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MAC's IT
Special
the
Photographs
For some reason, long forgotten,
the photographer took several photographs of this team while
it was preparing the car. The 1970 racing program lists
the car as a Mac's IT Special entered by Enovation Racing.
Did the car make the race? Who was
driving? Why a four-cylinder engine? How long did it race?
Can you identify anyone in the photographs?
We just heard from Peter Bryant.
Peter was the designer of the Ti22 and many of the Shadows.
Here's the story about the MACS-IT.
The Yellow Macs-it car was designed
and built by an an ex-Shelby American Engine builder named
Jack Hoare. He was English. He put a two-stroke Rotex
Motorcycle engine at each wheel. The car was driven by
a Japanese driver named Hiroshi Matsushita. He never got
it over 35MPH and the car was withdrawn from the race
and never seen again. It was a total failure.
Four engines. That explains the air-scoops
in the front and the rear of the car.
The car only did 1:29.4 minutes in
qualifying. That means it averaged 76.5mph around the 1.9
mile course. The next slowest car did a 1:17.4. This equates
to an average speed of 88.3mph. The fastest car in qualifying
in 1970 was the Chaparral 2J with a time of 59.4 seconds
or an average speed of 115.5mph. That means the fastest
car would lap the slowest every 3 laps or so. Not very competive.
What I don't understand is when did
they test the car? It sounds like they built it and brought
it to the Can-Am at Laguna Seca and then tested it!
From Gary Saunders
Back in the Can Am days my father,
Gordon Saunders of Gordon Saunders Industrial Design, was
involved with the Mac’s It team. He produced the body
for this car.
He also did modifications to Jo
Sifert’s 908 Porsche for Richie Ginther and
the body used on the first (mini) Shadow for Don Nichols.
The shake down for the Mac’s
It car took place at Orange County Speedway (a drag strip
with a “sort of” road course) and broke
the connecting drive shaft after about two runs up and down
the strip.
All the motors were connected to
each other by drive shafts, with the main shaft going along
side the driver. The most difficult part of this project
was in trying to “sync” eight separate carburetors
on four separate motors. This variation of output from four
motors was the real downfall of the car as it would twist
the drive shaft into spaghetti each time Hiroshi tried to
get on the power.
If you have any answers then let
us know. E-mail to John S. Krill at editor@photoessayis.com
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