History Upsidedown V8-60

Cool thread Ryan!

Anyone have pics of the 6 Chrysler engines on a common crank(in the Chrysler Museum) for a tank motor? It'd have the same oiling issues this Ford motor would?

I do believe Tim Richmond might've exceeded Earnhardt had he lived?

 

It looks to be 5 banks of cyls.

 

Could've been. But I'm guessing that they probably gave up after trying to figure out how to set the ackerman angles.

 

looks to me like all of them have their own crank... but somehow conjoined in the center???

thats some crazy shit there... i'd love to see how they pulled that off!

 

There was one built in the 50's by some very innovated guys. The Afrons bros. That was the "Sidewinder" dragster that they ran. It had a 6 cyl Ranger aircraft eng. This engine was mounted inverted in the aircraft. Crankshaft on top and head on the bottom. Many of these Rangers were run in Dragsters , Sprint Cars, Modifieds, and Boats , but always turned over with the crank on the bottom and the head on top . There were several oiling mods nesc to do this but none needed by the bros who ran theirs in it's normal upside down
configuration. I have run several threads seeking first hand info on this car. Still looking. Appreciate any help.

 

There are just way too many sanctioning bodies and rules in most every form of automobile racing today where this type of creativity has been stifled with rules geared towards fairness in competition, cost, (and safety). Personally I would love to see someone unload at a NASCAR, Indy, USAC, ARCA, NHRA, IHRA etc event and clean house on the competition with something unique, innovative, and even expensive as hell as long as it met the safety requirements.

The one exception: Bonneville

 

Henry Ford tried a upside down V8 or X type when Ford Motors was developing the flathead. Henry thought that the four bang was perfect and a V8 would never work. His engeeniers thought otherwise. He demanded it be with heads and ign down and when it failed because of mud and other debris he felt he had proved his point. The engeeniers finally got their way with Edsels help and the rest is history.

Long Live V8's

 

You're absolutely right Rootie Kazootie! 5,not 6.
Saw that thing at the Chrysler Museum and wondered how they'd keep the oil in and if one section was stubborn,how would the rest fire? The "mass" wasn't green when I saw it,but was awesome just the same.

Smokey Yunick had the offset pod car he campaigned at Indy with a somewhat similar idea to the 3/1 Tim Richmond driven test car.Genuis minds all think alike.

 

Ill take mine "overeasy" ...

Cool solution though..

 

I love this freaky stuff that shows some truely independent thinking. Almost always frowned on by the respective establishments but they sure do put a smile on my dial.

 

This has been a very entertaining thread folks, thanks to everyone for sharing.

-W

 

That's a great story. It's an interesting idea that they had to put the engine upside down.

 

so an upside down flatty would be an overhead valve engine, right?

why did they reverse the rotation though? to help keep from lifting the left front tire?

the asymmetrical supermod is cool, i could see it being stupid fast through the turns, problem is if you have to get on the binders in a hurry, you'd be screwn. literally, into the wall. certainly a safety issue there.

 

here is a V-8 60 reverse rotation midget racecar
racinman rick">">

 

Found this old thread on a search. Have heard of Chinese inverted motors years ago. First one I've seen, beautiful job. Does it run cool, how is throttle response on it? Has to be built by someone who is retired...

 

this whole thread has me drooling

 

wath sort of fanbelt are they using in the pics above?

 

Looks like one of those belts we used to make in summer church camp.

 

He was a bit crazy.
From Wiki on Tim;
Richmond grew up in a wealthy family and lived a debauched lifestyle, earning him the nickname "Hollywood".<SUP> </SUP>In describing Richmond's influence in the sport of racing, Charlotte Motor Speedway president Humpy Wheeler said: "We've never had a race driver like Tim in stock car racing. He was almost a James Dean-like character." When Richmond was cast for a bit part in the 1983 movie Stroker Ace, "He fell right in with the group working on the film," said director Hal Needham. Cole Trickle, the main character in the movie Days of Thunder, played by Tom Cruise, was loosely based on Richmond and his interaction with Harry Hyde and Rick Hendrick.

He was hospitalized in 1986 at the end of the season and was not well enough to start the 87 season. He came back in the middle of the year to run the Pocono 500, starting third and taking over the lea on the 5th lap. The car had a gear box failure that left him with only 4th gear and yet managed to win the race by 8 car lengths over Bill Elliot, arguably the top driver of that era. Richmond had the potential to one of the greatest of all time.

Ten days after his death, on August 23, a press conference was held by the Richmond family where it was revealed that the death was due to complications from AIDS, which he had acquired from an unknown woman. Richmond's physician, Dr. David Dodson, said: "There's no way of knowing who that woman was. Tim was a celebrity with a lot of charisma, a handsome guy. He naturally attracted a lot of women." Reportedly more than 90 drivers and crew personnel underwent HIV testing in the wake of Richmond's death.

 

People have to try new designs, rethinking the old or current standard, or all is at a stand still. In the early 80's Sammy Swindell messed around with A arm front suspention on his sprint car but soon abandoned it. Engine position aside, the number of strange if not crazy suspension designs that have been tried is another story in itself.

 

i use to do industrial maintenance, we had that type of belt by the roll, cut a piece off weave it back together and put it on. not for high torque apps, but handy

 

so far.. the only things i haven't seen done to a flathead V8 is making it steam powered or external cumbustion powered.