“The Golden Arrow ”

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 562, 15 January 1929, Page 6

“The Golden Arrow ”

MAJOR SEG RAVE’S WONDERFUL GAR

ANEW attempt on tlie world’s speed record is being planned by Major H. O. D. Segrave. His new car, with which he hopes to recapture for Britain the record now held by Bay Keech of America, is named “The Golden Arrow.”

To do this he will have to reach a speed of over 207.5526 miles an hour. The Golden Arrow has been designed especially to resist the wind force and in which car Major Segrave hopes to reach the stupendous speed of four miles a minute. It will be remembered Major Segrave was the first man to reach a speed of over 200 miles an hour, and, like Captain Malcolm Campbell, the first man to hold the Sir Charles Wakefield Trophy for maximum speed, and Mr. Ray Keech, relies on Wakefield “Castrol” motor oil for the lubrication of his engine. MORE ABOUT THE CAR DESIGN “The Golden Arrow!” It is a name | which fits the car exactly, suggesting an instrument fashioned for a straight flight at speed, with slim wind-cutting lines and strength withal. In these record-breaking cars the reduction of -wind resistance is all-im-portant, and some idea of the success

of this kind; the maximum speed of the wheels will be about 2,300 r.p.m. A great many painstaking experiments in a wind tunnel have been made on a scale model of the ear, not only to ascertain the exact wind resistance, which, of course, had to be known before proceeding with the design, but also to find out whether the* car would, be sufficiently stable from the areo-dynamical point of view. Then, again, a perfectly stream-lined body tends to be highly unstable, so that the slightest deviation from a, straight course makes the car wholly uncontrollable. Brake drums of large diameter ai e fitted to each of the four wheels with internal-expanding shoes operated by a pedal assisted by a Dewandre suc-tion-operated servo cylinder. An intertesting point is that there is no compensating gear of any kind in the system. Some idea of the work that will be thrown on the brakes can be obtained from the fact that at a rough

which has been achieved in the design of the “Golden Arrow” is obtained from the fact that the frontal area of the car is only 12 square feet, or the equivalent of an oblong measuring 3ft by 4ft. There is many a 12 h.p. light car with a frontal area double as great and yet this “Golden Arrow” carries a 900 horse power engine and, of course, transmission and other components commensurate in size with- the big power unit. OUTPUT, 900 H.P. The Napier engine which is being employed develops 900 b.h.p., at 3,400 r.p.m.. and this huge output is conveyed through a multi-plate clutch and a three-forward-speed gearbox; in order to prevent slip powerful springs have had to be employed in the former to place a total load of over one and a-half tons'on the plates, pressing them together. This necessitated the design of a special control mechanism, without which the driver would have been unable to control the clutch against springs of this strength. The gear , ratios selected are: Top, l. to 1; second, 2,195 to 1; and first, 4.47 to 1; and the theoretical speeds corresponding to the engine speed at which maximum power is developed are 246 m.p.h., 166 m.p.h., and 81 m.p.h., respectively. Imagine the average driver being called upon to handle a car which will exceed 160 m. before it is necessary to change up from second to top gear! The tyre size, incidentally, is 37in by 7in, these components being specially constructed to withstand the terrific centrifugal and driving forces produced in an attempt

estimate this car would run a. distance of about five miles after closing the throttle, despite the retarding effect of air resistance, were no brakes employed. PETROL AND OIL TANKS The petrol tank is fitted in the bodywork immediately behind the driver, air pressure being employed to maintain the feed to the carburetters. An oil tank is fitted alongside the engine, which is lubricated on the dry sump principle, but there is no special provision for cooling the oil. The water system has. not yef been definitely decided upon, but it is intended to place the header tank immediately behind the centre block of cylinders, while in all probability the cooling tubes will be situated at each side of the car.

The general dimensions are interesting, particularly the height, which is only 3ft 9in. The wheel base and track are similar to those of a large private car, being 13ft 4in and sft. respectively, but the overall length is very great—26ft—because of the use of a long projecting tail. The maximum width is 6ft 4in, but, of course, the actual width of the body is very much less than this. A minimum ground clearance of 7in is allowed in the design. Great ingenuity and care to make provision so far as is humanly possible against every contingency whicb might arise are visible in the design of this wonderful car, and Major H. O. D. Segrave will carry with him the good wishes of everyone for the recovery of the coveted record by Great Britain when he sets forth for Florida.