55 replies to this topic

[Ray Bell]

Oh, yeah, sure, people willing to get a crank made and that sort of thing could do anything...

I was thinking only of standard Repco capacities.

[Stephen W]

I'm inclining more towards 1972, Steve. Here's a photo of the car from 1973:

http://www.mikehaywa...tm#.VKJmvcDpABg

and the rear wing looks very different. The mystery photo looks much more like the car was in 1972 (when it also carried #3). I also don't think it's MacDowel; all photos I've found of him in the car show him wearing a full-face helmet (although not always with the white stripe). To me it looks much more like Tony Griffiths, who shared the car with MacDowel at the Prescott event of 7th May 1972 after his own Repco-engined Brabham had cam drive problems.

 

In the original photo the car appears to be running as #3 so I wouid have thought unlikely to be anyone other than MacDowell.

[Tim Murray]

That's a very good point, Steve. I think you've convinced me, even though I can't find any photos of MacDowel wearing a helmet quite like that one. He had worn an open-face helmet for most of the previous year.

[Roger Clark]

It's interesting that the 4.2-litre Repcos were created by increasing the bore. I understood that the 3-litre engines were created from the Oldsmobile original by reducing the stroke and leaving the bore the same. This left a very over square engine : a stroke:bore ratio of 0.68 compared with 0.76 for a DFV. A 4.2-litre with the same stroke would be even more extreme.

Of course, as time went by stroke:bore ratios did reduce. The 1984 Renault had a stroke just half the bore. Nowadays, sadly, it's whatever the regulations say it has to be.

[Ray Bell]

The 2.5 Repcos, if one can go even further off-topic, were extremely oversquare...

John McCormack related to me that Phil Irving told him that the pistons in the 740 engine he had were just 'fluttering about in there' or something similar.

Taking the engine out to 4.4-litres was, as I understand it, going as far as the original block could be safely be taken. It was after casting their own blocks that Repco went to 5-litres.

[Tim Murray]

There's conflicting info on this. When Mike MacDowel first ran his Palliser with the Repco engine enlarged from 3 litres to 4.2 litres (the Shelsley championship round in August 1971) the event report in Autosport said the capacity increase was achieved by fitting the 5 litre crank and rods.