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

[Banning]

This photo was taken in about 1979 before an evening of fun on Mulholland. I had taken a flat out run to the San Diego Frwy. and was coming back when I stopped at Horseshoe. Horseshoe was the circular turn opposite the 99 Firestation where some would hang out when Grandstands was to hot with Police patrols. This circular drive was in fact the old Mulholland as it was in the 60's before they made the big wide straightaway between Benedict and Beverly Glen. It's hard to believe but I know this because I fell there on a bike in 1965 right in that turn.

I pull into the circular drive and park to talk to some of my friends. All of a sudden, a Police car pulls up fast to the curb on Mul opposite where I'm parked. They put a searchlight on and start scanning the area. They see my silver Porsche, and the light goes off. They then accelerate into the drive. Steve B. says to me, "Chris, you better get out of here". Without thinking, I get into my car and close the door as the cops were opening theirs. They came up to my car on either side with flashlights on pointing into my interior. They had to stoop since my car is very low to the ground with a lowered roof. I had my left hand on the ignition key, my left foot into the clutch, and my right foot depressing the throttle to the floor. The officer leaned down to look into my drivers open window. We had eye contact...I engaged the key. The car was already hot and it sprang to life. At about 6000 rpm, I dumped the clutch and the Blue Streak tires grabbed asphalt. The headlights went up into the air as the little 911 did a wheelie.
I was so scared that I never let off the gas. As I exited the circular drive I dented the front valence(still showing) and blasted home going east. By the time the cops got back into their car and onto Mulholland, I was passing Deep Canyon at 120mph. I got home, covered my car, and watched Mulholland as more cops showed up all over the place.

Now every night for about 2 weeks these same cops were coming up to Mulholland to look for the guy with the silver Porsche. They harrassed just about everybody looking for me. That is why you see my RSR in my living room at the beginning of this thread.
I had to keep in the house for six months until I felt it was safe to put it back into the carport outside again.

If any law enforcement is reading this, I want you to know that those days are gone and you don't have to come looking for me.

[groundeffect]

Hey CRE

Good to hear from you. I know TRE_CUP from the RGruppe Porsche club and he added me to the CRE list. I have hooked up with both Pat and Bob and am looking forward to a reunion this May. I am travelling this week so my postings will be sparse.

[Banning]

This is a better quality photo of the Porsche in the living room. Next to me is Bruce K. He was my racing sidekick in the mid-seventies when I was driving a 1973 911S on Mulholland. When the Carrera was done in 1976 he stopped riding with me. He said that it was too stupid and dangerous to be my passenger. That's when I began to hang out with the "regulars" thanks to John H.

If you look carefully, you can see some of the body modifications. Cut drip rails, Turbo body style, large whale tail, 9 and 11 inch alloys with Good Year Racing Tires, and of course the famous sloped roof. You will also notice a silver colored rollcage. That is T6 alloy, twice as strong as steel in compression strength, with one-fifth the weight. It was designed and built by John Mason Engineering at quite a cost. The rollcage extends from the rear of the car to the front and forms a kind of tubular chassis.






The cage is gusseted to all chassis members such as the rear deck, the four window pillars, floor mounts and integrated into the entire dashboard.




Shock tower bracing was added front and back and the whole car was full-seam welded for maximum ridgidity. There is NO body flex in this superlight acid dipped chassis.

Of course, full RSR suspension is installed to suck up all the bumps Mulholland has to offer. This includes: double adj. Konis that are adjustble for bounce and rebound with dials on the side of the shock, oversize Porsche RSR torsion bars to increase spring rate to suck up potholes at speed, special spring plates set in solid Delrin bushings to prevent geometry changes while cornering, gusseted and magnefluxed trailing arms set in solid bushings, and oversized RSR anti-roll bars also in solid bushings.
It has 906 brakes with cross-drilled and vented rotors combined with alloy calipers and stainless steel brake-lines for maximum stopping power.

This suspension combined with nine and eleven inch wide wheels covered with Blue Streaks makes for quite formidible handling.

