I don't recall ever hearing of the 1915 Duesenberg racecar and its innovative walking-beam engine before now

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10231679303711982&set=pcb.1867090507205196

Mickey Thompson's Chevy powered (with 3-valve cylinder heads) Indy car. The car was a front wheel drive with four wheel steering

The young man in the wheelchair in the photo working on M/T's Indy car in front of the garage in Gsoline Alley is Larry Burton. He built much of the car and was a super mechanic. He contacted polio in his early 20's, never recovered the use of his legs, and passed away in 2016, at the age of 80

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/vintage-shots-from-days-gone-by.428585/page-6080#post-12932082

Compliments and sincere admiration for Cosworth, on their 60th anniversary in the engine business! (thanks Steve)

89 year old Mike Costin

Cosworth was set up on 28 September 1958 by Mike Costin and Keith Duckworth, who had worked together at Lotus.

They wanted to "make a living messing around with racing engines".

In 2015, it opened a new £20m factory in the town, manufacturing engines for five major car companies.

 It also has bases in Detroit and Indianapolis.

the 1967 DFV was used for 25 years, making it the most successful engine in F1

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-northamptonshire-45680364

the only oval piston dual con rod engine made, the Honda race bike NR 500 engine, 1979-83 (Thanks Steve!)

Race rules limited Honda to no more than four cylinders. But Honda engineers had calculated for the displacement the ideal engine would have eight cylinders and 32 valves.

When the FIM announced in 1968 that the 500 cc engine class was limited to four cylinders, that gave a significant advantage to teams utilizing two-stroke engines. Sochiro Honda made it clear that he was committed to the cleaner burning four-stroke engines.

Thinking outside the box, engineers designed a four cylinder engine with oval Pistons that allowed a total of 16 intake and 16 exhaust valves. It had two con-rods and eight valves per cylinder. It was a four stroke and was designed to overcome the monopoly by two-strokes in motorcycle racing.

This allowed the engine to reach 19,500 rpm, twice the speed of two strokes, and produce power comparable to 500GP two strokes

They quickly ran into issues. With two connecting rods connected to each other via the piston, at engine speeds over 10,000 rpm they would distort, causing wrist pin failure.

For a four-stroke engine to be as powerful as a two-stroke unit with the same piston count, it basically has to double its normal rpm. To achieve that, the team had to dramatically improve the intake efficiency and design a valve system with higher resistance to friction and heat buildup at high revolutions.

The biggest challenge were the oval piston rings.  They became not only a multiple iteration design exercise, but one of manufacturing capability. To attain their target, they needed tolerances higher than the equipment of the time could produce.

Hence, in April 1978, after a nearly 12 year hiatus, Honda announced publicly it would return to Grand Prix motorcycle racing, specifically utilizing a four-stroke

Honda was experimenting with cutting-edge technologies beyond the realm of conventional thinking. Not just the engine design, but also the body.

In addition to the highly exotic engine, the NR 500 also utilized a monocoque aluminum body, and inverted forks - a standard practice on most sport bikes today. Honda also used 16 inch wheels versus the more common 18 inch in order to reduce aero drag.

The complex four-stroke head added nearly 45 pounds to their bike versus the competition. That negatively impacted the bike's center of gravity and balance. The team got aggressive with materials. Iron was replaced with titanium. Aluminum was replaced with magnesium.

In this next video, there will be very little to appreciate, it's simply slow camera movement along the bike body, and the recorded engine sounds from a race track.



http://www.motorcyclespecs.co.za/model/Classic%20Racers/honda_nr_500_gp_racer_1979.htm

"Scott’s shop is like an open-faced Bell helmet blast through Adventureland on methanol" ... Car Craft, June 2015. Scott was one of Mickey Thompson's employees from 67-71

After working at various Ford dealerships, Scott eventually landed a job with Mickey Thompson from 1967 to 1971 when Mickey was heavily associated with Ford, who funded most of his racing, including his famous record-setting efforts on the Bonneville salt.

Mickey took three Mustangs to set endurance records, with two cars on a 10-mile oval. Scott was there, helping to refuel the cars and keep the smudge pots burning during the night. Later, Mickey returned to the flats with his Ford-powered Autolite Special streamliner urged by a pair of 427 Cammers and Scott’s bright blue paint job.

 That was a time when pallet loads of engines and parts were delivered to Thompson’s southern California shop, dropped out of the sides of DC 3 cargo planes. How good was it back then? A well-funded shop might have a little 1963 Falcon Ranchero to run parts and get lunch. Scott’s parts chaser was a 1969 428 Cobra Jet Torino.

