Could this be true

[cliff.b]

Just arrived in a pub at Duxford to meet a friend for lunch and while waiting in the car park, an old chap came over and said he organised one of the press launches for the MK3 Spitfire. Claims they fitted them with rear suspension off a Vitesse so the motoring press wouldn't do the sort of things they did with the earlier cars.

[Pete Lewis]

i have heard of that idea before but  just what suspension did they convert to  rotaflex??? and wishbones of the Mk2 which was in production at the  time 

 

[Gary Flinn]

3 hours ago, cliff.b said:

Just arrived in a pub at Duxford to meet a friend for lunch and while waiting in the car park, an old chap came over and said he organised one of the press launches for the MK3 Spitfire. Claims they fitted them with rear suspension off a Vitesse so the motoring press wouldn't do the sort of things they did with the earlier cars.

The Mk3 Spitfire was introduced January 1967 I believe, the Mk2 Vitesse October 1968 so they couldn't have been fitted with the Lower Wishbone Roto-flex type suspension?

Maybe they had a de-cambered spring fitted to them for the press to use.

Gary 

[Peter Truman]

Or even a camber compensator anti roll bar thingy as popular in the States

[cliff.b]

Unfortunately he was a bit short on technical details and obviously a marketing man but well aware of the issues that the motoring press had raised for the earlier cars.

Anyway, it added interest to a very pleasant lunchtime with an old friend who also brought his classic along and enhanced by a couple of those other Spitfires flying overhead on a perfect sunny day. Things don't get much better than this 👍

[Colin Lindsay]

Am I correct if I remember that some of the other Triumphs were 'tweaked' slightly... too early in the morning here for proper brain function and not able to check properly... but they were given enhanced performance for journalists whilst being claimed to be production standard?

[cliff.b]

11 hours ago, Colin Lindsay said:

Am I correct if I remember that some of the other Triumphs were 'tweaked' slightly... too early in the morning here for proper brain function and not able to check properly... but they were given enhanced performance for journalists whilst being claimed to be production standard?

As was the E-type, allegedly lol. Some say the car that was famously tested at 150mph may not have had a completely standard engine 🤔

[Peter Truman]

Have you ever driven an E Type at speed around 130mph, coming up the M1 from London to the NE in the mid 60's no speed limit in those days the front end becomes very light as the lack of aero dynamic aids lets air under the car so the full width of the fast lane plus some was used, no air dam or chin spoiler in those days. Quite scary really, but youth said just push on! It was a 3.8 & never got near 140mph but it was a CV.

I reckon dads 300SE 6.3 Merc was safer at approaching 120mph but two stops for long drinks were judicious if peak hour London traffic was anticipated and you wanted to safely get to your central London Strand destination, and back out to the M1 before refueling.

 

[dougbgt6]

The only time I've ever had my GT6 flat out was on the M4 when I first got it in 1978. Manual says top speed is 112mph, but my dial said 120. Now THAT was scary! 

These days I'm law abiding, although 60mph in the GT6 now feels like 120.

Doug 

Edited August 12, 2023 by dougbgt6

[Colin Lindsay]

I pushed my GT6, the Mk1, only once until the needle touched the 100mph mark, early morning on a very long straight country road en route to a show. Straight line only, no other traffic for miles, and then slowed again very quickly. That car always felt like it was doing 80 when the speedo was reading 50 anyway, so 50 was usually fast enough for me at any other time.

[Dick Twitchen]

Colin,

I did exactly the same thing, once, having restored the car and rebuilt the original engine nearly twenty years ago.  Why, to prove I had done it right.  Unfortunately, after this years Classic Le Mans trip just waiting to pull the engine and sort out what I believe to a main bearing issue!  Oh well, after about 40,000 miles can't complain.

 

[Pete Lewis]

the trouble with high speeds is we are not kitted out to absorb the incoming information  when the brain is tuned to 70   at 120 the catch up is vastly differently  too quick 

 did some 120 runs in my Renault 25  and you do need an empty road or as a muppet    its easy to end up in disaster

my old Vit6  you new when you exceeded 90 as the mirrors all folded back as early warning 

Pete

Edited August 12, 2023 by Pete Lewis

[Chris A]

I've had my 13/60 upto an indicated 130+*, just to see what it's like.

* That's kph of course 

[Steve P]

I took my 2.5 Vitesse CV to just over 100mph once,only once.It felt like the back end wanted to come round and the front was lifting. With a tuned 2.5,o/d box and 3:27 diff I think it could easily do 120 + but not with me driving.

S

[trigolf]

Took my Vit cv to an indicated 110 mph once many, many years ago, on a very quiet straight stretch of A303 dual carriageway. The wind noise and vibration were horrendous! I shouted across to my mate, who was hitching a lift and had his head down rolling a fag,remarking on our velocity, whereby he dropped his fag in fright!

 

 

 

[JohnD]

On 10/08/2023 at 23:47, cliff.b said:

Unfortunately he was a bit short on technical details and obviously a marketing man but well aware of the issues that the motoring press had raised for the earlier cars.

Anyway, it added interest to a very pleasant lunchtime with an old friend who also brought his classic along and enhanced by a couple of those other Spitfires flying overhead on a perfect sunny day. Things don't get much better than this 👍

As if the motoring correspondents couldn't look under the cars!    A Spitfire with Rotaflex would have been bleeding obvious!

John

[JohnD]

And on velocity, the Silverback did 124mph on the long straight, Dottinger Hohe, at the 'Ring.      The Speedo wasn't working but the rev counter was, and I worked it out later from diff ratio and wheel rolling radius.

 Silverback was an experiment in aerodynamics, and I never did get around to fitting the air dam I intended for it. But it was steady as a rock.

John