DeTomaso Mangusta hillclimb car...

[Ace-Garageguy]

 

[espo]

I love the sound of the engine as he works it up through the gear box. 

[Jon Cole]

That put a smile on my face!

[THarrison351]

I know this came originally with a 289 Ford, but I'm wondering what it has now. The comments on YT are all over the place. Sounds like a flat-plane crank, but could be the headers too. Anyone have any specs?

[Ace-Garageguy]

I've tried, so far unsuccessfully, to find some hard info on this specific car. The internet is full, as usual, of know-nothings parroting each other, and a few folks who actually have a clue. As there were only about 200 Mangustas built, and very few raced, it's just a matter of tracking down chassis numbers until the right car pops up. So far I'm reasonably sure it's not 1154 or 1212, both of which have some racing history. 1212 was finished in blue however, has big fender flares, so it might be the one.

1212:  

Chassis #1052 has raced fairly extensively in Europe fairly recently, owned by Heiko Ostmann.  

Far as the flat-crank goes, at some points on the track, you can hear the more expected V8 rumble quite clearly. I'm kinda thinking the little 289 or 302 is just being wound up really really tight, though it does indeed sound like Ford's current flat-crank engine probably would if it was screaming through a very short exhaust system as on the Goose. You can flat-crank any 90^O V8 by carving the crank from a forged billet, grinding the right cam, and building an exhaust system that spaces the pulses correctly, so it's not totally inconceivable it's a one-of-a-kind engine. BUT...it sounds rather a lot like the screamer in the Pantera hillclimb car I posted earlier. Hmmmmm...

The truth is out there...

Edited May 28, 2019 by Ace-Garageguy