The powerplant is a hi-compression RSR 2.8 ltr. mfi racing engine.
Complete with RSR sprint cams, ported and polished heads, an R3Y mfi pump, twin plug ignition, cadmium plated sheetmetal, magnefluxed crank and rods, custom exhaust, and of course fully balanced and blueprinted.

The motor and transmission were built by Bozzani Racing. The transmission is a magnesium cased 915 racing gearbox with a 85% limited slip and "Riverside" Gears. The car has a 16 quart dry sump lubrication system that pumps oil from the rear of the car to the front where an aluminum tank is located inside the gas heater trunk. All oil lines are teflon braided stainless steel and travel throughout the car. The tank which was made by John Mason is wedge shaped to prevent grabbing air in hard cornering, baffled to prevent foaming of the oil, and vented for crankcase ventilation. It also combines a remote oil filter with a thermostat that opens to an external oil cooler when neccessary.

The interior is spartan with flat door panels and no glove box door. The 10,000 rpm tachometer redlines at 8500 and the speedometer shows a top speed of 185mph. The seats are Scheel Nomex racing deep buckets that are flameproof. Leather Recaro sport seats are also used for the car. Bright H4 headlights illumimate Mulholland when neccessary.

I thought some of you might like to know the basic modifications made to the car.

[KevinP73]

Originally posted by Banning
.
I thought some of you might like to know the basic modifications made to the car.

The photos are a treat for sure but I'd pay for the pizza and beers just to see it in person.

[lfot]

Originally posted by KevinP73
The photos are a treat for sure but I'd pay for the pizza and beers just to see it in person.

+1,000

[SSB]

This is the car I mentioned (some thirty pages ago or so) I had while living in Las Vegas. Just Koni's, sway bars and Radial T/A's. Top of 3rd gear was 110 which I wound out in the mini esses (east bound), backed out of it just in time to arrive at the pits with a bust in full bloom. This is also the car I chased Cortez across Sepulveda in the rain with bald tires. I would come down from Vegas and go right up the hill and antagonize who ever I found. Those included a Blue Capri with Mul license plate (MM?), a white bug and a white 911. As I would often drive down something different from Las Vegas, the only tell tail was the Nevada license plates (often Demo plates).

ps: I did make this slalom gate.

[Thomas Owen]

:Originally posted by KevinP73
The photos are a treat for sure but I'd pay for the pizza and beers just to see it in person.

I might even fly out from Ft. Lauderdale for that...

[lfot]

Hey Banning,
Would you be willing to show off your car at some point for some Pelicans?

[Banning]

Of course, I'm just catching up with car work and when I'm done I'll show up at your meeting place at Vineland and Ventura if that's OK.

[lfot]

Originally posted by Banning
Of course, I'm just catching up with car work and when I'm done I'll show up at your meeting place at Vineland and Ventura if that's OK.

uhmmm... yeah! more than ok i'd say. make sure you let everyone know what weekend you're going to show. we'll probably get quite a few showing up if you bring the RSR.

[Jeremy Cottrell]

That would be a treat to run with you Chris. Although during the day, it won't be the same. Chris will probably be waiting at the Fox and Hounds by the time the rest of us are at Bev. Glen.

Regarding Mulholland Gary: I remember hanging out with him late 80's early 90's when it was mainly a group of VW guys up there. Gary is incredibly knowledgeable about the laws of the road, he should be a traffic court judge. I remember he was talking to me one night about U-turns. He said that if you make a U-turn and keep going, it is illegal, however, if you make a U-e and park it is perfectly legal. The way the law is written it states that if a car turns around on the street and continues in the opposite direction it is illegal. It says nothing about a car which turns around and comes to a stop, not continuing in the opposite direction! Gary is full of stuff like that. Great guy! And yes, he was on Skyline in that same Ranchero.

[Jeremy Cottrell]

Regarding 4 N 20: I remember as a kid hanging out there with my brother and the TVL guys. If fact, when Tony comes to town, we will often meet there for breakfast. He gets a kick out of seeing some of the waitresses that used to be there back in the day. I think he dated a few of them, the sly dog!

[Pat_in_L.A.]

SSB just sent this pic of me going through driver school in August 1974. Cortez hauled my car to Riverside behind his dad's GMC truck.

