{"id":490786,"date":"2009-07-01T15:00:47","date_gmt":"2009-07-01T22:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportscardigest.com\/\/?p=46892"},"modified":"2024-11-02T23:52:51","modified_gmt":"2024-11-02T23:52:51","slug":"flying-eagle-ff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/flying-eagle-ff\/","title":{"rendered":"Flying the Eagle FF"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Eagle Formula Ford that I won the SCCA Runoffs with in 1978 was a car I was involved with from very early in its development, and how that happened is a bit of a funny story. I was sitting at home in Massachusetts watching a hockey game on TV and the phone rings and some voice I didn\u2019t recognize says, \u201cIs David Loring there?\u201d I said, \u201cThis is David,\u201d and the voice says, \u201cThis is Dan Gurney.\u201d I go \u201cYeah, right!\u201d and hung up. Five minutes later it rings again and it\u2019s this same voice, so I listened for a minute and thought, Well I\u2019ll be damned if it isn\u2019t Dan Gurney! And he wants to know if I want to come and go to work for him, to design and build this Formula Ford. Three days later, I was in California with everything I owned in the back of a truck!<\/p>\n

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David Loring<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I had a medium amount of input in the design of the car, which was designed by John Ward. I didn\u2019t go in with John and draw pictures, I just tried to make it functional. Like when they made the radiator, I said, \u201cThis radiator will not cool the car.\u201d And they go, \u201cWell, no, actually you\u2019re mistaken. This engine puts out this many BTUs and it needs this much to cool it and this radiator will accomplish that.\u201d And I said, \u201cThat radiator will not cool a Formula Ford, not even in England.\u201d And it didn\u2019t. We went up to Willow Springs to test it for the first time, and I did six laps, and then ran around for another six laps without the nose on, and we came back to the shop and built a bigger radiator. If a car\u2019s going to cool at Willow Springs, it\u2019s going to cool anywhere.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n