24 Litre Napier-Railton

aeronca65t

Great Pumpkin

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• Nov 11, 2004

• #1

I got home late last night and clicked on the tube.
I had pretty low expectations for mid-week television, but I was pleasantly surprised to see this years Goodwood Races. Lots of neat cars really hammering around the course. I was particularly struck by the 1933 Napier-Railton with a 24 litre, V-12 aero engine. Not the fastest lapping car, but this monster was capable of over 150 mph in a straight line. Eight exhaust stacks on one side and four on the other. Glorious!

More info:

https://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~garycr/2001/napier_railton_november_2001/

 

catfood

Jedi Knight

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• Nov 11, 2004

• #2

I saw this car (at least I think it was this one or another aero engined vehicle of the same era, the memory fades) many years ago at Silverstone. At the time it was only shod with stub exhausts a few inches long. When it fired up it wasn't just the pits that noticed, I think most of the county of Northamptonshire must have turned its head! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/england.gif

 

P

piman

Darth Vader

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• Nov 11, 2004

• #3

Hello all,
this car has been racing on the Vintage series for many years now, I forget who actually owns it. The engine configuration is a W, I believ, a V with an other bank splitting the centre of the V.
Quite an amazing machine but it was common practice in the Brooklands (A banked circuit in the South of England) days to fit ex WW1 aeroplane engines to basic chassis'

Alec

 

P

piman

Darth Vader

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• Nov 11, 2004

• #4

Hello all,
further to my earlier post I took a quick 'Search' and found this amongst many pages on the Napier Railton.
https://www.brooklandstrack.co.uk/The%20Track/nronmban.htm
It lapped Brooklands at 143mph, and it's top speed is quoted as 165mph.
Incidentally, on the same site it gives the specifications of many of the Brooklands cars, including Chitty Bang Bang, which many of you will of heard of due to the film. There was such a named car!

Alec

 

X

Xracer

Jedi Trainee

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• Nov 11, 2004

• #5

This thread has inspired me to continue my quest to stuff a Rolls Royce Merlin engine into my Mini! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

Bruce Bowker

Obi Wan

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• Nov 11, 2004

• #6

[ QUOTE ]
This thread has inspired me to continue my quest to stuff a Rolls Royce Merlin engine into my Mini! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

It might be easier to put the Mini in the engine.

Bruce

 

waltesefalcon

Yoda

Silver

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• Nov 11, 2004

• #7

Or you could just set the mini on top of the merlin and call it good.

 

D

davidsgems

Freshman Member

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• Nov 11, 2004

• #8

My sons first ever race was at a BDC event at Silverstone about 6 yrs ago and he was driving a rather pedestrian Alvis we had. I watched in horror as the Railton lapped him three times at probably 100mph faster than my son was going. When it got to the straights the then owner Mr Morley hit the gas then after about one second hit the brakes and it backfired all the way down the straight trying to decelarate. I think it finished third in a race that included a D-type jaguar which was very quick as it could corner and the railton was a handful but could Peter Morley drive it. It had stub exhausts and looked evil compared to its polished look these days. I asked my son after the race, did you watch for it coming, he said no need he could hear it about 300yds before it came near then it was passed. A wonderful piece of engineering.

 

waltesefalcon

Yoda

Silver

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• Nov 11, 2004

• #9

That Napier is an absolutely awesome bit of machinery. Most be a marvel to see in person.

 

Roger

Luke Skywalker

Bronze

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• Nov 11, 2004

• #10

I have seen the ex-Cobb Napier Railton many times in my life and I've always been impressed. As someone else mentions, WW1 engines and especially the Lion have appeared in several specials over the years. As for the Peter Morley car.... If memory serves aright it was a Bentley Napier, with stub exhausts that Peter built (and re-built) with David Llewellyn. Its body looks very much like the Napier-Railton, but it is a different car. Among other things, it has 4-wheel brakes, so it could slow down at Silverstone, but the Napier has only 2-wheel brakes.

BTW, there wasn't one, there were several Chittys, mainly based on Mercedes chassis with a variey of engines. Perhaps the most famous would be Babs, the Higham Special, that was interred at Pendine in South Wales for so many years after the death of Parry Thomas.


Just a few ramblings....

