Dean Kirkland Talks Racing Through The Forest Pre-Release Screening Post AutoMoto Detroit

Dean Kirkland shares a moment with Slot-Mods creator David Beattie and car designer Camilo Pardo about ten minutes before the pre-release screening. Image Credit: AutoMoto Film + Arts Festival

Dean Kirkland Talks Racing Through The Forest Pre-Release Screening 

Post AutoMoto Film + Arts Festival Detroit 

Interview Script:

Dean Kirkland has quickly become a highly accomplished commercial, television and film director by combining his keen visual eye to unusual and powerful subject matter. His unique style and sophisticated approach have allowed him to transition from a-list photographer to well-respected filmmaker with an esteemed client list that includes the Home Depot, Lamborghini, Antonio Tetro, Clint Eastwood and Martin Sheen.

Dean is recognized for his innovative and unique style of automotive photography and is regarded by many high-profile collectors throughout the nation.

In 2012, he combined his talents with the knowledge and racing experience possessed by his production partner, Le Mans winning driver Rick Knoop, and the two men established K&K Productions.

Their first collaborative project is a beautifully engaging look into the Pebble Beach Road Races from 1950 through 1956 titled, 'Racing Through The Forest' which has been scheduled for a Autumn 2016 release.

Illustrating these wonderful stories through documentaries allowed Dean to photograph, interview and film some of the world's greatest cars and drivers.

Dean is currently developing several documentaries which include Parnelli Jones, Bobby and Al Unser, Mario Andretti and Sir Stirling Moss.

The ability to continue capturing and preserving this valuable automotive history in his unique style and aesthetic vision is the goal for K&K Productions and the living dream for Dean Kirkland.

Welcome Dean Kirkland ...

The very first screening of Racing Through The Forest was held in conjunction with the Concours d'Elegance at Pebble Beach on August 13, 2014 at the Inn at Spanish Bay. When did you first meet Rick Knoop and became involved with and accumulate the materials from which to draw the story that has now become Racing Through The Forest.

After this first screening, what were the impressions received?

In 2015, an interest was expressed to prepare the documentary for broadcast over public television ... how did this shape the documentary?

When did this version air and what were the post airing impressions?

I understand that the latest version of Racing Through The Forest is in its 4th and final revision. You are fresh off a pre-release screening of Racing Through The Forest at the AutoMoto Film + Arts Festival held in Detroit May 12-14, 2016. Tell us a little about how this screening came about, and your impressions as to the size of the attendance and make up of the crowd at the screening.

Every filmmaker is confronted with issues of distribution and broadcast content access - where is K&K Productions on this arc of awareness and access to the Motor Culture and Documentary consuming public?

Are there any future pre-release screenings planned for 2016 before the scheduled Autumn release?
ENDS

A documentary film produced by renowned racecar driver Rick Knoop and filmmaker Dean Kirkland entitled, “Racing Through the Forest – The History of the 1950-56 Pebble Beach Road Races” .

The documentary was filmed over approximately three years and includes 50 interviews of legendary names in road racing such as Fred Knoop, Mick Marston, Bill Pollack, Jim Hall and Phil Remington. It chronicles the events from the first through the last Pebble Beach Road Races, which included legends like Carroll Shelby, Phil Hill and Bill Pollock in 1956. Some of these racers will attend the private screening reception and Q&A session emceed by racer Derek Hill.

Website:
http://racingthroughtheforestmovie.com/

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/racingthrutheforest

Internet Movie DataBase:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4983314/



TAGS: Racing Through The Forest, AutoMoto Film + Arts Festival Detroit, Motor Culture, Documentary, K&K Productions, Dean Kirkland, Rick Knoop, Parnelli Jones, Bobby Unser, Al Unser, Mario Andretti, Sir Stirling Moss, Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance, Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion, Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, Automobile Week 

Ferrari 400i GTC - A One-Of (not 1-off) For The Motor Culture Ages

Jim Busby begins to step into his researched and refined Fly Yellow Ferrari 400i conversion build to a full GTC racing class creation. From the choice of color all the way down to the Forgeline Motorsports custom creation of Ferrari spec wheels that would hold modern, low-profile, full racing specification tires, this Ferrari 400i GTC motor culture surprise has to be studied, and possibly slept with, for full appreciation. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2016)

Ferrari 400i GTC - A One-Of (not 1-off) For The Motor Culture Ages

There is no such thing that defines the term '1-off' than where this term came from and was intended to be - "One-Of" - and that is exactly what this latest Fly Yellow Ferrari vision from the garage and mind of Jim Busby is ... One-Of.

