Rudimentary airflow tests on the fiberglass-bodied prototype mule, Peter Brock notes, were inconclusive without the ability for higher speed or a rolling floor beneath the car. Photograph Courtesy GM


Photograph Courtesy GM

Both Fangio and Moss were impressed with the mule’s performance … for about three laps. Each had broken the existing lap record before coming in to confer with Fitch and Zora.

They confirmed the car was brilliantly quick and capable of winning–except for its brakes. Each had gone out and almost immediately faded the special drum brakes.

The GM engineers were astonished when the SS’s alloy drums were removed. The return springs holding the destroyed ceramic/metallic-lined brake shoes simply fell to the ground! All tension had been destroyed by the heat generated.

There was no denying the reality of the situation. Both Moss and Fangio respectfully thanked Fitch for the opportunity to test, noting the car’s incredible handling and speed, but each said there was no way the new racer would even finish the first hour.

There was another problem. Earl’s magnesium-bodied racer was weeks behind schedule. It was supposed to have been ready to test a full week before the race, but the perfect finish demanded by Earl required more time than expected.

The magnesium alloy body had been a formidable task as GM Styling’s top fabricators had never worked with the ultra-thin exotic material. Magnesium had a dangerous tendency to flash and evaporate in an eye-searing brightness when improperly welded. It had taken extra days to master the technique, but they’d done it and the new body looked flawless when finished in a striking electric shade of metallic blue.

When the semi-finished SS racer finally rolled out the door at GM Styling, its fabricators were rightly proud of the job done, but the car had yet to fire up or even turn a wheel under its own power. Since Zora and his crew were in Florida during its construction, there had been no way to test prior to shipment.

The race car was carefully loaded, and the van’s drivers were told to “hurry but be extra careful” as they were transporting more than a million dollars’ worth of Earl’s and Zora’s dreams to Florida.

Fitch was deeply disappointed that Fangio and Moss had turned him down, but he completely understood their position. He personally was entirely capable of filling in as the team’s lead driver, but he still needed another world-class pilot to qualify for the race.

He called old racing friend Piero Taruffi in Italy and explained the situation. Taruffi took the next plane available and was soon in the team’s Sebring garage examining the crusty mule. He didn’t fully understand why the real racer had not yet arrived, but it wasn’t his position to question the situation.

Fitch had him test the mule but advised against using the brakes as hard as they’d need to be used if he were seriously racing. Fitch showed him the cooked components used during the previous tests and explained there were no more special “racing brakes” available. Under the relaxed test conditions imposed by Fitch, the mule seemed to handle perfectly and Taruffi’s lap times were still almost competitive, so all the team could do was to wait for the “real” SS racer to arrive.