These days, if you are going to build a car from the 1960s or ’70s you’re likely to choose one of three directions for your project. First off there’s the restoration route, where you do your best to return everything back to how it was when the car came out of the showroom. It’s surely the most traditional way to revive an old car.

Then there’s the resto-mod option. You repair and restore the problem areas on the car, and then add in some aftermarket bits for extra performance and style. It’s a method that seems to get more popular each year.

And the third way? Well, that’s when you decide to get a little bit crazy. Rather than embracing the old school way, you take the shell of your vintage car and transform it into something much different and much more powerful than anyone could have dreamed when it was originally built.

Toni Laari’s Datsun 260Z out of Finland is a car that falls into the that third category. It’s got the unmistakable look of an early ’70s Z, and the kind of streetable power that no one could have imagined back in 1974.

When Toni originally acquired the Datsun it wasn’t as if he was searching high and low for an old Z to build into his dream car. He simply found the car for sale nearby his house and thought it had a good look to it. Not only that, but he liked the fact that it was rear-wheel drive and had plenty of room in the engine bay to accommodate whatever wild power plant he might decide to go with.

Also of interest is that Toni’s Z is not the more popular two-seat body style, but the less commonly seen 2+2 shape. While some think 2+2 Zs are a bit awkward looking, I think Toni’s car shows they can look just as good as their two-seat counterpart. It also gives the whole thing an added layer of uniqueness.

Even before he acquired the 260Z, Toni knew he wanted to build a street car with tons of power for the track, great handling and a very cool style. With the Datsun in his possession, he rolled the car into his garage and began on making his vision a reality.

THE KIWI BUILT QUATTRO S1

The 1980s are remembered for a lot of things, but in the motorsport world those years represent the golden era of rallying. Group B took the World Rally Championship and turned it on its head. In matter of just a few short years factory-backed cars had doubled their power output and were packed full of cutting edge technology and exotic components. Many people likened them to Formula 1 cars for the gravel, and that wasn’t far from the truth. But they were too fast and ultimately too dangerous, which is why we will, unfortunately, never see anything like Group B in the WRC ever again. The spirit, however, will always live on.

With such small numbers of competition cars built during the heyday, owning a pukka Works-spec machine is a privilege that only few can enjoy. Most surviving cars are in collectors hands and subsequently don’t come up for sale very often. And when they do there’s the small matter of price, which is anything but. So what to do if you crave a slice of Group B, but can’t lay your hands on the real thing? In the case of Kiwi rally driver Andrew Hawkeswood, you simply build one yourself.

As far as Group B replicas go, Audi’s Quattro S1 is one of the simpler to execute given the fact that the cars were essentially built from production car base, rather than steel tubes. The Audi also retains its engine in the front rather than the back, as was the case with cars Lancia Delta S4, Peugeot 205T16 and the Ford RS200.

That’s not to say that it was an easy build in any respect, but owning his own race and rally preparation workshop (Force Motorsport), and employing a small but highly talented team of engineers, definitely made the job a whole easier.

But what emerged out the other end is something very cool. And with close to the same amount of power as a genuine works car, it’s certainly not the shy, retiring type. But as you’ll soon find out, there’s a lot more to this car than first meets the eye.

Like the real S1 deal, considerable body modifications were required to give the car the correct proportions. Unlike regular showroom-spec Audi coupés of the era, the rally cars (and the 200 road going versions required to be manufactured to satisfy Group B regulations) were 12.6 inches (320mm) shorter. Compare the shot above to that of a run-of-the-mill coupe and you’ll immediately notice the different in the length of the rear side windows. Effectively, the modifications transformed the car from a coupé into a hatchback and with the alteration a more suitable wheelbase for the quick direction change requirements of rallying. However, coupled with power outputs that exceeded 500 horsepower, they certainly weren’t easy to drive. Just ask Walter Röhrl.

There is one anomaly with Andrew’s car and that’s the windscreen’s rake. During Audi’s early efforts with the Quattro, works drivers complained that the front windscreen was prone to light glare, so the Sport Quattro versions were fitted with a shorter screen (on a more acute angle) borrowed from the Audi sedan.

