Re: Snapey's 1935 Racing Biposto

Posted by Matt snape On 2011/2/21 22:01:15

Aah yes, the Vincent 'Racer'. A car developed and maintained under the direction of the engineering guru that headed Packards develpoment for so long. I would dearly love to get my hands on even the plans for some of his experiments - like the supercharged I8 that was fitted to it or even the overhead cam experiment I have heard rumours of. It seems a great shame that those in charge of the purse strings didn't have half of his vision. There is some great information on this car in 'Packards at Speed' by Robert Neal - a book I borrowed from Wade and poured over for weeks, but I still have to buy my own copy...

As I recall the car still exists, although I don't know what engine configuration it uses now. The body style, however, is not exactly what I am looking for, as it seems to be esentially a cut down roadster with the broad, flat tail that was popular on such cars at the time. It is also a little earlier than the cars I intend to emulate.

I have not heard of Rewind Magazine before, but will make an effort to look it up when I get a chance. Thank you for the information.

Thanks for the reminder Mal - knew I could count on you. As often happens life keeps getting in the way of my hobbies, but I am still making slow headway in clearing a spot for the 34 chassis.

Hi West - thanks for chiming in. I think I read something of this in Mr Neals book also and I found it truely intruging. I wonder if it may have been the failure of the 1923 Indy attempt which left something of a bad taste in the mouth of the Packard board so that they were not keen on spending money on racing development afterwards. I think it a great shame. Given what Duesenburg/Miller were able to accomplish (particularly in winning the 1921 French GP - something that I suspect still has not been forgiven by the French) it is interesting to consider what might have been. I think the trick to this project will be to somehow extrapolate the designs and cars that did exist so as to picture what might have occured in later years.

I am expecting delivery today or tomorrow of a book detailing the Formula Libra cars of the 1920s to 1940s in Argentina - so you never know what we might find...