Posted 25 April 2000 - 09:34
The book "INDY" by Rich Taylor has a nice 2 page spread on the GULF-MILLERS, I'll type some hi-lites.
In the midst of the Great Depression, GULF OIL CO. decided they had to win the Indy 500 with a car running pump gas. In June 37, they hired Harry Miller to design & build a 4 car team. He had the full facilities of GULF R&D, any staff he wanted, a literally unlimited budget, and 11 months. He decided to give GULF a technical tour-de-force, the most advanced & wonderfully engineered car that anybody had ever engineered from the ground up for the sole purpose of circling IMS.
In Europe, the mid-engined AUTO-UNION designed by F Porsche seemed to have more potential than typical front engine racers, so Miller determined to build a mid-engined car. It would have 4-wheel drive. There would be many other innovations. 4-wheel disc brakes, the 1st disc brakes on an Indycar. All-independant suspension. Aerodynamically-shaped outboard fuel tanks centered in the wheelbase to maintain weight dist. as the tanks emptied. Fabricated frame rails that also formed part of the bodywork, the 1st monocoque/chassis at Indy. The engine offset in the frame to improve weight dist. in IMS's left turns. Aerodynamic bodywork brought tight around the engine & the driver, then widening at the bottom. Axles covered by aerodynamic fairings, inboard mounted shocks operated by remote levers. These are all things we take for granted now...because Harry Miller thought of them 50 years ago.
Miller outdid himself on the engine. The 1938 rule was for 3 litre, supercharged engines. Miller created a short stroke 6-cyl. with DOHC's, designed from scratch to be both offset and canted to one side. The crankshaft driven supercharger had vanes on both sides of a single rotor, with a carb. for each entry. It ran at 5 times engine speed, or 32,000rpm. The engine produced about 250bhp at 6400rpm using 81 octane gas.
Harry Miller was a mystic. A creative genius. But he was not a pragmatic development engineer. In the glory days, actually building Millers cars and getting his ideas to work had been done by Fred Offenhauser and Leo Goossen. Withou The Team to keep him in check, Miller spent 7000 hrs on each of the GULF-MILLERS & exceeded his generous budget. Every piece had to be specially made, & each car was artistically finished inside & out. But they weren't finished in time. Nor did they work very well.
1 GULF-MILLER was ready for the 38 500, but didn't arrive in time to qualify. Miller & his crew of GULF engineers worked all year, & managed to have 3 cars ready for 39. Johnny Seymour crashed & his car burned to the ground. In 40, George Bailey crashed & was killed, His car burned, too. George Barringers car was withdrawn at the "request" of AAA. In June he took it to Bonneville & ran 158mph & set a dozen Class D speed records. That was the GULF-MILLER's best preformance. Barringer's 2nd car burned in the 41 Gasoline Alley fire. GULF sold him the remaining car in 46, & he got Preston Tucker to spons. it on the premise that both the G-M & the Tucker Torpedo were "rear-engine". Barringer was killed racing in Atlanta in the sumer of 46, so Al Miller ran the car for Tucker in 47. They should have stayed home.
The GULF-MILLER was one of the most advanced designs ever to run at Indy, 40 years ahead of its time in many ways. It was also the most expensive flop in racing history & Harry Miller's only failure. Seemed like a good idea at the time.
That sure took a while. The fastest 2 fingers on any keyboard!!!!!
