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Hektor gets it again.  The 1927 MB Sprotswagon at the Simeon.  You're turn

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5 hours ago, hektor said:

Dear Wilson, I had one.  Bloody awful car.  The bonnet in Stuart's photo is too low.

We went and drove the Saoutchik bodied 630 Kompressor prior to it being sold by Bonhams. We could not believe how heavy the steering was. It makes a Silver Ghost on balloon tyres or an 8 litre Bentley feel light. I have no idea how people like Caracciola raced those for hours at a time, albeit the surfaces were less grippy. The first time I used the kick-down to engage the supercharger, I immediately let off, assuming the engine had run a number of bearings, only to be told that the noise was normal. The odd thing is that Mercedes go no more power out of the engine with the supercharger, than Bentley got from the competition version of their naturally aspirated 6½ litre. 

Wilson

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3 hours ago, stuny said:

Hektor gets it again.  The 1927 MB S at the Simeon.  You're turn

Thank-you Stuart.  This is the car (chassis 33679) driven by Merz at the Nürburgring in 1927 when it had a large black strip across the bonnet.  I wonder why Fred didn't paint it so.  How about the white-wall tyres?

 

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Taken at Glen Innes, New South Wales:

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2 hours ago, wlaidlaw said:

We went and drove the Saoutchik bodied 630 Kompressor prior to it being sold by Bonhams. We could not believe how heavy the steering was. It makes a Silver Ghost on balloon tyres or an 8 litre Bentley feel light. I have no idea how people like Caracciola raced those for hours at a time, albeit the surfaces were less grippy. 

I had a 1924 four wheel braked 40/50 Maythorn saloon for a while.  Except at parking speeds the steering was fine.  One of the problems with beam front axle cars is the loss of the wedges between the axle and the springs during "restoration".  The camber and caster are important.

Nevertheless the W06 series were heavy and I read somewhere that after a long race the drivers' hands were bleeding.

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I suspect in addition to the wrongly set wedges (I was convinced our heavy steering Bugatti 57 SC had this) on beam axle cars, I think many classics now have wider tyres fitted than in period, for the sake of appearance. I am sure that Speed Six Bentleys never ran 7.00 x 19 or 7.00 x 21 rear tyres in period, which most folk fit today. Looking at the picture Hektor posted above, I would doubt if the Mercedes tyres are wider than 5.00 or at most 5.50. 

Wilson

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Good point Wilson.  Some years ago in a letter to the editor of Octane I suggested that in historic racing only period size wheels and tyres should be permitted.  If nothing else it would increase business for the repair industry.  Too my eyes seeing an ERA on wide cut down wheels looks silly and likewise with your suggested Bentley.  I have found the younger generation likes sticky tyres, and not a decent power slide.

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11 hours ago, stuny said:

In the 1960s I remember a friend being terrified when I took him through a completely controlled powerslide in my Corvair Monza.

Good morning Stuart, that would have been fun and I imagine easy with the engine position and cross-ply tyres.  You were lucky to have the Monza, a car I admire.

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Ralph Nader established his career and fame by excoriating the Corvair in his book Unsafe at Any Speed.  His illustration of the swing axle was grossly exaggerated and made no mention of VW bugs having a swing axle.  However, GM recommended about 31 pounds pressure in the rear tyres, and about 26 in the front (if I recall), and the real issues were that US drivers typically pumped all tyres to the same pressure, and few had experience with a car with a rear weight bias.  I wish that Monza had been mine.  One of my father's business associates went out of town for a month and left his Corvair with me to keep it running, which I did with great enthusiasm.  A few years later I did have a well-used '62 Corvair convertible which was still fun, if not as potent as the Monza.

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