For the most part, though, with its Germany-sourced S1 replica body kit and an S1-style bonnet and rear wing handcrafted in New Zealand added into the mix, the Audi certainly looks the way it should. Dig a little deeper, however, and you’ll find that all is not as it seems. Because while most – if not all – S1 replicas use Quattro all-wheel-drive, this particular car has the underpinnings of a V9 Subaru Impreza WRX STI.

If you’re scratching your head and asking “why”, Andrew makes a good case. Firstly, the car began life not as an all-wheel-drive Quattro variant, but a poverty-pack front-wheel-drive ‘GT’ purchased for the princely sum of NZ$23 (US$20), meaning that a 4WD system of some description needed to find its way up and under the bodywork. Secondly, there’s the performance factor. Aftermarket parts like the Cusco limited slip diffs fitted are plentiful, and using the compact WRX STI six-speed gearbox (well, the casing anyway – it’s since been fitted with a PPG straight-cut gear kit) would allow an engine to sit much further back in the car.

Initially the idea had been to build custom subframes and install the Subaru driveline that way. But once Andrew and his team got into the build, they quickly realized that it would be a much easier proposition to cut out the Audi’s floorpan, and replace it with the floorpan from the STI – albeit modified for width and length. To fit the engine to the WRX transmission necessitated an adapter plate and a custom subframe to allow it to clear the Subaru steering rack. But out the back the subframe is Subaru OEM.

Part Audi, part Subaru, but it works.

According to Andrew, when people learn that the car has a Subaru driveline they usually assume that there’s a boxer engine ticking away up front. Of course, that would never cut it.

Only one engine was ever going to do, and that’s an Audi-bred inline-five with a DOHC 20V head. I’m not sure what it’s like in Europe, but in this part of the world finding an ‘RR’ engine isn’t all that easy. Only three 20V Quattros were sold new in New Zealand, and to get his hands on this engine Andrew had to purchase a complete car. In standard form the 2.2L five produces reasonable power, but for what Force Motorsport had in mind the bottom end was pulled apart and rebuilt for rally duty with Wiseco forged pistons and heavy-duty rods. Up top the 20V head benefits from a full race-prep and features custom cams and oversized valves.

The turbocharger is by custom T3/T4 turbo crafted from a Garrett GT3076 with boost controlled through the engine’s OEM external wastegate. As you can see if this photo, the turbo is currently fitted with a 36mm restrictor in the inlet, which is a mandatory fitment for turbo cars running in New Zealand’s new Rally Xtreme Challenge. Of course when Andrew’s not rallying the Audi in the series, it quickly comes off allowing the engine to breathe as it was originally intended to.

On the intake side of the engine is an aluminum manifold complete with individual runners fabricated in-house at Force Motorsport. The Works-style design was settled on after a long time spent studying photographs of S1 engines. To allow for increased airflow the manifold breathes through a Mitsubishi 4G63 throttle body that’s fed cool air through a front mounted air-to-air intercooler. Injectors are Sard 800cc units that supply an exclusive diet of E85 fuel.

Of course the engine is just one piece of the puzzle. To make the most of the power, the Audi runs a custom-built suspension set up courtesy of Australian motorsport specialist, MCA Suspension.

One of the most important aspects of a rally car, the brake system, has been suitably upsized too and now features Alcon calipers and slotted two-piece rotors front and rear.

Andrew never had any intentions of recreating a cluttered Works Quattro S1 office space with period fittings. Instead, the interior space is basic but functional. The pedal box – and the firewall it’s attached to for that matter – is once again WRX STI fare.

It’s a quality fit-out too; with an extensive rollover protection and Sparco Evo FIA race seats fitted with Willans FIA harness seat belts.

Of course there’s a hydraulic e-brake for hairpin turns, too. Anyone who has seen Andrew drive will know that he’s definitely mastered the art of pivoting the Audi 180 degrees while keeping the wheels engaged in a spinning frenzy.

The sum of all the parts has created arguably one of the coolest classic rally cars in New Zealand – it’s certainly the most spectacular.

There are two things I really love about this car. The first one: it’s 100 per cent street legal in New Zealand, as it needs to be for rally touring stages. As with any modified vehicle (legally) on the road the Audi had to be inspected and signed off by an accredited LVVTA (Low Volume Vehicle Technical Association) engineer. The ‘Cert’ plate lists all the main modifications, which in this case are numerous.

