An Italian, French, American pie.

Last October Glenn Billqvist from Sweden started his biggest project ever. He wrote: “I’m planning to build a vintage land speed racer like Napier Railton, Brutus, Babs, etc. I bought an Isotta-Fraschini V12 Aircraft Engine. The supercharged twin cam engine is from 1938 and the characteristics are 27 litres and 750 HP. I decided to build the land speed racer with old prewar components and it will be a mix of components from various manufacturers. The main components will be from Italy, France and America. The question I have to ask myself with this project is: Can an Italian, French and American really work well together and stand each other over a long period of time? I know they have done it in the past, but can they still do it? The biggest challenge is to handle the Italian temperament of 750hp and the attitude from 27litres torque. If I use the French charm and intellect (Delage DI chassis, dashboard, steering column and pedals) and the American straight forward attitude and robustness (Ford 40´s truck gearbox and rear axle), then I might manage and control the Italia temperament. What happens right now? The engine is disassembled to check and verify that everything is OK. The chassis is in good shape, but needs to be boxed and modified in order to fit the engine and stand the torque. There will be lots of work and challenges to finalize the project. If we can put a man on the moon, then I am sure I can finalize this project by next summer. PS. The Delage radiator is not needed, since the engine is air cooled, but it looks nicer at this point of the project.”
Editor: Real crazy project Glenn. Keep us posted on your progress!

Gepubliceerd:

dinsdag april 20th, 2010

Onbekend

23 November 2012, 01:35

i like the project. the axles shouldnt snap because of the over ride clutch.....
what overide clutch i hear you say, the wheels contact with the road. compared with a truck, the weight on the rear wheels is minimal(sorta minimal). anyway,always design from the breakaway point forward to the engine.that means the clutch diff and gearbox cannot take more torque than the wheels can transmit to the road. most do not take this into consideration..... press on, brendan

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Onbekend

22 April 2010, 14:28

Always great to see Mr Billqvist's projects! I wish he posts more pictures on the net. This would be a great project to follow on a blog...

Fries

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Barry William Brown

21 April 2010, 17:02

I agree with Dick. The Ford axles will snap like toothpicks. I speak from experience!

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Martin Shelley

21 April 2010, 09:13

Nice if totally daft project... However, I think he may find aircooling this engine on a car rather inadequate as aircraft engines with aircooling rely on airspeed and large ducts to force enough air around the cooling fins. Might be OK north of the Arctic Circle!!

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Onbekend

21 April 2010, 06:57

Fantastic! More pictures please! I would be tempted to try and find a nice big French or Italian gearbox and back axle to use?

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Onbekend

21 April 2010, 03:40

Is this car to be raced, and if so is everything to be period, so that say, he will not use any parts later than 1938. Therefore he will be able to compare it with an actual similar care of that era ?
stuart

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Onbekend

21 April 2010, 01:35

Hi,

Quite interesting. I have heard rumors of isotta-Fraschini Type 8 A and B that were converted to V12s. But your project is the only real one I have come accross.

Congratulations and

All the best,

malcolm

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Onbekend

21 April 2010, 01:05

Mr. Billqvist says he has a 40s Ford gearbox and rear axle unit he thinks will handle 27 litres of torque?
Unless his parts are from a very large Ford truck (possibly diesel) there is likely going to be a quick breakage of his transmission, differential or axles.
The regular Ford trucks used an 85 HP V8 flathead engine which made about 100 ft/lb of torque. The 27 litre IF engine will develop at least 750-800 ft/lb of torque, far beyond the strength of the Ford parts.
Dick Trenk

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An Italian, French, American pie.

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