[Public-List] silly questions -

[gordon white]

     I get these questions when I go to a show with my race car. The 
inevitable "how fast does it go?" question is not really stupid of 
course, but in a practical sense, are we talking about lap speed on what 
size track? Top speed on what size track? Top straightaway speed on a 15 
mile course?  I tell them the car holds the international 2,000 cc 
displacement (FIA) record of 156.902 mph. That (which is true) generally 
satisfies them.

     Then I get questions about other cars with Ford flathead V-8 
engines. Those engines have three exhaust pipes on each side (not one of 
Henry's better ideas) and they ask how come it's a V-6 with four spark 
plugs on each side?

     The top stupidity is someone looking at a hot-rodded Ford with 
aftermarket heads or intake manifolds made by the Offenhauser Co. I've 
had an auction company that should know better describe the Ford engine 
as an "Offenhauser," which it is not. A true Offenhauser was a 
4-cylinder twin cam engine that won the Indy 500   28 times.

  - Gordon White

 1390180727.0