Now can see the curved axle with curved spring right above. And cable brakes & lever action shocks. Adjustable quarter elliptical spring mount on the rear including lever action shocks? Love tiny bullet rear brake lights & the cable braced rear fender mount link to both sides. So much unique to see & admire.
Monaco Trossi 1935 "This revolutionary racing car was the brainchild of Augusto Monaco, an engineer, and Carlo Felice Trossi, who put it through its paces during the Grand Prix at Monza in 1935. Its most outstanding feature is the two-stroke engine with sixteen cylinders arranged in two rows with a single combustion chamber for each pair of cylinders. This was front-mounted and air-cooled like an aero-engine. Another novelty for those times was front wheel drive, which made it unnecessary to install a long transmission shaft."
Plucked From The Skies & Plonked In a Riley http://www.speedhunters.com/2016/03/plucked-skies-plonked-riley/
Video of the same car being driven in this post... https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/specials.720448/page-20#post-12415285
Rob Roy Hill Climb 19 Nov. 2023: MG TC Holden Special; I was at the front of the car and the placard was still on it when the driver got in to go to the start line; I removed it for him and he was nice enough to thank me.
Great shots of one of my favorites. Several versions of the nose. Any more info out there? There was a reproduction of it at Wheels of Time a few years ago? Nice car.
From Motor Sport, September 1931: "THE 100 M.P.H AUSTIN AND WHAT CAPTAIN WAITE HAD TO SAY ABOUT IT THE rapid development of the " 750 " racer has been one of the most noticeable features of motor racing in the last few years, and this has certainly been stimulated by the friendly competition between the M.G. and Austin in setting up new figures. George Eyston put up some fine performances at Monthlery on the M.G., and it was then up to Austins, who may almost be said to have created the 750 class in racing, to go one better. An Austin had been in process of being prepared for records for some time past, and the details have been well known for months. The chief points of interest lie rather in the chassis than in the engine, which is entirely on the lines of previous Austins, and it says a great deal for the design of this famous engine that such power can be got out of it without any drastic alterations. The chassis alterations are made simply to provide a low seating position and the minimum frontal area. This has meant off-setting the propeller shaft so that the driver can sit beside it, and the body work has been built up from this to suit the driver. Originally it was intended to be driven by Sammy Davis, but when he was unfortunately placed hors de combat for this season, Sir Malcolm Campbell undertook to drive the car. However, when the time came for the record attempts Campbell was unable to be present for the job so Leon Cushman took over, with what success we already well know. Body "made to measure."The body was practically "made to measure" for S. C. H. Davis, and Cushman is fortunately very similar in size and build, and was able to fill his place, literally, without difficulty. So much for the drivers for the moment, while we consider the mechanical side of the question. When talking over the speeds obtained with Capt. A. R. C. Waite shortly after the event, we were very impressed with the quiet accuracy which characterised all the arrangements. The object was to be the first " 750 " to do 100 m.p.h. for the mile and kilometre, which meant doing the records at Brooklands, as Monthlery is not eligible owing to gradient etc., for these two-way records. Bound up with this object was the desire to be the first side valve engined car in the " 750 " category to beat 3 figures. A nearly standard engine.Capt. Waite was keen to emphasise the fact that the engine was a standard production in nearly all respects, always admitting that the record breaking unit had received that extra care in building and tuning which makes that little bit of difference which is so important. As for the ability of the car to get the record, this was never in doubt, as the car itself had been subjected to wind-tunnel tests at Vickers, and it was now within a horse-power or so of what was required of the engine to do the necessary speed. A blower pressure of 15 lbs. to the square inch was used, and the blower itself was of the Roots type, and actually made by Austins themselves for the job. The engine gave 56 b.h.p. at 6,000 r.p.m., and was run at this speed for the records. When everything was complete and the car had been lapping at 99 m.p.h. they stripped down the engine for examination and found a slight crack in a valve seating. Accordingly another cylinder block was fitted and the records duly obtained, a good example of the value of standard parts for racing. The radiator is separately mounted in a similar manner to that on " Bluebird " but was actually designed as such, prior to the making of Campbell's record-breaker. The first record attempts were made with discs on all wheels, and the record was raised to 99.64 for the kilometre. The wind was a bit tricky that day, however, and Cushman reported that the car was not too easy to hold when going into the straight, so the front discs were removed with great improvement in the controllability, and also in the speed, which went up to 100.67 for mile and 102.28 for the kilometre. Congratulations to all concerned on a very fine performance." (Photo caption: A very gallant little motor. A three-quarter rear view of the 100 m.p.h 750 c.c. Austin, with Leon Cushman gracing the cockpit. The remarkably fine lines make it easily the snappiest looking miniature racer ever produced. The streamlining was scientifically checked in a wind-tunnel in order to obtain the best possible results.)
