Will 16 go into 12?

Sir,

The anecdote related by Bill Boddy in the August issue concerning Auto Union’s possible use of dummy exhaust stubs in an attempt to trick Mercedes into believing they were using the 1937 V16 engine at Donington in ’38, must be apocryphal. As Bill will well remember, the 1937

season was the last under the 750kg, no-limit-to-engine-capacity formula, whereas 1938-39 rules called for a maximum of 3-litre supercharged and 4.5-litre unsupercharged.

I doubt Auto Union could have shoehomed the ’37 engine into the new chassis — even disregarding scrutineering considerations.

I AM YOURS, ETC,

Anthony Reynolds, Ontario, Canada