Can-Am Odyssey

Please discuss here all your remarks and pose your questions about all racing series, except Formula One. Both technical and other questions about GP2, Touring cars, IRL, LMS, ...
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Post Fri Jun 29, 2012 4:44 am

Can-Am started out as a race series for Group 7 sports racers with two races in Canada (Can) and four races in the United States of America (Am). The series was initially sponsored by Johnson Wax. The Series was governed by rules called out under the FIA Group 7 category with unrestricted engine capacity and few other technical restrictions.
The Group 7 category was essentially a formule libre for sports cars; the regulations were minimal and permitted unlimited engine sizes (and allowed turbocharging and supercharging), virtually unrestricted aerodynamics, and were as close as any major international racing series ever got to anything goes. As long as the car had two seats and bodywork enclosing the wheels, and met basic safety standards, it was legal.

"Racing runs by rules sometimes so restrictive that it's sometimes hard to tell where the book ends and the sport begins. Can-Am racing is a relief from the iron band of the rule book."
— Mark Donohue

Can-Am Odyssey..
1hr29.5min 941Mb WMV
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There are two things in this world that take no skill: 1. Spending other people’s money and 2. Dismissing an idea.
strad
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Post Fri Jun 29, 2012 5:41 am

I heart you =D>
"The question isn't who is going to let me; it's who is going to stop me."
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Post Fri Jun 29, 2012 6:34 am

YES !!! YES !!! YES !!!

Technically, though, Can-Am really gave us the turbo breakthrough

before the Porsche turbocharged the 917 for Can-Am, turbos worked only at Indy etc

what Porsche did (to keep the turbo speed up off-throttle) was a GAME CHANGER

(and there was a 6+ litre flat 16 aircooled in reserve, making 1200+ bhp)

the N/A canted valve V8 pushrod ohv still shows its value in Nascar or whatever they call it now

EDIT Note to self ....... NASCAR motors must have parallel valves ?
Last edited by Tommy Cookers on Sat Jun 30, 2012 9:42 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Post Sat Jun 30, 2012 11:40 am

I'm guessing if you liked that, you might also be interested in this extra from Another Can-Am video,Can_Am Thunder, in which Peter Bryant and Pete Lyons reminisce and share some Can-Am memories..
39Min...657Mb mpg
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There are two things in this world that take no skill: 1. Spending other people’s money and 2. Dismissing an idea.
strad
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Post Sat Jun 30, 2012 12:08 pm

Very nice, thank you!

How fast did these cars do the 0-100 kph, top speed, lap comparison to current F1's?

Keep sharing!
"There is a credit card with the Ferrari logo, issued by Santander, which gives the scuderia a % of purchases made with the card...

I would guess that such a serious amount of money would allow them to ignore the constant complains of a car that was nowhere near as bad as their #1 driver tried to sell throughout the season.

Heck, a car on which Massa finishes in the podium or has to lift so that his teammate finishes ahead (As we saw often in the final races of the year) is, by no means, a "bad" car."
jdlive
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Post Sat Jun 30, 2012 12:41 pm

In their heyday they were faster than their F1 counterparts, I'm sure a modern F1 car would eat their lunch.
There are two things in this world that take no skill: 1. Spending other people’s money and 2. Dismissing an idea.
strad
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Post Sat Jun 30, 2012 1:00 pm

I had the pleasure to work on one of those a few years ago...
http://www.martini-racing.com/de/mclaren.html

The rollout of the car on a proving ground skidpad was just dropped my jar ..especially when you looked into the eyes of the driver who really asked himself how he could possibly survive this...it tokk him considerable time to start enjoying it..
The race in Monza was a hard lesson for him ...the thing is brutal .
marcush.
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Post Sat Jun 30, 2012 1:17 pm

With 750+ Hp in the early 70s, before the turbos, an F1 car had about 450. The only match in a straight line was the USAC.

At Watkins Glen in 1970, Jacky Ickx was on the F1 pole with a 1.03.07, while Denny Hulme did a 1.02.76 in Can-Am.

Same track but xtended in 1973, Ronnie took the F1 pole with a 1.39.657, but Donohue did 1.38.848 with the 917-30.
"Bernoulli is a nine-letter name"
xpensive
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Post Sat Jun 30, 2012 8:38 pm

Thank you very much strad. :D

"Maybe, like shining Camelot and Woodstock, the Can-Am could only have happened when it did." — Pete Lyons

USRRC, Can-Am, EHCC or Interserie it's always worth watching Gr.7 racecars. Nice to listen to Peter Bryant explaining how the Can-Am cars evolved from low downforce racecars to high downforce racecars.

A link where Denny Hulme talks about McLaren's M8 Accidental Downforce

http://insideracingtechnology.com/tech109mclaren.htm
Sombrero
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Post Sat Jun 30, 2012 9:02 pm

Interesting...Thank You.
I could put up Can-Am Thunder..Same subject different style...it's like a gig after running it thru Divx and an hour and fourty eight minutes...any takers?
There are two things in this world that take no skill: 1. Spending other people’s money and 2. Dismissing an idea.
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Post Sun Jul 01, 2012 9:32 pm

Truly the golden age of racing =D>

Thank you for posting Strad.
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Post Sun Jul 01, 2012 10:09 pm

You are all very welcome...I love to share.
There are two things in this world that take no skill: 1. Spending other people’s money and 2. Dismissing an idea.
strad
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Post Mon Jul 02, 2012 6:54 am

I belong to the happy ones with this original hardcover, seems difficult to come by nowadays, strongly recommended however.

http://www.amazon.com/Can-Am-Peter-Lyons/dp/0760300178
"Bernoulli is a nine-letter name"
xpensive
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Post Mon Jul 02, 2012 8:17 am

The cat was there for all of it and lots of others series too..lotta insight.
There are two things in this world that take no skill: 1. Spending other people’s money and 2. Dismissing an idea.
strad
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Post Mon Jul 02, 2012 12:47 pm

I seem to remember that Lyons missed the very first race, at St. Jovite in 1966, but witnessed all the rest?
"Bernoulli is a nine-letter name"
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