BID FOR SPEED RECORD.

Taranaki Central Press, Volume IV, Issue 430, 11 May 1937, Page 3

BID FOR SPEED RECORD.

NEW CAR DESIGNED. Freddie Dixon Quite Confident London, April 17. Freddie Dixon, winner of all the big races on motor-cycles and cars, is to make an attempt on the world’s land speed record. He has designed a car so revolutionary in engine and chassis design that it will cause a sensation in engineering circles. Dixon’s inspiration came while he was serving a sentence for a motoring offence. The engine will be ia supercharged two.s-troke, without a crankcase and with the pistons running parallel with the propeller shaft. The reciprocal action of the pistons will be converted to rotary motion of the shaft through a wobbling plate ar-

rnngement. The chassis is las revolutionary as the engine, with compensating action on all four wheels. The whole car will not weigh more than 30cwt—about a third of Sir Malcolm Campbell’s Blue Bird. Dixon decided not to use an air engine, because by doing so he would by brute force what he intends- to accomplish by scientific means. The car will be of incalculable value to the future of the motor industry. “My car,” said Freddie, “is built on the principle of a dart, wii'h dhe centre of pressure in front of the centre of gravity; in fact, I shall probably call it ‘The Dart,’ because the general principle occurred' to me while playing darts. “I am not concerned with power, for the engines I contemplate using develop 2000 h.p. and I only need 700 h.p. to do 350 m.p.h. I may go a lot faster, but prefer to let performance speak for itself. I shall sit in front of the car, ahead of the front axle—it will be like sitting in the transparent nose of a bullet. The body will be shaped like the barrel of a dhrt or a cigar.”"