Return to GlennEveritt's garage

94 Views
No Comments
No Likes
Published on 29 December 2014

Hi DETROITMUSCLECARART, Firstly I'd like to say thanks for watching Man and Machine, I truly appreciate it. As owner and creator of Man and Machine, I must say that my heart sank when I heard that I'm losing you and you believe I'm not doing my job as a host. So much blood sweat and tears go's into keeping it all alive including raising sponsorship to fund production and network fee's, so your comments are not taken lightly. Keeping a home grown Aussie Car show alive in a world where cooking and backyard blitz style shows are favored by networks is a 24/7 job, physically and mentally exhausting in fact. Having said all this I do put a lot of effort into making sure my information is as accurate as can be. Having spent 25 years in the performance tuning industry as a business owner and dyno operator has given me a head start but I never take history for granted. Here's some answers to you questions below. You said - "I watched a show of Man and Machine which the host Glenn Everitt took a Holden GTR XU2 tribute car for a drive and said that he was told that the car would do 175 miles and hour down conrod straight in Bathurst this would be impossible and Glenn should know better as a car enthusiast" My answer - I never stated 175mph and never mentioned Conrod straight. My source told me that on an open road (disclosed location) with a tall final drive ratio during testing that they saw an indicated 170mph. This doesn't surprise my as the reduced frontal area and similar power to weight ratio when compared to the A9X would make this possible especially if this road was in fact longer than Conrod. Another statement made by the late Harry Firth backs this up. In his words the XU1 V8 prototype was entered into a sports sedan event at Bathurst in Easter 1972 to test it's endurance abilities in racing conditions, its top speed was officially recorded at 167mph with Tony Roberts behind the wheel. You said - "The stability and the size and engine development those days would prohibit this and this is why Holden decided the Torana SLR two years later as a better option the A9X Torana which was a potent car only did 160 miles and hour down conrod straight in Bathurst before they put the Caltex Chase in and that's fast." My answer - Whilst I agree with you on stability, engine development and speed down Conrod the GM had already planned (via Harry) to run the XU1 V8 but had to can it due to the supercar scare and government pressure at the time. The LH/LX model was a natural progression of which had already planned for the V8 to be an option within it's model range. You said - "Also in a another Man Machine show a car was shown and the Glenn said it had 2500 horsepower stated by the owner and the owner said it could be driven on the road normally we all know that is impossible," My answer - I never said any such thing, these were the words of the builder Paul Sant from Pro Flow. (Pic attached.) You said - "Jon Kaase who builds great engines and who has won five engine masters in the US quotes 1800 horsepower figures for motors used in drag racing not street driven.Glenn please stop embellishing cars performance figures and do your research you are losing me Fletch seems to be a better show host...Give us nothing but the Facts please.." My answer - I'm a big fan of the Boss 429 and John Kasse, he's doing some great work in keeping the dream alive with such an iconic engine. I can tell you from experience though that with the modern technology including forced induction and efficient engine management systems that huge power levels can be achieved whilst retain far greater drive-ability over an N/A engine combination. Most of this is due to less aggressive camshaft requirements in this situation. Having said that, I personally wouldn't suggest driving a 2500hp vehicle on the road, when I had my shop my daily driver (Twin turbo LS1) made 1000hp and it insanely over powered for the street. I hope this answers your questions and wish not to have shown any disrespect to you. I tend not to get involved in keyboard warfare but felt compelled to share my thoughts on this. As I've lived and breathed cars all my life including working in the automotive industry as a technician for most of my years I know how important facts are. Car enthusiasts are a very intelligent bunch and will spot an error a mile away. Best Regards Glenn