ANOTHER WORLD SPEED ATTEMPT
ANOTHER WORLD SPEED ATTEMPT
At Connersville, the first body designs for Ab Jenkins’s 3,600 h.p. two-motored racing-car in which the noted driver will attempt to lower Sir Malcolm Campbell’s Bluebird record of 301 m.p.h., will be ready shortly, Jenkins has just announced
Jeukins’s car, which will incorporate many airplane features of design, will have a speed of better than 360 m.p.h. he believes, and will be perfectly balanced even at 360 m.p.h.
” One of the chief problems in designing a racing-car capable of doing better than 350 m.p.h. is to keep it balanced at this tremendous speed” he said. “At this speed a car has a tendency to take off like an airplane, and this shifts the balance. Also if the front wheels leave the ground, the car cannot be steered. and when the wheels strike the ground again they are likely to be at an angle that may turn the car over.”
Another problem that Jenkins is faced with is stopping the car, since as yet no brake drums have been designed that will stand the strain of the terrific pull necessary to slow a car down from 350 m.p.h. In tests, ordinary brake drums have crumbled into bits trying to stop at 175 m.p.h. “The run naturally will be made at the Bonneville Salt Beds in Utah” Jenkins said “as that is the best speedway surface in the world. I plan to use the same thirteen-mile straightaway that
Campbell used. ‘I his straightaway is about thirteen miles long, and the problem is to stop the car from a 350 m.p.h. speed in about three miles, as I will have to take a flying start of at least four miles. Consequently, ordinary brakes are out of the question, and I am having flaps, or side wings, similar to those on an airplane, designed to assist in braking.
These hinged wings will be operated by a lever, and pulled open by the motor when I want to stop the car. A horizontal rudder will also be used to keep the front end of the car from lifting up and trying to take off.”
Jenkins, who is associated with the experimental department of the Auburn Automobile Company, here, said that work in laying out the chassis of the racer had already begun. Two .1,800 h.p. engines will be used on a 200 in. wheelbase chassis, one at each end, and traction will be from all four wheels. The front engine will drive direct and the front wheels will brake against compression. The rear engine will free wheel, thus eliminating the necessity of synchronisation.
The American believes he will have no difficulty in bringing the automobile speed record back to his country, and has called on the best engineering brains available to assist him in working out the design of the car. Auggie Duesenberg, Russell Howe, Jim Robinson, and a score of others prominent in racing-car design, have been called in. Wind tunnel tests on the streamlined body design are now being made at the Auburn plants here, and the final lines will be accepted, it is believed, soon..
J enkius’s Mormon Meteor, in which he established 144 speed and endurance records last summer at Bonneville. is now being rebuilt at the Auburn plant at Connersville, in preparation for an assault on all records from ten miles to twentyfour hours.
AN OUTSTANDING BOOK
The year 1936 saw the establishment of many speed records on land and in the air. A new book has just been issued called ” 1936 Achievements” in which these are well portrayed and described. To
all motorists this comprehensive little book will make a strong appeal, since it forms an interesting souvenir of a really record year of speed. Copies can be obtained by filling in the postcard which you will find facing page 132
page FAIR PLAY, PLEASE!
It seems likely that the Irish Motor Racing Club will take action through the R.A.C. in respect of the Junior Car Club’s date of August 2nd, for the International Trophy Race at Brooklands.
In 1934 the date for the Craigantlet Hill Climb was fixed for August 31st, and the J.C.C. asked the Ulster A.C. for permission to use the same date for a Donington race meeting, to which consent was given.
In the following year the Craigantlet fixture was arranged for the Saturday before the T.T., as in eight consecutive years. Nevertheless, the J.C.C. applied for an international date at Donington, which was granted.
Now the J.C.C. is asking for August Bank Holiday as the date for the International Trophy Race, which is already settled as the day of the I.M.R.C. Limerick G.P. Certainly the impossibility of holding their big race at Donington on Coronation Day was the reason for the J.C.C. making the change, but with an overcrowded fixture list and a shortage of fast racing-cars any protest which the I.M.R.C. decides to lodge should have careful consideration. The cars eligible for the J .C.C. event clash far more seriously with those permitted in the Limerick race than the usual entry for a B.A.R.C. short-handicap race meeting. There is a strong feeling in Irish motorracing circles, that the J.C.C. should fix its dates before the season commences, and with that view we incline to agree. There are several Saturdays free in the Brooklands fixture which should suit.