Yes, that's how they reccomend it now, I remember seeing these in an older catalog.
I suspect Hilborn discovered (if they didn't already know) exactly what you mention as I see the on line catalog shows a 'spigot mount' like a motorcycle uses (which is what you appear to have).
I also suspect that at one time there were likely sanctioning bodies that wouldn't accept any kind of hose in the intake tract downstream of the butterflies (if at all), hence the existence of throttle bodies like these.
These are manufactured to clamp to the tubes directly and the part that clamps down to retain it on the tube (more than the o ring inside does) is part of the casting each throttle body is made of.
Yes, the '09 rule book still lists his 'I' class record as being current. To my knowledge it hasn't gone that fast since the re power.
We're working on that.
Priorities at this point run:
1. Safety
2. Mechanical reliability
3. Speed
Nothing real major on the first two, not much more than off season maintenance type stuff. We'll see about the 3rd.
Thanks for the pictures.
Oh, yes ours is still mechanical.
00 pump
4BS nozzles
085 pill
Newly installed 171 rotor (or is that 177
I don't have that in front of me at the moment, it's what Hilborn reccomended).
SHINY new ram stacks.
Yes I keep coming back to that, c-mon, they're new (to me anyway) they're shiny, what's not to like?
Now I just gotta figure out how long the intake ports are in the head, so I can do the math to figure out how long the ram stacks need to be (I can't leave them as long as they are, they would intrude into the driver's compartment
).
Perhaps after I get the stubs rolled over in the mount plate so I can mount the throttle assembly right side up (the nozzles pass through the intake stubs they are mounted to). I have it apart now, it was held together with epoxy, can't be all bad, it took a torch and a chain wrench to get it apart.
I'm alodining the pieces before I stick them back together. Mount plate already is, I have a bit more cleaning to do on the stubs before I treat them.
Pics of all this as soon as I get them onto Photobucket.