RUMBLINGS, September 1953

RUMBLINGS

Lt.-CoL A. T. “Collie” Gardner is off after more records on September 16th: He will attempt to gain for Britain the Class E records held by Piero Tarufirs twin-boom (‘ GOMM ” Maserati-engined car, which averaged 185.41

AGAIN m.p.h. over a two-way kilometre and 185.3 m.p.h.

over a two-way mile. Gardner will make his attempt at the Jabbekke motor road near Ostend. He will use his famous all-enveloping M.G. record car in which will be installed a bored-out TD M.G. Midget push-rod o.h.v. engine having a capacity of 1,517 c.c., and using a Shorrocks supercharger boosting at 26 lb./sq. in. A special 10-in, diameter clutch wilk transmit the b.h.p. of 200 which is developed at 6,500 r.p.m. The axle ratio of 2.8 to 1 provides for:201 m.p.h. at 6,300 r.p.m. * * * Coventry Climax Engines, Limited, the old-established firm of engine manufacturers, have for some time been working on a new range of high-performance, lightweight, petrel A NEW F. I and diesel engines as a new approach to the ENGINE provision of power for industry, having in mind

the requirements of this new Elizabethan Era, where much of the equipment for mineral exploration in remote parts of the world is carried by air. Apart from airborne equipment, more and more power is required from mobile equipment of all kinds and with existing power units there is a limit imposed by both weight and size. The object is to draw on the tremendous advances made in metallurgy and technical skill which enables higher speeds to be used with considerable reliability, this development is being conducted by Mr. W. T. F. Hassan, the Technical Director, and Mr. Harry Mundy, Chief Designer, both of whom have considerable experience in this highly specialised type of work.

The diesel engines, still under development, are giving most encouraging results, and the first of the range of petrol engines, a four-cylinder 1,000-c.c. type FW, is now in production for use in an ultra lightweight tire pump of interesting design which has aroused considerable attention from engine users in various fields.

A new type, the FPE, just announced, is of a size which has attracted the attention of several British racing-car constructors as it complies with the new 2i-litre Formula I for racing ears and, with minor changes, promises to provide a useful engine for this purpose.

The company recognises the value of this means of testing and for demonstrating engine performance, and to that end has agreed to make them available to several important British motor-racing concerns which have expressed interest, including Messrs. H.W.M., Connaught, Cooper, Kieft and Mr. Stirling Moss.

The engine is a 90-deg. V8 unit with bore of 76.2 mm. and stroke of 68 mm., giving a capacity of 2,477 c.c. The compression ratio is 11 to 1 and estimated power is 250 b.h.p. at 8,500 r.p.m.

The crankcase, which carries the five main bearings for the crankshaft and wet cylinder liners, is of one-piece construction in aluminium alloy.

The cylinder heads are also of aluminitun alloy. Combustion chambers are hemispherical in form, each with one inlet and one exhaust valve operated by direct action through tappets and controlled by valve springs of the hairpin type. The valve seats are shrunk-in austenitic iron seating.

The crankshaft of high-tensile steel on which the connecting rods run aide by side has bearings of large diameter and is fully balanced; it has an end-to-end feed for supplying oil to the bearings, which are of the thin-wall lead-bronze type.

The drive to camshafts and auxiliaries is by hardened and ground spur gears. There are two water pumps, each feeding one block; also two oil pumps—one for pressure and one for scavenge.

The estimated dry weight of the unit is 335 lb. ****************** AMERICAN RACING—continued from page 435 the Segrave Sunbeam did on twin converted aviation motors in 1927. It is all pretty astonishing and a credit to U.S. “Speed Shops” which supply the special bits that breed big work-horses. Roger Huntington, aforementioned,had a most intriguing article in the August Speed Age in which he got to grips with the slender data available and by some truly erudite mathematics proved that over a standing-start quarter-mile the better “hot rods” are quicker than the pre-war record-breaking Auto-Union and Mercedes-Benz ears. Huntington is absolutely fair in admitting that this is true only over a quarter of a mile and that after this the German ears

ow*

would forge ahead to the goals of kilometre and mile for which they were designed.

To do these staggering s.s. quarter-mile runs the ” dragsters” weigh only about 14/14 cwt. and their bored-out 300-en. in. Ford V8 engines develop 3501400 b.h.p. on nitro-methane fuels. With plenty of weight on the back wheels this can result in under 11 see. for the quarter-mile, finishing the distance at just under 143 m.p.h., whereas a G.P. Auto-Union would take 11.98 sec. finishing at 138i m.p.h. and the C-type record-breaking Auto-Union would clock 11.26 sec., finishing at just over 145 m.p.h., by Huntington’s reckoning. He says he is “pretty proud of America’s backyard mechanics,” and I say he has every reason to be. And I trust Huntington’s figures where I should normally look for bugs. What it amounts to, of course is that the boys in California go

for sprint speed, whereas in England we seek to go fast for longer distances, witness the fact that while they push 400 or so horse-power out of the American Ford V8 motor out there, another Technical Editor, in this eountry, has been to great pains to step up the output of the English-built Ford Zephyr engine from 64 to 95 b.h.p., intending, however, to can his soup in a saloon, for consumption on the road.

Another, again different, aspect of American racing is the PanAmerican road race, in its third year next November. It is a race that gives a car a severe test, something between Le Mans and the Mile Miglia, and one which is not only the last race counting for the Sports-Cr World Championship, but one which should scoop some very worthwhile dollar sales. Ferrari walked it in 1952 and MereedeaBenz last year, but in the hastily-introduced 1952 stock class Lincoln made an impressive showing. This year I want to see British cars performing prominently in both categories and I hope they have the same idea in Huddersfield, Coventry and Filton.—W. B.