37 replies to this topic

[mariner]

By odd bits I don't mean components like the famous Herald upright used in so many 1960's racing cars but odd things which only found their way into cars because necessity was the mother of invention etc.

 

Three examples come to my mind.

 

The story that raw materials were so short in post war Italy that the Ferrari bodybuilders resorted to pulling down aluminium advertising signs from buildings and butt welding them as body panels.

 

The Progress Chassis company cut up steel filing cabinets to fabricate brackets for their early Lotus Chassis.

 

When decent rectangular  ERW tube was thing of the future the rails from shop clothes rails made a strong, cheap and always available alternative.

 

Any more examples out there?

 

 

[Charlieman]

By odd bits I don't mean components like the famous Herald upright used in so many 1960's racing cars but odd things which only found their way into cars because necessity was the mother of invention etc.

 

Three examples come to my mind.

 

The story that raw materials were so short in post war Italy that the Ferrari bodybuilders resorted to pulling down aluminium advertising signs from buildings and butt welding them as body panels.

 

The Progress Chassis company cut up steel filing cabinets to fabricate brackets for their early Lotus Chassis.

 

When decent rectangular  ERW tube was thing of the future the rails from shop clothes rails made a strong, cheap and always available alternative.

 

Any more examples out there?

Is this the same Italy, existing at the same time as Britain, which had no aluminium and built signs from wood?

 

Brackets appalled Colin Chapman, allegedly. Spaceframes required brackets in practice but one cabinet would have provided, err, a zonk load.

 

Clothes rails were made of wood for yonks. Steel was recycled, certainly, for Cooper chassis jigs and early 500s. 

---

Mercedes-Benz and Auto Union cars from the 1930s were built from unobtanium materials which is why original examples start on the button in the 21st century.

 

What went in and out of a Repco-Brabham V8 over those years?

 

Production car radiators made from plastic/aluminium were modified for F1 use. But I reckon they were used earlier in Group 5 or the like.

 

Every switch. Every dial. Triumph bits always look good.

 

Writing from Leicester, I have to acknowledge flexy couplings.

[brucemoxon]

One historic touring car of my ken has a splash tray around the fuel filler made from the lid of an electric frypan. 

 

The boot floor of my rally car was a recycled steel sign. 

The gear selector linkage on my Dad's Formula Vee included a Sidchrome socket. Whether it was the missing 10mm is yet to be determined. 

 

 

BRM

[jcbc3]

.... Whether it was the missing 10mm is yet to be determined. 

 

 

BRM

 

  It's ALWAYS the 10 that's missing. Grrrr..............

[Stephen W]

Several F3 500cc cars made use of "war surplus" e.g. Joe Potts who was a WD contractor.

[Lee Nicolle]

One historic touring car of my ken has a splash tray around the fuel filler made from the lid of an electric frypan. 

 

The boot floor of my rally car was a recycled steel sign. 

The gear selector linkage on my Dad's Formula Vee included a Sidchrome socket. Whether it was the missing 10mm is yet to be determined. 

 

 

BRM

I crewed on a speedway EH that had a Prince Skyline door as a boot floor! The door was complete with its number.

The wing on my Supermodified is fabricated from 1/2 square tube [bent around a water pump pulley] and skinned with aluminium printing plate. 25 thou thick and handles it really well.

I believe in period a couple were made from wood frames with steel skins. More than a few had masonite side boards.

Clem Smiths Charger Sports Sedan used a sunvisor as a front spoiler.

I have used reject alloy signs in various jobs.

In the motorsport industry so much stuff has been repurposed for things it was never designed for

As Ray Bell has pointed out Namco chair legs were used as shock extensions on Elfin Monos.

Many off road buggies used them as floors!

[Lee Nicolle]

Several F3 500cc cars made use of "war surplus" e.g. Joe Potts who was a WD contractor.

The double V8 car of Eldred Norman was mostly war surplus.