No Ferrari 400i was ever created as a racing platform the way the Ferrari engineering staff would have created one if they had turned their attention to this unique creation for pedestrian grand touring use.

Through the research and ingenuity of proven racecar designer Jim Busby and his capable crew, this "One-Of" GTC (because there is only one-of Ferrari 400i GTC) is now a reality.

Le Mans winning driver, Rick Knoop puts Jim Busby's Ferrari-engineering 'channeled' 400i GTC vision through its paces during one of the initial shakedown tests at Willow Springs in Rosamond, CA after the 60 day build. Image Credit Edmund Jenks (2016)

This excerpted and edited from FORZA Magazine -

Competition Conversion - Jim Busby builds the 400i race car Ferrari never did
Story by William Edgar - April 21, 2016

When I decided to do this,” Jim Busby tells me of his inspiration two years ago, “I thought to myself, what if somebody had walked into Enzo Ferrari’s office and said, ‘Mr. Ferrari, we need to make a GTC version of the 400i because the FIA will change the rules and that car could be perfect in a new category.’ What would Enzo build? How would he do it? I tried to imagine what that would be.”

The answer? According to Busby—former drag racer, perennial hot rodder, two-time class winner at Le Mans, IMSA icon, F1 Clienti aficionado, and race-car constructor—Ferrari would have created something like the machine you see here: a one-off track-ready muscle marvel Busby calls the 400i GTC.

A side-view of a stock 1982 Ferrari 400i 2-door 5-speed GT roadcar not too dissimilar to what Jim Busby started with before conversion build to a full GTC racing class creation.. Image Credit: BringATrailer.com

In order to build a competition version of a road car, of course, you need to start with that road car. Busby found this once dingy grey non-running 1982 example (s/n 39227), then housing dead leaves and old bird nests, in Los Angeles. It had no traceable past—its last owner’s name redacted on the title, the last valid registration in Maine 14 years ago—which is uncommon for a classic Ferrari. But then the 400i, of which 1,308 were produced between 1979 and ’84, was a relatively unpopular model, being expensive, heavy at 4,100 pounds, and only brought to the U.S. through the grey market.

“I was told the car had been in a flood,” Busby recalls, “and it smelled like it, even though there wasn’t a speck of rust or corrosion anywhere.”

It was the perfect starting point for a track car, so Busby bought it for, as he puts it, “virtually nothing.” Good enough. On April 24, 2015, he had the Ferrari hauled to his shop, Jim Busby Racing, in Laguna Beach, California.
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Cockpit - once stripped, it doesn't require much leather, sound proofing,and cosmetic overlay to have it become race ready. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2016)

Busby and crew stripped out 400 pounds of factory insulation and heaps of rotten leather. “We threw everything away right down to a bare tub and went to work,” he says. The weight loss didn’t stop there, however. All in all, the 4,034-lb. Ferrari was relieved of 1,000 pounds of not-necessaries.

Busby goes on. “We took out the original 4.8-liter motor, put in a 75-pound lighter, more powerful 5.7-liter 575M [motor], and moved it back 8 inches,” he says. Rather than using Ferrari’s original intake and engine-management setups, Busby converted to individual intake stacks and a MoTeC 400 racing system. 

