GIANT SUNBEAM RACING CAR.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 3537, 14 September 1926, Page 4

GIANT SUNBEAM RACING CAR.

A mammoth racing car of nearly 1000 h.p. is being produced by Mr. Louis Coatolen of the Sunbeam Company. It will dwarf the 400 h.p. Liberty aero-engined car with which Mr. Parry Thomas recently achieved 172 m.p.h. The car is being specifically designed to excel Mr. Thomas’ record, the latest Sunbeam 12-cylinder 300. h.p. racer having proved to be capable of a maximum of only 145 m.p.h. The specification is absolutely revolutionary, two engines being used. They are Sunbeam Matabele aero types coupled together to form a single drive to the rear wheels. The front engine in mounted well forward over the front axle, the other being located in the huge tail behind the driver.

The wheelbase is approximately 12ft. 6in., and the overall length of the car is in excess of 22ft. The body is being strongly reinforced so that it will not be likely to crush in the event of a capsize. The vehicle will weigh nearly three tons. The engines are the actual ones formerly fitted to the racing motorboat, Maple Leaf VII. They are 12-cylinder V types. Each cylinder has a bore and stroke of 120 nun. by 160 nun., and the capacity of each engine is 22,880 c.c. The engine used by Mr. Parry Thomas had a capacity of 27,059. The Matabele engines have a compression ratio of 5.15 to 1, and each develops 425 h.p, at 2000 revolutions for a consumption of .542 pints of petrol per horse-power hour. This is equivalent to nearly one gallon a minute with both engines running. There are four valves per cyclinder, and two spark plugs. The dual ignition requires four magnetocs for each engine. This means that eight magnetoes will, be operating. Magneto trouble is, however, not likely as the engines develop their power

at the comparatively slow speed of 200 revolutions compared with the 5000 revolutions of the recent Sunbeam rac-er.