[Lee Nicolle]

  It's ALWAYS the 10 that's missing. Grrrr..............

12mm around here!

[2F-001]

Tea strainers to cover inlet trumpets?

 

(I've also seen entire Trabants used as racing cars...)

[geoffd]

I once saw an olive oil tin used as a catch tank on an Alfa Romeo.  The olive oil was an Italian brand, of course.

[Doug Nye]

The universal Tudor washer bottle as a regulation oil catch-tank?

 

DCN

[BRG]

I reckon you could write a book about all the recycled items used as breather catch-tanks on clubbie rally cars.  But why not?  If it is the right size, then use it. 

[sabrejet]

Famously, Sydney Allard used a 'liberated' V8 engine from a Wehrmacht truck in his Steyr-Allard hill climber.

[D-Type]

A couple from the East African Safari:

-  A cylinder head gasket made from a cement sack

-  A coke can used as a radiator expansion tank.  Sadly, the ingenious driver was disqualified for having a modified cooling system

​-  A lorry load of doors used to patch a partially washed away bridge (not a car but I like the idea)
​-  A tree banch jammed between back axle and body when the spring mounting broke
 

Then there are a couple that Coopers used:

​-  A plough handle as a makeshift engine bearer

- Diesel engine cylinder liners sawn up to form liners for the alloy brake drums.

​- Bits of Morrison air raid shelters for chassis jigs, and miscellaneous brackets, lugs etc

[Garsted]

When the body of a clubmans car I was building required a blister to cover some internal component I sawed the top off a (previously damaged) crash helmet and grafted it in. Once painted you could not tell.
When I dismantled my S1 Lotus 7 for restoration I found the side panels to be painted on the inside too. I think the material had previously served as the side of a lorry.
Steve

[chr1s]

Sorry this is not racing related but its too good not to share. Back in the 1980s a friend of mine ran a small haulage firm and one of the lorries, an old Commer TS3 two stroke diesel, had a slight miss fire under load.  As there wasn't a lot to go wrong on those engines, (there were no valves) we decided to strip it down and see if we could get to the root of the problem.  Nothing could have prepared us for what we found,  one of the pistons had been made from a piece of oak!  

[Bloggsworth]

Quite a few racing cars have been made fro aircraft drop tanks.

[Glengavel]

Austin-Healey rally cars had sump guards made from a cut-up skip, I read somewhere.

[Lee Nicolle]

The universal Tudor washer bottle as a regulation oil catch-tank?

 

DCN

I laugh when I see people spending shitloads on catch cans and breather hoses.

All the fancy screw on fittings and braided hose and a shiny alloy can.

Some proper push in fittings, 3/4" polythene hose and a used 4 litre oil bottle. Functional, plenty of capacity though IF your engine is putting oil in it you do not have an engine.

Unless it is a small engine those washer bottles are too small by the rules.

[Lee Nicolle]

A couple from the East African Safari:

-  A cylinder head gasket made from a cement sack

-  A coke can used as a radiator expansion tank.  Sadly, the ingenious driver was disqualified for having a modified cooling system

​-  A lorry load of doors used to patch a partially washed away bridge (not a car but I like the idea)
​-  A tree banch jammed between back axle and body when the spring mounting broke
 

Then there are a couple that Coopers used:

​-  A plough handle as a makeshift engine bearer

- Diesel engine cylinder liners sawn up to form liners for the alloy brake drums.

​- Bits of Morrison air raid shelters for chassis jigs, and miscellaneous brackets, lugs etc

Tree branches have been a universal fix for broken leaf springs. Bushies world wide have used them though most stuff these days is coil. Though they break on occasion as well.

[raceannouncer2003]

As mentioned before, Jerry Grant's Lotus 19 at the 1965 Northwest GP, Pacific Raceways, Kent, Washington. I believe it's Trevor Harris in the white jacket and drag racer/road racer Terry Kniss applying the tape.

