Art & Inspiration Aero-Engined Vintage Racers

As seen at our local Hydro-plane racing museum, in Kent Washington. The Curtiss V-4.
This is the only photo of the Curtiss Conqueror I have.
Thanks from Dennis.

 

It takes leather balls to play rugby, and it takes nerves of steel, to pilot these balls out rigs, even with your friends along to enjoy the thrill of danger and potential test to destruction of the wooden wheels!
Your results may vary greatly!

 

This just popped up in my YT. What is this?

 

What a way to start the day. Thanks Ziggster.

 

No problem, but I’m an idiot…

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/delahaye-107-racer.1309000/

 

WHAT A COOL HOT ROD! LOVE THE STARTER!!
Thanks for posting!...Made my Friday too!

 

This ad keeps popping up in my FB Marketplace feed. Wonder if it would make a decent transplant into car chassis! Rated at 65 hp.

 

As cool as that LYCOMING aircraft engine is, it would be a real challenge to adapt it into any type of car chassis!
Plus it being air cooled, that really complicates it that much more!
It really needs to be put into a vintage aircraft that truly needs it!
But that being said, don't be discouraged by what I write here, if you do buy it, I along with a lot of others watching this thread, would be fascinated to see exactly what you would do with it!
Thanks from Dennis.

 

let’s have fun!!!

 

Reminds of a guy in our Land Cruiser club who mounted a 50s era (IIRC) jet engine on the back of his LC pickup. lol!

 

The problem with piston aircraft engines is most were designed to only turn say 2,000 to 2500 rpm’s which is about max for turning a propeller. Those engines that turned more rpm’s usually had reduction gears to get them down to the rpm range. The reason the engines turn low rpm’s is to keep the propeller tips from going supersonic and destroying themself’s and also cavitation. It would require a very specialized transmission to use an aircraft engine in an automotive application. Because most of these engine are direct drive (propeller attached to crankshaft) most of the horsepower and torque is made near the max rpm range.

 

pretty good knowledge there!!

 

In other words, they are like Edwardian car engines! In fact, they are like Laurence Pomeroy's newfangled late-Edwardian "high-speed" engines. So, it's a matter of gearing them accordingly, i.e. a tallish final-drive ratio or one or more overdrives.

Tangentially, horsepower and torque are inherently interrelated. Horsepower and torque curves cross at an engine speed determined entirely by the choice of units of measure. For bhp and ft.lbs that is 5252rpm. Nothing you can do to an engine can change that crossing speed. An engine that redlines at 2500rpm will never have bhp equal to ft.lbs in actual use: torque in ft.lbs at maximum speed will be about 2.1 times bhp at 2500rpm, regardless of the engine's state of tune.

Something to address with an aircraft engine in an automotive application is response. I'd expect different carb(s), different manifolding, more critical balance, lighter flywheel, etc. Do aircraft engines use the prop as a (partail or entire) flywheel? But none of that is intrinsically impossible? Many aircraft engines are already oversquare, presumably to limit piston speeds in the interests of long-duty-cycle reliability. The conditions for far better response are right there.

Horizontally-opposed aircraft engines tend to have all their porting on the underside. I've seen them installed upside-down in sports-racing cars. What kind of lubrication systems do they have?

 

I suspect anything is possible given enough time and money. Generally aircraft engines/parts are very expensive due to FAA Certification requirements. However I was merely trying to point out there are many reasons why aircraft engines are not practical for automotive use especially for hot rods where the goal is to increase performance. Your mileage may vary!

 

That aforementioned Lycoming O-145's specs break down to very close to those of a VW Type 4 stroker engine, so one obvious question is, if you want an air-cooled flat-4 hot rod, why not use the VW engine instead?

 

Porsche

 

Just came across this thing on FB. Just crazy what you can find. Seems the company was sold to Wright in 1923 according to Wiki and this might put out 28 hp.

 

There are many photos and blueprints of the Curtiss Conqueror in the Ab Jenkins and the Mormon Meteor book.


jack vines

 

Mike

 

Thanks for posting that. It's almost as entertaining as watching the Beast of Turin at Goodwood when the pheasant tries to commit suicide twice. It would take a big pair to drive these things that hard.

 

I always enjoy the big beast of Turin, it's amazing, but my favorite is still the 200 HP 1905 Darracq!
Such a bummer to see it crashed, and Mark Walker thrown into the wall, but I am sure the Darracq will be repaired to race again!