Just wondering if anyone has ever had the pleasure of driving or been driven in a 348LM. Anyone know where they all are?
I was fortunate enough to ride in a 348 Competizione. (not one of the street versions---the hardcore racecar). I know Ed Wettach (owner of ferrari of Atlanta) owns one of these (not the same car I rode in). It was absolutely unreal. Totally different experience than a regular 348--felt much faster and is definitely a track machine. The sound was unreal also--very very rough idle i'm assuming due to hotter cams and straight pipe exhaust. Not sure if this is the same thing as a 348 or not...? The particular car I rode in was done by Michelotto.
Never had the pleasure but would like to find where they reside as well. Have a set of new Speedline Centerlock wheels for the 348LM in boxes. Not much market for these unless you have the hubs!
Ferrari of Atlanta has one...F/S at 165K....... Dave Helms also has one, purchased or traded for recently..... Not many out there, a rare one indeed.......
FoA dropped it from the Ads in Autoweek, I dunno if it sold or not..... He most likely will, after he puts it back together....LOL! Don't want to steal the thunder....you know those race cars guys, always taking the car apart, for no good reason........
Not an LM but a joint effort between the Factory and Hollywood Sports Cars. Build up to sneak Theys into the IMSA Super Cars Series as a ringer, read: no costs spared. As Tex specualted...its apart and getting a fresh engine. The sprint engine was a bit too much work for a car not running for money... 4 hrs between freshing required more effort than I was willing to give, those single cam belts do not like Indy Car Camshaft profiles! Zero power below 5K and then hang on until 9800 when the first shift light blinks... That engine will look good freshened and sitting in a crate for the next owner down the line. I am now in the process of building an enduro engine that will last a season between tear downs with the intent of running a few road ralleys as well as club level track events. Really a serious giggle of a car to drive... Not very good photo's but...testing for hot restarts after reprograming the FI... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=giRmIFVhmOU http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neYftx37X_s&NR=1 PM me on the wheels Spider.... I am always looking for spare bits. Dave
I found some videos for the 348 GT/LM. www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYsQWOoySY8&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OugVohx4pDU&feature=related
Dave's car is a couple of notches above the LM....not only that but as far as I can gather it is the ONLY ONE in existance.
HOLY COW DAVE!!! Those things must have some HUGE lobes. The lop at "idle" (sounds more like it's fighting just to stay on) is NUTS! What compression are you running 14:1?? And 9800rpm?! That thing must sound insane!! So how soon before you think it's ready to go terrorize the track?
The most famous of the two LM is in my country,in France. Magny-court F1 track in march 09: http://www.warmupphoto.com/fr/img.php?FolioID=4607&imgID=226369&ID_menu=smenu247 http://www.warmupphoto.com/fr/img.php?FolioID=4608&imgID=226699&ID_menu=smenu247 http://www.warmupphoto.com/fr/img.php?FolioID=4607&imgID=226482&ID_menu=smenu247 http://www.warmupphoto.com/fr/img.php?FolioID=4607&imgID=226486&ID_menu=smenu247 http://www.warmupphoto.com/fr/img.php?FolioID=4614&imgID=227627&ID_menu=smenu247 http://www.warmupphoto.com/fr/img.php?FolioID=4614&imgID=227652&ID_menu=smenu247 http://www.warmupphoto.com/fr/img.php?FolioID=4614&imgID=227657&ID_menu=smenu247 http://www.warmupphoto.com/fr/img.php?FolioID=4614&imgID=227660&ID_menu=smenu247 http://www.warmupphoto.com/fr/img.php?FolioID=4614&imgID=227670&ID_menu=smenu247
Yup, looks far more like a roller cam than a tappet cam, had to machine out some pretty big relief areas on the top edges of the cam follower bores... CR is in the 14:1 range, I have not looked at my build sheets on that engine for a number of years now. The Enduro engine is in the 13.5 range with both running Cosworth pistons and Carrillo rods. Plenty of power and yes, the sound is delightful. It is a bit tricky to deal with when off cam because of the 10-12 pound flywheel/clutch combo (I do not remember the exact weight but FBB and I were laughing about it one time when he stopped by during an engine build up)...just not enough weight to keep things spinning but it