Busby located this V12 engine at auction on Craigslist for way under $20,000.00. The engine did not have to be crated and shipped from a geography that was far away - no, the engine was picked up locally in the Los Angeles basin. Further, given the low cost, Jim expected that the engine would need some deep repair - "all we did is clean it up and it fired the first time," said Jim Busby with the surprise of landing an inside straight, Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2016)

The 575M powerplant currently makes 510 horsepower, the same as stock, but later this year Busby  plans to pump up the engine to 700 hp. This will be achieved by porting the heads, installing new cams, and other refinements he learned while building a 575M to race on the salt flats of Bonneville, Utah.

“The car came with the stock four-speed Borg Warner Hydro, an awful gearbox,” continues Busby. “We got rid of that, obviously, and put in a Tremec T-56 Magnum six-speed with two overdrives that we had modified for racing. We went with a 5.12:1 final-drive differential that will work at almost every racetrack. It’s got drop gears just like in a sprint car, so we can change the ratio in about ten minutes.

Gear swappable rear-end differential would probably not be a modification the Ferrari engineers would envision or place into their FIA version of a 400i racecar. Notice a second modification in the build that Ferrari would not have had access to ... would be the steel drag racecar wheel tubs. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2016)

“The limited slip is made by Speedway Engineering right here in southern California,” he adds. “And, by the way, this car uses Lobro ‘930-type’ CV joints, so we have rifle-drilled IndyCar-like axles for the rear that slide right in.”

The Ferrari’s full frame was preserved, despite the new engine and driveline, although slight modifications were needed to adapt the quick-change rear end, and a roll cage was added. Then it was time to sort the suspension.

“We put an honest-to-god front anti-roll bar in it, but the rear anti-roll bar is the stock one,” says Busby. “And rather than run the enormous coil-over hydraulic shocks that were used—these cars had self-levelers—we got rid of those and installed JRi racing shocks. We then lowered the car almost a full six inches in front and about four in back. We moved the suspension pick-up points up at the same time, so the factory geometry remains the same. We used all the Ferrari A-arms, reinforcing them where necessary, and fitted aftermarket Ferrari-style bushings.”

Brembo front-end package that measure out at 14" with six-piston calipers. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2016)

Busby did toss the stock brakes, replacing them with Brembo 14-inch rotors and six-piston calipers fore, and 12-inch rotors and four-piston calipers aft. Tilton master cylinders reside at each corner.
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“Because the 400i had a strange wheel offset, we couldn’t put on wheels that went inside, so we modified the bottom arms so we could mount a wide wheel,” he explains. “It’s now got 18×13s in the rear and 18×11s in the front.”

The "One-Of" would not look or race right with the original 15-inch five-spoke hex-nut center-lock racing wheels, so Jim had them re-created in modern sizes for current technology racing tires. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2016)

Busby has always loved Ferrari’s classic 15-inch five-spoke hex-nut center-lock racing wheels. He wanted them in a modern sizes, however, so he turned to Forgeline Motorsports in Ohio to make a forged-alloy replica using Ferrari’s gold color code. Forgeline owner Steve Schardt tells me that, once he got specifications, the three-inch larger wheels were developed by his engineering staff, then finished with in-house powder coating. Now, says Busby, “You can lay Ferrari wheels next to these and, except for diameter, you cannot tell the difference.”

Nothing like an original look and feel when creating from whole cloth. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2016)

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“I didn’t want to put gigantic flares on this car like almost everybody in GT racing has always done,” Busby says. “It would have looked silly. So we tubbed it in steel at all four corners, much like a Pro Stock NHRA car would be. We cut out the original fender wells and put these wider tubs in to take our wheels and make wheel clearance.”
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“We cut the steel fenders off and bent them out three and a half inches, so they bow out from the turn signals and come back into the stock doors,” explains Busby, who was determined to keep the body in steel since that’s what he believes Ferrari would have done in period. “Then the rear quarter-panel behind the door was cut completely off the car, and moved three and a half inches. That too bows out and goes right back into where the taillights are mounted on the aft section. It’s so subtle you have to look closely to see it, which is what I wanted.”
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Frontend conversion including splitter,  headlights, and hood scoop modification. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2016)

Needless to say, the heavy stock bumpers had to go. The rear one was simply deleted, while a 45-lb. lighter fiberglass replica was installed in front. Busby then fitted a splitter underneath for an aerodynamic boost—as well as an aesthetic one. “If you follow that line back,” he notes,” the splitter rake is exactly the same as the rake of the car—à la, a racing car.”

