20 replies to this topic

[f1steveuk]

I just need my grey matter stirring.

Is there any truth to the story regarding how Mike Hewland coded his gearboxes?

as in GB = gear box
DGB = Different Gear box
and the classic FGB which was supposed to be f#*>&$g gear box, if so does anyone know the full list of codes and their meanings?

[David Beard]

Originally posted by f1steveuk
I just need my grey matter stirring.

Is there any truth to the story regarding how Mike Hewland coded his gearboxes?

as in GB = gear box
DGB = Different Gear box
and the classic FGB which was supposed to be f#*>&$g gear box, if so does anyone know the full list of codes and their meanings?

Try this for starters...inaccurate thread title but designations were covered.

http://forums.autosp...ghlight=hewland

[f1steveuk]

Thank you David, that proves my brain is still sort of working! I just need to work out what to put in search so it doesn't come up zilch! Cheers

[Ray Bell]

Using search... yes, a perilous occupation...

Depends on what you remember of the thread, but clicking on 'search titles only' works if you remember a word that was in the title... but subjects are better sought by clicking on 'show as posts'... then you have the dating options... 'older than' and 'newer than' etc. And it's best not to put in a username unless you know who posted on the topic.

[JSF]

Hewland have some of their history wrong in that list.

The LG500 CanAm box is a 4 speed, the LG600 is a 5 speed. Thank god they never made an LG700 6 speed, i wouldnt fancy lumping that about the workshop!

[Terry Walker]

Slightly OT, I remember reading somewhere, years ago, that Chaparral's first non-plastic chassis had the designation EBJ.

"Eyeball jiggler", because it was so stiff after the glassfibre ones.

And does FPF really mean fire pump four??

[Ray Bell]

It would certainly be an irony if it did...

After all, it was one of the few engines they'd made to that time that wasn't designed for use in a fire pump!

[Charles Helps]

Originally posted by Ray Bell
Using search... yes, a perilous occupation...

Depends on what you remember of the thread, but clicking on 'search titles only' works if you remember a word that was in the title... but subjects are better sought by clicking on 'show as posts'... then you have the dating options... 'older than' and 'newer than' etc. And it's best not to put in a username unless you know who posted on the topic.

Quite right, Ray. For instance this thread doesn't show up if you just search for 'Hewland' using 'search titles only'. You need to enter 'Hewland*' (without the apostrophes) :

[f1steveuk]

oh no! not the apostrophes again!

I had the chance to shake down a McLaren M8d, as was told that the four speed was faster than the five speed, regardless, it was bloody quick! And I think my friends (Soames Langton) M6 had an Indy box in it, which is the one I'm trying to trace, which is want started this.

Eye ball jiggler, I like that! I wonder how many chassis/engine/gearbox codes actually mean something more amusing than we have been lead to believe??

[JSF]

You tend to use 1st gear just to get you out of the pits on the CanAm cars, and with 1st being a dogleg you drive the 5 speed as a conventional 4 speed in terms of shift pattern. With 850lbft on tap, one of the keys to driving the big block CanAm cars is letting the torque do the work and minimising the number of gear changes.

The only place we use 1st gear in anger is at Goodwood, at the Revival and Festival, as these are both standing start events, in supersports and gentleman drivers the races are rolling starts, which helps the transmition and especially the clutch survive longer.

[David Hyland]

Originally posted by Terry Walker
And does FPF really mean fire pump four??

I always assumed/believed that "FPF" was the "alphabetic successor" to "FPE", where "FPE" stood for (and was a) "Fire Pump Engine".

[Terry Walker]

After I read about the Chapparal EBJ origin years ago I was intrigued enough to find out more cute names, but I seem to have forgotten them, if I ever found any. I always understood LG stood for "Large Gearbox".

(Hang on . . . didn't I read that the fibreglass Chapparal chassis had serial numbers starting FRP. Fibregelass Reinforced Plastic.)

I doubt there were too many whimsical codes, but you never know. Mostly they were obvious(ish). Cosworth SCA = single cam arrangement. FVA = four valve arrangement. DFV = double four valve. BDA = belt drive arrangement. Or so I believe.

