I don't have any speeds but have a story to tell about speeds. I thought when I was making a racing poster that I would put some line like "200 mph " was the ultimate barrier. But then I talked to John Morton who at least drove a Daytona coupe to 185 mph at LeMans if drivers that had come up through the ranks in slower cars were intimated by the thought of going 200 mph , as if it was a barrier.
He said: "We didn't have speedometers so we never thought about speed, just rpm in each gear." When they got back to the pits they might be told what speed they were clocked at.
So much for the psychological "barrier." But I still like to believe that for some who started out in TR-3s and stuff the idea of going 200 mph down the Mulsanne straight was a little off-putting....
Greetings All...
I'm trying to do some comparisons & wonder if anyone has any info on the following:
I want to find out what the approximate top straightaway speed during a race (a car alone - not a slipstreaming car) would have been in 1960 (end of the 2.5 liter era), 1965 (end of the 1.5 liter cars) and 1970 (3.0 liter cars- but wings/aerodynamics are still in their infancy) on a high-speed track (i.e: Monza).
I thought I read somewhere that the 1.5 liter cars would have a hard time hitting 160 mph, but I can't find that reference again.
Thanks!
Bill W.
