Allemano and Ferodo brake pads

["Peter L. Krause" <pkrause@domain.elided>]

As a matter of fact, I have TWO Allemano Spiders in my shop right now. I
have owned a first series car (1958/59, no scallops under the headlights,
screened over engine cover) for almost twenty years with which I won the
"Spirit" Award at the 1998 New England 1000 rally (more for coexisting with
my Siata 300BC owning partner in that cramped cockpit for a week with my
foot to the floor trying to keep up than anything else) and we have a second
series car (1960, scallops, finned engine cover and rear valance opening)
that is stripped bare for restoration that the current owner bought new at
Jaguar Cleveland in 1960 and put away in 1966! Both cars have the 747cc
Abarthized 600 motor, drum brakes and 12" wheels. I've raced mine at Lime
Rock and Pittsburgh (you can time laps with a sun dial...) and it's
currently for sale to finance other projects. They're cool cars and USA
VSCCA eligible to boot!

The car on e-Bay looks pretty complete. The bumpers and chrome are worth the
bid I saw yesterday, as most of these cars were stripped and the brightwork
lost being converted to SCCA race cars early in their career. Pete Feistmann
won the H Production National Championship in 1965 with one, the last time
anything other than a Sprite won since Adam Malley's Honda Civic started
winning a few years ago. The best reference is the Greg Schmidt/Pat Braden
book. The drawback of the e-Bay car is it appears it has an 850 engine
turning CW (stock 850 engines turn CCW) and a bunch of owner "improvements."
The loss of the 747cc steel billet crank and cam Abarth motor is a 50% hit
in value, as the 850 engines are a dime a dozen...

The Ferodo pads Vick sells are equivalent to the better quality
Mintex/Pagid/Sachs street pads and Eriminas' Girlings that were an
exceptional value for many years. There should be no difficulty with pad
"warm-up" in street driving. They used to be known as Ferodo "Formula 300"
and are a great high performance street/autocross pad. For track driving,
especially at brake intensive circuits like Watkins Glen, Kershaw and VIR's
South Course, you really need Performance Friction Z-rated at a minimum and
preferably competition pads from Ferodo, Hawk, Porterfield, Carbo-Tech or
Performance Friction. The Alfas are just too heavy to withstand repeated
heavy braking without burning up the pads.

-Peter

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