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Post by jimblanchard on May 29, 2007 20:45:34 GMT
For me it was the 'Turbo' years from 1980/90 and the best car was the Renault RE 30B. Then the Ferrari 126ck Only 1500cc but the power they produced up to 1200bhp ...  Plus the skirts... ;D waddayerekon ? |
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Post by donsking on May 29, 2007 21:55:26 GMT
For me it was the 'Turbo' years from 1980/90 and the best car was the Renault RE 30B. Then the Ferrari 126ck Only 1500cc but the power they produced up to 1200bhp ... Plus the skirts... ;D waddayerekon ? That and a bit more, at one stage BMW reckoned they were getting 1500bhp from their engine in full on qualifying 'grenade' mode! Mind you, the epithet 'grenade' was highly appropriate, those turbo motors used to let go in spectacular fashion. I can remember being at a Race of Champions (82 or 83 I think) and we were sitting in our usual spot on the exit to Paddock; at one stage a Spirit had a huge blow up on the run down to Clearways, and something was clearly seen to exit the car vertically and clear the height of the trees in the background....... I later discovered it was a piston and rod!!! For me, the best years were the 50s; clean lines, big power, narrow treaded tyres, no seat belts, no rollover bars, in fact, no thought for safety at all and, just to add a bit of spice, highly volatile alcohol based fuel that would go off like a bomb at the merest hint of a nudge. The guys that raced those were made of seriously stern stuff........ As an aside, I have a record somewhere of the sound of a V16 BRM being given the full beans; 16 cylinders, total capacity 1500cc and a centrifugal supercharger bolted on that increased power geometrically with revs, so, the more revs you could get, the more power it produced. Can't remember now what the actual power figure was, but it was over 600bhp; 600bhp + 4 inch wide treaded crossplies= mayhem.......you can hear the car spinning the rear wheels as the driver changes into top gear!!!! |
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Post by jimblanchard on May 29, 2007 22:16:44 GMT
I did not know that they run on alcohol based fuels in the 50's DK. Maybe because I was not around though. If I can recall though when my brother first took to me to the 'Palace' in the late 50's to see single seater racing for the first time, I think they were using Castrol R. Would that be right? It was the same smell as speedway racing. Whatever, I liked your description of a Turbo engine letting go.. ;D I have seen a piston and rod go through the bottom but not up in the sky. ;D Would love to hear the sound of your V16 turbo on full berries though ..  Jimbo  |
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Post by donsking on May 29, 2007 22:35:55 GMT
I did not know that they run on alcohol based fuels in the 50's DK. Maybe because I was not around though. If I can recall though when my brother first took to me to the 'Palace' in the late 50's to see single seater racing for the first time, I think they were using Castrol R. Would that be right? It was the same smell as speedway racing. Whatever, I liked your description of a Turbo engine letting go.. ;D I have seen a piston and rod go through the bottom but not up in the sky. ;D Would love to hear the sound of your V16 turbo on full berries though .. Jimbo It's possible Jim, it would depend on what formula you were watching; if it was the cars that used to run with 500cc bike engines, I'm sure they used vegetable oil, but I don't think the bigger formulae did. As for alcohol fuels, they were running petrol with a high methanol content well into the 80s; a colleague of mine was at the practice session that former Brands Hatch supremo John Foulston was killed in, when his McLaren Can-Am car crashed and caught fire. Apparently, there were no flames, only a heat haze with a clear view of the car disintegrating..............methanol burns with a clear flame. |
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