subject page(s) ford v ferrari - mile high...gunnison car show stan & karen rios 720-404-6362...
TRANSCRIPT
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IN THIS ISSUE …
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 1, @ 6:00PM
801 CHOPHOUSE
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Subject Page(s) Letter from the President, Stan Rios 2
Board Officers 3
Board Members 4
Find Us on Facebook 5
2019 Remaining Event of the Year 6
2020 MHS Event Schedule 7-8
2019 & 2020 Upcoming Pikes Peak Event Schedule
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History of Ford v Ferrari 10-12
Event Summary:
Boulder Dinner Theater - Mamma Mia 13
Brown Palace Tour 14
2019 Ability Connect Colorado Concours Event
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Ford v Ferrari
OVER 500 COPIES DISTRIBUTED MONTHLY IN COLORADO, WYOMING, AND UTAH
Newsletter of the Mile-High Section ● Mercedes-Benz Club of America January 2015 December 2019
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Letter From The President Stan Rios President, Mile-High Section December – ‘All About The Benz
'Tis the season Mile-High Section. As this year is winding down and coming to an end, we look forward to our 2020 events. At our 2020 Annual Planning Events Meeting, we had approximately 30 plus ideas and finalized the schedule for 2020. We are all set! Thank you for those who attended and volunteered to run an event. We will be hosting the Joint Picnic in July. We are going to have a fun-filled year next year. Let’s enjoy our cars and the time we spend together as a section.
Wishing ALL a Happy Holiday and a Happy New Year!
Drive Safe,
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For a list of all MBCA Board Members, please refer to the STAR Magazine.
The Constellation
Newsletter of the Mile-High Section, Inc., Mercedes-Benz Club America, Inc.
Mile-High Section, Inc. MBCA, Publisher
KAREN REDEL, Editor P.O. Box 16913, Golden, CO 80402
Phone: 303-637-0219 or Email: [email protected]
Readers please support the advertisers appearing in this publication. However, no inference should be made that advertising in The Constellation implies approval of products or services by the publisher, the Mile-High Section, its officers or members, or by the Mercedes-Benz Club of America. We encourage editors of other Mercedes-Benz Club newsletters to reprint articles that may be of interest to their Section’s members. We appreciate credit being given to The Constellation. Those articles reprinted in The Constellation with permission from owners of copyrights on those articles may not be used without written permission from the original owners. Members are welcome to submit articles. Deadline for submission is the 10th of the month prior to the month the issue comes out. Articles should be relevant to the interests and activities of MBCA and its members. The Publisher reserves the right to edit or reject any article.
Mile-High Section, Inc. of the Mercedes-Benz Club of America
Executive Board Officers
President Stan Rios 720-404-6362 [email protected] Vice President Bob Mashburn 303-988-2710 [email protected] Secretary Mike Redel 303-637-0219 [email protected] Treasurer Max Townsend 303-770-1128 [email protected]
2020 Mile-High Section Board Members Greg Birkett 303-919-1980 [email protected] Michael Davison 720-233-7411 [email protected] Karen Maestas 720-862-6675 [email protected] Mike Redel 303.637.0219 [email protected] Henry Zabarsky 303-355-6363 [email protected] Lou Rogers 303-550-6543 [email protected] Whitlow Wong 303-693-9931 [email protected] Eleanor Wong 303-693-9931 [email protected] Constellation Editor – Mile-High Section Karen Redel 303-637-0219 [email protected] Membership Sponsor Karen Maestas 720-862-6675 [email protected] Rocky Mountain Regional Director Steve Dierks 719-659-9959 [email protected]
MBCA
1-800-637-2360 www.mbca.org
Classified Advertising in The Constellation Members of the Mercedes-Benz Club of America, Inc. may advertise in The Constellation to buy, sell, or trade MercedesBenz automobiles and related items at no charge, provided no commercial venture is involved. Ads may include a photo. Copy for the classified advertising must be received in writing by the 10th of the month prior to the month of issue. Ads will be published one time. To re-run, the ad must be resubmitted. Current membership number must be included for free ads. LET US KNOW IF YOUR ITEM SELLS—MAKE ROOM FOR ADS FOR OTHER MEMBERS. Non-member and commercial venture advertising will be published at the rate of $10.00 for 3 lines per issue, plus $10.00 for a picture. Advertising in this category may run one, two or three times as requested and paid for in advance by the advertiser. Copy for the ads must be received by the 10th of the month prior to the month of issue and must be paid in advance, payable to Mile High-MBCA. Mail ads to: MILE-HIGH SECTION MBCA, 12245 HELENA ST., BRIGHTON, CO 80603 or Email to: [email protected] The publisher reserves the right to edit or reject any ad.