The other thing? That’s the fact that Andrew uses it exactly how you’d hope to see a real Quattro Group B machine used. Sure, there are tidier and more ‘correct’ S1 replicas on the planet, but I’m not sure if any of them are driven quite as hard in proper rally competition as this one is. Mechanical sympathy does not live here.

For the past two years Andrew has been at the top of the competitor guest list at Rod Millen’s Leadfoot Festival. And with the turbo restrictor removed, he hasn’t wasted the opportunities to drive at ten-tenths up the immaculately groomed 1-mile long driveway. Sometimes it’s quicker to fly though!

When you see the Audi in its natural habitat, it’s like winding the clock back to the mid ’80s. And the sound… let’s not forget that unmistakeable sound!

It might not be the ‘real’ thing, but this is one car that’s certainly helping keep the Group B spirit alive.

– Brad Lord from SPEEDHUNTERS

1986 AUDI QUATTRO S1 REPLICA

Engine: Audi 2.2L five-cylinder 20-valve; Wiseco forged pistons; steel connecting rods; OEM crankshaft; Force Motorsport race-prepped/ported cylinder head; custom camshafts; oversized valves; custom Garrett-based T3/T4 turbocharger; Audi OEM external wastegate; custom air-to-air intercooler; 3-inch exhaust system; Force Motorsport alloy intake manifold; Mitsubishi 4G63 throttle body; Force Motorsport custom fabricated fuel rail; high-flow Sard 800cc fuel injectors; 2x Bosch 044 fuel pumps; alloy radiator; electric water pump; oil cooler; MoTeC M600 ECU

Driveline: Subaru V9 WRX STI 6-speed transmission casing, Pfitzner Performance Gearbox (PPG) straight-cut dog gears; Exedy twin-plate clutch; Cusco limited slip differentials front/rear

Chassis: Subaru V9 WRX STI  shortened/narrowed floor pan; Force Motorsport custom fabricated front subframe; Subaru V9 WRX STI rear subframe; Audi body shortened 320mm (12.6″)

Suspension/Brakes: Subaru V9 WRX STI front/rear strut towers/tops; MCA Suspension custom-built coil-over shocks with external reservoirs; Alcon vented rotors; Alcon callipers; hydraulic e-brake; proportioning valve

Wheels/Tires: 15×7″ Compomotive Motorsport wheels; MRF ZG2 205/65R15 rally tires (gravel); 18×10″ Compomotive Motorsport wheels (tarmac)

Body: Audi Sport Quattro S1 fiberglass replica body panels, Lexan door, three-quarter and rear hatch windows; Audi Sport-style livery

Cabin: Multi-point roll cage; Sparco Evo seats; Willans harness seat belts; Sparco suede dished steering wheel; Auto Meter Ultra-Lite tachometer; Auto Meter Ultra-Lite 30psi boost meter; Auto Meter Ultra-Lite water temp meter; custom dashboard

THE CORVETTE LEGENDS OF LE MANS

This year’s 24 hours of Le Mans will mark the 50th Anniversary of Corvette’s first participation at the legendary race. As part of the celebrations, Corvette Racing assembled a number of historic Corvettes at last months American Le Mans Series round at Laguna Seca.

Corvette also held a press conference, which included an awesome talk from 1960 driver Dr Thompson, and ’67 driver, Guldstrand. You can view their interviews at the YouTube links at the end.
It was truly amazing to witness these guys talk about losing their Drum brakes on a 3000lb car half way through the event and having to work around this ‘small problem’.

Briggs Cunningham was a wealthy sports car racer and aspiring car manufacturer He was defender of the America’s Cup and was the driving force behind the three-car Corvette team at the 1960 Le Mans. A fourth car was entered by Camoradi USA.

Corvette faired very well at the event considering it was the heaviest car. It was also one of the few true production cars to take part. The Corvettes were modified with larger gas tanks, quick-fill gas caps, magnesium wheels, oil coolers, driving lights, racing seats and heavy-duty suspension components among their limited modifications. Most of the other machines were highly converted or one off race cars.

The car we feature here is the Cunningham’s No. 2 Corvette driven by Dr. Thompson and Fred Windridge.

