Ferrari Mondial . Net

Spring is almost here, and it’s taken it’s time…. so you might well be itching to start doing some spring like jobs on your Ferrari to wake it up from it’s winter hibernation. A guy called Birdman has an excellent website focusing on servicing and parts for the 308 and Mondial, including great guides on brake pad replacement, brake calipers, cooling system, and timing / cam belt replacement. So if you are planning to do any of these I’d recommend taking a look at his site.

Every year supercars descend on Ford Dunton in Essex to give charity rides to members of the public round Ford’s figure of eight test track, all in aid of Little Havens Children’s Hospice. There was a great turnout of italian supercars, Ferraris (including an F40), Lamborghinis (Diablo, Gallardo, Murcielago), plus Caterhams, a Noble M400, a Porsche 911 GT3, a Dodge Viper LM, TVRs, an Ariel Atom and KTM X-Bow… basically quite a lot of awesome cars, to see more take a look at my videos from the day below! Well done to all the organisers and thanks to Ford for use of their great test track.

The Auto Italia spring show at the historic Brooklands motor racing circuit is always the first major show of the year, held on the early May bank holiday weekend. The weather had been very temperamental so I had been glued to the weather forecast for the preceding week, but my fears were unfounded, the prediction was for a warm sunny day, and I awoke very early that morning to glorious sunshine.

The reason for getting up so early was to meet up with a convoy of approximately 55 Ferraris at the Hilton hotel near Brooklands and then to head into the circuit in a convoy to enter the circuit via Mercedes Benz world, thus beating the rush and jams that can occur at this popular event, especially when the weather is favourable. On arriving at the meeting point we were not disappointed, the entire car park was full of Ferraris, including a brand new Ferrari California in light blue. It’s definitely a departure from the sleek Ferrari designs of the past, with a rather more chunky front and rear end. I’ll pass on giving a my verdict on the design until I’ve seen, and hopefully heard, a Rosso red one in the flesh

Once inside Brooklands there was a great display of a variety of Italian cars, no doubt boosted by the favourable weather forecast. Some highlights included an original Ferrari P3 330 Le Mans racer, the above mentioned Ferrari California, an F50 (rare enough as it is) in an unusual graphite colour, matching Ferrari F430 Scuderia 16M spyder and berlinetta, a Ferrari 365 berlinetta boxer (easily mistaken for the slightly more common but equally beautiful 512BBi), a Ferrari 166 Barchetta (the 44th Ferrari ever made), and a 1930s Alpha Romeo (an original P3?) racer badged with Enzo Ferrari’s prancing horse shield, and a rare Alfa Romeo 8C ompetizione, I have to say it did look good. Whilst eating ice creams in the sunshine and goggling all the great cars on show I looked round to see none other than radio DJ, and avid Ferrari collector, Chris Evans chomping on a cigar as he pulled up with his wife in his £5.4million Ferrari 250 California. If that wasn’t enough he was closely followed by a friend driving a white Ferrari 288 GTO (I presume also owned by Mr Evans!), complete with baby Evans Jr in a baby seat as the passenger.

On top of all the fabulous Italian cars on display the Brooklands museum itself is well worth looking round. Some of the old racing cars they have (from around 1900-1940) are stunning, like the 24 litre Napier racer (yes 24 litre… mpg and CO2 emissions anyone?), and you won’t see cars like these in many other places in the world. There was also a Formula 1 exhibition which had Frentzen’s Jordan car, as well as Senna’s classic Malboro McLaren, this one was a demonstration car that never actually raced, but was used in promotion, so probably had the man himself pose with it for media photos at some point. Also in this exhibition, but sadly temporarily out of order, was a sit in computer simulation of driving the original Brooklands circuit. The driver initially gets a lap in a virtual Formula 1 car, but for the second lap this is replaced by a car with typical handling characteristics of a 1930s racer… we were reliably told that whilst people complete the first lap with ease, most people crash almost immediately on the second lap. Obviously car handling has improved a lot in almost a century

