Art & Inspiration Aero-Engined Vintage Racers

I loved the first turbine cars at Indy. I still remember watching that race and the heartbreaking end to the race, which should have been PJ's.
I never cared for the wedge cars, they didn't look right; kind of like any NASCAR racer today, they just don't look right. But that first turbine, man; that had the look!

Hey, Moonglow, where was that picture of your soapbox car taken; there was a Luna Bakery in Newburgh N.Y. back then.

 

That is probably what is was,I would want something big like to grab when pulling into the straights ,theres no time to go looking for as small handle when the corners approaching fast just as you need to scrub off a bit of speed to avoid the slow runners.

 

Pebble beach...Boring!, In the UK where large testicles are common,they actually use them all the time at places like Presscott and Shelsey Hill climbs.
The very first car i ever saw smoke the tires was at Presscott,an aero engined Mettalurgique.
Airship engine!! 21 L, 180 HP @ 1700RPM.

 

Heres an indication of how popular Vintage racing is the UK,No roll bars! or other hideous safety equipment..

http://www.svvs.org/gallery-prescott5.shtml

 

You obviously don't have lawyers in England! More pics of useing up those old cars, please.

 

ha ha ,don't forget who wrote most the laws as we know it. Theres nothing like you tube for seeing these cars action.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMMKvXxLhaU&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMMKvXxLhaU&feature=related

 

Thanks, that looks like fun!!

 

they certainly have taken a lot of fun out of the game. replaced personal accountibility, with show me the money.

 

would have sworn that blue Brescia was driven by Hamish Moffat, but he has since passed away...

The guy who races the '08 Panhard is my idol. I have a picture of him loosing it in the rain somewhere.

 

this picture is the bees knees.

 

heres the moment where campbell looses his right tire! please note that the photographer taking the second picture is captured in the first. a second after this, the kid were hit by the tire!
-palle
sorry if the pics too wide

 

It's remarkable so many of these photos are still around. Pretty neat stuff you have there.

 

heres campbell right after the run..the crowd where just happy he avoided the audiens..they didnt now about the kid!

 

another campbell pic...this is june 24 1924..unofficial world record at 146.40 mph.
sorry but i dont know how to make these pics smaller!

heres campbell and some of his british friend..also his mecanics: leo villa, harry leach and howard webster.
all these pics are in a book written by a guy called jan clausen nielsen.
if anyone cant live without it...shoot me a pm, and i'll help you out!
-palle

 

No where will you see it mentioned that Campbell caused the death of a child whilst doing a record run. You are the first person I have come across who has ever mentioned it. I have(had) plenty of books on the subject of land speed racing and so on and Campbell running on Faroe is hardly ever mentioned. A lot of captions in books say that the pictures were taken on Pendine sands in Wales.
A bit of history rewriting going on I suspect.
In those days England revered it's heros in a manner not seen today. I remember having to write a piece on his sons exploits at school!. In fact, it wasn't until they decided to dig up babs from the sand dunes in Wales were the facts surrounding the Grisly death of Parry Thomas bought to everyones attention. Such things were never talked about back then.
Many thanks for bringing this up and the amazing pictures.

 

Good stuff Palle, still enjoy the book even though I still can't read it (I know you have a standing offer to translate-maybe someday).

I wonder what world's record they are referring to as DePalma in the Liberty aero Packard 905 (which I put a photo of at speed at Daytona a few pages back in this thread) ran 149mph and change in 1919. When Gary Doyle wrote his book on DePalma I asked him if he was going to set the record straight that DePalma ran both ways, which he thankfully did. First author to set the record straight. DePalma never made a big deal about it but a whole boatload of whiners and naysayers have over the years tried to diminish his accomplishment with claims he only ran one way. I could go on but there was not just one worldwide accepted standard that everyone bought into. Enough said for now.

Still curious as to Campbell's 146 record-know anything more on it? Hope all is going well-Jim

 

hi Jim!
you know i'll help you out! i have been wondering about that record referred too! but i will look into it!
and dirtynails..i am happy to help in rewrite the british race history ha ha! this tells us more about the british historicans than the race at fanoe island!
i am at work now, and dont have many pics here. glad you enjoy the pics though!
heres my all time favorite..the fiat mephistopheles!
-palle

and today:

 

I found a little bit of information about Campbell at Faroe,He was thrown into jail by angry locals who demanded he be charged with manslaughter. He was able to avoid prosecution by saying he had warned the officials to keep the crowds clear but there was only a rope which was soon pushed out of the way. The crowd then rushed into the path of the car to get better views.
It was then that the beaded edge tires were discovered to totally unsuited to high speeds,the centrifugal force caused the tires to expand and they simply rolled off the rims. This caused one to roll into the crowd killing the unfortunate child and the other demolishing the timing stand. Campbell narrowly escaped prosecution and needless to say he never returned to Faroe!.

 

In 1928 while Cambell and Co in the Northern Hemisphere were running well designed record cars,Australia's Wizard Smith had Don Harkness Build this car,the ANZAC ( Australia and New Zealand Army Corp.) . Based on a stretched Cadillac Chassis with Caddy gearbox ,brakes and diff!.
The engine was a 1922 18.7 liter Rolls Royce eagle,On loan from the Royal Australian Air force.The airforce kicked up a struggle when releasing it's already obsolete engine to the public and to prevent Smith from releasing it's "secrets " he had to sign all sorts of special agreements before he could get it. When it did arrive it was found it was a contra rotating engine!. Harkness had to build a transfer case to counter this.

Once the car was in new Zealand for his speed record ,the locals were pictured posing with ANZAC

 

Campbell held the record in 1924 in his modified Sunbeam Bluebird at 146.16mph then in 1925 raised it to 150.86 Mph.
Rene Thomas in A 350 hp Delage had reached 143.31 Mph in 1924 but the record was disallowed.
Ernest Eldridge in Mephistopheles held it briefly at 146.01 mph before Campbell took it off him.

 

I was at both of the races that the turbine cars nearly won. I am still in awe of the way the first one "handled" the field. It just went by effortlessly and powered through the turns as the air brake wing lifted. Then there was the roar of the rest of the field. Wow, what a car. If you ever get to the Indy museum look it over closely because it is a mechanical marvel. Pure art on wheels. It's at the rear of this pic. Always wondered if Smokey's Pod car might have inspred it some? THAT car was supposed to have been fitted with a helicopter engine originally, but was run with an Offy instead.

Phil

 

i am happy we changed history a little dirtynails...i'll see if i can scan a couple more pics tonight!
-palle

 

bump,..

for the good of this amazing thread!!

 

Far and away as the most successful aero engined endurance record car was the Mormon Meteor lll. I am involved with the Price Museum of Speed which now owns the car and was one half of the team which restored the engine and drivetrain. The aero engine is a 1924 Curtiss Conquer V-12 serial #181. A feature length documentary is being made about the Jenkins and the Meteor, you can watch a short trailer at www.pricemuseumofspeed.org

 

Thanks Four Port, that looks worth waiting for. Let us know when it's released.

 

go big or go home:

 

i love Lion-Peugots: