The Race Cars

[jonto]

A bit about Sopwith Aviation-
   
   IMMEDIATELY after the war efforts were made by the Sopwith
   Aviation and Engineering Company to turn out domestic utensils
   from aluminium. Mr. Sigrist tells the tale of Harry walking
   into his office one morning after discovering the new object the
   firm was to produce, and sitting down, said : " Well, Fred, what
   do you think of it ! Saucepans ! Where do I come in ? I
   never thought I should live to find myself in a job that Mrs.
   Beeton could do better than I."
   I believe a good many saucepans were made, which, according
   to a contributor to a flying paper, "involved strenuous work on
   the firm's chief tester," and also a certain wooden toy was turned
   out in good numbers ; but the firm commenced real post-war
   work in the production of the A. B.C. motor-bicycle.
   The company continued with the production of this cycle for
   some time, but was eventually unable to weather the slump of
   1920, and in the September of that year the Sopwith Aviation and
   Engineering Company closed down.
   In November a new company was founded by Messrs. Sop-
   with and Sigrist and Harry, known as the H. G. Hawker Engineer-
   ing Company, which started in the production of a 2-stroke motor-
   cycle and also special aluminium body-work. After the appear-
   ance of Harry's streamlined A.C. a considerable demand for like
   racing bodies appeared, until most of the best known racing light
   cars became furnished with Hawker streamline bodies.

[jonto]

Harry's car after its second rebuild to single seater form-
   
   The car made its first public appearance in its streamlined
   form at the Easter Meeting of the B.A.R.C., where it caused a great
   deal of enthusiasm, it being the first really streamlined racing
   car ever seen at Brooklands. But it was not the first time it
   had actually been on the track, so although " terrificly fast for a
   I -5litre car," as one current motor paper had it, it was handicapped
   out of any hope of winning either of the races entered, but suc-
   ceeded in taking second place in both. In the second race he
   made a very spectacular run through the whole field, with the
   exception of the limit man who won the race.
   After winning the 1,500 cc. Scratch Race at the Junior Car
   Club Meeting and also the very interesting short sprint of 250
   yards against Captain Fraser Nash's famous G.N. named Mowgli he began to really " tune up " for records. He was very anxious  his A.C. to be the first 1,500 cc. car to attain 100 miles an hour,
   and on June 3rd he gained the coveted distinction on his A.C.
   under official observation. He attacked the flying and standing
   half-mile records, which stood to the credit of the G.N., and
   established world's light car records by achieving the speed of
   105.15 miles per hour for the flying and 61.43 miles per hour for
   the standing starts. Those records caused a great sensation in
   the motor world, and even the lay Press showed some sort of
   enthusiasm for the latest achievement of the world whose efforts
   are generally ignored. Harry received many letters of congratulation from the people interested in the first " 100 miles an hour light car," and I think the real sporting atmosphere of Brooklands was conveyed in a genial letter of congratulation from Mr. Lionel Martin, who was not too proud to say he had coveted the distinction for the
   Aston-Martin car, which I know Harry appreciated very much, as
   also the hearty grip of Captain Nash who, till then, had swept the
   board at Brooklands with his G.N., but who now realised he had
   met his match in the A.C.
    In practising for the Midsummer Meeting of the B.A.R.C.
   on June 25th, he had a very narrow escape from disaster. I was
   timing his lap speed from the stand, when, as he was about to
   enter the railway straight at about 100 miles per hour, he sud-
   denly appeared to slide down the banking, and a huge cloud of dust
   concealed him from view. A man immediately behind me, who
   had been watching the A.C., exclaimed : " Hawker's off the track !
   He'll need his luck now ! " Running down the steps of the stand,
   the first person I saw in the paddock was Mr. Coatalen just getting
   into his car. He took me round to the spot, where, as one would
   quite expect, Harry was standing up by the side of the track,
   waving his hands to denote his complete fitness. His appearance, however, was terrible, as his whole face was covered with blood,
   but, rubbing it with his handkerchief, asked for volunteers to help
   him out with the car, which could not at first be seen. It had completely hopped the three-feet concrete parapet that surrounds
   the track, and was reposing, right way up, in the long grass. Remonstrances to him to leave the getting up of the machine
   to the many willing volunteers who had arrived on the scene were
   of no avail ; he hated any sort of fuss, and only left for the paddock when the car was on the track again. It appeared the cause of
   the accident was the side of the bonnet, over which there was no
   strap, coming loose and hitting Harry on his forehead, dazing
   him for the minute. Later, holding out his goggles, complete,
   but splintered in a thousand pieces and covered with blood, Harry
   said : " Hang it all, these are my favourite goggles ! Just fitted
   me before ; only fit for Triplex display window now ! " We towed the A.C. home, very little damaged considering the jar it must have received in negotiating the parapet, and the whole of that night was spent in taking the body off and looking for any possible trouble. New wheels were substituted for the two completely buckled ones, and Harry raced the car the next day at the B.A.R.C. Meeting, where, unfortunately, engine trouble prevented him winning any races. After the sprint records he had put up, Harry's intention was to go for sustained and still greater speeds with the object of
   attacking world's records irrespective of size before the end of
   the year, but he was only destined to live three more weeks,
   leaving the car, his loved car on which he had spent so much of
   his interest and time during the last six months, at the height of
   its fame, for others to carry on to the 120 miles per hour goal.
   