In the mid 1960s a local racer turned out in his home built car called the Ford Spl (an Elfin clone I think) , until one day it appeared as a Befa. I asked him why.

"Befa bastard."

It's now running in historics. It's still Befa.

[David M. Kane]

JSF is 100% correct about driving a Can-Am, it's all about the torque...

[FLB]

Originally posted by f1steveuk
And I think my friends (Soames Langton) M6 had an Indy box in it, which is the one I'm trying to trace, which is want started this.

Sorry for being OT, but has Soames Langton ever recovered from his 1995 GT accident? I've looked for info on the web and not found anything

On-Topic, the origin of DG as 'Different Gearbox' is told in Micheal Oliver's superb Lotus 49 book.

[JSF]

The other thing i forgot to mention, that isnt part of the Hewland history listing is that they made a Mk1 and a Mk2 LG600 gearbox. The Mk1 has a hard time surviving a big block car and can split accross the top of the casing as the crown wheel load tries to push the differential out of the side.

The Mk1 has a flat top to its main casing, the Mk2 has a rounded ribbed top and is internally braced accross all the sideplate bolt points, also the side plates use a smaller aperture diameter leaving more material in the main casing.

[Manfred Cubenoggin]

Strictly by recollection without any hard evidence to refer to, I recall reading many years ago(early CanAm days probably)that the 'DG' gearbox designation was a reference to 'D'an 'G'urney. Supposedly, this gearbox was somewhat trimmer and lighter than other transaxles for this series and featured five speeds as opposed to the typical four speeds of the day.

All subject to confirmation, of course.

[Ray Bell]

LGs were the go for Can-Am, and even the first F5000s, as I recall... and there were 5-speed models, I'm sure...

The DG was a smaller box, and the CWP in particular was to prove marginal.

[f1steveuk]

Originally posted by FLB

Sorry for being OT, but has Soames Langton ever recovered from his 1995 GT accident? I've looked for info on the web and not found anything

On-Topic, the origin of DG as 'Different Gearbox' is told in Micheal Oliver's superb Lotus 49 book.

OT, Soames is still technically in a "vegative state". When recieving one on one treatment, as he did in Germany a while back, he started to communicate (blinks and yes/no through a computer), but as soon as he is back in the NHS in the UK, no nurses and he's left on his own, and there is no improvement. There's been a few problems with his feeding and viruses, but it's heart rending to visit, remembering how he was.

On T. I think I described the M8D as "a multi ratio automatic", I could drive round in any gear and not change if I didn't want to, it would just pull (apart from 1st) a bit like riding a very large engined bike, but who wants to cruise!!??

Sligthly off thread, my friends letterhead says " G Gausden esq, C.P.T, T.Y.BS and A.R.G.E"

I asked what these qaulifications could be,

Cycling Proficiency Test

Twenty Yards Breast Stroke

and All Round Good Egg

[FLB]

Originally posted by f1steveuk


OT, Soames is still technically in a "vegative state". When recieving one on one treatment, as he did in Germany a while back, he started to communicate (blinks and yes/no through a computer), but as soon as he is back in the NHS in the UK, no nurses and he's left on his own, and there is no improvement. There's been a few problems with his feeding and viruses, but it's heart rending to visit, remembering how he was.

Thank you very much for your reply, although that's certainly not the news I'd wished to read...

[f1steveuk]

Originally posted by FLB

Thank you very much for your reply, although that's certainly not the news I'd wished to read...

His family are still fighting for compensation, but no, it isn't what you want for a friend

[zoff2005]

Originally posted by f1steveuk


His family are still fighting for compensation, but no, it isn't what you want for friend

Still OT but this is so sad. My heart goes out to his family and friends. I actually witnessed that accident at Nogaro (it was in 1996, nearly 10 years ago, but it is still etched in my mind). There has been a tyre wall there ever since… and maybe it is a good argument for safer seats in heavy cars and Hans? But that is probably another debate.