 

D

davidsgems

Freshman Member

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• Nov 12, 2004

• #11

Hi Roger
My mistake you were right about Peter Morleys car.
Talking of P Thomas
A good friend of mine is close to finishing his Leyland 8 after several years of hard work and research. Another friend has his V16 cadillac single seater nearly ready and it will be out at events in the UK next season it is a super looking car and with 16 cylinders should certainly go well.

 

OP

aeronca65t

Great Pumpkin

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• Nov 12, 2004

• #12

David and Roger:

Great info!

Also: Speaking of 2004 Goodwood, one of the best actual races was the saloon event. In the end Rae Davis' Austin A35 ripped past the field, beating a Jag sedan at the end. The A35 blew an engine the day before, and the replacement mill was found that was "suspicously" fast. The A35 uses a 1200 engine that's related to the 1800 cc MGB engine. One has to wonder what engine was "found"? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/devilgrin.gif

Derek Bell, Ivan Dutton, Rowan Atkinson and the lovely and talented Desire' Wilson also drove in the event.
Movie of the Jag vs. A35 race here:

https://www.mgussin.freeuk.com/MotorRacingMovieFiles/Movies.htm

 

Roger

Luke Skywalker

Bronze

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• Nov 12, 2004

• #13

Rambling a bit further...last night I did a bit of research, and tied up a loose end in my mind. I looked up the Bentley-Napier on the web, and discovered that Peter Morley had originally put the Napier engine into the Sunbeam Tigress chassis.

I envy the Leyland 8 owner - glorious cars!

Re: V16 Cadillac - Ron "Steady" Barker used to have one - any connection?
A little while back there was a thread in the Sunbeam section about the v12 Tiger, and I said in a post that I know Jenks had the Tigress chassis at one time - well now I know a bit more about what became of it.

 

W

William

Darth Vader

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• Nov 13, 2004

• #14

For many years, the Brooklands website had the sound of the Napier-Railton as a download. You could hear it at full chat and on start up, peeling out from the start. Used to be the startup sound on my computer.

-Wm.

 

MattP

Jedi Knight

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• Nov 13, 2004

• #15

[ QUOTE ]
This thread has inspired me to continue my quest to stuff a Rolls Royce Merlin engine into my Mini! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

Maybe you could mount it out the back hatch, with a driveshaft running down to the front wheels. Then you could say the Mini had seat warmers as well.

 

OP

aeronca65t

Great Pumpkin

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• Nov 23, 2004

• #16

"davidsgems" said:

My sons first ever race was at a BDC event at Silverstone about 6 yrs ago and he was driving a rather pedestrian Alvis we had. I watched in horror as the Railton lapped him three times at probably 100mph faster than my son was going.....I asked my son after the race, did you watch for it coming, he said no need he could hear it about 300yds before it came near then it was passed. A wonderful piece of engineering.

David:

I think I can commiserate with your son.
Here's me (in a 65 hp Spridget) being tailed by a "Craftsman/NASCAR" racing truck" with 10 times my horsepower! When they pass me (often), the shock wave is amazing. These "big boys" like to come out and practice with us at Pocono Raceway (picture taken about 2 months ago).
The Railton is classier, though.

 

S

sammyb

Luke Skywalker

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• Nov 23, 2004

• #17

Have you all seen Jay Leno's "Tank Car?" It's a hot rod with a 190-in. wheelbase and an engine from an M-47 Patton tank. This engine is an AV-1790-5B and it's 1792 cu. in. It has overhead cams and Hemi heads. Since it was designed to move a tank, it puts out 810 hp and makes 1560 ft.-lb. of torque. The tranny was originally from a Greyhound bus, but was changed to an Allison HD4060 6-speed.

Leno also has a Phantom II Rolls with a Merlin V12 from a Spitfire fighter plane, which according to the article in Popular Mechanics regarding the tank car, there isn't significant difference between a car with a tank engine, and one with a Merlin. Too much power!!!

 

OP

aeronca65t

Great Pumpkin

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• Nov 24, 2004

• #18

[ QUOTE ]
Have you all seen Jay Leno's "Tank Car?" It's a hot rod with a 190-in. wheelbase and an engine from an M-47 Patton tank......
Leno also has a Phantom II Rolls with a Merlin V12 from a Spitfire fighter plane.....

[/ QUOTE ]

The "tank car" has been shown on Speed TV (American cable TV channel) several times. Neat!
As for the Merlin-powered Rolls, here it is (I didn't know Leno owned it....I did see a TV show that featured his turbine-powered motorcycle. I guess he's a power junkie)