Note the coloured headlamp colours. This is one of the first examples of multi-car teams using colour to distinguish each car. Fast forward to today and all the multi-car teams at Le Mans will have coloured mirrors or windshield strips.

This car had a strong start but as the sun began to set, heavy rain made the track very dangerous. The #2 car crashed, suffering extensive front and rear damage. The car made it back to the pits, where it was repaired, but with 2 hours lost, it was out of major contention.

With six hours to go, the #2 car retired. Thomspon recounts, “It was the brakes, indirectly, that took our car out of the race,” he said. “The engine failed in fairly dramatic fashion, but that was not because of a problem in the engine. The brakes gradually got worse and worse and we relied more and more on the downshifts to help slow the car. The engine had been over-revved by about 1,000 rpm on some of the downshifts, and this was recorded on the tell-tale tach, and it ultimately caused the engine to give up.”

The #1 car has retired earlier in the event after a crash wrecked the car. The #3 car of John Fitch and Bob Grossman finished the 24 Hours with a class win, 8th overall.
This car was lucky to make it.

During one of the last pit stops, a mechanic decided to remove the radiator cap. With all the pressure, water escaped and the team was unable to top up. In those days, you could not add water or oil within 25 laps of your last top up, so the team came up with a ‘cool’ plan.
Every three laps, the car would come into the pits and the engine would be surrounded by ice!!!!

The #3 car is making its pilgrimage to Le Mans this year from the UK and will be on display.

The second car on display was the 2nd Generation Corvette, which was entered at the 1967 Le Mans with ex-Penske driver, Guldstrand and Bob Bondurant driving. While the car was very quick, it retired just before the 12-hour mark.

The car does look fantastic, now owned by Harry Yeaggy the period paintwork and graphics sum up the late 60’s racing scene in North America.

Guldstrand was another guest at Laguna Seca, seen here with Thompson and two-time Le Mans class winner, Ron Fellows.

The third car at the event was a third generation Corvette. Sponsorship was now big business in motorsport, with BF Goodrich sponsoring the team from 1971-3.
This particular chassis started off as a 1969 PR car.

This was converted to a racecar in 1972 and then restored to 1973 Le Mans specification a couple of years ago.

As part of the Legends of Le Mans Celebrations, the Corvettes will race with Legends branding on the hood. It’s a shame the team didn’t go the whole way and have the cars in traditional Blue and White. That would have looked stunning.

Chevrolet have also created this one off Z06 in these colours, expertly parked by Ron Fellows – typical racer, perfect line, touching the rumble strips.

This car will end up in the National Corvette Museum.

This was a fantastic event and a piece of history. The interviews of Thompson and Guldstrand are available on YouTube (links below) and offer a great insight into racing at Le Mans all those years ago.

Today’s drivers had to admit; they have it easy compared to these American heroes.

As part of our Le Mans coverage, we will follow this up with the latest in Corvette racecars, the C6.R GT2

-Andy Blackmore from SPEEDHUNTERS

Additional Photo: GM/Richard Prince

THE 564HP STEAM PUNK SPEED FREAK

There are some cars which have the power to completely captivate all of those around them just by their mere presence. No sound. No fanfare. Car people just know when there’s something special around. Heads turn, a crowd gathers. Jaws hang open. I know of few cars that have this power more than the astonishing Napier-Railton, a car which is 80 years old. I think this is one of the most beautiful, imposing cars ever made. And then you hear the 24-litre aero engine running: grown men weep, children gasp, angels sing. The aero engine at the heart of the Napier-Railton is the sound of a thousand storms. It’s the sound of… victory.

I defy anyone to witness this car in the flesh and dismiss it as an irrelevant automotive anachronism. So it’s positively medieval in the technology it uses. So it’s not the product of some fashionable tuning house (though actually in period it was…). It’s not a well-known name. It’s old; most likely far older than anyone reading this.

But just look at the next picture and I think you’ll understand.

Four wheels off the ground at the Brooklands oval as the car hits the bump on the bridge over the River Wey and already pulling over 130mph, John Cobb hangs on to his two-ton leviathan as he approaches the Railway Straight, where the car will accelerate to almost 170mph.