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2020 MILE-HIGH SECTION BOARD MEMBERS
Coming
Soon
Coming
Soon
Mike Redel, Secretary
Max Townsend, Treasurer
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Stan Rios, President
Bob Mashburn, Vice President [email protected]
Greg Birkett, Board Member
Karen Maestas, Board Member Henry Zabarsky, Board Member
Lou Rogers, Board Member
Eleanor Wong, Board Member Whitlow Wong, Board Member
Michael Davison, Board Member
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OUR FACEBOOK PAGE - MBCA MILE-HIGH SECTION
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Please check out our new Facebook page at MBCA Mile-High Section
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DATE EVENT CONTACT CONTACT INFORMATION DECEMBER Dec 1st SUNDAY
Annual Holiday Party - 801 Chop House Restaurant - $36.00/Person
Whitlow Wong 303-693-9931 [email protected]
2019 REMAINING EVENT OF THE YEAR
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Most events are scheduled for the 2nd Saturday of each month. Monthly events are subject to change. Please check the event calendar. There will also be an email sent out should an event change by the
contact of the event.
SPECIAL NOTE: We will have some events on Sunday this year.
DATE EVENT CONTACT CONTACT INFORMATION JANUARY Jan 12th (SUN)
Boulder Dinner Theater Play - Mama Mia
Karen Redel 303-637-0219 [email protected]
FEBRUARY Feb 8th Brown Palace Tour Karen Redel 303-637-0219
[email protected] Feb 25th 5280 Restaurant Week – Location TBD Stan & Karen
Rios 720-404-6362 [email protected] 720-862-6675 [email protected]
MARCH March 14th Mercedes-Benz Club Potluck Stan & Karen
Rios 720-404-6362 [email protected] 720-862-6675 [email protected]
APRIL Apr 2nd Board Meeting @ 240 Union Restaurant Michael
Davison 720-233-7411 [email protected]
Apr 11th Scenic Drive - Loveland To Estes Park Whitlow Wong 303-693-9931 [email protected]
MAY May 9th The Man Cave of Westminster Don Vollmer 303-835-2505
[email protected] Host: Michael Bergren
May 30th -31st (SUN)
Vintage Car Tour @ Salida Stan & Karen Rios
720-404-6362 [email protected] 720-862-6675 [email protected]
JUNE Jun 7th (SUN)
Tech Session @ Mercedes-Benz of Littleton
Stan & Karen Rios
720-404-6362 [email protected] 720-862-6675 [email protected] Host: Luke Driscoll
Jun 13th Early Morning Drive to Mount Evans/Brunch - New Members Event
Mike & Karen Redel
303-637-0219 [email protected] [email protected]
JULY Jul 2nd Board Meeting @ Connie’s House Michael
Davison 720-233-7411 [email protected]
2020 MILE-HIGH SECTION EVENT SCHEDULE
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Jul 10th – 13th
Regional Event - Palisade Wine Tour/Vintage MB Restoration Tour Event
Stan & Karen Rios
720-404-6362 [email protected] 720-862-6675 [email protected]
Jul 25th Joint Picnic @ Scenic Drive/Lunch Whitlow Wong 303-693-9931 [email protected]
AUGUST Aug 8th - 9th Grand Lake Drive/Theater Whitlow Wong 303-693-9931
[email protected] Aug 14th – 16th
Gunnison Car Show Stan & Karen Rios
720-404-6362 [email protected] 720-862-6675 [email protected]
SEPTEMBER Sep 10th – 14th
South Dakota Road Trip – Mount Rushmore, Black Hills, Crazy Horse and more
Stan & Karen Rios
720-404-6362 [email protected] 720-862-6675 [email protected]
OCTOBER Oct 10th
Annual Board/Elections Dinner Meeting – Location TBD
Michael Davison
720-233-7411 [email protected]
Oct 24th Botanical Gardens - Glow in The Dark – Family Fun
Karen Redel 303-637-0219 [email protected]
