Old Race Cars

[Capt Worley PE]

I love pics of the REALLY old race cars, pre-1920. Giant engines accounted for the nickname 'Road Locomotives' for these things

Racing on Board tracks:

 

[Capt Worley PE]

 

[Capt Worley PE]

Building a board track

 

[Capt Worley PE]

 

[snickerd3]

cool pics!!

 

[Supe]

Quite possibly the most badass race car to ever exist, the Porsche 917/30 - turbocharged V12 putting out nearly 1600HP for their qualifying setup (about 1100+ for endurance races),

 

[Capt Worley PE]

^Technically it was a flat 12, but I guess you could say it was a 180 degree between the banks V-12!

It was also the car that killed Can-Am.

They also had a unique way to vary the wheelbase. Pretty cool car.

 

[Capt Worley PE]

http://www.autoblog.com/2009/12/21/ebay-find-of-the-day-brass-era-american-lafrance-firetruck-spee/

 

[Supe]

^Technically it was a flat 12, but I guess you could say it was a 180 degree between the banks V-12!

It was also the car that killed Can-Am.

They also had a unique way to vary the wheelbase. Pretty cool car.

You are indeed correct, an air cooled flat 12.

It did indeed kill Can-Am, though Donahue losing the body and rolling the car at 150 mph sure didn't help with that.

 

[Capt Worley PE]

 

[Capt Worley PE]

 

[Capt Worley PE]

 

[Capt Worley PE]

 

[Capt Worley PE]

Quite possibly the most badass race car to ever exist, the Porsche 917/30 - turbocharged V12 putting out nearly 1600HP for their qualifying setup (about 1100+ for endurance races),

When Ferdinand Piech original designed the 917, he was a slave to aerodynamic. So much so that the initial cars had absolutely no provision for driver cooling.

 

[Master slacker]

I wish the hat with suit trend came back. I sure liked my Grandpa's hat / suit combo back in the day. If I wore one myself, I'd look like a doofus for being the only one.

 

[csb]

Too bad men's fashion isn't swayed as easily as women's fashion. In that instance, Downton Abbey would have the suit and hat combo back in a flash.

 

[cdcengineer]

Why were there two guys in each car? Co-pilot?

 

[MGX]

I think back then one was a mechanic and the other the driver. Racetracks were primitive and the races could be very long.

 

[Supe]

Yup. One guy would also take care of the tires. Often, he'd be patching one in the passenger's seat in order to have it ready to go for the next flat.

 

[Capt Worley PE]

Also, the riding mechanic had to man the hand pump to pressurize the fuel tank to provide fuel flow in the older cars.