Pins, straps, vents and scoops add to the aluminum hood. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2016)

The 400i’s original hood was reworked with a riveted-on scoop, new louvers, and some unusual vintage touches. “The aluminum hood is a lift-off, in the style of Ferrari’s racing cars,” says Busby. “It has pins in the front, and at the back we did leather straps. The GTO-type hold-downs, which are handmade by a guy in Holland for GTO restorations, I found on eBay.” Since the 400i is no GTO, the hold-downs’ tolerances had be modified in order not damage the hood or fenders.

Busby’s next target was the Ferrari’s ugly, oh-so-’80s pop-up headlights: “We dropped correct-period Cibies, that we still had in our shop, down inside buckets we made in the fenders.” Aircraft Windshield Company in Los Alamitos, California, made the lights’ clear covers, which look similar to those found on Daytonas that raced at Le Mans. AFC also replicated the side, rear, and quarter windows from Lexan polycarbonate, and made the side-window sliders. For safety reasons, the windshield is standard Ferrari glass.

Last but not least was the rear deck’s spoiler, which looks so at home you might think it’s inspired by a Ferrari part. It’s not. “I always liked the look of the ’69 Camaro Z/28 rear spoiler,” Busby admits. “So I found one and we cut it up and copied it.”

It’s difficult to fathom, but the process that turned a wiped-out 400i road car into Busby’s vision of a race-ready GTC took only sixty days (albeit after it sat idle for a half year during planning). Of course, no one person builds a race car. It takes a shop-full, and Busby’s crew works as a team. Metal whiz Tiki Alvarez joins ranks with primary fabricator Keith Hickson and first mechanic-fabricator Steve Bounds, whose son Nathaniel built the front spoiler and splitter. Paint, details, and minor bodywork are handled by Chris Hukill, while Van Butler’s gig is cabin interior. Dave Strader wired the entire car, then Shane Tecklenberg, who Busby called “the final baton runner in a relay race,” installed the self-contained MoTeC management system and its harnesses. Once that was done, and the car dropped off its stands on January 13, 2016, all that was left was to push the start button.
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Smack dab behind the driver's seat is the source of balancing weight and propulsion ... the fuel cells. Simply a work of art in engineering. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2016)

“Without a whole lot of sorting, this is perhaps the most balanced GT car I’ve ever driven,” Busby tells me the day after testing [test #4] at Thermal, “and I’ve driven a lot. Remember that we moved the engine back eight inches, and we placed the transmission dead in the middle of the car. The fuel cells are where the back seats used to be, centering the weight, and by moving all of the suspension up, which essentially moves the car down, we retained the roll centers.

Engine placement is displaced through a re-engineered firewall toward the cabin of the car in order to enhance the driving center of weight. One has to ask - would Ferrari have this attention to detail? Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2016)

“I like a car that you turn with the steering wheel and steer with the throttle—that’s a balanced car,” he continues. “If the car has a bit of understeer, then you’ve got to chase it with the throttle sooner; if you get the car sideways, you’re wasting time. So if you can get the car to turn in without understeer and then get on the throttle and steer it with that, more power brings the tail around and less power keeps it in the middle. I have always liked that, and this car, without any sorting except 100-pound-stiffer rear springs, is perfectly balanced. You can drive it anywhere you want on the race track. It was truly a prize to have the car this way virtually right off the jig. I’m pleased and really proud to have played a part in creating it.”

Rick Knoop, who has been working and racing with Busby for years [they won at Le Mans together], also drove the Ferrari at Thermal. “The car is a thoroughbred that wants to be driven,” reports Knoop. “It’s about as accurate as anything I’ve driven, and I have been driving these massive-horsepower M8F [Can-Am] McLarens. The 400i goes where it’s supposed to go. And, boy, does it have the music. It’s got quite a bit of torque and has the symphony all the way up to about 7,500. This was maybe Enzo’s dream, if he was still around.”

