Historical ignorance at Porsche Panorama

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Vic Skirmants
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Historical ignorance at Porsche Panorama

#1 Post by Vic Skirmants »

Today I received the May 2018 issue. Each month they have a Trivia question. This one referred to the Carrera Panamericana.
"von Hanstein ran a 550 Spyder (chassis no. 550-02) in the 1953 race with the new Fuhrmann-designed four-cam engine, winning the 1500cc class" !!!!! I'll leave it to you to enumerate the errors in that statement. A small note indicates the source for that information as from the 23rd Amelia Island Concours. SO WHAT! Does anybody at Pano have a brain? I won't bother contacting them, because it won't do any good. I'd rather chastise them here. So there.

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James Davies
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Re: Historical ignorance at Porsche Panorama

#2 Post by James Davies »

The exact same error was made at Bring A Trailer a few weeks ago.

https://bringatrailer.com/2018/05/02/te ... -four-cam/

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Ron LaDow
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Re: Historical ignorance at Porsche Panorama

#3 Post by Ron LaDow »

Story:
When I was restoring the March F-1 in the late '80s (#721-4), a friend who was a stringer for Automobile Magazine asked if he could do a 'short' on the effort, one of those things they stuffed at the back of the book at the time, a couple of photos, two or three paragraphs. 'Sure.'
He did so, asking for info which he noted, and several weeks later, I got a call from a 'fact checker' at the book; how did I know it was the Effieland car, designed by Colani, driven by Stommelen, and then owned by Hexagon, sold to.... etc?
Well, I'd done the research, and on Pg "X" of "Y" written by "Z", there is was. Seems so long as there was a written trail to back my statements, that was just fine.
I wasn't a subscriber at the time, but found the issue carrying the story at Safeway when I was shopping a couple of months later; they spelled my name correctly. And *NOTHING* else.
McLaren? WIH did McLaren have to do with a '72 March? Who bought it from who and who drove it? Where that 'information' came from was never cleared up; George had no idea how they had re-written what he sent them. Since then, I've seen the crap they wrote about the car cited more than once.
While Automobile Mag couldn't claim authority on F1s as Panorama should on Porsche racing history, suffice to say, when I read the paper in the morning, I do so with skepticism.
(I also had personal comm regarding some 'names' in the Brit and Euro racing bizz regarding the car and trading 'practices' which were interesting to say the least)
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Re: Historical ignorance at Porsche Panorama

#4 Post by Brad Ripley »

Page 30 top -- Chassis 550-002 had PUSHROD engine nr. 40 159, race nr. 152, driven by Herrarte/Gonzalez, winning the 1600 cc class (not 1500), placed 32nd overall -- other three 550s entered were DNF.

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James Davies
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Re: Historical ignorance at Porsche Panorama

#5 Post by James Davies »

"Chassis 550-002 had PUSHROD engine nr. 40 159"

Great info! I didn't know it was P-40159. The Type 528 engines on these Type 550s used different carbs from the standard 528 engines on production cars. Probably some other tweaks here and there too.
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Joris Koning
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Re: Historical ignorance at Porsche Panorama

#6 Post by Joris Koning »

James, did they run different fuels (ethanol?) might explain the use of different carbs
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Mike Wilson
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Re: Historical ignorance at Porsche Panorama

#7 Post by Mike Wilson »

You have to wonder where Pano gets its info...

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Olivier Auvray
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Re: Historical ignorance at Porsche Panorama

#8 Post by Olivier Auvray »

SNC14581.JPG
SNC14580.JPG
SNC14583.JPG
Solex Torino..........

Please look at the position of idle jets, this is not the well known "sandcast".

Only "factory" race cars received caburetors like this one on "pushrod" engines.

And, if I remember well, very early Carrera engines were fitted with the ancestor of the 40 PII

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James Davies
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Re: Historical ignorance at Porsche Panorama

#9 Post by James Davies »

Very interesting Olivier. Do you have any close-up period photos showing these carbs on the 528 engines of the 550s in 1953?

Porsche also used the Solex 32 PAATI carb at Le Mans in 1952, a carb very similar to the Zenith 32 NDIX used on later 356A T2 cars. Never appeared on a production car as far as I know.

And yes, I think you might be right Joris. The fuel regulations were very loose for Le Mans in the 1950s, and probably the same for the Carrera, so perhaps this was the motivating reason for carb experimentation.

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Re: Historical ignorance at Porsche Panorama

#10 Post by Jon Bunin »

James Davies wrote:Do you have any close-up period photos showing these carbs on the 528 engines of the 550s in 1953?
Le Mans, 1953.
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Re: Historical ignorance at Porsche Panorama

#11 Post by Phil Planck »

Interesting

Crankcase vent hose
Wrapped exhaust pipes
Bowdin tube for clutch and boot?
Cut stock fuel line with support bracket
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Ron LaDow
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Re: Historical ignorance at Porsche Panorama

#12 Post by Ron LaDow »

Phil Planck wrote:Interesting
Bowdin tube for clutch and boot?
Not sure from the photo, but it looks like the clutch load is cantilevered 'way the hell over there on the threads of a clamp bolt.
You might get away with that for one race if you told the driver to use it in the pits only.
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Martin Benade
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Re: Historical ignorance at Porsche Panorama

#13 Post by Martin Benade »

I think there is a support to the side cover so it won't break off immediately.
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Re: Historical ignorance at Porsche Panorama

#14 Post by Jon Bunin »

Phil Planck wrote:Bowdin tube for clutch and boot?
Phil, I'm not sure if I understand what you're referring to. The clutch release system was hydraulic; the piston of the clutch cylinder pushed down on the clutch arm.
Ron & Martin, here's a similar system on a later 550A Spyder transmission, with the hydraulic cylinder removed.
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Re: Historical ignorance at Porsche Panorama

#15 Post by Phil Planck »

Thanks Jon

My first thought was hydraulic, but figured nkt with such a large tube.
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