Team Fredette wins 2016 Coker Tire Challenge

Team Fredette’s 1933 Ford pickup touring eastern Tennessee at a furious pace. Photos courtesy of The Great Race.

Jeff Fredette and his son Eric graced the cover of Hemmings Motor News in October of 2014, when the team missed a win in the 2014 Hemmings Motor News Great Race Presented by Hagerty Insurance by less than 30 seconds at The Villages in Florida. Earlier this month they chalked up a victory in the 11th annual Coker Tire Challenge, which completed its three-day rallying event on Sunday, September 18, in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Jeff and Eric Fredette receiving their awards from Corky Coker.

Team Fredette has competed in (and won) many rallies in the past, including the 2014 All-Stars for Autism Rally in Springfield, Missouri. The team is a consistent top finisher in the Great Race, and pilot Jeff Fredette is also a member of the AMA Hall of Fame as a motorcyclist and 33-time International Six Days Enduro and ISDT medalist.

The finish line a Coker Tire Headquarters in Chattanooga.

Their winning time in this year’s Coker Tire Challenge? Only 15.49 seconds off perfect, defeating the team of Richard Fredette and Jim Caudle by a mere 2.15 seconds. Even the third-place team of Jody Knowles and Beth Knowles-Gentry were only another .18 seconds behind at 17.82 seconds.

Rookies Olivia Gentry and sister Genna Gentry preparing for the 2017 Great Race with their 1964 Dodge Dart convertible.

In fact, with 15 of the 44 entered teams scoring less than 1 minute from perfection, spectators can see how competitive and skilled these drivers and navigators are. It is also a testament to the quality of the purpose-built classic vehicles they use for rally racing, including Jeff and Eric’s 1933 Ford pickup. As with other rallies, including the Great Race, the age of the vehicle factors into the results, however, the top three finishers were within three years of each other, so it was not as big a factor as it has been in the past.

Team Knowles/Gentry 1932 Ford Cabriolet.

Team Hemmings did not fare so well, as the engine on our 1932 Ford speedster, piloted by publisher Jim Menneto and navigator Mari Parizo, pulled up lame shortly before the start of the race’s first stage. We have not diagnosed the problem yet, but we will let our readers know what caused the engine noise, and how we fixed it. We will have the car ready for the 2017 rally race season.

Full results are listed on the Great Race website along with many additional photos of the competitors navigating the Blue Ridge Mountains and scenic byways of Tennessee other nearby states.

from Hemmings Daily – News for the collector car enthusiast http://ift.tt/2cGwTfm

Team Fredette wins 2016 Coker Tire Challenge

Team Fredette's 1933 Ford pickup touring eastern Tennessee at a furious pace. Photos courtesy of The Great Race.

Jeff Fredette and his son Eric graced the cover of Hemmings Motor News in October of 2014, when the team missed a win in the 2014 Hemmings Motor News Great Race Presented by Hagerty Insurance by less than 30 seconds at The Villages in Florida. Earlier this month they chalked up a victory in the 11th annual Coker Tire Challenge, which completed its three-day rallying event on Sunday, September 18, in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Jeff and Eric Fredette receiving their awards from Corky Coker.

Team Fredette has competed in (and won) many rallies in the past, including the 2014 All-Stars for Autism Rally in Springfield, Missouri. The team is a consistent top finisher in the Great Race, and pilot Jeff Fredette is also a member of the AMA Hall of Fame as a motorcyclist and 33-time International Six Days Enduro and ISDT medalist.

The finish line a Coker Tire Headquarters in Chattanooga.

Their winning time in this year's Coker Tire Challenge? Only 15.49 seconds off perfect, defeating the team of Richard Fredette and Jim Caudle by a mere 2.15 seconds. Even the third-place team of Jody Knowles and Beth Knowles-Gentry were only another .18 seconds behind at 17.82 seconds.

Rookies Olivia Gentry and sister Genna Gentry preparing for the 2017 Great Race with their 1964 Dodge Dart convertible.

In fact, with 15 of the 44 entered teams scoring less than 1 minute from perfection, spectators can see how competitive and skilled these drivers and navigators are. It is also a testament to the quality of the purpose-built classic vehicles they use for rally racing, including Jeff and Eric's 1933 Ford pickup. As with other rallies, including the Great Race, the age of the vehicle factors into the results, however, the top three finishers were within three years of each other, so it was not as big a factor as it has been in the past.

Team Knowles/Gentry 1932 Ford Cabriolet.

Team Hemmings did not fare so well, as the engine on our 1932 Ford speedster, piloted by publisher Jim Menneto and navigator Mari Parizo, pulled up lame shortly before the start of the race's first stage. We have not diagnosed the problem yet, but we will let our readers know what caused the engine noise, and how we fixed it. We will have the car ready for the 2017 rally race season.

Full results are listed on the Great Race website along with many additional photos of the competitors navigating the Blue Ridge Mountains and scenic byways of Tennessee other nearby states.

from Hemmings Daily – News for the collector car enthusiast http://ift.tt/2cGwTfm

Year, Make and Model – 1967-’68 Mercury Cougar XR7

Photos by Daniel Strohl.

For 1967, Mercury took the Mustang uptown with the release of its Motor Trend Car of the Year winning Cougar.

From its quad headlights concealed behind a distinctive electric shaver grille to its triple taillights with sequential turn signals, the Cougar was aimed at the grown-up performance enthusiast who might have otherwise shopped for a European car.

Nowhere was Mercury’s emphasis on sophistication more evident than inside the sporting cat, particularly when outfitted with optional XR7 trim. If you’ve ever peeked inside a Jaguar sedan from this period, then you already know what Mercury’s designers were thinking about while planning the Cougar’s cockpit.