   Harry was test flying the Nieuport Goshawk biplane that he was to fly in an air race when something went wrong , he crashed attempting to land and was thrown out and died. After his death the car went back to AC's.

[jonto]

Harry had two daughters, there may be a family archive, diaries/photographs.

[musicman]

With reference to the engine in this racing car, the late Stuart Wallace wrote on this subject in the December 1994 Action.
   It would appear that this 1500 cc engine was designed by John Weller but he was not happy with the performance of the car. He continued to develop the engine but by 1920 it was abandoned as it ran very roughly and by this time his AC light six engine was taking centre stage

[Old Crock]

quote:Originally posted by musicman
   
With reference to the engine in this racing car, the late Stuart Wallace wrote on this subject in the December 1994 Action. It would appear that this 1500 cc engine was designed by John Weller but he was not happy with the performance of the car. He continued to develop the engine but by 1920 it was abandoned as it ran very roughly and by this time his AC light six engine was taking centre stage
   

Which racing car are you referring to? The 1914 car or Hawker’s, both are in the posting above.
   
   If Hawker’s, this is too simplistic on Stuart’s part, as the 1500 four-cylinder race engine was used in the factory racecars of 1921 (plus Hawker’s car). Weller designed a longer chassis for Hawker and was directly involved with the streamlined body design. The engine was improved in 1921 at the factory. It may have 'run roughly' but by using this engine Hawker became the first man to break records in the ‘Light Car’ class at more than 100mph, tremendous PR for the company at the time (they even offered race replicas for sale at £1000). Earlier, Weller was not happy with performance, nor was Hawker, but the engine was not abandoned by 1920, and continued after Weller left the company in 1922. I’m sure that resources were going on development of the Six, for the production cars, but the four-cylinder race engine was for a particular category, then and there, and the Six was yet to show its true worth.

[jonto]

I think Stuart was referring to the 1914 car, perhaps it's engines lack of refinement was Weller's inspiration for moving up to 6 cylinders, meanwhile nice to have someone else to develop the four. (Just speculation).

[musicman]

Sorry for the confusion. the AC 1500cc engine was used for the 1914 race car.

[Old Crock]

quote:Originally posted by musicman
   
Sorry for the confusion. the AC 1500cc engine was used for the 1914 race car.

In that case, I bow to the knowledge, and associated assumptions, of Jonto and Stuart Wallace.
   
   I’ve learnt something. It was incredible that Weller could design and manufactured from the bench-up, with all associated costs, a completely new racing engine for 1914 considering, at the time, that all production was based on the Fivet engine.

[jonto]

No need to bow, when new historical material is found it warrants looking into.
     The Light Car and Cycle Car would be perhaps the first place to look for information, the VSCC library has a full set I believe if any one could visit and leaf through he 1914 issues.

[jonto]

Here is the 1919 6cyl chassis with its quarter elliptic front springs. This must be the new chassis Harry used for his first rebuild.

   
   
   The front axle is still fabricated from tube, a forging not obtained yet. I imagine the 1914 chassis must have rolled alarmingly with its transverse front and narrow rear spring base. It seems very probable that Weller's first attempt at an 'in house' engine was the four cylinder one, then for whatever reason the decision was made to move up to six cylinders which would open up another level of troubles as balancing of six in lines was not fully understood in 1919.

[jonto]

The next events were the twenty four hour record attempt and the JCC two hundred mile race. S.C.H. Davies was a driver in both, there is an account of his experiences in 'Motor Racing' published in 1931. Is this known or would it be new material here?

[ACOCArch]

quote]Originally posted by jonto
   /quote]
   A very interesting thread, in particular the period 1913 - 1920 for which little is recorded about AC's history.
   