NOVEMBER Nov 14th 2021 Events Planning Meeting –
Location TBD Stan Rios 720-404-6362
[email protected] DECEMBER Dec 5th or 6th
Annual Holiday Party – Location TBD Michael Davison
720-233-7411 [email protected]
Dec 12th Zoo Lights - Family Fun Karen Rios 720-862-6675 [email protected]
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2019 & 2020 UPCOMING PIKE PEAK SECTION EVENT SCHEDULE
DECEMBER Dec 8th
Annual Holiday Party - El Paso Club
Judy Bennett 719-576-9737
Dec 14th Top-Down Lights Drive Steve and Barbara Dierks
719-659-9959, [email protected]
JANUARY Jan 26th Potluck at the Meander
Dealership Glenn Hamill 719-575-7931
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The story begins in the early 1960s. U.S. purchasing habits changed as the Baby Boomer generation came of age. For the first time in history, youth were more important to American business’ bottom line than their parents. Boomers had lots of disposable income to spend on items such as cars, clothes and homes, and unlike their “a penny saved is a penny earned” parents, who had lived through the Great Depression and World War II, they were looking for something unique from a new vehicle. They wanted cars that were sportier and sexier, valuing speed and performance over comfort and reliability. They wanted sports cars, a fact that was not lost on the executives at Ford Motor Co.
In 1962, Ford was coming out of a major sales slide thanks to failed products like the Edsel and the growing popularity of rival products from GM and Chrysler. CEO Henry Ford II, the eldest son of Edsel Ford and eldest grandson of Henry Ford, was desperately looking for a way to turn the tide. Top executives, including Ford Division general manager Lee Iacocca, convinced him that the answer was a sports car.
There was just one problem: Ford didn’t have a sports car in its portfolio, and there were no plans to build one. (Iacocca’s legendary Mustang was still a couple of years away from production.)
It was decided that the most expedient way bring a vehicle to market would be to acquire one. That’s when the idea was floated to purchase Ferrari, which in those years was primarily a race car company that sold street-legal machines only to fund its track exploits.
In the spring of 1963, after months of negotiation, an agreement seemed to be near. Ford would pay $10 million to Enzo Ferrari for his company and all its assets. A former racer, Enzo was supposedly eager to put a deal together with Ford, a move that would relieve him of the burden of running the company day-to-day. But at the eleventh hour, Ferrari balked at a clause in the contract that said Ford would control the budget and, thus, all the decisions governing the Ferrari racing team. Enzo was unwilling to relinquish control of his company’s motorsports program. He told Ford’s representatives that he’d never sell under those terms—nor, he added, would he sell to an ugly company that builds ugly cars in an ugly factory. It is rumored that he also insulted Henry II personally by insinuating that he couldn’t hold a candle to his grandfather, the real Henry Ford.
To add even more insult to injury, Enzo then turned around and sold a majority stake in Ferrari to fellow Italian automaker Fiat. Some Ford executives, including the Deuce, speculated that Enzo was never serious about selling to Ford at all but had only negotiated with the company in order to pressure Fiat to come up in price. The ploy worked, and Henry II was left looking like a fool—without a ride.