 

http://slotblog.net/...-1344825908.jpg

 

Vince H.

[Catalina Park]

The universal Tudor washer bottle as a regulation oil catch-tank?

 

DCN

I recently had an online argument with an American chap that was trying to claim the Repco Brabham 620 as a GM product. I pointed out that there was only one GM part in the BT19 being the Olds engine block. There was two BMC parts being the ADO16 lucas starter and Tudor washer bottle, three Vincent parts being the timing cover caps, and eight Alfa Romeo bits being the cam followers.

Edited by Catalina Park, 12 May 2021 - 08:28.

[Michael Ferner]

Odd bits in race cars? Supposing the odd bits behind the steering wheel don't count, how about "odd" engines? Inverted* aircraft engines (Ranger) or engines out of farming equipment (Allis-Chalmers**) were VERY popular in America in the 30s-40s-50s!

 

* Other aircraft engines, too (Hisso, Hall-Scott etc.) but the Ranger was probably the "oddest"!!

 

** Someone had the nous to call his A-C Sprint car the "Farmer's Offy"!!

Edited by Michael Ferner, 12 May 2021 - 08:47.

[RCH]

The universal Tudor washer bottle as a regulation oil catch-tank?

 

DCN

Wow! That's sophisticated, I seem to recall using washing up liquid bottles...

My Saab rally car had a rear fireproof bulkhead cut from an old henhouse. My Vauxhall Chevette rally car had a rear gearbox mount cut from a piece of steel lying around in the garage, can't remember what it was from. I had intended to replace it with something more suitable. Maybe the gearbox itself (Ford) was odd in a Vauxhall?

Edited by RCH, 12 May 2021 - 08:53.

[BRG]

I recently had an online argument with an American chap that was trying to claim the Repco Brabham 620 as a GM product. I pointed out that there was only one GM part in the BT19 being the Olds engine block

To be fair, the block is quite a LARGE part of the engine.

 

My friend's tarmac rally Ginetta G15 featured an air intake made from an Osma plastic sewage pipe bend.  

[GreenMachine]

I recently had an online argument with an American chap that was trying to claim the Repco Brabham 620 as a GM product. I pointed out that there was only one GM part in the BT19 being the Olds engine block. There was two BMC parts being the ADO16 lucas starter and Tudor washer bottle, three Vincent parts being the timing cover caps, and eight Alfa Romeo bits being the cam followers.

 

Eight cam followers?  Fair go, don't shortchange Alfa, they need all the credit they can get!   

[arttidesco]

A few bits of kitchen ware I have observed over the years ....

 

 

..... seems like only yesterday when no Formula 3 car was complete without a humble tea strainer to stop the inevitable kitty litter from being ingested through the mandatary orrifice into the engine, I seem to recall these appeared when gravel traps became more or less ubiquitous......

 

 

.... is any kitchen of a dog owner complete without a tennis ball or eight ?

 

 

Closer to the kitchen sink, also handy for preventing the ingress of foreign matter into ones carburettor is the good old fashioned rubber drain plug.....

 

 

..... clothes driers also have their uses in the paddock, for those motors best started with the rear wheels clear off the ground.....

 

 

.... speaking of drying, pegs can alleviate in voluntary hiccups when starting ...

 

 

..... and if all that has does not make one choke on ones Grolsh ....

 

 

.... one could always redeploy a Castrol tin for the purpose for which it was intended 

Edited by arttidesco, 13 May 2021 - 15:41.

[Tom Glowacki]

Eight cam followers?  Fair go, don't shortchange Alfa, they need all the credit they can get!   

Then there were the Daimler connecting rods.

[Lee Nicolle]

A few bits of kitchen ware I have observed over the years ....

 

 

..... seems like only yesterday when no Formula 3 car was complete without a humble tea strainer to stop the inevitable kitty litter from being ingested through the mandatary orrifice into the engine, I seem to recall these appeared when gravel traps became more or less ubiquitous......

