Lockdown books

[cingur]

thanks for sharing

 

[rmjbn1]

Great to see your old Morrises, Jock! Such charming cars, everything you need in a car and nothing else! Just the right amount of weather protection, and seem to be in just the right sort of condition too by the looks of it

So here's Esmiralda, my 1930ish Morris Minor

Headlights removed for trials / grasstrack racing, Jock?

One of my favourite car-related books:

 

[s130]

We are talking books! ? ?

Then the car owner/freaks/expert/want to learn/...... book has to be:

"Bosch Automotive Engineering Handbook"

This is just about the bible of all bibles any car enthusiast with a technical interest could invest in.

A seriously "no hanky panky tonight" get out clause

I have a much earlier version going back some years and even today it is a fascinating read AND education.

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

Great to see your old Morrises, Jock! Such charming cars, everything you need in a car and nothing else! Just the right amount of weather protection, and seem to be in just the right sort of condition too by the looks of it


Headlights removed for trials / grasstrack racing, Jock?

One of my favourite car-related books:

I don't remember Esmiralda ever having headlights, probably removed in the scrap yard before I bought her. (she had some other bits missing too but nothing that stopped her driving.)

Of course she had a proper chassis with a wood framed body. The problem with that was that it lacked torsional rigidity. This is not a desirable characteristic in a vehicle which is charging around rough fields and would manifest itself at unexpected moments by the doors suddenly flying open! Actually quite good fun when traveling sideways at the galactic speed of, perhaps, 35 to 40 mph. Especially if it's your unsuspecting - and long suffering - sister in the passenger seat!

Archie Scott Brown is a hallowed name from yesteryear in Scottish motorsport. The name immediately rings a loud bell but I can't remember anything about him except, Didn't he have a disability of some sort? Must Google him and find out.

 

[rmjbn1]

Of course she had a proper chassis with a wood framed body. The problem with that was that it lacked torsional rigidity. This is not a desirable characteristic in a vehicle which is charging around rough fields and would manifest itself at unexpected moments by the doors suddenly flying open!

There's fancy! Air-brakes a fair few years before Mercedes Benz thought of adding them to their 300SLR racers

Archie Scott Brown is a hallowed name from yesteryear in Scottish motorsport. The name immediately rings a loud bell but I can't remember anything about him except, Didn't he have a disability of some sort? Must Google him and find out.

There's a remarkable passage in that book where Archie Scott Brown set a time that would have put him on pole in his first continental Formula 1 Grand Prix at Monza ahead of Fangio, but then had his entry refused by the organisers due to his disabilities.

There's an article on Scott Brown on the Motor Sport archive here.

I enjoyed the book as a great story of the friendship between Archie Scott Brown and Brian Lister and how they inspired each other to take on and beat the top factory teams, especially with the wonderful Lister-Jaguar.

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

There's fancy! Air-brakes a fair few years before Mercedes Benz thought of adding them to their 300SLR racers
There's a remarkable passage in that book where Archie Scott Brown set a time that would have put him on pole in his first continental Formula 1 Grand Prix at Monza ahead of Fangio, but then had his entry refused by the organisers due to his disabilities.

There's an article on Scott Brown on the Motor Sport archive here.

I enjoyed the book as a great story of the friendship between Archie Scott Brown and Brian Lister and how they inspired each other to take on and beat the top factory teams, especially with the wonderful Lister-Jaguar.

Air brakes? Well I suppose that would work because they were the old "suicide doors" (as the Yanks call them) being as how they were hinged at the rear! Probably why my sister never actually fell out!

Lister Jaguar, a name all motor enthusiasts should know and respect.

 

[DaveMcT]

These are no longer cheap but a very interesting read of how RR fitted the Merlin engine into the Mustang airframe. It has the techie stuff but also memos and things going between managers of the time.
https://www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/...-R&searchurl=kn=roll+royce+heritage&sortby=17

Here's another

https://www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/...crecy&sortby=17&cm_sp=snippet-_-srp1-_-title8

https://www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/...recy&sortby=17&cm_sp=snippet-_-srp1-_-title16

https://www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/...rlin&sortby=17&cm_sp=snippet-_-srp1-_-title19

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

These are no longer cheap but a very interesting read of how RR fitted the Merlin engine into the Mustang airframe. It has the techie stuff but also memos and things going between managers of the time.
https://www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/...-R&searchurl=kn=roll+royce+heritage&sortby=17

Here's another

https://www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/...crecy&sortby=17&cm_sp=snippet-_-srp1-_-title8

https://www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/...recy&sortby=17&cm_sp=snippet-_-srp1-_-title16

https://www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/...rlin&sortby=17&cm_sp=snippet-_-srp1-_-title19

Great stuff Dave. I find all that sort of thing very interesting especially as my son in law is involved in the modern version of all that sort of "stuff". I know he worked on the Harrier when they were modifying it to take the more powerful engine and he's doing some pretty "tweeky" stuff all the time - most of which he can't tell me about but whenever he opens his mouth it's always to say something very interesting. He takes me to air displays, where he seems to know all the test pilots, and is a constant source of fascinating info. Like, for instance, "d'ya know why that plane is so noisy at take off? No says I. "Because it's prop tips are traveling in excess of the speed of sound so there's a sonic effect to that which you hear". Or, "why does that B1 always have a fighter escort?" The answer is not at all the obvious one.

As soon as the library reopens I'll be on the hunt for those books you mention.

 

[DaveMcT]

I picked mine up a fair few years ago for not much money. I think they have only one way to go price-wise - around £20 currently.

Sled Driver by Brian Shul about flying the SR71 is from $400 for a second edition. A good condition first version is well over $1000. A signed and certificated copy is $3000. How fortunate are those owners.