[LateBrakeU2]

Originally posted by SSB
This is the car I mentioned (some thirty pages ago or so) I had while living in Las Vegas. Just Koni's, sway bars and Radial T/A's. Top of 3rd gear was 110 which I wound out in the mini esses (east bound), backed out of it just in time to arrive at the pits with a bust in full bloom. This is also the car I chased Cortez across Sepulveda in the rain with bald tires. I would come down from Vegas and go right up the hill and antagonize who ever I found. Those included a Blue Capri with Mul license plate (MM?), a white bug and a white 911. As I would often drive down something different from Las Vegas, the only tell tail was the Nevada license plates (often Demo plates).

ps: I did make this slalom gate.

More loose " in,middle,off"
(stock car parlance)

[SSB]

I had my fun with that car too. Went to drivers school in a SSC (D?) Chevy Chevette (just wanted to race Deucer and his R5) and had my first race in that A Sedan Mustang which was the 4 hour Enduro. They gave double points for the Enduro back then and so since we won, I was awarded 2nd place in the Division for the year. Next race - back to the Chevette.
Wasn't that the car that Ivan (the terrible) spun in front of everybody when he reacted to seeing a cop parked on Bowmont?

[Pat_in_L.A.]

Originally posted by SSB
I had my fun with that car too.... and had my first race in that A Sedan Mustang which was the 4 hour Enduro. They gave double points for the Enduro back then and so since we won, I was awarded 2nd place in the Division for the year. Next race - back to the Chevette.
Wasn't that the car that Ivan (the terrible) spun in front of everybody when he reacted to seeing a cop parked on Bowmont?

Different car than the one Ivan launched near Bowmont westbound on Mulholland. That one was a yellow 65 and this one was a red/white/blue 68. I got a rolling chassis from Gary Gardner (A friend of Jim Boone. May he rest in peace). Jim Boone painted the car in his dad's garage at home. Jim passed away a few years ago. He had a heart attack while in the pits at a midget race and never made it .

This car in the pic actually ran at Dodger Stadium in a SCCSCC event the first time it turned a wheel. After that it was RIR and Willow Springs only for the car, except for one event at Ontario Motor Speedway where it turned a 149 MPH time.

The car ran at Willow backwards in a one-off Cal Club event and set a track record. I guess that driving Mulholland BOTH ways helped prepare me for that weekend, haha. It holds two track records that will never be broken, since RIR is no longer there and has been turned into a shopping mall. Personally I'd rather hand over the track records there and give up the records to the next generation of testosterone laden individuals who come along, but the damage has been done.

SSB, I think that may be the only time in SCCA history that two guys came in 1'st and 2'nd in points in the same class in the same car! The Enduros were a ball. I remember being so far in front that we had time to ease up and "play" with folks in other classes. I pulled the A/Sedan up behind Paul Marygold's Renault SS car and acted like I was drafting him. He kept pointing me by furiously and I just kept waving at him with both hands while steering with my left knee.

OH the humanity!

[Jeff Hail]

Found a couple more old pics dated 1979:
From Grandstands facing northeast towards Burbank. No houses behind Grandstands yet but the first fence was up. First sign of the end.


San Fernando Valley view on a smoggy day . Remember the smog alerts? Wide Street right center looks like Sepulveda or Van Nuys Blvd's.

[slodave]

Originally posted by Jeff Hail

San Fernando Valley view on a smoggy day . Remember the smog alerts? Wide Street right center looks like Sepulveda or Van Nuys Blvd's.

I remember Smog Alerts. No playtime at recess The street must be Van Nuys Blvd. Behind that building is the Hamburger Hamlet.

Dave

[Jeff Hail]

Originally posted by slodave
I remember Smog Alerts. No playtime at recess The street must be Van Nuys Blvd. Behind that building is the Hamburger Hamlet.

Dave

Do you remember the green Mermaid Chandelier inside Hamburger Hamlet?

[slodave]

Originally posted by Jeff Hail
Do you remember the green Mermaid Chandelier inside Hamburger Hamlet?

I don't, but I'll ask my dad. He told me the other day about how the servers used to be all black and were hired on that basis. Some white guy in the 70's complained about reverse discrimination and The Hamlet had to hire all races.

Dave