Our own P. A. Schilke's Name in Road & Track!

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Hi Folks,

Here is a picture or two of one of my SCCA Racetrucks I build at Livernois Engineering, that was purchase by a fellow (now a friend) in Columbus Ohio....Amazing to see a truck that was raced almost 30 years ago. This is me with the truck and the 2nd picture is of the restored truck as displayed at the Lemay Auto Museum in Tacoma Washington. Amazing that things like this bubble up after so much time has passed! Also a pix of my trucks at the 1990 GP in the hands of Steve Saleen, George Follmer and Calvin Fish...

PhilwithMikestruck.jpg
RangeratLeMayMuseum_1.jpg


1990 Detroit Grand Prix
1990DetroitGP.jpg
Now that is cool! Thanks Phil!!!!
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I enjoy the history of our Ranger from an original developer. My '87 ranger was my first truck and my first new vehicle I purchased. It still holds a special place in my memories.
 

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There's some videos out there on Youtube for these SCCA events. Here's one from '87 where Steve Saleen had an early lead. Not the same trucks though.



This takes me back to the first Ranger I ever drove. And learned standard on. My Dad's '86. Man that thing could fly. I was surprised I never got a ticket.
 
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...

This takes me back to the first Ranger I ever drove. And learned standard on. My Dad's '86. Man that thing could fly. I was surprised I never got a ticket.
My first was a 94 stick shifter that was my commute vehicle...great little truck with A/C even. Became my son's first vehicle - drove it till it could no longer get registered in CA (smog crap).
 


P. A. Schilke

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There's some videos out there on Youtube for these SCCA events. Here's one from '87 where Steve Saleen had an early lead. Not the same trucks though.



This takes me back to the first Ranger I ever drove. And learned standard on. My Dad's '86. Man that thing could fly. I was surprised I never got a ticket.
Hi Jim,

What memories! Brainard was where we really learned about bump drafting due to the very long straight. Sandbagging was our strategy as well as most other teams when we learned of the grid inversion. We did okay at sand bagging but not enough for the lead... I was there and I left after the race with a resolve to make the Ranger faster... Spent many evenings at the handling track trying various parts and settings to make the Rangers faster.

A bit of a back story... I was an trackside Indy Car official at the same time as I knew the Indycars mechanically and one of the things I wanted to do for Ranger was develop blade adjustable stabilizer bars like Indycars, both front and rear to be able to tune the Ranger Racetrucks for roll stiffness. It took a while for Livernois to make the blades as designed by one of my team at Ford, Rob S. When we finally got the machining done and bolted these blades on the trucks at Mid Ohio Sportscar Course we instantaneously dropped 3 seconds off our last year lap times with only rear bars which I decided were most effective as we cranked out more blades for both front and rear for all 4 trucks...there team trucks and my test mule. We started winning after that coupled with motor work on the dyno to get more hp...... From Limerock to the victory podium was a struggle but a labor of love and I look back now with Wow...I started the whole thing at the urging of my Chief Engineer in Light Truck Engineering, Dan Riviard! Had I failed, I would have likely spent my career as a fellow on the oars ( and enjoyed this), but Light Truck Engineering was different than stogy Car Engineering.... This culture in Truck is why Ford Truck is still No. 1 All I can say..what a ride!

Best,
Phil Schilke
Ranger Vehicle Engineering
Ford Motor Co. Retired
 
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Hi Jim,

What memories! Brainard was where we really learned about bump drafting due to the very long straight. Sandbagging was our strategy as well as most other teams when we learned of the grid inversion. We did okay at sand bagging but not enough for the lead... I was there and I left after the race with a resolve to make the Ranger faster... Spent many evenings at the handling track trying various parts and settings to make the Rangers faster.

A bit of a back story... I was an trackside Indy Car official at the same time as I knew the Indycars mechanically and one of the things I wanted to do for Ranger was develop blade adjustable stabilizer bars like Indycars, both front and rear to be able to tune the Ranger Racetrucks for roll stiffness. It took a while for Livernois to make the blades as designed by one of my team at Ford, Rob S. When we finally got the machining done and bolted these blades on the trucks at Mid Ohio Sportscar Course we instantaneously dropped 3 seconds off our last year lap times with only rear bars which I decided were most effective as we cranked out more blades for both front and rear for all 4 trucks...there team trucks and my test mule. We started winning after that coupled with motor work on the dyno to get more hp...... From Limerock to the victory podium was a struggle but a labor of love and I look back now with Wow...I started the whole thing at the urging of my Chief Engineer in Light Truck Engineering, Dan Riviard! Had I failed, I would have likely spent my career as a fellow on the oars ( and enjoyed this), but Light Truck Engineering was different than stogy Car Engineering.... This culture in Truck is why Ford Truck is still No. 1 All I can say..what a ride!

Best,
Phil Schilke
Ranger Vehicle Engineering
Ford Motor Co. Retired
Phil, this stuff is so cool to read. Thank you!
 

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Hi Jim,

What memories! Brainard was where we really learned about bump drafting due to the very long straight. Sandbagging was our strategy as well as most other teams when we learned of the grid inversion. We did okay at sand bagging but not enough for the lead... I was there and I left after the race with a resolve to make the Ranger faster... Spent many evenings at the handling track trying various parts and settings to make the Rangers faster.

