If I recall correcetly that article is about the car that finished up in Aus - allgedly JXC 806 D? (I say allegedly, because 806 as raced had a V8 base unit, and in the light of the series production intention, may well have been a completely new car, just bearing the registration plates from the old 806 which, as a V8 prototype, used a 2000 base unit) I'm pretty sure also that the car referred to as being on display in the US is the one built up from "spares" and isn't in fact one of the two original racers, although things are pretty murky there and it may well have carried the "808" registration plates. The engine in the car that came to Aus is the one originally fitted to 808 and was later reclaimed by BL - hence the massive rebuild that car then suffered, it now being only barely recognisable as a P6 with the bulkhead gone, engine in the passenger compartment etc etc. Whilst the details of the engine given in the article are as published at the time by BL, they don't correlate with the engine! It's actually rather larger and more exotic than advertised. We know because the engine still bore the TRACO engine number and TRACO still exist in California. They were able to furnish precise build details, which do correlate with the engine. Hence the decision to use a replica engine in the racer rather than risk the original. Spec is best described as upgraded Can-Am which, if there's anyone on here who knows what that means, translates to Mega Horsepower. It would seem BL didn't bother telling the racing authorities at the time.... I have a feeling the published spec probably did match the engine in 806 so they probably thought they could get away with pretending they were two of a kind!
As regards suspension, 806 is generally agreed to have had a complete Jag E type rear end, ditching the de dion along with the diff. 808, however retained the de dion, although I can't remember whether or not is still has the Rover diff. 808 as it is now, whilst having broadly P6 front suspension, has considerable modifications. Not least that the mounting points for the lower wishbone are raised onto the inner wing, so as to eliminate most of the camber change in bump that's a feature of the original location. Everything is rose jointed and the roll cage acts as a brace for the top link pivot point by being directly bolted through the bulkhead into the top link brackets.
There is some certainty that the car you see pictured today is 808 as it still retains the 2000 base unit. The owners research also suggests, that, contrary to published information, it is 808 that was the car that actually competed at Spa, no matter what plates it was actually wearing at the time! So the car photo'd is the actual car that retired from the lead, 20 miles ahead of the works Porsches in the last competitive outing for either car.
As you can see from the above, establishing exactly what you are looking at, difficult enough with any works prototype, is doubly so with these two (or more) cars!
Chris