427 Ford with Mickey Thompson hemi heads... made of pure unobtanium.

Mickey Thompson only built four pairs of these Ford hemi heads, so the term “rare” doesn’t begin to describe them. Scott says one set ran in Mickey Thompson’s Thunderbolt, with another set as backup, a third set went into a supercharged dragster while the final set sat in the window of M/T’s retail store in Long Beach for sale for $3,200. There were only three cross ram intakes ever built.

Lightweight 63.5 Galaxie that ran a best of 9.26 at 149 mph

the Hemi in this T-bird has a turbocharger and three Carter carburetors. The engine has been relocated six inches to the right to accommodate the set-up. The car has a separate methanol tank and pump system to feed the third carburetor. The Hemi made 804hp normally aspirated and 1,100 on alcohol, and was put together by an engineer who worked at Garret AiResearch turbos

In the photo, it appears Big Daddy in the far lane has a comfortable lead, but Voigt power from the supercharged M/T Pontiac hemi was enough to power past the Swamp Rat for the win. As part of the Top Eliminator prize, Craftsman awarded the winning crew chief the aforementioned tool box that Voigt kept (including its original cardboard container) all these years.

Cool trailer design, coffin top on stilts that pivots up out of the way

http://www.hotrod.com/cars/featured/ccrp-1207-scott-dapron-this-guys-garage/
http://www.hotrod.com/features/1506-look-at-this-unbelievable-stash-of-factory-race-cars/

Dr Per Gillbrand, his miniature motors at the Berwaldhallen in Sweden (Radio Symphony Orchestra Hall)

engines stuffed into streamliners for racing on the salt at Bonneville, cramped arrangements

the coolest thing I've seen today, the engines that made hot rodding fun. by the artist "Zombie"

found on http://mentallydefectiveandborntoolate.tumblr.com 

the Lenki Six

700 Hp, 199 cu in, AMC Rambler straight 6, 105 lbs of turbo boost, and all in a 1967 Indy 500 race car. Only Barney Navarro.

 

Heard of the Boss 302? Of course. The Boss 429? Probably. I doubt you've heard of the Boss 494. 10 were made for Can Am, one for Mario Andretti, here's it's second life with just 777 hp at the flywheel

carguychronicles.com has a good variety of cool stuff!

 Above, the  2563 cu in Packard - Bentley
Below, the 2807 cu in BMW Brutus
Both were in the Cholmondeley Pageant of Power in Cheshire, UK from June 15 to 17 www.cpop.co.uk
from http://www.carguychronicles.com/2012/03/packard-bentley-2563-cubic-inch-flame.html

this '74 Rolls Royce Silver Shadow is in the 7's http://www.carguychronicles.com/2011/10/rolls-royce-rocket-seven-second-crewes.html

Above, Mean Green Volvo Hybrid beat the Ferrari to the finish line

http://www.carguychronicles.com/2011/09/ferrari-vs-volvo-hybrid-trucker.html

this GT40 mkII with a Holman Moody 427 was ordered by Shelby American, placed 2nd in the 12 hour Sebring in 66, DNF'd at LeMans and was driven by Mark Donohue in both. It then went on the show circuit, before getting stored at Holman Moody until '70 when it went to the Indy Speedway Museum. Effectively, it's been raced hard and put away, without being street driven, ever. http://www.carguychronicles.com/2012/05/ford-gt40-mark-ii-like-new-hardly.html

Baldwin Motion Phase 3 73 Camaro... M22 and Hone OD, with 5.13 gearshttp://www.carguychronicles.com/2012/02/motion-phase-iii-454-camaro-zlx-street.html

Epitome of sleeper, a Biscayne. The Baldwin Motion Street Racer's Special 427 Biscayne to be precise
11 to 1 427, http://www.carguychronicles.com/2011/09/chevy-427-biscayne-street-racers.html

Miss America VIII, and it's twin Harry Miller V16's. Just 1113 cu in apiece. They were supercharged when installed to set unlimited water speed records in 1933. About 1800 hp each.

the Hagerty magazine Fall 2012 issue has a 6 page write up about it

http://www.carguychronicles.com/2012/01/miss-america-viii-no-substitute-for.html

below, the Miss America IX setting a record at 102mph and the Gar Wood story



ain't that a cool variety? Hell yes. http://www.carguychronicles.com

Gar Wood and his mechanic Orlin Johnson in Miss America IX - a wooden boat powered by a pair of 12 cylinder Packard engines.

Found on http://themanlyblog.tumblr.com/post/88996873463/enginedynamicsinc-gar-wood-and-his-mechanic

close up and thorough gallery of the Smith Master Valve Special, designed and built by Harry Lewis

 I don't remember seeing friction shocks chromed before

 Army gauges, very cool.

previous post was brief and based on a Auto Enthusiast Magazine article about the Justice Brothers Museum http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2012/02/auto-enthusiast-march-2012-has-article.html