3 engined cars

[GrahamC]

Fellow racing fans,
I had better introduce myself to the list.
I am living in Sydney Australia, and doing
some research on a defunct speedway that
operated a short distance from where I am
living.

In the course of my research, I have come
across one of the most extraordinary cars
of all time - Eric Morton's 3 engined
speedcar/midget.

The car had 3 JAP 500cc single cylinder
engines mounted in a triangle arrangement,
with them being connected by a a countershaft
and chains.

I am familiar with the Alfa-Romeo "bi-motor",
but this is the only 3 engined car I have ever
come across. Do list members know of any other
examples?

Graham

[TimD]

Welcome Graham! Glad to hear from you.

There was a Land Speed Record car in the late 1920s, I think, which had a trio of Liberty V-12s mounted in chevron-pattern.

I think it was called the Triplex Special, but I may be wrong. Anyone more clued up on that one?

[Vitesse]

Not sure about that one Tim, but Mickey Thompson's 1960 LSR car, Challenger I, had four Pontiac V8s. It ran 406.60mph one-way at Bonneville on Sep 9 1960, but broke a half-shaft and couldn't do the return run.

[MarkB]

The White Triplex Special had 3 27 Litre Liberty engines and took the Land Speed Record in April 1928 at 207.55mph driven by Ray Keech. It had one engine in front of the driver and two engines side by side in the back on a truck chassis. It had no gearbox or clutch and rear wheel brakes only. The car was destroyed and its new driver Lee Bible killed in 1929 trying to regain the LSR from the Golden Arrow.

Goldenrod- the wheel driven land speed record car has 4 Chrysler engines.

In the 30s Richard Bolster, the brother of John Bolster (GP driver and BBC commentator)made a Special with 4 Norton engines which raced at Donington

[Ray Bell]

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.