Scratch built GT40 finally running
Discussion
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, makes mine look like a Meccano project 
familyguy1 said:
so jealous of you having the time, money and inclination to do such a project, hats off to you.
Am I right in seeing the bonnet is all black with white roundels ? what do you mean by "black front clip" ?
Personally I would keep the metallic grey with black stripes front to back. But ignore me, its your car and your doing what you like and as I say hats off to you.
Please keep posting updates as I love reading about such projects.
Thanks. The colour scheme approximates that of XGT-2, the Alan Mann car driven by Graham Hill in 1966 (see picture). There are quite a few Superformance GT40s that are silver with black stripes, and I wanted something a bit different. "Front clip" and "rear clip" refer to the fibreglass front and rear body sections, also called "clam shells". The roundels will contain the number 66, in recognition of the year the 40s won Le Mans.Am I right in seeing the bonnet is all black with white roundels ? what do you mean by "black front clip" ?
Personally I would keep the metallic grey with black stripes front to back. But ignore me, its your car and your doing what you like and as I say hats off to you.
Please keep posting updates as I love reading about such projects.
Little bits and pieces done.
Alloy covers for central tunnel and gear shift linkage taking shape;
Weather strip done;
Dash trial fitted with original eyeball vents in;
Engine cover taking shape. Still needs hole for webers cut out.
Body refitted after chassis paint. Scoop with perspex and periscopes all screwed in. Fastening dozens of tiny nuts and washers to tiny screws in largely inaccessible places in not recommended if you have large hands like me.
Tail lights and rear grille fitted. Almost starting to look like a car.
Alloy covers for central tunnel and gear shift linkage taking shape;
Weather strip done;
Dash trial fitted with original eyeball vents in;
Engine cover taking shape. Still needs hole for webers cut out.
Body refitted after chassis paint. Scoop with perspex and periscopes all screwed in. Fastening dozens of tiny nuts and washers to tiny screws in largely inaccessible places in not recommended if you have large hands like me.
Tail lights and rear grille fitted. Almost starting to look like a car.
The mono is very rigid. Much torsionally stiffer than spaceframe cars of the time.
As can be seen in the picture above, there was an issue with fuel fountaining out of the filler caps under impact. This was also occasionally a problem under hard braking in race conditions, especially if the filler cap was not properly fastened (see picture below from '67 Le Mans). Some of the cars were retro fitted with a non return flap to minimise this and, as far as I am aware, many GT40s (originals and replicas) running these days have foam in the tanks, and often, a screw type fuel cap under the pop-up one.
CanAm said:
It's the lack of crumple zones compared to modern production cars that is the problem.
Agreed. The front and rear subframes do act as crumple zones, but nowhere near to the extent as for modern cars. The central "cell" is very strong, but for any side impact there is the risk of crushing the fuel tanks (bag tanks in originals). As can be seen in the picture above, there was an issue with fuel fountaining out of the filler caps under impact. This was also occasionally a problem under hard braking in race conditions, especially if the filler cap was not properly fastened (see picture below from '67 Le Mans). Some of the cars were retro fitted with a non return flap to minimise this and, as far as I am aware, many GT40s (originals and replicas) running these days have foam in the tanks, and often, a screw type fuel cap under the pop-up one.
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