Lady Godiva and E.R.A. V8
#51
Posted 08 October 2008 - 20:43
Sha, you've done well, kid! You're father should be proud!
Of both, you and the car!
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#52
Posted 08 October 2008 - 20:58
There are two o rings at the bottom of the liner and one at the top under the top hat of the liner, so i would think there is enough water and not to much.hope this answers your thoughts.martyn.
#53
Posted 08 October 2008 - 21:04
#54
Posted 08 October 2008 - 21:20
Martyn, that gulf between the cylinders is just huge by any standard. If, perhaps, they were seeking to prevent gasket problems between cylinders, that might be some reason, but whether it be aluminium or water in the gap it all means a lot of extra weight.
#58
Posted 10 October 2008 - 06:10
I enjoy trying to help my parents especially with this as i know what my dad has acheived over the many many years and hopes to acheive in the future.
And for my mum being by his side all the way through
I am very proud to be Martyn Chapman's daughter and i am very very proud of my dad
#59
Posted 10 October 2008 - 06:28
Bravo!!Originally posted by Ayesha Chapman
I am very proud to be Martyn Chapman's daughter and i am very very proud of my dad
Thank you, Martyn and Ayesha, for these absolutely fascinating stories and photos. Please keep them coming.
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#60
Posted 10 October 2008 - 20:03
Thanks very much to the Chapmans, father, mother and daughter. All we need now is a pic of the crankshaft!
#63
Posted 11 October 2008 - 10:24
Wonderful story and pics - my father worked for Leslie Brooke from 1939 - 1950 and I have a fewof the letters written by Leslie to father whilst he was in the R.E.M.E. during the war.
Incidently L B won the George Medal as leader of a rescue squad in the Coventry air raids.
L.B and father were involved in the design and proposed production of a small, low cost side valve Diesel engine for use on pumps etc., to be made at L.B's company ( Coventry Motor Spares) .
Whilst father was away in the Army , L.B paid him a 'retainer' of 5 guineas per month - a great help to mother bringing up two small boys in those austere days.
We lived a short distance from L.B's house in Stoke Park, Coventry and a Sunday walk invariably ended there , one recollection being in the cockpit of one of the 4CLT Maseratis which LB, Parnell and the Ashmore brothers were racing.
L.B was also a bit of a motor trader , and father used whatever was available - a white LHD BMW 328 being one of his favourites.
The only recall I have of L.B's Indy trip with GP2 , was a battery powered model railway and checked jerkins which he brought back from the States for myself and my brother.
I know father went to ERA at Dunstable with L.B and the early Prescott and Shelsley meetings.
Any heavy score marks still remaining on the gearbox casing of GP2 were due to L.B trying to split the casing using a chisel and mallet !
During a house move, father found some works ERA E type drawings in the loft which I believe he passed onto your Dad
Unfortunately no photograhs remain of those days , only one father squatting on the front wheel of an unclothed GP2.
#64
Posted 12 October 2008 - 20:17
The other week i bought a photograph of Ebay of GP2 at Indy on indy type balloon slick tyres ,the car is painted in british racing green ,i presume as it is a black and white picture and not the colour the car is know,this was also found in a loft .?DO YOU STILL HAVE THE TRAIN SET,wouldn't mind a copy of your pic of GP2,for my file,martyn,
#65
Posted 13 October 2008 - 18:39
The photo of GP2 at Indy you refer seems familiar and have searched amongst fathers old stuff to no avail .
What I have found is the Autosport 1955 writeup on the Brooke-Weston V8 with the superb Theo Page
sectioned drawing.
One question - the roller chain couplings between crankshaft and exhaust camshaft and between ex. camshaft and inlet camshaft - hardly conducive to maintaining timing due to the inherant backlash of this type of coupling.
Also found the Motor Sport 1986 article on the Kieft and Speed / Brooke -Weston engine.
Also from December 1946 The Motor , a two part article on the E-Type by Pomeroy , with green colour tinted pics.
A b+w photo taken in a workshop / garage of GP1 (?) , captioned Jersey 47 or 48 , Peter Whitehead ,
George Abecassis , four others in pic inclusive two mechanics working on the car and a b+w photo of LB in R7B taken in 1945.
Geoff
#66
Posted 19 October 2008 - 20:19
I am going to use a three pin drive system,i would have liked to have used a tooth belt but oil in the housing and rubber don't go together,the fine spline on both shafts will still allow me to alter the cam timing,however i am a bit worried about flexibility and the lack of it with a pin system,i am still thinking about this one,
thanks, martyn
#67
Posted 25 October 2008 - 15:43
Cheers
#68
Posted 25 October 2008 - 22:39
I always thought it was a shame that Climax believed Ferrari,s horsepower claims- it surely could have been a race if not championship engine.
Is the Climax Pub mentioned still in existence-it was a hangout of a lot of apprentices from Coventry in the late 60,s,also the Jaguar Pub nearby.
Ian
#69
Posted 26 October 2008 - 14:18
Where was Speed Engines factory based?
How many years did they exist?