   Regarding the 1914 competition car pictured early in the thread, that may be the car intended for the 1914 TT, the event being cancelled on the outbreak of WWI. But there is not much evidence to link the car in the photo with the event, or to confirm the source of the engine.
   
   Re the Fivet engines, the first 4-wheeled AC car, the 10hp announced in 1913, had a 1096cc Fivet engine - see ACtion Archive April 2013. The 12hp followed circa 1914, with a 1327cc Fivet.
   
   The 1917 sales catalogue continued to offer ACs with the Fivet engine. However, by then, car production was more or less at a standstill, with priority given to munitions.
   
   During WWI, AC had also experimented with a MAG four-cylinder engine in a road car.
   
   This illustrates the open-ended range of possibilities for the source of the engine in the 1914 competition car. It is also not beyond reason to suppose that AC started to experiment with their own design - but I have seen no evidence of that being the case in 1914.
   
   The Archive acquired copies of the Science Museum drawings, referred to earler in the thread. The originals are all ink on vellum. Some are of engines.
   
   The picture which emerges from those engine drawings, and other sources, is far from clear. What is known is:
   
   a. The first announcement of the Weller Six, in 1919, was of a shaft driven sohc in two capacities - 1478cc and 1991cc;
   b. The Science Museum drawings include two General Arrangements of Weller sohc engines - one dated 1921 of a shaft driven sohc six-cylinder engine, the second dated 1919 of a chain-driven sohc four-cylinder! The latter featured Weller's patented chain tensioner.
   c. The Science Museum drawings include a General Arrangement of a side valve in-line six!
   
   The earliest known road test of a car with the AC Six engine is late 1919. It was claimed then that AC had been experimenting with six-cylinder engines for three years - but is not specific about the details of the engine design or source.
   
   In the Archive, the earliest sales catalogue for a six-cylinder AC features the shaft-driven sohc 1478cc engine. The model is the 'Ditton Six'(ACtion Archive October 2002). We now know that the company name in the catalogue - Auto-Carriers Ltd - dates this after February 1920 (see ACtion Archive March 2016)
   
   Part of the mystery of the Weller Six design is that some of the detailed engineering looks, on the face of it, to be similar to the Fivet! For example, the 1327cc Fivet four-cyl had a bore and stroke of 65mm x 100mm!
   
   Crankshaft torsional vibration was a significant engineering challenge in six cylinder engines. It bedevilled the Weller Six engine design throughout most of its life, not helped by the long stroke and poor journal overlap. The harmonic damper fitted to the nose of the crankshaft, in the 1950s, came the closest to controlling the problem.
   
   The ground is slowly being prepared for an Archive article piecing this all together!

[jonto]

The third AC race car, the 2 ltr 24 hour record car-
   
   
   S.C.H. Davies was one of the drivers in the double twelve hours record attempt at Brooklands on the 27th September 1921.
   "Sammy" writes that the car used the Hawker body, its looks to be the same car now with Rudge hubs and wheels, the engine change and the 6 cyl radiator mounted further forward, perhaps higher,the bonnet line now slopes rearwards a little.

[jonto]

S.C.H. Davis Motor Racing 1931
   
   Sammy writes-
   
     Most people's first step towards a wheel for a real race on the road is taken if they can join a team which is about to attack long distance records with a car.
     Record breaking, of course, is totally different from racing. The drivers have the inspiration that comes from doing something that has never been done before, wether it is a question of International Class Records, which are the best figures put up by cars classed according to engine capacity, or World's Records, which are the best records irrespective of engine size. Then, again, for records the car need not start if it is not ready, for officials can be put off to another day, and that alone is a tremendous difference from the road or track race.
     My first run for records took place on Brooklands track when, to gain experience for the coming 200 mile race in 1921, I took part in an attack on the double- twelve hour record that is a British record in which the car runs for twelve hours, is then locked up by the officials, to be returned to its crew the following day to start on another twelve hours.
      The car was a six-cylinder, two-litre A.C. with a single-seater streamline body originally used for Hawker's car, and a long plain external exhaust pipe. A Noble and W.G. Brownsort commenced, from a depot astablished at the head of the finishing straight with fuel, oil, water, spares, spare wheels, jacks, tools and all equipment, a chart, sundry watches, and a group of mechanics. The machine would run to two hours, the electric timing apparatus recording its passage, at an average of eighty m.p,.h., well above the record; it would then come in, a swarm of mechanics would rush forward, water, oil and fuel would go in, the tires would be examined; then off the car would go with another driver.

[jonto]