Jim Busby's dream of a Ferrari 400i GTC come true. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2016)

“Our impressions were exactly the same,” notes Busby. “Rick told me, ‘The faster I go through the corner, the car keeps saying, ‘Come on, a little bit more, come on!’ And he’s right. I never got the car sideways or out of shape, but I could have.”

So how fast is this incongruously-based car, really? “Top speed would depend on the race course, but given the longest straight 200 mph would be achievable,” says Busby. “In testing we saw 172. And you know what’s remarkable about this car? It has such good manners you don’t have to be brave.”

Busby built the 400i GTC for the racetrack, but its next few events are anything but. Gordon McCall has invited it to be a centerpiece at his 25th Anniversary McCall’s Motorworks Revival Monterey Airport party this coming August [Wednesday 8/17/16 - 5:00 pm - 10:00 pm], during Monterey Automotive Week. Two days later, the Ferrari will go to The Quail: A Motorsports Gathering [Friday 8/19/16 - 10:00 am - 4:00 pm]. Don’t miss it if you’ll be in Monterey.
[Reference Here]

Automotive Week - Tuesday through Sunday, Monterey in August 16-21, 2016, will be this dream-come-to-reality, for one of the most forlorn of Ferrari platforms, coming out party.

So if you plan to attend the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca or take in the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance make it a point to look-up this "One-Of" for the motor culture ages, the Busby Fly Yellow Ferrari 400i GTC - this effort will never disappoint.

... notes from The EDJE



TAGS: Ferrari 400i, Ferrari 400i GTC, Jim Busby, Rick Knoop, Willow Springs International Raceway, Forgeline Motorsports, Brembo, Tilton, Forza, 25th Anniversary McCall’s Motorworks Revival, The Quail: A Motorsports Gathering, The EDJE, 

Spoken word documentary "Racing Through the Forest" at Pebble Beach delivers a 'Must See'

Crowd of motor culture enthusiasts gather to see the premiere screening of “Racing Through the Forest – The History of the 1950-56 Pebble Beach Road Races”. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2014)

Spoken word documentary "Racing Through the Forest" at Pebble Beach delivers a 'Must See'

Boxes that contain photographs arranged in albums (not just images) of times shared in a lifetime are nothing more than just books with photos. It takes other humans who have courage, patience, acumen, and heart to attempt to capture context and tales associated with the lives and times of a bygone era so important to our modern day motor culture ... here, and throughout the world.

Race car driver, Rick Knoop is one such person who, with the support and talents of film-maker Dean Kirkland, Rick's wife Cydette Vikander Knoop, and the rest of the organization at K&K Productions, who stepped up to the challenge to bring forward the stories behind the images stored in book placed in a box then conducted and edited over 50 interviews, 100's of photos, and archive film into one 1 hour 16 minutes piece of informative movie entertainment.

Fred 'Frosty' Knoop as he appeared during an interview in the film presentation of "Racing Through the Forest" at Spanish Bay. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2014)

For those who may have been unfamiliar with Rick,  he is the son of Fred 'Frosty' Knoop who also happened to be a driver of sport cars while ranching, raising and judging horses in Northern California. Rick came by his skill through his DNA, in that Frosty raced sport cars in the formative years of modern road racing through the woods of the Monterey Peninsula.

For Rick's contribution to motor culture, as a driver, Rick consistently won and placed in the world’s most challenging and prestigious sports car races that include his victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans to winning at Daytona.

Rick Knoop as he winds up the V8 engine of the 1972 Can Am McLaren M8F on the front straight of Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca during the 2014 Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion. Image Credit: Thomas Stahler (2014)

Today, Rick still straps on his similarly colored Bruno Junqueira helmet (or should this be stated the other way around) in an effort to keep alive race cars from past series so that the memory of these engineering marvels never fades.