 

 

.... is any kitchen of a dog owner would be complete without a tennis ball or eight ?

 

 

Closer to the kitchen sink, also handy for preventing the ingress of foreign matter into ones carburettor is the good old fashioned rubber drain plug.....

 

 

..... clothes driers also have their uses in the paddock, for those motors best started with the rear wheels clear off the ground.....

 

 

.... speaking of drying, pegs can alleviate in voluntary hiccups when starting ...

 

 

..... and if all that has does not make one choke on ones Grolsh ....

 

 

.... one could always redeploy a Castrol tin for the purpose for which it was intended 

Collectors pay silly money for those tins these days. The plastic ones are lighter.

A fellow competitordiscovered a couple of drops under the car. On investigation he discovered his tin like so had rusted out. Had been there for at least 10 years. Probably water from the occasional; engine clean.

[Lee Nicolle]

To be fair, the block is quite a LARGE part of the engine.

 

My friend's tarmac rally Ginetta G15 featured an air intake made from an Osma plastic sewage pipe bend.  

I have used 3" PVC plumbing fittings forever for brake ducts. On occasion for cold air ducts as well.

Just do not get the plastic too close too the rotor or they melt. As does the flexible pipe. Have used galv down pipe for that. I still have about 6 feet left!

[Roger Clark]

The universal Tudor washer bottle as a regulation oil catch-tank?

 

DCN

The Honda had a Coca-Cola tin as catch-tank at the 1964 German Grand Prix. I’m surprised that it was big enough. 

[Ray Bell]

Speaking of galvanised down-pipe...

 

David Seldon drove the Col Wear-built Datsun 1000 Sports Sedan with the 1860 (?) Waggott TC4V engine. Without much ground clearance, Col resorted to rectangular down-pipe for the final pipe out the side of the car.

 

The shattering vibrations of the engine's noise soon reduced it to scrap pieces.

[kyle936]

The leather belts used, presumably by David Piper's team - they certainly weren't an original fitment on 917s - to secure the fuel tanks on 'Nine-seventeen-0-twenny-one', as Kevin Jeannette 'identified' it (probably the original 917-021, or at least a bitza built out of - the belts must have been used in Piper's rebuild/resurrection after what was left of 021 was salvaged from Porsche some time after its crash at Le Mans, the rest having being transferred by Porsche to 917-012, a spare chassis which was given back to Team AAW for the Norisring Interserie race a fortnight after Le Mans as '021')...

 

https://youtu.be/mXc...8WD3g54zN&t=182

 

It wouldn't be a person's leather belt, contrary to what Kevin is pretending in the video, it would be the kind of leather belt used to lash bonnets on to vintage racers BITD, but still.

 

Actually, seriously, your best chance of surviving a crash in a 917 - all other things considered and everything being relative - especially given that they tended to break in two around the cockpit (they all do that, sir...) would be if the fuel tanks detached themselves, as they happened to do in Kurt Ahrens's crash at Ehra-Lessien in 917-040 (previously 006), the first 1970 langheck, so maybe there was method in the madness...

 

 

Edited by kyle936, 13 May 2021 - 20:54.

[DogEarred]

1976, I think it was – my first year of racing.

 

The FF1600 ‘Star of Tomorrow’ series had a round at Croft. I hauled up there from London & found, upon arrival, that there was a local rule that silencers had to be run & noise tests taken. I believe it was to satisfy the local council or something.

 

Most non-local competitors had never heard of this but the scrutineers, with a wink, said as long as you were seen to have something looking like a silencer on the car & the noise test was seen to be done, it would all be ok.

 

Well all these guys were running round the paddock, creating silencers out of various fabrications, oil cans & anything else they could conjure up. Some were welded or clamped on & even painted!

