I have a Brooklands Motorbook on early LSR cars that has a number of period articles and a cutaway drawing of the Railton. It appears that Reid Railton just altered the ring and pinion angle from 90deg to accommodate the angle the engines were mounted at. The driveshafts go stright in to the final drives. They built everything from scratch, so why not?
The neighbor has a couple Napier Sabre engines and a Hawker Tempest V currently in England. I won't miss the chance if he ever gets to the point of lighting a fire in that badboy. http://blog.kermitweeks.com/?cat=33
Reid Railton was THE British racecar designer back in the day. He designed land speed cars for Malcolm Campbell, John Cobb, George Eyston and others.
I am thinking the same thing. And more, what if someone like Roger Penske would tackle the land-speed records. Not with a jet or rocket, but with a piston engine. Back in 1927, Henry Segrave drove a Sunbeam to a top speed of 207 mph on the sands of Daytona Beach. Driving in a straight line; no turns. The car was powered by two 1369 cu. in. 12-cylinder aviation engines. At Indy this year, I think Franchitti (and a lot of others, of course) was lapping at something like 218 mph. In a car powered by a single 213.6 cu. in. engine.