Here's a photo I took last year that has one of the 'Rubber Duck' (as they were usually called) factory race cars; This has the later nose, I think the original struggled with cooling. Alongside in photo are the factory's later works cars. I used to do trackside and the engineering for the owner/driver on a replica of the later blue car that's next door to the Duck racer in the above photo. Here's a pic of a much younger me with the car at a race meeting sometime in the early 80's. I actually own this car now, but it did come to me in pretty much a 'box of bits' condition. Looking forward to getting it running again, The blown motor made 46 BHP at the wheels, which seems pretty negligable but as the car only weighs 600lb wet and makes a small hole in the wind it is very exciting to drive
An interesting article.. 'Standard production nearly all respects' -Well, apart from having a billet crank, huge blower, 25 studs to hold down the cylinder head, a cylinder block with a webbed base and extra studs to stop it coming away from the crankcase, yada, yada yada. I suppose this sort of 'just like the one in the dealer showroom sir' nonsense has gone on since the dawn of motorspart. Being as Captain Arthur Waite was Herbert Austin's son-in-law he wouldn't really count as neutral observer either -actually he was a real enthusiast and a nice bloke, I had the privilege to meet him in the late 1970s when he attended an international record attempt I was involved in.
'Citroen Car, Woodville' (A four cylinder Citroen special built by R. H. Mitchell) 1938? State Library of South Australia
By the definitions set out in post #1, yes. Even reports at the time called it a 'special', so who are we to argue . . .
From 'Primotipo': "RH Michell’s Citroen Special dates from 1938, the young constructor built it in Woodville, Adelaide… And that’s about all I know of this little racer. Did Michell survive the war, did it ever race, if so was it a quick car? Woodville was the site of some ‘bike and car racing through its streets after the War- I wonder if the car contested an event or two at the place of its birth. It didn’t race in any of the Australian Grands Prix held in South Australia around this time- Victor Harbour in 1936, Lobethal in 1939 nor Nuriootpa in 1950. Mind you, it may have contested a support event. Intrigued to know anything about this car i tripped over by happenstance…"
Captain Arthur Waite and his Austin 7… Waite was born in Adelaide on 9 April 1984, he lived and attended school in Norwood before attending the Adelaide School of Mines and was then apprenticed to JH Southcott until the outbreak of the Great War. He joined up and soon achieved the rank of Second-Lieutenant in the Australian Field Artillery, he then took a reduction in rank to ensure his qualification for overseas service- after training in Egypt he landed in Gallipoli on 25 April 1915 also serving in North Africa and France where in 1916 he was awarded the Military Cross His wife was Irene Austin – daughter of Lord Herbert Austin, founder of Britain’s Austin Motor Company. The pair met during Waite’s War service, he was injured in France and met Irene, a volunteer nurse, during his recovery, they married in 1918 and Waite, an engineer, was introduced into the Austin family business on his twenty-fifth birthday- 9 April 1919. Waite thought that racing would improve vehicle development and enhance sales, with Herbert Austin’s support he began to develop, build and test racing and sportscars amongst his other responsibilities. In 1923, together with Alf Depper, foreman of the Experimental and Racing Department the pair drove a 7 to Monza, won the first International Italian Grand Prix for Light Cars on 20 April and then drove home again- success at Brooklands quickly followed when Waite broke all existing 750cc class records. In 1925 ‘The Skipper’ set up racing ‘shops at Longbridge where work started on the first supercharged 7, this was not initially successful so Austin designed a Roots type blower with three impellers. The blower was mounted on a cradle atop the timing