84 replies to this topic

[Gary C]

OK, so we know about the Gurney Flap, the Chapman Strut and the Hewland gearbox. Can anyone name any other parts of race cars that are named after the people who designed them? And I'm not including Mr.Honda or Mr.Renault in this one!!

[kos]

McPherson strut, Diesel and Wankel engines

[green-blood]

Roots supercharger

DeDion Axle

[robert dick]

Some older ones :
De Dion axle, Hotchkiss axle, Panhard rod, Hele-Shaw clutch, Roi-des-Belges bodywork, volant Thomas (René Thomas steering wheel), pointe Bordino (pointed tail as on the Fiat racing cars), calandre Eldridge (radiator cowl).

[Vicuna]

I always referred to those full width noses as 'Tyrrell noses

[ensign14]

Kamm Tail - or should that be Camm?

Handford Wing.

[D-Type]

Colotti gearbox

Then there's Moss gearbox, Hardy Spicer UJ, Lucas electrics, etc. Or are these parts named after the firm that's named after the man?

[dbw]

ackerman steering

gudgeon pin

hooks joint

dzus fastener

rzeppa joint

rudge hub [yes..riley invented it and bugatti knocked it off..[so to speak]

phillips screw

woodruff key

allan fastener

bendix drive

pitman arm

moon disc

hausserman clutch

[Ron Scoma]

Bosch electrics, Lucas electrics, Marelli Electrics. Derrington steering wheels, Fisher bodies. Marshall-Nordec supercharger. All the tires.

Cheers,

Ron

[David McKinney]

I got the idea that the original poster isn't looking for trade names

[Arjan de Roos]

Quite OT, however interesting: The Pironi line.

Pironi took the right hand side of the main straight at Zandvoort in 1982, near pit guard rail. Normally a dirty track (rubble, sand and rubber lumps). Normally the pits is passed on the LH side of the straight.

[bill moffat]

Monday morning, so the best I can offer :


Starter Button.

Bearing Schell.

Exhaust Piper.

von Trips meter.

Miles o-meter

Bottoms End

Duff electrics (aka Lucas)

Revson counter

Straight eight.


..also I believe windscreen Ypres are named after a town in Belgium.

[Peter Morley]

The cold air box on the Connaught A-type F2 car is known as the McGuffin.

[eldridge]

Naca Duct

[tyrrellp34]

The Tyrrell Towers

[bill moffat]

Originally posted by eldridge
Naca Duct

Naca-jima ?

[petefenelon]

Bradnack lugs - for attaching some of the pipework on a Cooper to some of the the other pipework, and named after Bertie Bradnack whose company used to fabricate them?

[petefenelon]

Originally posted by eldridge
Naca Duct

Nope, that's an organisation - National Advisory Council on Aeronautics - that gave rise to NASA.

[ian senior]

Not a trade name, not a designer.....but didn't an F1 car of the early 90s ( I think) feature something called a Kylie flap on its wing? So named after Ms Minogue, and apart from that I haven't got a clue why. I seem to recall it being mentioned in an article written by Russell Bulgin.

[eldridge]

Vernier Pulley??

[bill moffat]

Do I score any points for Rene Bonnet ?

[Rob G]

bill moffat

Don't forget the wonderful early innovation named after its creator, Ray Diator.

[HEROS]

One can quote the "marmitte" Abarth, well known exhausts, and the Weber carburettors.

[petefenelon]

Originally posted by Rob G
bill moffat

Don't forget the wonderful early innovation named after its creator, Ray Diator.

Is that not just a clumsy Anglicisation of Diatto?;)

[bigears]

Oh yes, the Surtees wing as well.

[Engineguy]

Must not forget the lowly (but vital) schrader valve invented by George Schrader.