#70
Posted 28 October 2008 - 21:09
There was no factory and this was the only one ever built,it was built in coventry 1952/1955.
this prototype started life hopeing to be part of leslie johnsons E.R.A Dunstable works and the F1 car that leslie brooke and L J were going to build,.
the SEL name could have been bought by L brooke in the hope of supplying the engine to other teams,or suppling it as a sports car eng to other manufactures, I have never known a address for the co,i do know the engine was built up at the Roots factory in a locked building, and when finished it was moved to leslie brookes home in the back garden in his workshop,where it went from there i do not know,there was a rumour that BoB gerrard had it at some time but i do not know if this is true,perhaps someone else knows?????.we might never know now as quite alot of time has passed since then,.thanks for your interest martyn.
#71
Posted 28 October 2008 - 21:24
Roger Lund
#72
Posted 28 October 2008 - 21:24
#73
Posted 28 October 2008 - 21:36
#74
Posted 28 October 2008 - 21:40
Roger Lund
#75
Posted 28 October 2008 - 21:48
#77
Posted 28 October 2008 - 22:19
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#80
Posted 13 December 2008 - 01:14
I note, however, some of the luminaries here were less than enthusiastic 6 years ago, pity.
http://forums.autosp...?threadid=45835
Martyn, I last saw the Brooke-Weston engine on the floor of a private garage in Farquhar Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham in 1964 or 65 whence I was taken by two friends (one Tommy Norton's stepson and the other escorting Leslie's daughter) with a view to possible purchase. The engine was very well known then among the Midlands racing set and was viewed either with some awe, or total derision! I can only recall it looked incredibly large for a 2.5litre engine and in any event wanted nothing to do with it.
Whereabouts in Kineton was the fabled workshop you mention, AAMOI?
Best regards.
C.
#81
Posted 13 December 2008 - 14:48
April 1986 ; A substantial 4 page article by Mike Lawrence which also includes comprehensive information about the Climax Godiva engine.[i]Originally posted by Geoff.Harrison ....Also found the Motor Sport 1986 article on the Kieft and Speed / Brooke -Weston engine.Geoff [/B]
Roger Lund
#82
Posted 13 December 2008 - 15:58
#83
Posted 13 December 2008 - 21:08
Some time later when I had finished my trainee ship I was about to leave when, through lack of finance the house was put up for sale. I came to work on my car and found Mrs B burning piles of drawings and notes. These had belong to Leslie and she was not taking them with her. Tragically I was too late to rescue any. They had evidentially filled numerous dustbins and been burnt in one of them.
I was told by someone at the time that it was the bevel gear drive that had been the major problem with the engine and that they were to be redesigned. I met LB at my friends wedding but he was in a rush and I could not get to talk to him.
Hope this is of some interest.
Sandy Cormack
PS In the front garden was a sort of a pond which was courtesy of a German bomb hole!
#88
Posted 30 March 2009 - 20:47
#89
Posted 30 March 2009 - 21:00
#90
Posted 01 April 2009 - 07:20
This forum is great the way old threads keep coming back especially for 'newbies' like me who missed them the first time.
Thanks Sha for the great pictures
One thing though, which is the elder, the chassis or the telly in the background?
Is it b+w or colour
I have to say that cos' the technicalities and history being discussed here are way above my head
#91
Posted 01 April 2009 - 11:10
I remember some time in the early sixties my father stopped there to show me a Minerva he had seen there previously, the Minerva had gone but we were fascinated to watch attempts to tow start an ERA with an RM series Riley in the field behind. Happy days!
#92
Posted 01 April 2009 - 20:36
#93
Posted 01 April 2009 - 20:54
The ERA was R2A and dad was probably getting ready for a VSCC meeting. martyn.
#94
Posted 03 April 2009 - 07:04
#95
Posted 10 April 2009 - 15:04
just out of interest I was thumbing through Motor Sport 1954 March issue and came across an article by Bill Boddy on Cyril Keift's plans for that year, with a photograph of the V8 chassis under construction. I can mail you a photocopy if you like.
Chris
#96
Posted 04 August 2009 - 09:16
Martynhi paul.i will answer you with the elder of the chassis and the telly is the telly ,it is a colour one ,and it only ever gets turned on sunday of grandprix weekends, and i make a point of working on the car then,i am trying to use period parts where i can,the cds tube i built the chassis with is older than the telly as i bought it in coventry over twenty five years ago and never got around to using it,i am trying to build the car so that people can appreciate the sound of this high reving V8 that has only ever been heard by those that built it,i am not saying it is an original chassis its not, its a rolling test bed that could have been,the engine was built with ERA money from the sale of GP2 back to leslie johnson,i have heard its sounds awsome its either that or give it to a museum to just be gorked at what would you do ?i only ever intend to demonstrate it so that people can enjoy it .cheers martyn,
I'm sure a lot of people are keen to have an update on this project, and hope you are making progress.
Chris
#97
Posted 04 August 2009 - 10:53
Martyn, let's have some pics and details, please.
#98
Posted 06 August 2009 - 06:46
I don't think I've read any reference to it throughout the thread, but in Autosport's annual 'High-performance cars 1954-55' edition there's a 2 page feature 'A Grand Prix Project - The Kieft'. With a nice big cutaway drawing and reasonable amount of text. If anybody wants to read it or post it on this thread then drop me a message with an email address.
Stephen
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#100
Posted 18 November 2009 - 13:28
Speed Engines Ltd
Rick