Just 17 drivers lapped the 2.8-mile Brooklands oval at more than 130mph, earning one of the circuit’s coveted 130mph badges. Cobb went even further, setting the fastest ever lap of the banked Outer Circuit in the Napier-Railton at an average speed of 143.44mph in 1935. It’s a record that will never be beaten: here we have a car that has outlasted the track it became so famous on.

The Napier-Railton is everything you could ever want in an automobile, as long as it’s not comfort, a CD player or a bad body kit. It was an endurance racer. A dragster. A Time Attack specialist. A Land Speed Record holder. And it won everything. Built over the winter of 1932 the Napier-Railton quickly became recognised as the ultimate Brooklands racing car, the most historic and revered racer in the circuit’s 32 year history and the perfect encapsulation of the spirit of that era.

The car is intimidatingly large at almost five metres long and has a wheelbase over three metres, but has a streamlined body, raked and curvaceous, that belies its age and sets the car apart from the more angular, upright contemporaries. Sheer power and speed look like they’ve melted the Napier-Railton and raked the whole thing backwards, accentuating the impression of speed even when it’s standing still. Like any good modern car in fact. This is the Bugatti Veyron of its day.

Contrary to the suggestion given by its size and weight, this was a well-developed, advanced racing car. It steered easily and was tractable to drive; braking was good, despite the limitations of the drums. Even people who are lucky enough to drive the Napier-Railton today comment on how docile the car is: almost impossible to stall with its galaxy of torque, and voluptuous in turns.

The architect of the Napier-Railton was John Rhodes Cobb, Brooklands’ ‘Gentle Giant’, who had lived near Brooklands as a teenager and cycled down there to watch the racing. After making his career as a successful fur-broker he had the funds to pursue his childhood passion, and in 1925 drove a 10-litre FIAT to victory – in his first ever race. He subsequently raced Parry Thomas’ famous 27-litre ‘Babs’ Special, before buying a V12 Delage in 1928. Wins became the norm, but as the years went on the competitors raised the bar – and none more so than ‘Tim’ Birkin.

Sir Henry ‘Tim’ Birkin had raised the Brooklands lap record to a 137mph average in his Blower Bentley, out of the reach of Cobb’s Delage. With his sights set on that speed and also on taking the World 24 Hour record, Cobb commissioned Reid Railton to design him a new car, with money no object.

From Railton’s pen flowed the Napier-Railton, and Brooklands-based manufacturing specialists Thomson & Taylor were engaged to build it. T&T had fabricated Malcolm Campbell’s Bluebird Land Speed Record machines, and were also Alfa and Railton maintenance specialists.

Enormous capacity aero-engined racers had dominated the record books at Brooklands after the First World War, so the the chosen powerplant was a Napier Lion Type E89 Series XIA 12-cylinder ‘broad-arrow’ aero engine. The design dated from 1919, but was chosen for its power and rugged reliability – it was based on a unit used by the Royal Air Force in the ’20s.

Despite its huge displacement of 24 litres, the aluminium block and cast head are relatively compact and allowed the bare aluminium body to be far lower than the previous generation of aero-engined monsters – almost streamlined in fact.

The engine was in a W12 configuration, with three banks of four cylinders. The outer banks are installed at 60 degrees to the central bank, which resulted in the elaborate triple exhaust system. Double overhead camshafts connect to each bank, with four valves and two spark plugs per cylinder.

Stock, the engine would produce 502bhp, but Cobb had his unit modified and on the test bench it was able to develop 564hp. As with all racers of the time, the block was front longitudinally mounted. The cavernous capacity is matched to a disarmingly low rev limit of just 3,000rpm, meaning there are acres of torque: 1,184lb ft is estimated, with the optimum power of 530bhp delivered at around 2,500rpm.

A pair of thick leather straps keep the big vented bonnet panels in place.

Ignition is provided by twin Watts magnetos, controlled by, of all things, basically a light-switch housing. Getting the engine turning over was something even more simple: pushing. This meant – and still means – that getting the Napier-Railton firing requires several mechanics putting their backs against the two-tonne machine.

Once rolling, the rear wheels are driven through a bespoke Moss three-speed crash gearbox with no reverse, cantilever mounted, running through a Borg & Beck single-plate dry clutch.

