Ferrari Mailing List: Re: TestaRossa / 308GT4's AKA Dinos

[Grahame Reinthal (grahame]

Hi All,

Originality and tyres... now there's an interesting issue.

Back over 17 years ago when I attended my first Ferrari gathering in my
newly-acquired and very original 308GT4, someone turned their nose up when I
opened the engine lid because a hose clip was not original. I was initially
confused and then a bit offended, and then I thought, your name isn't Wayne
Kerr by any chance, is it!  But at that point I realised that total,
obsessional originality was not for me. Now it's too late of course with the
modded 328 motor under the lid, but I digress.

As for tyres, the technology has advanced so much in the last 40 years and
I'd imagine Enzo would have specified the best option of the day by in 1970.
So I like to think that "originality" can perhaps be interpreted in the
context of the philosophy of the choice, not necessarily the actual choice
of the day.

Anyway, I believe if you are going to still drive the car, rather than stick
it in a museum as a period piece, tyres should be all about driving feel,
style and safety. They are the only things that hold you on the planet,
after all. I remember 30 years ago when I owned a souped up MGB. It was
definitely not original and it was very quick for its day. I experimented
with many different tyres. I finally settled on a particular Pirelli of the
day because they were so, so predictable as to what they were about to do,
wet or dry.  They would say to me, we are about to let the tail out a bit -
are you ok with this?  And the tail would gently step out through a corner
and then I could simply throttle steer through. Always predictable.

Also interesting, AFAIK, MG concours rules actually allow some technical
upgrades, such as retro-fitting MGA disk brakes on earlier T-series models.
A friend fitted MGA brakes to his 1954 MGTF and it was an utter
transformation, massively cutting the stopping distances and increasing
safety.  And that seemed to fit perfectly with the MG motto which used to be
"Safety Fast".


Cheers for now,
 
Grahame