History Auto racing 1894-1942

two pistons up at one time, down at one time.

 

OK, thanks noboD. I thought all four cylinder's were virtually two up two down, but maybe both of the two fires at the same time?, similar to flat single plane V8 crankshaft engine builders are doing for some short track applications?

 

Here you go(w)-

 

Thanks Mac! Pete Eastwood took that stuff and built a perfect running replica/tribute/clone. I've said this with other old race car engines, I'd rather see a running car than the engine in a display stand. Bob

 

My 153. Aren't those happy looking pistons?

 

Six Ball, Why not add a second distributor and make it fire two simultaneously? That would be a real thumper.
Do the 2U / 2D engines fire two at once? Blowing up the pic of the distributor didn't tell me anything.

Somehow, the sound of Harley V-twins on a single crank pin comes to mind.

 

The original Winfield " 2 up 2 down " car .
And the Winfield " 2 up 2 down " car today.
It's the original engine in a recreated car .
I built this recreation for Rick Rawlins , here in Calif .

 

Pete, thank you for bringing Winfield's creation back to life!!!

SOMEday, I would love to carve out a 2 up 2 down crank and have some fun

And if I could spend time with any three people from the past, they would be Ed Winfield, Harry Miller, and John Gerber (in no particular order)

 

Let's try this: What is the firing order?

 

1 2 4 3

 

Flyer, You'd need a new cam to get 'em ready to fire at the same time. I don't how the siamese ports would work and they already shake enough.

ehdubya, What year is that page from?

 

Thanks for the photos Pete! Recreation, I like the sound of that better. Crazy Chris sure would have loved to see that running. Bob

 

Here's a not-so-great pic of the camshaft- check out the lobes!

 

Is there something wrong with that photo? The cam is on the other side of the block. Bob

 

That looks like it kicked a rod and windowed the block at some point.

 

Pic may be reversed- don't know about the block getting windowed at all

 

1911

 

1911? That is truly impressive. 8 years before a 1919 Essex 4 (178.8 ci) did this. The Essex run is like 6 Indy 500s back to back.
"These cars were noted for their performance and reliability and on the Cincinnati Speedway a racing bodied standard chassis set a world long distance endurance record, in 50 hours covered 3,037 miles, an average speed of 60.7 mph"

 

Man, I am having such a hard time envisioning how that 2U2D engine works. The pic of the crank shows the 1 and 2 journals are in the same plane. Journals 3 and 4 are in the same plane, but clocked around by what? - 90 or 120 degrees?? So if the firing order is 1-2-4-3 how can that be unless 1 and 2 fired simultaneously? But the pic of the cam lobes clearly shows 1 and 2 are not firing simultaneously. Maybe my question should have been "What is the firing sequence of that engine in terms of degrees of crankshaft rotation?"

 

A street S74 somewhere in the 30s?

 

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Looking for a photo of this car with the correct size wheels. I think it is an S74 owned by George Waterman at the time of this photo. Here are a few team mate photos. Bob

 

Bob that is widely believed to be David Bruce-Brown's old car. Plenty of info here https://www.vanderbiltcupraces.com/blog/article/mystery_friday_foto_50_a_historic_race_car


edit; i see i misread your post I'm sorry Bob, What date do you reckon? He must have created quite a stir.

 

Just back from a Google search, the FIAT that Barney Oldfield drove the former David Bruce Brown car was the one that Brown wrecked and died in. I don't post fatal wreck photos, but it must have been rebuilt for Oldfield to drive. David Bruce Brown in happier days.

 

Same car now with the proper size wheels & tires. From the 1962 issue of Automobile Quarterly Vol 1 number 1. I remember the day I bought this issue in the Barrett Book Shop in Stamford, Ct. I was eleven years old, it helped shape my interest in the hobby. Bob

 

