What happened to the Mulholland "King of the Hill" RSR?

[dd74]

Originally posted by pwd72s

(edit) Sorry I wandered off topic...I'd like to hear more of the old times in that area. Tell me guys, if you "come off the line" at sunset & vine, is there really a "dead man's curve"?

Sunset & Vine - it's pretty straight either west or east. If you go east, you just go through E. Hollywood, Silverlake, then end up in Downtown L.A. West, you go through more of Hollywood, West Hollywood, then Beverly Hills. Right around where Rodeo Drive crosses Sunset, is a short straight, then BOOM, the sweepers begin and the curves get nasty with progression all the way to the Pacific Ocean.

I'm not certain, which is why I won't use his name, but a well-known Pelican crashed and (I think) totaled his Carrera on Sunset. If he chimes in on this thread, you'll know him.

Back to Sunset and Vine: it used to be pretty dicey there until late. Now, urban development has revitalized the area.

[dd74]

Originally posted by Chuck Moreland
For those of us that haven't raced Mulholland, please explain. How can you spectate a road race? Seems the best you could do is catch a glimpse of 1 or 2 turns?

It was never a road race per-se. Usually, it was just a bunch of guys with modified cars who raced each other for the fun of it. I once saw a map - maybe in the L.A. Times - that posted all the corners and their names. At two points between Laurel Canyon and Coldwater Canyon, a few cars at best could make U-turns and race back the way they came, making a sort of lapped race, but the danger toward civilian drivers in doing this would rise exponentially more than it already was.

From Grandstands, you could observe maybe two-thirds of the circuit going west to Coldwater Canyon. But really, those with the best view were the cops in the helicopters.

[Mr9146]

I've always referred to the area just past the Rock Store (at the top of the hill before Kanan) as Big Rock. I remember going up there on the back of my dad's Harley and having to dodge the *********s on crotch rockets who were racing up the hill on both sides of the double-yellow line. People would watch from the top of Big Rock and make bets on the races - you can see most of the road from the top of the hill.

The cops pretty much put a stop to that, but it's still a favorite road to do the solo missions during the week. It's also nice because it dumps you out onto Kanan (Fwy access) or Encinal (beach access).

I'm a big fan. That's where I learned to drive stick, as well as where I learned to ride my motorcycle.

[dd74]

Here's a young member of the Mulholland Racing Association.

[lfot]

From "Grandstands" you can see at least a half mile of the course between Coldwater and the "the Sweeper." You old school Mulholland guys can correct me, but I would imagine you could probably also see some of the action up past Carl's Jr. to Deadman's from Grandstands as well.

I'm just going by how I know it today.

[TRE Cup]

no way dd74: that was the mini i bought after JG let some potential buyer drive it on sunset and crashed it!! Very cool- it was a 70's refugee with regards to the paint and interior: Metal FLake paint with diamond patterned blue interior.It was too ugly and expensive to fix, so my brother and I took it apart so my other mini could get finished

Thanks for finding that pic-

[TRE Cup]

"1) The chopped, square-bumper 911 shown in the picture that started this thread began its life as A REAL 73 RSR!! It came from a local race team and Arnie brought it back to life and made it into what you see in the picture. It had a FACTORY-built 2.8RSR motor with high butterfly injection...back then. Looking back he's a bit sorry, but back then nobody gave a crap. "

Maybe the way Arnie remembers it (" the older i get, the faster i was" category ) but i was there every day after school and even took the slate grey "RSR" to school one day. I was soo nervous that i didn't pay one seconds attention in class worrying about if it was going to be there when i got out! That alone convinced me to demur on the swap between my not finished targa and this car. To be sure, the parts on the car were real; They came off of either John Thomas' Bozzani, Juan Carlos Bolanos', or Jim Levitt's RSR when they updated their cars to the later wider bodywork. All three had gotten the AIR treatment with regards to the RSR body upgrades
The motor had been described to me by Arnie back then as a 2.5 high compression which did indeed sport street mfi when i drove it. Motors could definitely be swapped out and i remember arnie doing a ton of work to it once he decided to go with the chopped roof set up

[Randy W]

Great stories, Dave. The best stuff on Pelican.

[t6dpilot]

1+++ Dave. Thanks for the great stories. I love the stories from "back in the day" when this stuff was going on. Keep 'em coming!

[Jeremy Cottrell]

A quick Garner story:

As a young boy I lived up the street from the location of Jim Rockford's fathers house. While they would film inside the house, Garner would sit outside in one of those director type chairs. I would ride my bike down the hill and just sit and talk to (bug) him. He was always very nice and seemed genuinely interested in my ramblings about cars and bikes at the time. What a class act he is, very approachable.

I also got some first hand tips on how to do those "Rockfords" and used to practice them religiously with my first 510

I paracticed them a lot on Mulholland, just to get us back on topic.

[Mr9146]

Dave,

He said it was former Bozzani car.

Good memory...

[TRE Cup]

This is the other Bozzani car- as shown in the LA Auto Expo and at Santa Rosa R Gruppe last year. Also known as the least mileage never really raced (Road and Track test car, POC time trials, Riverside test days, and a little street driving between several owners)

If you look closely under flourescent lamps, you can just see the outline of Bozzani Porsche Audi on the front hood after it was polished off

[jmz]

Good Stuff!

Thanks.

[VZ935]

Dave , A liitle off topic but since you brought it up ... Dan's Lola


Also Garners AIR Corvettes were all from Clippinger Chevrolet in west Covina...though there is a new dealership the old one is still there too...




I agree.. the writting of the book was a litle dissapointing. I actually had my brother in LA buy it and send it to me. The history of how LA came about was interesting and some of the stories where great but it just seemed that a better writer could do so much more justice to the legacy.

[marmot]

That Cooper is cooler than the underside of the pillow. Too bad you didn't keep it.

Is that Mulholland Raceway a bunch of throwbacks from the era you're talking about or are they a modern bunch?

This is the group I'm referring to:
http://www.mulhollandraceway.org/

[TRE Cup]

marmot: this is a more recent group- seems pretty verbose

[Brillo]

Great thread!

[TRE Cup]

The garner cooper's guts gave life to a all black mark 2 cooper S . The previous owner thought 13:1 compression on street gas was a good thing ! The black cooper gave way to a red one that my brother and i raced in vintage for a little while. It takes some real dedication and long hours to make those lil boxes go reliably (HAH! if that is possible on a 3 bearing crankshaft) so we wisely decided to keep the lil buggers for fast road use.
Currently do not have one, but i share my buddy's mark 1 S in the Iron Bottom Rally every other year. We drive it quite fervently (as other rally participants can attest) and save worn out plug wires in the rain , it has never let us down.

We have a mk 3 here at the shop (one of the bourne identity studio cars no less) awaiting a Vtec transformation. Can't wait to scare myself silly!

[ERH]

Did someone say torque steer?

Wonderful fun...

From http://www.superfastminis.com/

Ed

[TRE Cup]

Isn't that cool? it may only have 3-4 " of suspension travel, but it will certainly get its owner's heart rate pumping

We are starting with a GSR package to begin with