To get his pound of flesh, the Deuce decided to build a sports car that would humiliate Ferrari where it mattered to him the most, the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The seeds for the legendary GT40 race car were sowed.
Initially, the task of building the so-called Ferrari Killer was assigned to Ford's Advanced Vehicles Group in the United Kingdom. They were already developing a vehicle that would use an engine created by Ford’s experimental engine group, located in Dearborn, Michigan.
While the first batch of GT40s to roll out of the Advance Vehicle Group were fast, they were also incredibly unstable and unreliable. And the brakes were downright dangerous.
HISTORY OF FORD V FERRARI
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According to Popular Mechanics, Ford engineers calculated that when a driver hit the brakes at the end of Le Mans’ Mulsanne Straight, the front brake rotors would heat up to 1,500 degrees Fahrenheit within seconds, causing them to fail. This would prove to be disastrous—even deadly—for any driver trying to compete in northwestern France, even the best in the world.
Ultimately, the Ford team couldn’t figure out how to make the cars stay firmly on the tarmac, let alone run continuously for 24 hours, two musts for a win in Le Mans. After losing to Ferrari at Le Mans in 1964 and 1965, Ford turned to the legendary Los Angeles car designer Carroll Shelby, one of the only American drivers to ever win at Le Mans, to run race operations. Shelby (played in the movie by Matt Damon) was already a consultant on the project, but now he was in charge, responsible for its success—or failure.
After a challenging start, Shelby and his trusted friend, go-to test driver and engineering specialist Ken Miles (portrayed onscreen by Christian Bale), reinvented the GT40. And they did so by collaborating with Advanced Vehicle Group and Ford's experimental engine group, rather than starting from scratch.
Shelby and Miles first improved the handling and stability of the vehicle by improving its aerodynamics through flow testing. They taped wool streamers or tufts to the exterior of the car to see how air traveled over and around the vehicle. The better a car cuts through the air, the less power is required to propel the vehicle, which also leads to less fuel consumption. If the yarn lay flat, all was good. If not, it indicated there were flaws in the car’s design that adversely affected downforce and stability. The data collected allowed Miles and Shelby to make body and suspension modifications that helped the GT40 be more stable and maneuverable on the track.
The brake problem was solved by Phil Remington, an engineer on the Ford team. He devised a quick-change brake system that allowed the mechanics to swap in new pads and rotors during a driver change, so the team didn’t have to worry about making the brakes last the entire race.
To address reliability issues, the team used a dynamometer. A standard practice today, putting an engine on a dyno, as it is commonly known, was revolutionary in the mid-sixties. A dynamometer is a device that can measure force, power, and speed—so you can figure out how much power you need or how much you have on hand. The experimental team videotaped practice sessions before Le Mans and programmed a dyno to re-create the various stress points on the track. Then the team ran the engine for 24 to 48 hours on the dyno, virtually re-creating the conditions the engine would face during the race so it wouldn’t break down before the finish line.
All their hard work paid off, and the GT40 Mk. II was born. Ford didn’t just defeat Ferrari at Le Mans in 1966, it humiliated the Italian stallions. While Ferrari didn’t even have a car that completed the race, GT40 Mk. II’s captured first, second and third places.
The finish wasn't without controversy. Late in the race, Miles was well ahead of the competition, on his way to ending Ferrari's dominance at Le Mans and becoming the only driver to win the world's three biggest endurance race—the 24 hours of Daytona, 12 Hours of Sebring and 24 Hours of Le Mans—in the same year.
Ford's PR guru Leo Beebe wanted to celebrate the win with a picture of the trio crossing the finish line together. So, he had Shelby order Miles to slow down and let the other GT40 teams catch up. After crossing the line, Miles was informed that he did not win the race. His teammate Bruce McLaren did. McLaren started several cars behind Miles. So even though Miles was faster until the very end, McLaren actually traveled farther faster, because Miles intentionally slowed down.