Here, Rick moves from a qualifying position of 11 to finish on the podium in P3 at the 2014 Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.

Movie Poster - Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2014)

 This excerpted and edited from KSBW.com -

Pebble Beach race track remembered in 'Racing Through The Forest'
By Amy Larson - Aug 15, 2014 - UPDATED 11:48 AM PDT

"Racing Through The Forest," which premiered at The Inn at Spanish Bay in Pebble Beach on Wednesday during Monterey auto week. 

The film revealed never-before-seen footage of the Pebble Beach Road Races, held from 1950-1956.

Before there was Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, young brilliant mechanics in California who had dreams of becoming race car drivers wanted to compete in their Jaguars, Ferraris, MGs, and Alfa Romeos, and they needed a place to race.

Photo of the track shown in the film presentation of "Racing Through the Forest" at Spanish Bay. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2014)

They chose 17 Mile Drive to be their dangerous track.

The public road had sharp turns and dramatic elevation drops. Del Monte Forest's dense pine trees lined the road and created a strobe light effect. Dark shadows from the trees sharply contrasted against a bright white sky, and the visual effect distracted drivers.
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The 1950s is now considered the romantic time of American racing, before the sport became a business for car manufacturers and competition between athletes for sponsors. The Pebble Beach Road Race's entry fee was $15, and drivers were only semi-professional because sports car racing was just being born in America.

Graphic of the original track layout as shown in the film presentation of "Racing Through the Forest" at Spanish Bay. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2014)

Each race, the men behind the wheel got better, the pits become more innovative with designs, and some drivers went on to become world champions (In 1961, Phil Hill became the first American to win the Formula One World Drivers' Championship. Carroll Shelby went on to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1959 and design Shelby Cobra and Shelby Ford Mustangs).
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Crowds of fans were nine-people deep along some parts of the Del Monte Forest track, and the only barriers between fans and the track were a few bales of hay. There was always an undercurrent of adrenaline and danger, fans said.

Crowds and the track as a Triumph TR2 misses a corner as shown in the film presentation of "Racing Through the Forest" at Spanish Bay. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2014)

Pebble Beach's race track ended in tragedy, when driver Ernie McAfee crashed a Ferrari into a tree and died instantly. A race in Pebble Beach never happened again.

Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca was built on Fort Ord in 1957 and became the modern day successor.

The goal behind making "Racing Through The Forest" was to unearth what these pioneering, fearless young drivers did in the 1950s and gather film footage that would otherwise be lost over time. The film was written and directed by filmmaker Dean Kirkland and produced by renowned race car driver Rick Knoop.
[Reference Here]

Invited guests watch the screening of "Racing Through the Forest" at Spanish Bay. Here, Bill Pollack imparts some memories in the movie as Bill Pollack (end of front row) watches. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2014) 

This seminal set of races also placed in motion the process of finding lighter, faster, more powerful, nimble cars from around the world and helped to fashion a racing resource template used today that has its motor culture roots firmly based in the forest around Pebble Beach.

"What began as a tribute to my father, Fred Knoop, has evolved into a celebration of one of the world’s greatest road races," Rick Knoop said at the Spanish Bay movie premiere. "We’re thrilled to share this incredible story with audiences at the Pebble Beach Concours. It is a privilege to have the opportunity to explore this incredible history, especially just feet from the road where the men and machines did battle."

Rick Knoop and Dean Kirkland delivered on the promise these photographs stored in an album and held in a box to be brought back to life with heart in a way an image could never do ... through film.

A must see film where the heart of the making of the presentation comes through in every frame and leaves an indelible and permanent impression.

... notes from The EDJE



TAGS: Rick Knoop, Cydette Vikander Knoop, Dean Kirkland, Fort Ord, Fred 'Frosty' Knoop, MAZDA Raceway Laguna Seca, Monterey Peninsula, Motor Culture, Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance, Road Races, Spanish Bay, The EDJE, K & K PRODUCTIONS