The XR7’s seats were skinned in a rich-looking combination of leather and vinyl, and its door panels were equipped with touring car-esque pull straps and map pockets. An overhead console further gentrified the XR7’s living quarters and served as a place to locate idiot lights that might have detracted from the elegantly simple instrument cluster. Along with the low-fuel warning light, seat belt reminder light, door ajar warning light and the parking brake light, a pair of round map lights were positioned neatly in the console above the driver and passenger.

The XR7’s instrument panel was especially European, trimmed full-width in a walnut-toned simulated woodgrain appliqué, with black-faced instruments. Front and center, flanking the steering column, sat the speedometer with trip odometer on the left and tachometer on the right. Positioned above the speedo and tach were the ammeter, fuel gauge and temperature gauge, while the oil pressure gauge was mounted far to the right on the passenger’s side of the panel.

Aligned in a tidy row at the center of the dash were a bank of toggle switches that controlled the left- and right-side map lights, rear quarter courtesy lights and the instrument panel courtesy lights.

If an optional sports console was ordered, it extended upward at the center of the instrument panel and provided a home for an electric clock and optional radio.

Mercury’s attempt to imbue the Cougar with British touring car touches wasn’t lost on reviewers of the day. In its March 1967 issue, Popular Mechanics even put two-time Indianapolis 500 champion Roger Ward behind the wheel of a 1967 Cougar XR7 390 GT and asked him to compare it against the 1967 Aston Martin DB6. The Cougar, loaded with every available option, carried a reasonable $4,450 price tag, while the DB6 checked in at $15,400.

When the smoke cleared, Ward seemed impressed with the Cougar’s 390 powerplant, but noted the car’s unsports-car-like tendency to understeer–probably in no small part due to the weight of its V-8 engine. The DB’s sophisticated all-aluminum 244-cu in DOHC six-cylinder, meanwhile, was at a slight disadvantage in a sprint, but it paid the driver back with a favorable power-to-weight ratio that made the Aston far more willing to hang out its tail in a high-speed turn.

“I’d say the Cougar is a car for the man who aspires to own an Aston Martin, but hasn’t got the pocketbook for it!” Ward said. The same could be said today of the XR7–an often underrated, overlooked but stylishly appointed American performance car.

This article originally appeared in the October, 2013 issue of Hemmings Motor News.

from Hemmings Daily – News for the collector car enthusiast http://ift.tt/2cQpeP2

Year, Make and Model – 1967-’68 Mercury Cougar XR7

Photos by Daniel Strohl.

For 1967, Mercury took the Mustang uptown with the release of its Motor Trend Car of the Year winning Cougar.

From its quad headlights concealed behind a distinctive electric shaver grille to its triple taillights with sequential turn signals, the Cougar was aimed at the grown-up performance enthusiast who might have otherwise shopped for a European car.

Nowhere was Mercury's emphasis on sophistication more evident than inside the sporting cat, particularly when outfitted with optional XR7 trim. If you've ever peeked inside a Jaguar sedan from this period, then you already know what Mercury's designers were thinking about while planning the Cougar's cockpit.

The XR7's seats were skinned in a rich-looking combination of leather and vinyl, and its door panels were equipped with touring car-esque pull straps and map pockets. An overhead console further gentrified the XR7's living quarters and served as a place to locate idiot lights that might have detracted from the elegantly simple instrument cluster. Along with the low-fuel warning light, seat belt reminder light, door ajar warning light and the parking brake light, a pair of round map lights were positioned neatly in the console above the driver and passenger.

The XR7's instrument panel was especially European, trimmed full-width in a walnut-toned simulated woodgrain appliqué, with black-faced instruments. Front and center, flanking the steering column, sat the speedometer with trip odometer on the left and tachometer on the right. Positioned above the speedo and tach were the ammeter, fuel gauge and temperature gauge, while the oil pressure gauge was mounted far to the right on the passenger's side of the panel.

Aligned in a tidy row at the center of the dash were a bank of toggle switches that controlled the left- and right-side map lights, rear quarter courtesy lights and the instrument panel courtesy lights.

If an optional sports console was ordered, it extended upward at the center of the instrument panel and provided a home for an electric clock and optional radio.

Mercury's attempt to imbue the Cougar with British touring car touches wasn't lost on reviewers of the day. In its March 1967 issue, Popular Mechanics even put two-time Indianapolis 500 champion Roger Ward behind the wheel of a 1967 Cougar XR7 390 GT and asked him to compare it against the 1967 Aston Martin DB6. The Cougar, loaded with every available option, carried a reasonable $4,450 price tag, while the DB6 checked in at $15,400.

When the smoke cleared, Ward seemed impressed with the Cougar's 390 powerplant, but noted the car's unsports-car-like tendency to understeer–probably in no small part due to the weight of its V-8 engine. The DB's sophisticated all-aluminum 244-cu in DOHC six-cylinder, meanwhile, was at a slight disadvantage in a sprint, but it paid the driver back with a favorable power-to-weight ratio that made the Aston far more willing to hang out its tail in a high-speed turn.

"I'd say the Cougar is a car for the man who aspires to own an Aston Martin, but hasn't got the pocketbook for it!" Ward said. The same could be said today of the XR7–an often underrated, overlooked but stylishly appointed American performance car.

This article originally appeared in the October, 2013 issue of Hemmings Motor News.

from Hemmings Daily – News for the collector car enthusiast http://ift.tt/2cQpeP2

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Marcus Fairs is first digital journalist to be made RIBA Honorary Fellow

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Co-working spaces can benefit corporations as well as startups, Haworth finds

Haworth white papers: co-working spaces popular with small companies and individual workers could help large corporations be more innovative, according to a report by office furniture giant Haworth. (more…)

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