Direct from H-E-double hockey sticks! The FIAT Mephistopheles 1300 cubes, yes, that's right 320 HP @1400 rpms Seven inch stroke! Can you say "thump"? 146 mph in 1923 on a public road...
What (cough, cough), exactly, (gasp), do you (choke) mean by that? And, where are you? Can't see a damn thing through all this haze. Of course, I've seen some fairly breezy Electro-Motive & GE prime movers, too, to be fair about things.
This car was originally black with many bodywork changes over the years. Weighed 2 tonnes,had a 240hp engine bumped upto 320hp that was very popular in airships at the time. 24 spark plugs.3 magnetos,no front brakes and a chain drive.
Anyone see this one? Just listen to the sound of the starter. Those Germans have balls of steel! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUsaYRyuGNY&feature=related
That Fiat is just plain mean and I can't imagine what arm strength it took to drive it over a long distance race. Thanks for sharing, the photos are saved in my "how should I do that" file for future reference for an upcoming/ongoing project.
Interesting! According to one source it was actually built only a few years ago, for fun, and uses a BMW aero engine used in, or intended for, a Zeppelin. That starter does sound wicked. Brutus, indeed.
This was actually the common set up in the early days of automobiles.Henry Ford won many races in 1902 with an inline 4 cylinder sporting 1,156 cubic inches. This was his famed "999" machine.As the big investors saw his technology, and wins at racing, they flocked to him to invest in his knowledge,and the rest is history... Here's another video of an old racer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWxSFRm5-RE
There is a photo of a guy starting this car or one slightly smaller with a 4 foot bar on the hand crank.
I´ve had that thing start up about three feet in front of me. Still have the sound saved on my phone! IIRC the motor was from a Dornier Walrus flying boat.
silly Mephistofeles stat: in direct a piston fires once every 6 feet. the chassis is the remains of one of the 1907 GP cars, with a section of a london commuter bus grafted in.
I think there was one of these monsters at the Goodwood festival of speed (England) a couple of years ago. I saw a video so there should be some audio out there. Driving one must be fun since the driver had to control ignition timing as well as fuel mixture along with the usual driving chores. N B R
That's funny. I believe the plans are to chuck it into there new "recession/Obama-inspired green machine/CA low emissions super special limited edition" 300 series cars. The dealer just needs to check off option code WTF on the build sheet.
As I understand it, you prime the cylinders through the priming cups (top of head), then hand crank it through a turn or so, just turning it, NOT trying to start it (ignition off). Then, turn the ignition 'On', and rapidly flick the advance from full to retard, which should cause one cylinder to fire (works better on sixes ). There is no electric starter, and no one with arms big enough to crank it to firing. Similarly, if the engine is still warm, there is a good chance that just flicking the advance will get it to fire from standstill. Cosmo
you prime it, to do the ignition trick, you pull it up on compression. I used to do it on my model T, it can be done regularly on my fathers curve dash olds.
Cranking a Model T worst case scenario...broken arm/fingers Cranking a Fiat Mephistopeles worst case scenario...?
it really isn't as bad as you think. There are no headlight to crush in with your face, just soft and cushy spring horns. be smart dont wrap your thumb around the crank.
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