I’ve had several people comment on my “Service Challenges” article and how the challenges of maintenance were highlighted. The peanut gallery was mostly shop owners and mechanics who clearly have experienced the same issues when repairing Ferrari automobiles.

While I have worked with many different mechanics, or technicians as they are known today, there are always a few that really stand out in my mind that I thought were exceptional.

Since my first exposure to high quality mechanics was from my early days at FAF Motorcars, there are several from there that helped me to become better.

Joe Batchelor and Rich Rudiger were some of the best and brightest guys I have ever known. Batchelor could repair anything. I don’t think there was any component he could not work on and repair.

Engines, transmissions, anything electrical or electronic could not stump his abilities. One of the groundbreaking processes FAF pioneered was cold rolling the valve seats to prevent them from falling out on the V-12 engines.

Ferrari used bronze valve seats in the cylinder heads. The coefficient of expansion between the bronze seats and aluminum head could cause the seat to get loose and fall out.

This often led to damage to the piston, cylinder head and valve. Not properly warming up the engine was often the cause. High RPMs on a cold engine was often followed by nasty, expensive sounds from the engine.

Even today when I hear people light off any engine and immediately start bouncing off the rev limiter it makes me worry about the impending damage.

The FAF process was to install new valve seats into the cylinder head and push some of the aluminum next to the seat over the edge, so the seat was mechanically locked in place.

The advent of unleaded fuel and hardened steel valve seats have solved many of those issues. But, in the 1970s this was a problem and FAF had the solution.

Rich Rudiger was also a master mechanic. Rudiger was a gearbox man. There was not a transmission or rear axle that he could not repair. When setting the pre-load on anything with gears he could just feel when it was too tight, or loose.

He could take a shim and sand it down on a flat-plate to the exact thousandths he needed. I learned a lot from him also.

Mike Gourley was the service manager, and he ruled with an iron fist. Everything had a place, and it must be returned to that place.

I once rebuilt the transmission in my hippy van after hours. I removed and disassembled it. It took a couple weeks and every night I cleaned parts, and it slowly came back together. The night I put it back in I worked until about five in the morning. It ran perfectly, but I had left one wrench on a bench.

When Gourley came to work he exploded and wanted to know who had left the wrench and who had been working in his shop. I claimed it and described how I had been working each night.

This only made the situation worse until I explained he had no knowledge of my work and would not have even known I was there without the errant wrench. I had cleaned up each night and returned everything exactly as I had found it.

There were others that have had an impact. While working in California, Harold White came to Steve Tillack to help when needed. White was another wizard. He had worked for Dan Gurney and Carroll Shelby. He had worked on IndyCar teams and had stories that only someone who had been there, done that, could tell.

White was rebuilding the famous Kirk White Cannonball Daytona engine, S/N 14271. While disassembling the engine White showed all the little tricks Traco had done to enhance the performance. It was an educational experience.

For the most part the engine was stock, but each piston had been balanced with little clip-on weights, and the crankshaft oil holes had been chamfered slightly to give better oil flow. Clearly Ferrari had done a good job in designing a strong and powerful engine. Traco’s enhancements were minor but effective.

Since White was basically a contract worker, he only came when help was needed. He did this for many of the shops in the Los Angeles area. While installing the Daytona engine back into the car White leaned back and dipped his head into a pan of oil.

You could hear the commotion throughout the shop. Bad words were said and White stormed out into his car and was gone! It was nearly a week before Tillack could convince White to return and finish the job.

After I left California, I was hired to work for Norwood Autocraft. I had talked to Bob Norwood in Monterey, and he invited me to come to Texas to see his operation.

Norwood picked me up at the airport in a twin-turbo Boxer. In the mid-eighties seatbelt usage was not mandatory like it is today. Norwood was not wearing a belt and not wanting to look scared I neglected to put mine on.

As Norwood drove to the shop he demonstrated the power of two turbos along a residential street. At each end of the block were small dips for water runoff. As the Boxer sped down the street each time we came to a dip the rear wheels would come off the ground and another set of black rubber stripes were put down.

About the third time this happened I thought it would not be cool to reach over and put the belt on. If I died, at least it would have been in a Ferrari!

I took the job and working with Norwood was an incredible experience. He had a way of visualizing a result and creatively came up with a solution. Repairing cars was not what interested him, it was the quest to make things go faster. Pure genius at work.

I saw the beginnings of what would become the first Bonneville 308 Norwood would build which ultimately led to the record setting 288 GTO in 2010.

I was only there a year but the things I learned I still carry today.

In every industry there are special people, and the Ferrari world tends to attract its own share of talented people. Throughout the years there have been many Ferrari mechanics that could keep things moving.

Guys like Bill Rudd, Bruno Borri, and John Hajduk were others that had the Ferrari touch. Most are gone but a few are still around.

Bob Norwood is still creating things with massive horsepower. Patrick Ottis and Francois Sicard are transferring their knowledge.

Repairing and understanding old Ferraris is being taken over by a new generation. Let’s hope the knowledge continues to be passed down.