The Mustang X was not very pretty, but only 5 to 8 mph slower then the tricked up P51D. You can just about make out the louvered vent at back of engine compartment for the intercooler air flow to escape.

But back in 1942, this is how Rolls Royce planned to put the Griffon or even the Crecy into a Mustang airframe. It never happened but RR never made suggestions they couldn't meet.

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

Sorry, I just picked up on the RR proposal to make a mid engined installation for the Mustang. All I can say is - Bell P39 Airacobra, anyone?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpTmQU0nHuA
Or, perhaps, the Piaggio P119 with it's mid mounted radial. The music might appeal to us lovers of Italian cars if nothing else?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEbP4I1SH_E

 

[AndyRKett]

I’ve stood beside griffin and merlin engines on start up, went a couple of years back with a friend to see them staring up the Lancaster after a big repair/restoration and there are 4 engines on that thing, I can’t imagine what it would have been like to fly these things with the massive 27litre behemoth engines right in front of you, let alone right behind your head!

It’s bad enough in a little plane like a Cessna 172, and while they still have a pretty big 5 litre flat 4 they do make a hell of a racket hence having to wear headsets while flying.

There is a company called Cirrus who make a plane called the SR22 a very capable little general aviation craft which is aimed at the consumer and training school market. This manufacturer makes a plane called the vision jet which is a £2M private jet you are supposed to fly yourself, it’s like a model x Tesla inside but if you see videos of it being flown it is weirdly quiet inside when in flight

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

I have to admit I find the older piston aero engines very interesting and I've stood next to quite a few when they've been started up (amazing how long they crank them before fire up compared to your average automobile engine isn't it? Maybe to build up oil pressure? Of course a lot spin up a flywheel inertial starter first.)

They are noisy I'll admit. Here's a dual Allison set up in a tractor pull:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1r4W20nc9po

Have to admit to liking the noise of a radial though, think it's the "loupy" off beat noise. Listen to some of the smaller single engined planes on here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qu1WuUaroHI

Absolutely doesn't compare to standing anywhere near a top fuel rail though! It shakes and compresses your whole body. One of the most violent and glorious engine noises I've ever witnessed - smells too (exotic oils and Methanol fuel laced with Nitro Methane), makes your eyes water and nose dribble! This video brings some of the excitement to you but there's nothing like actually being there:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03Ybyq6osNY

 

[rmjbn1]

I've had some memorable experiences at the excellent Brooklands museum's aviation hangar, where they're usually busy restoring something. You can get close to the action and chat to the mechanics. Last time I was there they fired up a Sopwith Camel (F1 replica I think...).

It took them a while to get all 9 cylinders firing happily, then went trundling up and down the runway.

One detail really struck me: the gyroscopic effect of the big rotary engine made the Sopwith Camel so unstable that more pilots were killed in WWI trying to take off in training than in action. And of course those synchronised machine guns firing through the propellor arc...

But then it was apparently that instability that made them so manoeuverable and effective in combat (provided you could get the thing safely off the ground...).

Made me reflect that a number of (all?) MotoGP 'bikes now run their engines with reverse crankshaft rotation, to deliberately unsettle the gyroscopic effect of the rotating crankshaft so that they can change direction more quickly. Only 100 years later...

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

One detail really struck me: the gyroscopic effect of the big rotary engine made the Sopwith Camel so unstable that more pilots were killed in WWI trying to take off in training than in action. And of course those synchronised machine guns firing through the propellor arc...

But then it was apparently that instability that made them so manoeuverable and effective in combat (provided you could get the thing safely off the ground...).

Made me reflect that a number of (all?) MotoGP 'bikes now run their engines with reverse crankshaft rotation, to deliberately unsettle the gyroscopic effect of the rotating crankshaft so that they can change direction more quickly. Only 100 years later...

I remember the feeling of disbelief the first time I saw one of those started up. Crankshaft bolted to the planes frame and the entire engine, with propeller attached, rotating around it? wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it in front of me! As you say the whole thing acts like a ruddy great flywheel and, as the engine is either running flat out or nothing at all due to the interrupter type ignition it torques the airframe around in impressive fashion when being "blipped" - very exciting to hear and watch.

Instability would seem to be desirable in Fast Jets too. My son in law tells me many modern military fast jets couldn't be flown by the pilot alone without the stabilizing effect of the computers which are constantly "tweeking" away. But it's this very instability which gives them the fantastic performance they have.

I love watching Moto GP - I saddens me to say I now find it considerably more exciting than F1. In fact, after many years, I've recently given up my Sky subscription and find I'm not really missing it much at all. Have to say though that Sky's presenters do a much much better job than channel 4. Didn't know that about the engines though, Thanks, very interesting. I've heard of it being used in bikes where the crank is in line with the frame - giving the flywheel a reverse rotation compared to the crank to damp out the torque effect. Trying now to understand what the advantage is where the crank is running across the frame as in most bike installations?

Kind regards
Jock

 

[rmjbn1]

Trying now to understand what the advantage is where the crank is running across the frame as in most bike installations?

I suspect MotorSport's Mat Oxley could explain it significantly better than me!

I was surprised that such a short crankshaft could create a significant effect to make it worthwhile pursuing. And I understand it doesn't apply to road racing as they need stability in high-speed corners, so has developed recently in MotoGP to reflect the twisty nature of modern racing circuits.

I've also shifted interest from F1 to MotoGP in recent years (although I still like both despite my better judgement...), it does feel like a golden age in MotoGP now, and technically interesting too.

Apparently they're engineering deliberate flex into 'bike frames as a too-stiff frame isn't a good thing. I just hope the aero development in MotoGP doesn't take it down the same route as F1. Technically impressive, but doesn't do much for the racing.