The ticket to the AutoItalia show also lets you leave the Brooklands complex and take the short walk to Mercedes-Benz world. This was the first time I had been and I can say it’s well worth the visit. There are some pristine, classic Mercedes-Benzs on display, including a 300SL Gull wing Coupe, and the 1970s dictators’ (Idi Amin, etc) favourite car, the 600. You can also browse, and even buy, the latest Mercedes-Benz and Smart car range, plus out the back there is a mini race circuit and wet skidpan where you can watch professional and novice drivers putting the cars through their paces. If you are feeling brave you can pay to either be taken round by a pro in an AMG, or actually have a go yourself. Booking in advance may be best if you want to do this as it seemed very popular. For the less adventurous there is plenty of picnic space, and an indoor viewing area in case the weather isn’t so great, to watch the cars from. Mercedes-Benz world is a slightly mad place, it’s a museum, new car show room, and driving experience school all rolled into one!

If you are a competent home mechanic you might want to save yourself a few quid by changing your Mondial / 308 / 328 cambelts yourself. Fraccie on the Club Scuderia site has written a good DIY guide. I’ve not attempted this job myself, so don’t blame me if it goes wrong, but if you do try it let me know how you get on. If you register on the site (free) you will get the full images of the procedure, it’s a very good site for Ferrari information and general chat:

http://fcars.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=10104

After seveal weekends of rain some sunny autumnal weather finally materialized, so we decided to make the trek up to the north of Oxfordshire for the Auto Italia Autumn show. The “trek” was actually an idyllic drive straight up the M40 towards Banbury, and as we cruised along we were lucky enough to bump into a rare Lamborghini Espada making it’s way to the same destination. With it’s throbbing V12 and elongated yet incredibly low profile body, it was a sight to behold!

On arriving at the event we found the organisation was good, marshalls were on hand to guide cars into spaces based on their marques. There were about 20 Ferraris present: a Dino 246, 330, Testarossa, 308/328s, 355s, and a also an F430 Scuderia in light blue, which was the first one I had ever seen. On the Mondial front we were parked up alongside a very dark blue (or maybe black) 85 Mondial QV, there was also a Mondial 8 in attendance, but I don’t recall seeing any 3.2 Mondials or a Mondial t. There was an impressive turnout of other Italian marques too, plenty of Alphas, Lancias and Fiats. The real jaw dropping sight was the collection of so many Lamborghinis, especially pristine Countaches and Diablos, many of them in the classic pin up poster colours that adorned many young lads’ bedrooms in the 80s/90s (see photos). The scene resembled a squadron of space ships ready to take off from Battlestar Galactica.

The Heritage Motor Centre is built on the grounds of the old RAF Gaydon which was built as a secret World War 2 airbase and operated until the 1970s when the land was bought by British Leyland, who turned it into their own top secret research and development centre, complete with a high speed test track. After the decline of the British Leyland the site and main building were modernised by Rover and lottery money in the early 1990s as a museum to the British motor industry, and the main building now holds the largest collection of classic British cars in the UK. The £10 entrance to the Auto Italia show included admission to the Heritage Motor Centre itself, which is great value for money as the meuseum is well worth looking round. Rather than just an endless line of cars there are plenty of interactive and educational displays to keep kids entertained too (and hopefully they might learn something!).

Another hightlight of the show was that for an extra £20 you could take your car around the test track in one of the three sessions throughout the day. There are a few sensible rules: speed limit of 90mph, no overtaking, and strict following of the pace car, but it’s a chance to put your foot down at least a little bit. I didn’t take up the offer this year but might do next time round. The only disappointing thing is that there is no viewing point of the test track for observers to watch the sessions, also any kind of filming or photography is banned on or near the test track. This is deliberate because Aston Martin have a hangar containing all their latest developments, and they have understandable concerns of industrial espionage. One chap we talked to worked in the industry and told us that a few years ago, when Aston Martin were developing and testing one of their new models, light aircraft would appear and circle every time the hangar doors opened up. Clearly the motor car manufacturing industry is big business, and rival companies will go to great lengths to find out what the opposition are up to… just look at Formula 1!

Photos from the day can be found here.

