At this time Carden was taking class records at Brooklands, a mere fifteen miles away, in cars that had engines of 350 to 1000ccs capacity. They had solid rear axles with an inboard brake drum and externally-contracting brake band.
It was after many decades later that F1 designers agreed with this layout: recumbent driver, rear engine, monocoque construction.
Carden was a most ingenious and imaginative designer and worked in many fields. By the time he was making these monocars at the age of twenty, he had built his own aircraft and a working model of a tidal-powered generator for the Severn estuary.
Although he was a Baronet, he had no money and had to sell his designs to finance his next enterprise. Although he was a busy captain in the RASC during WW1, he found time to sell the cyclecar business including the Teddington factory to Ward & Avey, the car becoming the AV Monocar.
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Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think there was an F1 car with a rear engine. Center engines, yes, but rear engines are only really good for rallycross.
ReplyDeleteI believe that comment means any engine not in front. I call anything that isn't front engined, well, rear engined. I don't quibble over mid mount, middle half rear, almost rear - but not quite meeting the international standard description based on location of motor mounts, etc etc. It's front, or rear. Everything else is just quibbling to argue about something of no relevance. Really, unless a life depends on the difference between mid-engined, and rear engined, why belabor the semantics? Porsche 917... middle. Porsche 911, rear. Ok, it's clearly different, but it's behind the driver.
DeleteLooks like the top car has a single-cylinder engine while the bottom car has a V-twin engine.
ReplyDelete