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Author Topic: Jim Hall  (Read 2847 times)

Offline lkjohnson1950

Jim Hall
« on: June 20, 2020, 03:10:54 AM »
It's long, but Jim Hall is a fascinating guy and one of the most outside the box thinkers to ever build race cars.



Lonny

Offline dd

Re: Jim Hall
« Reply #1 on: June 28, 2020, 03:41:08 PM »
56 years ago to the day (6/28/64) I attended the Watkins Glen Sunday race where Mr Hall and Mr Penske simply walked away from the competition. I positioned at the carousel after the long front straight (pre bus-stop) and could hear them coming into the downhill right hander and screaming up the back straight (no boot there either) to the left starting the series to the right hand finish turn. Hotter than the hinges of Hell that day, but forever etched in the memory bank. I have about two dozen Kodachrome slides of that event  -  The golden era of US road racing. Thank you for posting this reminder.
« Last Edit: June 28, 2020, 03:48:14 PM by dd »

Offline lkjohnson1950

Re: Jim Hall
« Reply #2 on: June 28, 2020, 07:33:04 PM »
 :good: :good: :good:
Lonny

Offline jimclark

Re: Jim Hall
« Reply #3 on: August 28, 2020, 01:10:32 AM »
That woulda' been the 2A, the same as the '65 monsoon Sebring winner, no? (Also my first 1/24 scale slot car made by K&B iirc)

edit: Yup, some o' them memory cells 'still working.....
« Last Edit: August 28, 2020, 01:22:13 AM by jimclark »
"Those were the days my friends. We thought they'd never end..."

jimclark

Offline lkjohnson1950

Re: Jim Hall
« Reply #4 on: August 28, 2020, 04:02:38 AM »
I have that same K&B car, except I bought the GT40. Didn't save the box though.
Here's a decent video of the Sebring race, actual racing starts at about 9:30 in.

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/xlz79f
Lonny

Offline lkjohnson1950

Re: Jim Hall
« Reply #5 on: August 28, 2020, 04:04:25 AM »
I want to know how Gurney shoehorned a Ford small block into a Lotus 19.
Lonny

Offline jimclark

Re: Jim Hall
« Reply #6 on: August 29, 2020, 12:13:31 AM »
I want to know how Gurney shoehorned a Ford small block into a Lotus 19.
Let's see. What was it? A 260? 'Quite simple. vvv
vvv
vvv
vvv
vvv
vvv
vvv
vvv
vvv
vvv
vvv
You take a rather large shoehorn.....give it a nice coating of good ol' Lubriplate.....and shove it the **** (your choice) in there!!!!  >:D

That's how.  ;)

:yahoo:
"Those were the days my friends. We thought they'd never end..."

jimclark

Offline jimclark

Re: Jim Hall
« Reply #7 on: August 29, 2020, 01:01:15 AM »
Aaaaannnnddd.....speaking of Penske (thanks for the "funky" segue dd); this article I came across pi**ed me off.
https://web.archive.org/web/20131014103832/http://www.mrn.com/Race-Series/GRAND-AM/News/Articles/2013/09/Braun-Sets-Daytona-Speed-Record.aspx

It's not totally true in that he didn't break Bill's Daytona mark! I was at Daytona for the IMSA Finale in '77 when, in attempting to break Mark's closed course speed record in the Penske 917/30.....
https://www.roadandtrack.com/motorsports/a29517421/mark-donohue-porsche-917-talladega-record/

.....on the day before the race, Peter Gregg (who wasn't runnin' IMSA full time that year, he was off to the T/A in his 934) didn't break Donohue's record.....officially.....only because he didn't top it by 1%. He did set the new Daytona speed record.
He DID turn a 222.sumpin' in his trimmed out, side windowed, smooth wheel covered, 935. If only a smidge more..... :'(

Another example of France's steppin' on the original (real) IMSA by neglecting Gregg's effort and crediting only his own gigs.........  >:(
"Those were the days my friends. We thought they'd never end..."

jimclark

Offline jimclark

Re: Jim Hall
« Reply #8 on: August 29, 2020, 02:07:45 AM »
I have that same K&B car, except I bought the GT40. Didn't save the box though.
Here's a decent video of the Sebring race, actual racing starts at about 9:30 in.

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/xlz79f
Yeah, that Chap. was my first 1/24 car. My intro to slot cars was Christmas shopping and seeing one in some dept. store. I got it for Christmas (a Strombecker set with a GT40 and a Ferrari Berlinetta).
I started racing that year (I was twelve) in the hobby store my father found that had 2 homemade tracks. One on the ground floor/store itself, and the other, a monster, in the basement of the store. At first I used some Cox 1/32 that I had gotten for home but quickly got the K&B Chap.

'Long story short, I started scratch building after that (started with Pittman motored chassis) then the hobby advanced to Mabuchis motors.
First piano wire formula car chassis, to brass rods formula, then wider sportscar, "pan" chassis, "plumber" chassis.
Started rewinding my own motors in the beginning; balancing the armatures by rolling them on 2 parallel vertical razor blades stuck in clay and round filing the "heavy" sides 'til they stopped inconsistently..... 'Stronger magnets, ball bearing cans and end bells. Wired brushes and heat sinks....blah, blah, blah. 'Got quite involved it did.....
Soon you couldn't compete with the manufacturers so had to spring for the $13-14 ('lotta loot in the mid-late 60s). I was pretty good for a 12-15 y.o. "career"...."home" and inter store racing in NYC and L.I.
My final effort was gonna' be a balsa wood chassis (back to piano wire subframe for holding motor and axles together) so I would be able to put weight exactly where I wanted within the "monocoque" main chassis and body. The hobby fizzled big time in '69 so I never got to see it thru....a 'shame.
I won't bore (I 'know....already have...) but my third and final year ('69) I was sponsored by a parts/Mura motor distributor (no $$$, just free everything I needed to build and race) promoting their products, of course..... 'T'was a huge "salary" to this poor kid who had been racing on newspaper route earnings. Good times they were.  and still visit one of the few stores I know of on L.I. when I get up there in Mom's neck of the woods.
Take a gander: https://portjeffraceway.com/  ;)
"Those were the days my friends. We thought they'd never end..."

jimclark

Offline lkjohnson1950

Re: Jim Hall
« Reply #9 on: August 29, 2020, 05:02:51 AM »
Looks like a great place to race. I raced around Phoenix. We had tracks in Glendale, Mesa, Tempe, and Scottsdale. There were also 2 good places in Tucson. Now nothing. When it died locally we drove to LA 8-10 times a year. Got sponsored by Revtech motors. Raced at Speed and Sport, Rosecrans, a track in Anaheim with a view of Disneyland. Last race I went to was the '81 Worlds on a Blue King like the one in your pictures. Qualified 5th in Semi-Pro class, but missed the "A" when my motor died in the last heat of the Semi. Still have my Parma Ruskitt controllers and a couple cars around somewhere though I haven't seen them for awhile.
Lonny

 


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