Thread: 3 engined cars
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Old 30 Jun 2001, 01:40 (Ref:111319)   #5
Ray Bell
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Ray Bell should be qualifying in the top 10 on the grid
Twin-engined cars in Australian racing have been relatively numerous, and it would not surprise me at all to learn that somebody somewhere turned out a triple other than the one to which you refer.

Twin enginend examples include:

The Thunderbird, in which Jack Myers died at Catalina Park in 1961 (1962?). This was virtually a F3 car with an extra engine, though I think the chassis was extended and the engines were place fore and aft of each other, both being Triumph units.

Eldred Norman's double Essex. I refer to it as Norman's because he is the more famous owner, but it was constructed by Max Bryant from Clare in South Australia. I know virtually nothing of this car other than that it had the two Essex fours and they were linked via large sprockets at the front of one and rear of the other and had a double-row chain wrapped around them.

The Double-Eight, also known as the Double V8, the Eldred Norman 16 and many other names, this car had a number of bodies and forms, but always had two Ford V8s linked in the same manner. It came after the Essex, in about 1948, was a formidable road car and an effective racer in its latter days. The chassis was from a Dodge weapons carrier, the wheels had extra drilling, but were from the truck, the brakes worked overtime and had electric fuel pumps that came on with the actuation of a switch by the brake pedal - to spray water over the drums and create a mass of steam around the car as it raced into corners. Naturally, there was usually twelve exhaust stubs on this car when it raced, Morman liked to make a noise...

Miller engines were used in a fore and aft mounting, from what I know, in another LSR car at Daytona that killed its driver. The little blown Miller Straight Eights survived the crash and one made its way to Australia to power the MacIntyre racer that become the Kleinig Hudson.

Internationally, don't forget the Chaparral with the separate snowmobile (?) engine that blew air out the back as it spent its life creating suction under this huge Can-Am car, powered otherwise, of course, by a Chevrolet V8.

So much for the twins I can think of at the moment, but there was a car which had three engines that hillclimbed in Australia in the seventies.
Paul England's Ausca open wheeler had a 2.2-litre VW engine at the rear and a 1.8-litre at the front, each driving their respective axle, with the supercharger driven by the front engine feeding both engines.

Yes, yes, I can hear the cries, "What about the third engine?" Well, there was a 2.0-litre engine always with the car, but in the transporter, that would perform the function of spare if ever needed - at either end of the car.
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