To keep the beast of an engine running requires a whole lot of fluid. The Napier-Railton originally mounted a 65-gallon petrol tank that took 10 minutes to fill.

Oil tank capacity is 15 gallons (the engine itself utilised dry sump lubrication) of Castrol GP50 and the cooling system requires 12 gallons of 25 percent Bluecol antifreeze solution.

The bonnet has several caps dotted over it for the various filler tanks, which are themselves little pieces of metalwork art.

Wooden rods are stored in the cockpit for checking petrol and oil levels.

These are simply retracted out of their brackets and dipped into the relevant tanks, using the marked scale as a measure.

By the time the Napier-Railton was being designed, the rigours of racing around Brooklands were well known: the new car would be based on a heavy duty ladder chassis with a pair of underslung live axles, and variable-rate hydraulic dampers at the rear adjustable from the cockpit. Twin cantilever leaf springs sat outboard either side at the rear, delivering a meaty four-bar set-up necessary to cope with Brooklands’ notorious bumps.

The front springs were semi-elliptical with outboard friction dampers, which were also installed inboard the rear. The mechanicals are extremely sturdy, which was absolutely required for the extreme operating conditions of the car, but at the same time have a beautiful, sculptural quality.

It’s the same all around the suspension parts of the car: it’s like an exhibition of Steam Punk flourishes…

…matched with hardcore post-Victorian industrial design.

Andre Hartford Shock Absorbers were de rigueur at the time, an early form of damper. They worked by the friction created from the stack of disks inside the unit held together by a spring and bolt – an external dial showed the approximate setting in use.

As we’ve already seen, keeping in contact with the track was always a major issue, despite the damping. On the odd occasion when there was rubber on concrete, it was through bespoke tyres developed by Dunlop; treadless rubber in various sizes for 20×7.5-inch to 35×6-inch sizes were used, depending on conditions and the type of event. The car currently runs on modern Blockley rubber: 21×6.75/7. Blockley was founded about a decade ago by historics racer Julian Mazjub specifically to create authentic rubber for pre-war cars.

The cockpit was a hostile place. Refined, comfortable, calm – none of these words would be appropriate. The Napier-Railton would reach a top speed of 168mph down the Railway Straight. Cobb would be precariously perched in the car – maybe ‘on’ would be more appropriate, although with the fared bodywork around the cockpit and small air-deflecting windscreen he was more embedded in the car than most of his competitors in theirs. On driving around Brooklands, he said it was like “Seeing how far one can lean out of a window without falling out, and therefore somewhat risky”. That’s some understatement, especially in mind of the open side of the car, lack of belts and armchair of a seat.

Getting up to nearly 170mph was one thing – stopping was another. Thankfully, for the most part, where Cobb was going he wouldn’t need front brakes. 16″ drums were originally fitted to the rears only, controlled by a foot brake, with a hand brake connected directly to the transmission via expanding shoes in a drum behind the gearbox.

As soon as the car drove out of the Brooklands workshop in 1933 it was clear that it was something special – as long as Dunlop could produce the requisite rubber that could withstand the forces. In the Napier-Railton’s first event in August 1933, Cobb set a new standing start lap record of 120.59mph and a flying lap of 123.28mph, winning the race by 2.6 seconds. His next outing took the speed to 137.2mph, a new Class A record. Cobb took the car to the Montlhéry oval near Paris for his first attempt on the 24 Hour record: tyre trouble interrupted that run, but he still broke the 200-mile speed record (126.44mph average) and a multitude of other lower distance records.

In 1934 the Napier-Railton returned to Monthlhéry: this time Cobb’s run was ruined by the small matter of the Napier going over the edge of the banking… But back in one piece and back at Brooklands Cobb clocked up 143.67mph in the Class A standing-start mile record and upped the lap record once again, taking the lap record from Birkin after setting a 139.71mph lap. Next was a trip to the Utah Salt Flats in 1935: the Napier-Railton took the World 24 Hour record and for good measure also took every other record between one and 23 hours.

Returning home again, Cobb won the 500 mile race, setting a new speed record of 121.28mph in the process which remained the fastest average speed for a 500 mile race until the 1949 Indianapolis 500. He then set his Napier-Railton to crushing every other record at the track: fastest short and fastest long distance races; fastest standing start lap of 120.59mph… But the Outer Circuit lap was still the ultimate target, and four times he upped the average speed.