The 2021 Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion (RMMR) has come and gone. This was the first year of the new management (S.C.R.A.M.P was removed by the Monterey County Supervisors)! There were as promised 400 participants invited. I'm thinking not all showed up.
To the apparent chagrin of Barry Toepke (Barry is not only the PR guy; but Director of Heritage events at Laguna seca), only 16 owners of PreWar (1920 to 1951 race Cars) entered. Of those 13 actually brought their cars to the event. Through attrition 9 finished the race on Sunday. Ivan Zaremba, undoubtedly braving the traffic, apparently shared his duties as a judge at Pebble Beach; to run his Hudson-Railton on Sunday. BTW, it was possibly Barry Toepke who went to bat for me to reverse my original rejection to the event!
Many of "PreWar" cars that regularly run in the 1920-1951 Group; were part of the Ragtime Racers exhibition. Brian Blain hit another one outta the park! He and his team put together a Diorama and action exhibitions both on and off the track that thrilled hundreds of spectators. If you missed it, the show will be at the Velocity Invitational which starts on November 11th at Laguna Seca.
Historic Sports Racing (HSR) heading by Dave Hinton did an excellent job of running the races. Chip Wright, Head of Tech, came into our paddock, tech'd our car and told us if anyone in our Group need help to go to their location (also Black Flag). One of HSR's challenges was to run a schedule despite incessant AM fog! They were able to overcome this by tightening the schedule!
Not listed in the program was the Del Monte Cup and Pebble Beach Racers. These cars and drivers were embedded in Group 1A 1955 to1961 Sports Racing Cars over and under 2000 c.c. These sub-groups were organized by Rob Manson. In addition to several cars from Rob's collection (the Tatum, Manning and a Baldwin special}; there were Cad-Allards and Jag 120's. Phil Hill's former Pebble Beach winner, the '55 Ferrari 750 Monza was raced. The smaller bore group was represented by Porsches, Crosleys and an M.G. The Cleary family brought two Crosleys. One was a Special built by the family patriarch, Mike, while he was in college.
Bill Pollack's daughter was in the P.B. car paddock area to present a Del Monte Cup to the best Big Bore participant. There was a presentation to the Small Bore as well. Pollack dominated the Del Monte Cup several years at Pebble Beach driving Tom Carstens' highly modified Cad-Allard J2X. Bill wrapped the #14 around a pine tree after it's last win. The wreckage was finally re-constructed. It too was on display at this event; along with Phil Hill's first Ferrari and Sterling Edwards' 166 MM Ferrari.
Rick Cannon brought the Cannon Mark I that ran at Pebble Beach in the early '50's. This car touched off a controversial incident between members of the Throttlers (a SoCal Hot Rod club) and Sterling Edwards. Edwards the President of the San Francisco Region of the SCCA. Edwards ended up on his butt! Along with Ric in his pit was Dave Seely. Dave's Dad, Jim Seely the driver at P.B., a LAFD Fireman and motorcycle racer;p also had been one of the drivers for the Cannon Brother's othe racing creations.
There didn't seem to be much destruction (other that mechanicals) on the track! There were some great individual duels. Examples: In race Group 1B (1955 to 1964 GT) Greg Powell in his Morgan Plus 4 dogged Ranson Webster driving his Porsche Abarth Carrera for most of their main event. Greg, a sometime driver of Dale and Karen Barry's 1935 Dirt Track Car; passed Webster on the last lap. In another Nail Biter; in our Sunday PreWar race Rich Morrison and Luca Maciucescu spent most of the race swapping places. Each time they went down the Start/finish Straight Rich employed the power of the Lagonda's big V-12 to pull away from Luca's Bugatti. On the final lap, Luca went deep (as he had been) into Turn 11. But this time I think Luca took the outside line. Rich also went into the turn a little faster; but slipped a bit on the exit and Luca beat him to the flag! Good stuff! The Australian commentators on the videos went wild! Jim Alder, the everpresent driver/racer of his XK120 to and from races from Reno Nevada was in the booth with Aussies. Jim, having raced on Saturday was the Color Man for the commentators on Sunday. We finished our race and the final results were displayed; Jim took note that (something like this) "John Kerr was out there racing! Do you know! He's 88!" EIGHTY-EIGHT! Spending most of the time with Jim at Wednesday's party given by Hagerty's Logan Calkins; I mentioned several times that I was "60/22 years old"!
Paddins Dowling and Charles McCabe laped us all with their ERA G.P. cars! As this is written the both are racing a Lime rock CT with the VSCCA. Because of the pandemic shut down in the U.K. they were unable to go this year to the Goodwood Revival. Luca Maciucescu, Rich Morrison and Ivan Zaremba are also running at the Lime Rock event.
For the links to the whole RMMR Week, see the YouTube link below
On a personal note: I motored around during the week not only slowed by a sour engine; but I promised my family I would not do any wheel to wheel "dicing" ! I did however do what I'd not done in some sixty-odd years (on&off) of going through the Corkscrew. I spun down the Turn! In the morning of the first day of Group 3B practice, the last lap; I saw the two ERA G.P. cars of Dowling and McCabe approaching. We went thru Turn 6 and traveled up the hill; despite my recalcitrant engine I managed to "pull them" going up to the Corkscrew. As I approached the turn I leaned over to look in my right-side mirror to see where the might be. Losing my concentration in doing so; when I looked up I was headed off to the right. I tried to correct with a left shove of the wheel just as the car unweighted. the Rodeo was on! With a groan from the tires; the car exceeded an angle such that I could bring it back. I headed for the inside wall. Gathering a modicum of control I hit the brakes (to keep the rear tires loose) and added power. The move spun the car over 180 degrees. We (me and the little car) slid in the dirt; down to the bottom. Being a life-long skier; I had set my Downhill Edges! A photographer came into my pit saying that he got it all; and that the crowd went wild! Oh well, I guess it's all about the show! The Australian commentators on the videos got a kick out of it!
The 2021 RMMR for sure was a lot different from the old days of Steve Earle's "Monterey Historics". This event completed (particularly with the low turnout of PreWar cars); begs the question: Is this "The Beginning of the End, or The End of the Beginning" for our Group?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kb4IkhVNVOQ (these are 8 hours+long! If you want to see
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kz_WR58Trdg just our Group 3B you must scroll to about 6:30 minutes left)

 

Thanks for the Monterey updates, I gather there is a lot more that can't be posted. We went whale watching this year, maybe we'll be back next year. Bob