This was a great event last year at the spectacular setting of Highclere Castle, so I was interested to see how the new venue of Newbury Showground would work out. Clearly the venues were very different with the showground less of a backdrop but offering a much improved circuit for the charity rides, which was the purpose of the day after all. The whole of the track could be seen whilst wandering through the display of parked Ferraris, the sight and sounds of the cars whizzing round was quite something. There was even an F40 giving rides, I hope the people who were lucky enough to get the F40 felt as honoured and excited as I would have been! Overall the day had a different feel to last year, due to the venue, but was still a good event, and the amount of money raised by the charity rides exceeded last year’s total, all in aid of the Three Shires air ambulance helicopter fund.

Photos from the Ferrari Funday 2008 can be found here.

There has not been much luck for this event with respect to the weather for the preceeding two years. Last year the event had to be postponed due to flooding, and it inevitably rained on the rescheduled date too. This year the forecast was the uncertanty tinged “sun and occasional showers”. On the morning itself we awoke to glorious sunshine, so off we set on the fairly long drive from London to Walton Hall in Warwickshire. Even before we hit the motorway, dark clouds were gathering in the sky, and quickly “occasional showers” turned into a morning of driving through absolutely torrential rain! With the M40 being closed compltely at the exact junction needed for the event (presumably due to cars being unable to drive underwater) it was almost enough to make even a hardcore Ferrari owner turn back and head for home. Luckily my newly purchased TomTom One satnav saved the day and it calculated an alternative route through the countryside to avoid the closed motorway.

Our persistence was rewarded in the end, as on arriving at Walton Hall the clouds broke and the house, lake and lawns were bathed in sunshine. Thankfully only a few minor showers materialzed in the afternoon. As always everything was impeccably organised by the FOC (British Grand Prix on big screen, excellent!), and the turnout of cars was surprisingly good, though I’d guess not as many as last year at Broughton Castle. What amazed me was when we strolled round to the back of Walton Hall where there was a fantastic turnout of the really classic and priceless, rare cars, includingan ex Steve McQueen 250 SWB and Chris Evan’s £5.4million black Ferrari 250 California previously owned by James Coburn (Fistful of Dynamite always a fave film of mine). When you sit back and think about it £5.4 million is a lot of money, but after seeing the car I can safely say it was worth every penny Just a shame I had forgotten to charge my camera, so in the end I only have photos of it in general shots before technology let me down. As usual the concours cars were immaculate, of the 4 or 5 Ferrari Mondials present there was a very striking one in dark blue, unusual colour but I really liked it!

Limited amount of photos can be found here!

Overall this is actually a fairly simple process, and a sports exhaust really gets a mean sound out of the V8 engine (see before and after YouTube video below). Also it has to be said the the original, factory silencer box is pretty big and ugly, it’s also very prominent with there being no rear grill (something Ferrari introduced from the 3.2 Mondial and 328 onwards). The exhaust I bought was a generic stainless steel one from Eurospares, it’s at least half the price of a Tubi or X-Ost. The fitting should be pretty much the same for a Ferrari Mondial as a Ferrari 308/328.

Bear in mind that you may be changing your car from it’s factory state, so if you are worried about future re-sale value you might want to keep the original exhaust to put back on at a later date (pretty simple to do as you will see).

All parts ordered from Eurospares (unless otherwise stated).

Parts needed:

• Part No. 118353 Stainless Steel Sports Exhaust Ferrari Mondial QV 1985, Total: £450
• Part No. 118338 Gasket (O rings), Quantity: 2, Price: £6.80, Total: £13.60
• Exhaust/tailpipe compound/sealer 80-100ml, Price about £5 (eBay)
• Metal clips, Quantity 2, Price: not a lot

Optional parts that would be useful to have in case needed (due to corrosion on the existing parts):

• Part No. 10519601 Washer, Quantity: 20, Price: £0.02, Total: £0.40
• Part No. 114748 Nut, Quantity: 10, Price: £0.31, Total: £3.10
• Part No. 119632 Screw, Quantity: 6, Price: £1.50, Total: £9.00 (I couldn’t get these as they were out of stock)

Easy access to under the car is also preferable, though I could just about imagine it would be possible to fit the new exhaust without the car on a ramp, as everything is really near the back. Warning: If you do use jacks or anything like that please be very careful and ensure nothing can slip, 1.5 metrc tons of Ferrari on your head can be bad for your health. An extra pair of strong hands will come in handy too, for catching the old exhaust as it comes off and holding the new one in place while it’s bolted on.