On the 7th October 1935 Cobb made another speed run on a damp track: his Dunlop tyres lasted only two laps, but he somehow set a lap of 143.44mph, with a top speed of 151.97mph showing the Napier’s barely abated speed despite the treacherous conditions. It was a lap that would never be beaten.

Contemporary video is naturally scarce, but this clip gives some context to what that speed meant: Brooklands was insanely bumpy even when new, with no barriers and a hilariously dangerous mismatch of car sizes competing against each other. And we worry about prototypes and GT cars nowadays…

The Napier-Railton wouldn’t go faster at Brooklands, but in 1936 it returned to Bonneville and maintained a 168.59mph average over a 100 mile run. The following year Cobb gave the Napier its last race outing at Brooklands in the final 500 run there and won, before turning his attention to the Land Speed Record. He would become the fastest man on earth in 1939 when he shattered the LSR in his Brooklands-built Railton-Special, reaching 326.7mph at Bonneville, and in 1947 he went faster still, hitting 398.82mph

But the Napier-Railton lived on: its fame meant that it was still a darling for the public, and it appeared on film even as late as 1949 in the Ava Gardner film Pandora And The Flying Dutchman. After Cobb’s death in 1952 during an attempt on the World Water Speed Record at Loch Ness, the Napier-Railton was sold on and used to test aircraft braking parachutes at Dunsfold aerodrome for the RAF in the 1950s: Dunlop callipered disk brakes were fitted to the rear wheels, which it still has now.

After its military service ended the Napier-Railton returned to private hands and was again raced in the 1950s, but displayed at the National Motor Museum in Beaulieu in-between times. During a restoration in the 1970s it was confirmed that it had the same original engine from 1933; it was sold twice more in the ’80s (owners included the chairman of Aston Martin) and ended up in Germany, before being restored again in 1997 and loaned to the Brooklands Museum and run at the Goodwood Festival Of Speed.

In 1998 it was offered to the Museum and purchased with help from a group of benefactors that included Rowan Atkinson, Ron Dennis, The Earl Of March and Tom Walkinshaw, and since then the Napier-Railton has been at home. Where it belongs. It’s still regularly run out, both at Brooklands and at events round the UK, and continues to draw admiration and love from all who see it. It’s a magical car: a living, relevant piece of automotive history.

I present: the Napier-Railton.

NAPIER-RAILTON

1933

Owned by the Brooklands Museum

ENGINE

Napier Lion Type E89 Series XIA

24-litre W12

Double overhead camshaft, four valves per cylinder

Four throw crankpin with three connecting rods on each pin

Dual Magneto ignition

ENGINE MANAGEMENT/ELECTRONICS

Claudel-Hobson carburettors

Champion D16 Sparking Plugs

TRANSMISSION

Walker steel flywheel

Open Borg & Beck single-plate clutch

Three-speed non-synchromesh Moss gearbox

Hardy Spicer prop shaft

Fully floating back axle with differential

ENV final drive with a ratio of 1.66:1

SUSPENSION/CHASSIS

Front: Semi-elliptical Woodhead leaf springs

Rear: Dual cantilever with Luvax hydraulic dampers

Underslung axles

Hartford shock absorbers

BRAKES

Dunlop six-cylinder disks at rear

Transmission-operated handbrake

Ferodo linings

WHEELS/TYRES

Rudge-Whitworth wheels

Dunlop 35×6″-20×7.5″ (period)

Blockley 21×6.75/7 (current)

FLUIDS

15-gallon fuel tank (Shell 95 Octane unleaded pus Castrol additive)

15-gallon oil tank (Castrol GP50)

Dry-sump lubrication

Rear-axle oil sump

12-gallon cooling system

CABIN

Bluemel steering wheel

Jaeger instruments

BODY

Thomson & Taylor designed, Nutting Gurney built bare aluminium body

PERFORMANCE

564bhp@2,350rpm

1,184lb-ft of torque

Weight 4,518lb (2,054kg)

Overall length: 16’3″

Wheelbase 10’10″

Track 5’3″

Jonathan Moore

from SPEEDHUNTERS