cover utilising magneto drive gear revolving at a quicker engine ratio of 1.25:1- 36 bhp @ 5000 rpm was the result. Fitted into a 7 foot 3 inch wheelbase chassis with a fabric covered body the car made 92 mph and 86 mph for the two-way flying kilometre. Later that year Waite, with the car bored to 775 cc ran it in the 1100cc class of the 200 Mile Race at Brooklands- along with five other 7s. ‘By the end of 1928 Waite held all the class H (750cc) records’ Bryan Purves wrote Herbert Austin was keen to broaden his son-in-law’s management experience and shipped him off to Australia to do so, SA Cheney, the owner of Austin Distributors was glad to have him aboard ‘to try and double sales’. When Waite became aware of the 1928 ‘Island race he requested that his old car be sent to the colonies but unknown to him his supercharged racer, less engine had been sold to Johnny Pares, a Longbridge employee (or dealer depending upon your source), suitably re-engined it raced successfully obtaining the nickname ‘Slippery Anne’ along the way. The ex-Waite ‘Slippery Anne’, notes self explanatory (‘Austin Racing History’ via T Johns) Waite was therefore sent a car which was basically a prototype of the ‘Supercharged Sports’ which was going into production to qualify for the Ulster Tourist Trophy. The chassis of the car (number unknown) was standard as were the springs but they were cord bound- a straight front axle was also standard along with production friction dampers- the steering column was lowered to suit the longer bonnet Waite had made by a coach-builder in Melbourne. The engine was supercharged, fitted with a Laystall steel crankshaft and pressure lubricated. The Cozette Number 4 blower created a boost of 5psi drawing air from a Cozette carburettor. All of the alloy castings of the engine were prefixed with the letters ‘SP’- the crankcase had the casting number ‘SP767.’ The inlet manifold was designed to slide over long studs and the exhaust was taken out of the nearside bonnet panel via a three-port exhaust manifold which continued along the side of the body. Its output was 33-35 bhp at 5000 rpm which converted to a top speed on the long Phillip Island straights of about 75 mph. The gearbox was trick too- it was four rather than three speeds but reverse was omitted to find the requisite space inside the standard case. Austin Works engineer, team manager and driver Charles Goodacre described the completed Waite car ‘As the most dreadful thing you ever saw, for it looked like an enormous egg and when the driver sat in it his head stuck out of the top. Anyway, the whole thing was put together and tested locally instead of being sent to Brooklands. There was a straight stretch of road from Rubery to Bromsgrove over which a local motorcycle company used to test their TT machines at over 100 mph early in the morning…They went there early in the morning when it was safe…I drove it to carry out the road testing and the car had quite a good performance. It would do 90 mph easily and the engine would tun at about 5500 rpm. It was quite smooth, and it was reliable.’ ‘Sir Herbert saw the car in the works on his return from South Africa and asked what it was. When told it was the car that was going to Waite in Australia he asked how they proposed sending it and was told they were making a crate for it. “We’re not wasting, time, wood and money on a crate. It looks like a bath, it will float so let the boat tow it to Australia” Austin quipped! The bathtub which won the Australian Grand Prix it seems! Two other similar cars were produced by Longridge which were raced by Sidney Holbrook and Gunnar Poppe- entered at Shelsey Walsh, the pair were knocked off by George Coldicutt in ‘Slippery Anne’. ‘Col Waite as well as his other titles was a Freeman of the City of London and a Life member of the British Racing Drivers Club’ Tony Johns added, Johns suggested the inclusion of Waite’s Foreword from John Blanden’s ‘A History of Australian Grand Prix 1928-1939’ (Full article here https://primotipo.com/2020/05/)
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