to ride with me again in anything other than the
> transporter. He was a bit of a pu**y in some ways.

Heh, heh, heh.

> PS: I think that you need to use the width number instead of track on
> the GT40. 72 inches is the number on the car you are looking at.

I thought about using that number but it's the maximum width and the
GT40 is slope sided with the sides canting in towards the narrow roof.
If you take a head-on shot of a GT40 and draw a box the width of the
front track and the height of the roof, it's a closer approximation
of the actual frontal area. In any case, I was just using it as a check
on published frontal area numbers.

Dan Jones