 

Me – with my tool box consisting of little more than a roll of tank tape & a hammer, went round the paddock trying to scrounge something to use. But there was nothing left! It was getting close to scrutineering time & I was wondering what to do. I saw a Coca Cola tin on the ground. So I picked it up, slit the bottom & top, slid it over the tail pipe & wrapped in on with tank tape.

 

The scrutineer said, “That’s a pretty vestigial looking silencer”. I remember asking him what “vestigial” meant, as I did not know at the time.

 

Anyway, we went through scrutineering & the noise test microphone seemed about 20 yards away! Passed with (ahem) flying colours!

 

And of course, at the end of practice, there was just a mass of hot sticky glue where the ‘silencer’ had been.

 

Gave up then & ran the rest of the meeting without anything. Nobody said anything…

[Ray Bell]

That was pretty much the norm at Sandown in the early to mid-sixties...

 

The number of tin cans and so on clamped on with hose clamps over totally unimpeded exhaust pipes was great. Some had been before and made up more professional-looking devices, some even with 'Lukey Muffler' stamped on them.

 

No noise tests, just a sop to the locals, it became more serious as the sixties came to an end.

[Lee Nicolle]

The leather belts used, presumably by David Piper's team - they certainly weren't an original fitment on 917s - to secure the fuel tanks on 'Nine-seventeen-0-twenny-one', as Kevin Jeannette 'identified' it (probably the original 917-021, or at least a bitza built out of - the belts must have been used in Piper's rebuild/resurrection after what was left of 021 was salvaged from Porsche some time after its crash at Le Mans, the rest having being transferred by Porsche to 917-012, a spare chassis which was given back to Team AAW for the Norisring Interserie race a fortnight after Le Mans as '021')...

 

https://youtu.be/mXc...8WD3g54zN&t=182

 

It wouldn't be a person's leather belt, contrary to what Kevin is pretending in the video, it would be the kind of leather belt used to lash bonnets on to vintage racers BITD, but still.

 

Actually, seriously, your best chance of surviving a crash in a 917 - all other things considered and everything being relative - especially given that they tended to break in two around the cockpit (they all do that, sir...) would be if the fuel tanks detached themselves, as they happened to do in Kurt Ahrens's crash at Ehra-Lessien in 917-040 (previously 006), the first 1970 langheck, so maybe there was method in the madness...

 

Leather straps.. the ones that come from saddlery dealers. They will cut to length at about 10% of the cost of the 'pukka' ones.

Something Jay Leno points out often on his old cars.

[Lee Nicolle]

That was pretty much the norm at Sandown in the early to mid-sixties...

 

The number of tin cans and so on clamped on with hose clamps over totally unimpeded exhaust pipes was great. Some had been before and made up more professional-looking devices, some even with 'Lukey Muffler' stamped on them.

 

No noise tests, just a sop to the locals, it became more serious as the sixties came to an end.

Sandown?  The bigger the crowd the quieter the cars are. That grandstand without people echos the noise. 

Last time I raced there I got pinged for noise in qualifying but later that day it was ok. The car did have real mufflers on it. Fabricated for ground clearance and packed with the correct stainless packing.

Similar at PI. The very low cloud cover echoed the noise at 8am. I had to do something or not allowed to race. The TAFE guys made me some droopy  exhausts and I was never pinged there again.

My speedway car has mufflers, 2.5" pipe swaged down to 2".  Feed the pipe over with about twenty holes drilled in the pipe. No packing but it is drilled so is a muffler and it does take the bark off of it. And does not seem to hurt it power wise..

Edited by Lee Nicolle, 19 May 2021 - 06:57.

[BRG]

Yeah, noise testing is a notoriously inexact art.  I recall taking a Metro 6R4 to a rally noise test and failing.  So I asked if we could turn it round and try again facing the other way.  It passed easily.  But the 6R4 had two exhausts pointing straight out the back, so there was no earthly reason why one side should be quieter than the other.

Edited by BRG, 19 May 2021 - 11:56.