A bit of a back story... I was an trackside Indy Car official at the same time as I knew the Indycars mechanically and one of the things I wanted to do for Ranger was develop blade adjustable stabilizer bars like Indycars, both front and rear to be able to tune the Ranger Racetrucks for roll stiffness. It took a while for Livernois to make the blades as designed by one of my team at Ford, Rob S. When we finally got the machining done and bolted these blades on the trucks at Mid Ohio Sportscar Course we instantaneously dropped 3 seconds off our last year lap times with only rear bars which I decided were most effective as we cranked out more blades for both front and rear for all 4 trucks...there team trucks and my test mule. We started winning after that coupled with motor work on the dyno to get more hp...... From Limerock to the victory podium was a struggle but a labor of love and I look back now with Wow...I started the whole thing at the urging of my Chief Engineer in Light Truck Engineering, Dan Riviard! Had I failed, I would have likely spent my career as a fellow on the oars ( and enjoyed this), but Light Truck Engineering was different than stogy Car Engineering.... This culture in Truck is why Ford Truck is still No. 1 All I can say..what a ride!

Best,
Phil Schilke
Ranger Vehicle Engineering
Ford Motor Co. Retired
Loved those Jeeps!
 

P. A. Schilke

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Loved those Jeeps!
Hi Gary,

Archers were fast....I vowed to beat them and we did!

Best,
Phil Schilke
Ranger Vehicle Engineering
Ford Motor Co. Retired
 

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Hi Gary,

Archers were fast....I vowed to beat them and we did!

Best,
Phil Schilke
Ranger Vehicle Engineering
Ford Motor Co. Retired
They were indeed,and it took a lot of people a lot of time money and effort,and some rule changes..... to beat them.
Truly though,had to be a blast,and what really got me into all the V8 Dakota‘s I built and raced over the years.
Still a truck nut which is why I’m here LOL
 

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Fascinating read, I've got a question though Phil.
How was setting up the front suspension on this era Rangers?
They used Ford famous twin-I beam setup, a design that was much stouter than it needed to be, but the camber changes during it's normal operation must have been a killer...
 

P. A. Schilke

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Fascinating read, I've got a question though Phil.
How was setting up the front suspension on this era Rangers?
They used Ford famous twin-I beam setup, a design that was much stouter than it needed to be, but the camber changes during it's normal operation must have been a killer...
Hi Jeff,

Actually we used this to our advantage. We had the best handling trucks in the series...Taking two trucks to Lime Rock taught us a ton and our times at Lime Rock were due to superb handling. Not horsepower so much with the Lime Rock Truck's stock V6. Our tire temps across the tread from outside, middle and inside were indicator of our hard work and tuning. The last turn at Lime Rock is a true test of guts as it is so fast and you are coming down hill super fast, a 6 story drop. Our Rangers could take the turn flat out with the truck in a 4 wheel drift to the outside of the Sam Posey straight, and we could carry that speed the whole straightaway. Took guts to keep the right foot planted with the Ranger in a 4 wheel dance with the pavement! Fun stuff!

We had a show off with the Mustang guys where Formula 1 World Champion, Jackie Stewart drove our Ranger and the Mustang at our handling track. The truck got high praise? and the Mustang was given a double thumbs down :thumbsdown::thumbsdown: by Jackie. In fact, Jackie told all the Brass in attendance that the Mustang folks need to talk to the Truck guys as it was clear to me (Jackie) that the truck guys know what they are doing... My chief Engineer, Dan Rivard was grinning ear to ear.... To this day, the Mustang Manager of the time Jim K. hates my guts..

Best,
Phil Schilke
Ranger Vehicle Engineering
Ford Motor Co. Retired
 

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Hi Jeff,

Actually we used this to our advantage. We had the best handling trucks in the series...Taking two trucks to Lime Rock taught us a ton and our times at Lime Rock were due to superb handling. Not horsepower so much with the Lime Rock Truck's stock V6. Our tire temps across the tread from outside, middle and inside were indicator of our hard work and tuning. The last turn at Lime Rock is a true test of guts as it is so fast and you are coming down hill super fast, a 6 story drop. Our Rangers could take the turn flat out with the truck in a 4 wheel drift to the outside of the Sam Posey straight, and we could carry that speed the whole straightaway. Took guts to keep the right foot planted with the Ranger in a 4 wheel dance with the pavement! Fun stuff!

We had a show off with the Mustang guys where Formula 1 World Champion, Jackie Stewart drove our Ranger and the Mustang at our handling track. The truck got high praise? and the Mustang was given a double thumbs down :thumbsdown::thumbsdown: by Jackie. In fact, Jackie told all the Brass in attendance that the Mustang folks need to talk to the Truck guys as it was clear to me (Jackie) that the truck guys know what they are doing... My chief Engineer, Dan Rivard was grinning ear to ear.... To this day, the Mustang Manager of the time Jim K. hates my guts..

Best,
Phil Schilke
Ranger Vehicle Engineering
Ford Motor Co. Retired
Thanks for the response Phil, pity that Mr. Jim K. still disdains you, but the fact of the matter is that Mr. Stewart gave praise where it was deserved. Clearly the Rangers were superior in handling based on his observations, the Mustang boys just had to acknowledge it, plain and simple. I suppose Ford interdepartmental rivalry was somewhat fierce?

As you well know, Ford had some other designs that were much more robust than they needed to be:
The "Big 6" 240/300 inline motors
4 speed "Toploader" transmission
The famed 9" differential design

The movie "Mr. Majestic" with good 'ol Chucky Bronson is testament to the twin I beam design, they sure hammered that poor F-100...
 

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Outstanding! I am extremely envious of you. I was fortunate enough to see the trucks run and rub on the Milwaukee Mile in 1989. I was part of an ASA team that happened to be in town at the same time. They look like a lot of fun. The next week I purchased a Ranger GT and own to this day.
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