Whatever the circumstances, C.K. (Cole) returned to New York in 1900 a successful businessman. There he invested in a small company founded by a German immigrant inventor named George Schrader, who had developed what came to be known as the bicycle tire valve. Schrader's invention was adapted for automobile tires just as the automotive industry was beginning mass production, proving C.K.'s investment providential. He was soon to become sole owner of the company, a development that launched him on a second career and brought immense wealth to the family.

[jdanton]

I believe in NASCAR there is a Petty Bar and an Earnhardt bar as part of the roll cage. I think both were added after horrendous wrecks by the respective drivers (Petty--either Darlington '72 or Daytona '88 and Earnhardt, Talladega '96)

[dbw]

and, as i recall, the schrader valve design has remained virtually intact to this day [same internal thread size even]...and the worldwide automotive standard..[and don't let those bicycle guys give you any of that presto valve crap..]

as an aside the medical field has quite an armormentarium of items referred to by the originator...when a "foley" ordered, everyone knows exactly what has to be done...in the midst of a vascular surgery a doc will ask for a " soft fogarty" or a "debakey profunda"....even procedures are named after the originator...."Mohs surgery"comes to mind as a specific technique..

and by the way...if you're ever in hospital and you hear the word "foley", just pray to god it's the guy in the next bed....

[Frank S]

Ben Dix' spring.

About the "Gurney Flap"; isn't it still going on in some Lotus Ecks Eye Ecks thread or other?

No, seriously. I heard Gurney call the little lip or fence at the rear edge of a major wing, a "whickerbill". Never found it in a dictionary, nor in any other source I've tried.

W H I C K E R, B I L L

Who was that guy?


Frank ess

[Eric McLoughlin]

My Seven has a Petty Strut attached to the roll over bar.

[Andrew Fellowes]

Originally posted by bill moffat
also I believe windscreen Ypres are named after a town in Belgium.

[David Birchall]

I don't think I've seen:
The Chapman Strut (Doh!)
The Costin Nose (See Lotus Elite)
The Sayer Tail
The Rose Joint
The Admiral's Walk (See Frazer Nash)
The Lotus Position
The "Duesy" (Superlative)
The Ranko Valve ( Really reaching now)
The Gilhooley (Completely over-the-top)
David B

[fines]

Originally posted by dbw
and, as i recall, the schrader valve design has remained virtually intact to this day [same internal thread size even]...and the worldwide automotive standard..[and don't let those bicycle guys give you any of that presto valve crap..]

as an aside the medical field has quite an armormentarium of items referred to by the originator...when a "foley" ordered, everyone knows exactly what has to be done...in the midst of a vascular surgery a doc will ask for a " soft fogarty" or a "debakey profunda"....even procedures are named after the originator...."Mohs surgery"comes to mind as a specific technique..

and by the way...if you're ever in hospital and you hear the word "foley", just pray to god it's the guy in the next bed....

Well, "foley" has a somewhat different meaning in the world of movies...

[fines]

Oh, and what about the "Penske strut"?;)

[wawawa]

How about Moog valves?

[TFBundy]

What's a Watts linkage?

[dbw]

in the hospital a foley is a intraurethal catheter...it connects your [or some other poor sod's] bladder with the outside world via a rather large diameter rubber tube...use your inagination..and a lot of KY lubricant..as to how it is installed and exactly where..


come to think of it...there is a rather lot of sound involved...

[tyrrellp34]

Originally posted by bigears
Oh yes, the Surtees wing as well.

What's that??

[fines]

Originally posted by dbw
come to think of it...there is a rather lot of sound involved...

Would you mind doing the foley on a foley?

[Aanderson]

Originally posted by Frank S
Ben Dix' spring.

About the "Gurney Flap"; isn't it still going on in some Lotus Ecks Eye Ecks thread or other?

No, seriously. I heard Gurney call the little lip or fence at the rear edge of a major wing, a "whickerbill". Never found it in a dictionary, nor in any other source I've tried.

W H I C K E R, B I L L

Who was that guy?