sure does rev quick. I was speaking with one of the factory race dept. guys years back and he remembered the car during the build stage...he tells me the clutch/flywheel was straight from the F1 dept, really a thing of beauty. I have the newly designed cams done now and on the shelf waiting for an open engine stand to complete the build up of the Enduro engine. Far less of a lobe than the Sprint engine but still quite aggressive...that will be interesting to see how those work. Of course, while waiting for the time to work on it, the battery went dead in the computers for the Stack Dashboard/Data Acquisition systems and all of the base programming was lost...Stack says they do not keep any of the software programs for any systems over 8 years old....there goes another $4K for a new Dash system. I put some pump gas in the fuel cell to just move the car around the shop....came to work the next week and it emptied all the fuel on the floor when the cell bladder dissolved...another $2k. I think its best to refer to this as a "work in progress" as it is proving to be a needy project. Once sorted out it will be a hoot and quite reliable as the workmanship that went into this car was incredible, one of the best thought out and built race cars I have worked on. The biggest reason I did the Enduro engine goes back to a conversation I had with one of the original builders of the car the week after I first ran it on the track.... First thing he stated was "Don't touch the brakes, the car gets evil when you do that!!!" His statement was proven correct as I had returned from the track with 4 flat spotted tires and a puckered up drivers seat.... As the brakes were set up, it had a nasty little habit of swapping directions in a nano second under heavy braking for a hair pin...I hate when they do that and decided I needed a long life engine to get these bugs worked out. I used up the better part of the first engines life just getting the FI program set properly... Its on the hoist at home now and the new garage is now heated and insulated.....maybe this next spring it will live again. Kris rode in it a few laps around the track and when I suggested that I was setting it up for lite use on the street so we could take it on a 500-700 mile road rally...she suggested I find another co-driver...maybe softer springs will be required to further my suggestion to her... maybe velcro on lexan side windows, a few creature comforts. Maybe not, its already setup for the cool suit, what else do you need?
That is badass Dave, BADASS! Maybe when I'm out that way I can stop by and have a looksie, and take ya for a beer, or three.
It would be my treat. I have been trying for years to find the break away time to go wet a fly with Fatso when he happens along this way....one day I tell ya. I wish I could say that I had my hands dirty in the build up of this car...those that did were brilliant in their workmanship and fabrication skills. Alas, my only hands on involvement has been building engines for it for the last owner and now myself and attempting to work bugs out in an effort to get it to behave predictably when driven in anger. One of my current projects is fitting a dual element wing to the back. The 315/35 tires have proven to be short of whats needed, I can't fit anything wider in the back and I happen to have 3 or 4 Group C, CanAm and F-5000 wings from past projects...I'll get that bugger to stick one way or another. I will have to keep it in front of Bruces 355 to make sure there is some clean air left after his snorkel sucks everything up. I will shoot some photo's of interesting designs on the car, to this day I still copy many of them for use on other race cars. The only odd thing about the car is someone along the way put a $25K paint job on a race car that is virtually impossible to do a "quick paddock repair" to. It sure is an eye catcher and isnt running for money any more so no paint swapping is planned in the near future.
Auto Panache was an independant dealer in Lauderdale under the ownership of Michael Jamalodene (sp.). I'm sure I destroyed the proper spelling of his last name. I remember that car from my early years at Shelton when we worked on the motor. As I recall Michael painted the car.
You guy's kill me! NoBody Post Pics anymore. 348 LM one of my fav's hardy nobody even talks or brings them up around here. Anyway thanks for the youtube posting and link to the photo posting. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
