ROMANCE OF SPEED

Hokitika Guardian, 9 March 1929, Page 6

ROMANCE OF SPEED

MAJOR H. O. D. SEGKAYE’S TASKS. TWO MARVELLOUS A! AC HINES

LONDON January 24

Major 11. O. D. Segravo is shortly going to America with the hope of regaining for this country the prestige of holding the coverted world’s record tor speed on land. But he intends to try for something- else—the speed record over the surface of the water. Both the machines—the Golden Arrow and 'Akiss England—in which lie hopes' to accomplish his ambitions were- on view to an invited party at Messrs Bootes’ show rooms, Devonshire. House, Yesterday. The Golden Arrow is well named, except that is looks like lialt-a-doz.cn golden arrows bundled together. Althrough it is a “monster” so far as power is concerned, it is not really a

“monster”-in size. It is 28it long but it is gracefully slender. A.s a matter of fact, the machinery—and it is almost- all machinery—is just covered and there are few empty spaces inside the metal: skin of the car.

The engine is a twelve-cylinder broad-arrow type of Napier Loin, with a bore and stroke of 5 1-8 x sJin. that is, a power unit with a single crankcase and single crankshaft, but having three blocks of cylinders, one upright in the centre, the other two forming a V relative to each other oil either side of the central block. The connecting rod bearings are plain, and three of them are on the same crank pin, the camshaft' <nd valves cue on top of the head, the camshaft cover being shaped to conform with the streamlined shape of the body. Extraordinary as it appears, the compression ratio is 12 to 1 which explains why the engine can only .be run fast and oil special fuel. THE BODY. In a way, the body is the most interesting part ol the car, a.s there aie three separate streamline forms connected by a plane, lhe centre stie*.mline easing is the body proper, made up of a sharp nose developing into a trf-foil section to match the cyclinder blocks of the engine, then gradually merging into a thin streamline body tapering away to a long sharp tail with a big rudder-like fin at its extremity. From the sides of this body project a horizontal streamline plane, rather resembling a very wide but extremely short aeroplane wing, the real portion of the plane being tilted at an angle so that the pressure of the wind whim the car is travelling assists tohold the machine on the ground. Then, on either side, the wheels are running in what amounts to a separate streamline body, a nose, then the exposed wheel, then a long casing, the other exposed wheel and a tail completing the whole oil each side. Along these casings run the Cluster aircraft radiators, which are not- made up of pipes, but are extremely thin corrugated tanks, the corrugations being s« deep a.s to give effect of a series of horizontal parallel pipes. A\ ithin the body, behind the engine, is a water tank. - Alajor Segravo lias no small task before him, since the present record held by the White Special, driven bv Ray Keecli, for America, stands at 207.55 m.p.h. over a mile, this being the avergae of two runs m opposite directions. A group of sportsmen has made it possible' for England to etmstruct the ear. for the chassis lias cost £18.009. The new machine hears the official name of Irving Special, having been designed entirely by Captain J. S. Irving. With something approaching 930 horse power, it is hoped it will travel 250 miles per hour. But if it ever rises to this speed there are a whole series of unknown possibilities relating to stress and strain, ae-1 this is where Alajor Segravo takes his life in his bauds. THE SPEED BOAT. The boat, Aliss England, is also an imposing machine. It is designed with a flat bottom, and when the highest speed is attained only a few foot at the stern will be touching the water Built by the British Power Boat Company, at Southampton, it has a Napier Schneider Cup type of engine, fitted in the stern, and driving forward to an increasing gear-box. The bursepower is 900, and it is hoped to beat the speed of 92.93 miles per uour. Aliss England has a length of 26ft. 6in, breadth of 7ft 6in, and total weight of 29cwt, with a single “s*-op. ’ The propellor itself will run at an underwater speed of (5550 revolutions per minute, a speed hitherto believed impossible, and only realised nite. much' experimental work carried out during the past twelve months.