Frank ess

Bendix is the name of the founder of Bendix, as was Lockheed the founder of Lockheed (Lockheed Hydraulic Brakes among their other innovations)

[RX-7]

Kuhnle,Kopp&Kausch Turbo aka KKK Turbo.

[RX-7]

Originally posted by TFBundy
What's a Watts linkage?

Linkages placed in the rear to prevent lateral movement of the axle. I have 2 1985 RX-7s that incorporate them as stock parts. This assembly can be replaced by a Panhard bar.

[Frank S]

Originally posted by Aanderson


Bendix is the name of the founder of Bendix, as was Lockheed the founder of Lockheed (Lockheed Hydraulic Brakes among their other innovations)

Ayuh.


Now then, are there any parts of people named after cars?

[rdrcr]

Originally posted by dbw

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rudge hub [yes..riley invented it and bugatti knocked it off..[so to speak]
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I saw your great list, but this caught my eye too... in the interest of accuracy. Didn't Daniel Rudge along with a partner (Whitney?) invent the splined hub prior to Rudge involvement with cars?

[David Hyland]

Originally posted by jdanton
I believe in NASCAR there is a Petty Bar and an Earnhardt bar as part of the roll cage. I think both were added after horrendous wrecks by the respective drivers (Petty--either Darlington '72 or Daytona '88 and Earnhardt, Talladega '96)

In Australian V8 Supercars, a diagonal roll-cage support behind the windscreen was originally known as "Larry's Bar", in honour of creator Larry Perkins.

[Ray Bell]

Originally posted by RX-7
Linkages placed in the rear to prevent lateral movement of the axle. I have two 1985 RX-7s that incorporate them as stock parts. This assembly can be replaced by a Panhard bar.

Though to do so would normally be a retrograde step...

The Watts Linkage was named after James Watt, who invented it to locate something on his steam engines... in cars the Watts Linkage essentially replaced the Panhard bar.

[ggnagy]

Originally posted by Ray Bell


Though to do so would normally be a retrograde step...

*as a practical matter, most 1st Gen RX-7 racers would disagree with the "retrograde" part.;)

*I have seen references to a locating device used with IRS called a "mumford link", but please do not ask me to describe it.

*Hasn't there been more than one engine referred to as a "sabrina", in reference to a well endowed british actress/singer? The Triumph TRS twin cam comes to mind.

*some people have referred to any suspension with rubber springs as a "Moulton" suspension.

[gwk]

Dagmars - aero bits fitted to 50s American cars (http://www.car-necti...ccof/pic189.jpg), named for an actress similarly configured (http://www.car-necti...ma/dagmar00.JPG).

[petefenelon]

A different mode of transport, but quoting R Thom Jefferson on the "Jesus Nut"

In late 1966, operating near the Bong Son area out of An Khe, I was working as a door gunner on a Huey. I learned certain things about the choppers, like the big nut with a loop in it that held the main rotor on. They said if it came off, it was,"Oh, Jesus," everything would come off and you'd fall to the ground like a rock.

pic here

Well I guess that's named after a person ;)

[Frank S]

Originally posted by gwk
Dagmars - aero bits fitted to 50s American cars (http://www.car-necti...ccof/pic189.jpg), named for an actress similarly configured (http://www.car-necti...ma/dagmar00.JPG).

I understand from statements by contemporaries of Dagmar that she was a sweet, smart lady, thereby doubly (trebly?) endowed. I met a woman online who claimed to be Dagmar's daughter. Maybe so, but the woman I met was very disturbed, in a mental health sense. Naturally, she chose to become a teacher of adolescent children at a public school in the USA sense of "public", in "The Valley", in the "Valley Girl" sense.

This teacher-like person acquired her best friend's husband, a cross-dressing magician's assistant with suicidal tendencies, in the "accidental success" sense. These partners appeared as a pair of women on a To Tell The Truth episode, the challenge being: which of the several contestants was the husband of another? As if.

Gag me with a tyre spoon.


Frank S

(How far Off-Thread is the record?)