Luckily for me a nice guy called Dean let me use his hydraulic ramps (yes handy to have your own ramps in your garage!). So a big thanks to Dean and especially Paul for their ramps, tools, help, and expertise.

The procedure is as follows, assuming, like me, you have a replacement exhaust which does not need the 90 degree mounting brackets. Instead the box has long bars coming out each side which should align with where the brackets would have been. If you are re-fitting your original exhaust obviously make sure you have these brackets (either from the current exhaust or kept from the original removal). Make sure you don’t scratch your shiny new exhaust (or the shiny tips of the old one) so have an old blanket at the ready to put them on:

1. Undo the three nuts mating the exhaust to the manifold, and repeat on the other side (fig 1), remove the screws, nuts and washers. Use plenty of WD40 as things will probably need some loosening up.
2. The main securing of the exhaust comes from the pins seen in fig 1, these attach to the right angle brackets. Get your helper ready to catch the old exhaust and remove the pins on each side, when you remove the pins the exhaust should come free. On one side of mine everything undid easily and the pin could be gently tapped out, however on the other side the bracket and pin had seized up, repeated application of WD40, heat, G clamp pressure, and moderate violence all failed. In the end Paul had to delicately cut through part of the bracket until the pin would finally budge. The cut bracket won’t be usable again, but Paul did a good job to avoid ruining the pin, as this was needed immediatly for fitting the new exhaust. Ferrari spares shops should have replacement brackets as this kind were used on a number of models (308 GT4, 308/328, Mondial).
3. Your old exhaust should be off now, wrap it up and keep it somewhere safe in case you decide to go back to it or you want to put the car back into it’s original state. It’s a good time to clean out the ends of the bare pipes, the old O ring gaskets are likely to be corroded and in bits. Tap them out gently, don’t hit the manifold hard as the vibrations could could crack it further up, if some force is needed have a helper hold the end of the pipe still as you tap it. Clean up any fouling and corrosion, leaving the two pipe ends ready for re-fitting.
4. Coat some muffler/tailpipe sealer around one side of your new O ring gaskets, place in the end of the bare pipe, and coat the exposed gasket side with some sealer. Tricky bit next: get your new exhaust in position, obviously you need to mate together the pipes, then secure the exhaust by putting the pins back in (securing depends on the fitments but basically will involve pushing back in the locking pins into either brackets or the support bars of the new exhaust to hold it in place), and finally replacing the screws/nuts/washers x3 (using new ones if you have them) on each side, making sure they are done up tight.
5. Secure the retaining pins in place by passing the wire your wire clips through the holes in the pins and folding the clips round the pin. This will make sure the pins don’t slip out.
6. Check the alignment of the pipe ends with the cut away sections of the rear of the car (next to the fog lights). Make sure there is a little space around the exhaust pipes so that it won’t be rattling against the bodywork, you might need to bend the pipe coming from the box a little to achieve this, but be gentle and take care not to scratch your shiny tips.
7. Start her up, have a listen and check the seals for any leaks (apply tailpipe sealer as needed). That’s it, you’re done, go and find a tunnel!

Once again a big thanks to Paul and Dean as none of this would have been possible without them.

b_FOBiLkas4

I don’t know about you but very occasionally I see a car that just makes me drool and jibber like a crazy fool. The Buntingford classic car rally September 2007 in Hertfordshire was one of those rare moments. Behold Geoff Lock’s (or is it Jeff Lock?) gorgeous, racing specification Ferrari 308 (1979/1980). What more can I say, except that the curvy Ferrari 308 has to be one of the the sexiest car ever designed, if not *the* sexiest ever! Well done to Geoff for keeping it looking good, and still racing it at his very respectable age!

Given that most Ferrari’s leak a little bit of oil (depending on usage and condition of the seals) keeping the oil level topped up is important, and changing it every year, or approximately 3000 miles, is also a good thing to do. However a lot of Mondials and 308s are 20+ year old cars now and the manual recommends Agip 10W-50, which a) is not really available any more and b) oil technology has changed a lot over the years, now fully synthetic oils are more commonplace. After doing some research, and canvassing opinion I think the one to go for is… Shell Helix Ultra 5W-40, though if anyone has a differing opinion please let me know.