| The Dailu Mark 2
was purchased by current
Trans-Am Chief
Steward Terry Dale in 1970. Terry was kind enough to share his
memories and experiences with the Dailu Mark 2 with us for this
website. The pictures were taken in 1970 and 1971. |
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During the 1970
season, I crewed for Don Horner on the Dailu at regional races
and various hillclimbs. He started talking about going to a
Formula Ford and I told him that I would be interested in buying
the Dailu. He ended up buying a Merlyn Ford from Brian Robertson
who lived in Ottawa at the time. He also was a branch manager
which helped as I was $300 short of the money I needed to buy
the Dailu and Brian signed off on a personal loan which is all
that I needed to clinch the deal. |
| At that time Don
had bought one of the 450 hp Bartz 302 Trans Am engines from
Gord Dewar and that was what was in the car when I bought it.
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Don kept giving me
advice which I studiously ignored for a while. One thing that he
suggested was to hit the brakes just before cresting the hill on
the back straight at Mosport which would tend to squat the car
down and prevent it from 'launching. The first quick time up
the back straight at about 140 mph and of course I forgot the
advice. The car did in fact launch itself free of the ground, I
found religion and pretty well followed Don's advice from that
point forward. |
| Another time Don
suggested a line through Corner 1 at Tremblant which I, of
course, immediately recognized as a slow line. Again, the first
time through there quickly and the car came unstuck
spectacularly coming to a stop at the bottom of the hill between
1 and 2. As it was the first session of the day, they had no tow
truck so I clearly remember the sight of Don Horner with a gang
coming down to help push me back up and into the paddock. He was
quite enjoying himself at my expense! I started listening to
Don a little more closely after that. |
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Another little
trick that Don told me about was pumping the brake pedal with
the left foot a couple of times before it was really needed at a
corner. This usually worked except for one unforgetable time
approaching Namerow at Tremblant when I started pumping the
pedal with my left foot and it got jammed over top of my right
foot causing some unintended acceleration at a point on the race
track where it really wasn't required or wanted! Quite
exciting! I started squeezing my size 12 feet into size 9 shoes
after that as the brakes really did work better with the early
warning wakeup pumps. |
| I started a race
at Tremblant on the pole beside Jacques Bienvenue in his Spur
sponsored Porsche. I totally smoked the rear tires at the green
flag allowing Jacques into the lead. I followed him for about 4
to 5 laps learning a whole lot about the correct lines.
Eventually I passed him to take the lead and he came in on the
next lap claiming that the shifter had broken (as he downshifted
his way into pit lane). |
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Driving the Dailu
was a treat although I probably didn't know any better. I always
tried to stretch the tires to their absolute limit not being
able to afford any new ones. I used to scrounge a few sets of
old Trans Am tires when they were in town that would last me the
rest of the season. I managed to set the A Sports Racing lap
record in 1971 taking it away from Hugh Dixon with a 1:56.3 lap
time. It still stands today as the class has been disbanded
(proving timing is everything). |
| I
displayed the car at the Ottawa and Toronto Car shows, slalomed
it, and generally had a complete blast using the car. I then
sold the car to Rick Stacy without a motor and it went away out
of my hands. Great car, great memories, fast, loud, fun! |
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