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Sadly, Miles died before he could race at Le Mans again. Late in 1966, he was testing another Ford race car at Riverside International Raceway in California when he lost control and crashed. Miles did not survive the accident.
The Deuce, meanwhile, got a second taste of vengeance the following year at Le Mans—a Ford GT40 Mk. IV built by Shelby (who died in 2012 at 89) won the 1967 race. Ferrari finished second.
As for the Ford GT40, the great American supercar remains one of the most collectible automobiles in the world, with a sticker price that would blow back any driver’s hair. The 2020 Ford GT begins at $500,000 while the track-only Ford GT Mk. II sells for $1.2 million, the first car from a Ford factory to cost more than $1 million. Revenge, it seems, still pays.
https://www.forbes.com
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BOULDER DINNER THEATER - MAMMA MIA
A mother. A daughter. Three possible dads. And a trip down the aisle you’ll never forget! The music and lyrics are the work of the world-famous Swedish pop group ABBA. This musical is guaranteed to provide a “feel good” moment.
s I have not enjoyed such a “feel good” moment in a musical for a long time. And that is just a part of the show! “Mamma Mia” on stage this season at Boulder’s Dinner Theatre Stage is an entire joy!
Event: BOULDER DINNER THEATER (MATINEE) - PLAY: MAMA MIA
When: SUNDAY, January 12, 2020, Matinee: Doors Open at 12:00 Noon Play Begins @ 1:30PM (Reservations for 30 People)
Location: 5501 Arapahoe Avenue, Boulder, CO Price: $56.00/Person (Price includes: Meal, Play, Tax, Gratuity &
Menu Includes: Choice of Five Entrees Optional Menu Items Available for an Additional Cost
(Alcoholic Beverages, Appetizers & Dessert Excluded from the Ticket Price)
Name(s):_____________________________ Number Attending:________
Phone:_____________________ Email:____________________________
Make Check Payable to Mile-High Section MBCA, Send Check & This Form To Karen Redel at 12245 Helena Street, Brighton, CO 80603 Call: 303-637-0219; Or Email: [email protected]
Total Dollar(s) Paid:_______________
RSVP: By December 15, 2019, With Payment
Non-Alcoholic Beverages - No Refunds
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Event: BROWN PALACE TOUR (LUNCHEON BEFORE THE TOUR)
When: February 8, 2020 Luncheon: 11:30AM at La Loma Mexican Restaurant, Prior to the Tour 801 Broadway, Denver, CO 80202 Directly Across the Street from the Brown Palace
Valet Parking Available @ La Loma Mexican Restaurant Location: Brown Palace @ 1:30PM - 321 17th Street, Denver, CO 80202 Directly Across the Street from La Loma Mexican Restaurant Price: $20.00/Person – Private Tour (No Refunds) Name(s):__________________________ Number Attending:________
Phone:_____________________ Email:____________________________
Make Check Payable to Mile-High Section MBCA, Send Check & This Form To Karen Redel at 12245 Helena Street, Brighton, CO 80603 Call: 303-637-0219; Or Email: [email protected]
Total Dollar(s) Paid:_______________
RSVP & PAYMENT DUE: JANUARY 27, 2020, INCLUDING THE $20.00 PER PERSON TOUR FEE
BROWN PALACE GUIDED TOUR
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2019 ABILITY CONNECT COLORADO CONCOURS
This year's car show had a great number of fine vehicles to enjoy. There were about 8 Mercedes on display ranging from the late 50's to new cars. Two club members presented their cars for the Silver Star Preservation Class award, new club member David Johnson in his 1987 560SL and Robert Unfug with his 1991 300SE. Richard Reway achieved 7th place in the Concours Class post-war 1960 with his lovely 1959 200SE Convertible. The day was quite cool outside with temperatures finally warming up near the end of the show.
This show is not limited to older cars so make plans now to enter or attend with you older or newer Mercedes and show the car community what our marquee has to offer.