The Washington times., 1929-01-02

to a letter this writer received
Major Segrave expects to try out
his new creation on the sands OF
ond-Daytona Beach. Fla. He
also expects to bring over a fast
motor boat to race in Biscayne Bay
with Gar Woods new 93-mile.an.
hour boat.
Major Seagrave is the first mar
in the world to exceed a speed of
200 miles an hour on land He was
the first racing driver to enter the
domain of the new and almost in.
credible velocities that have since
been achieved by Ray Keech, Capt
Malcolm Campbell and the late
Frank Lockhart, idol of American
race fans.
High Turn Over
Major Seagrave's car will have a
high engine turn over, attaining
about 800 horsepower at 3 400 revo-
iutions per minute. This is not as
fast as Frank Lockharts Stutz
which was driven by an adapted
Miller engine which had Is cylinders
in two banks of eight, at Is degrees
off verticle, set in the same crank
case, able 10 turn over 1900 and
perhaps up to 1900 revolutions per
minute, but much faster than ]. nj.
Whites threesengined tripiex which
won the worlds record, with Ray
keech driving
For the .Triplex reached its highest
speed at 1900 revolutions per
minute when. barring slippa ge, it
was estimated to have potential
.ivAsS
trial. for part of a mile at above
240. milesvan hour. After reaching
1900 revolutions per minute the
Triplek would begin to loose power,
which shows the advantage OF the
small cylindered faster revolving en-
gine which continues to increase in
power. to wind up" as the saving
goes,
The smaller cylinders are made
to produce higher speeds for a va
sriety of reasons. among which are
that they insure more rapid valve
3action and also perfect combustion
where a highly volatile gasoline is
used. KSsch. however, said he was
not winding up to his highest speed
when he won the worlds record with
a rate OF 207.69 miles per hour The
zTriplex. totally lackings any effort
at stream. lining, encountered ter
rifle wind resistance and showed a
tendency to waVer on, the course,
due 10 a cross wind on the beach
on the day of Keech's victorious
run.
Wind Resistance Small
Major Segrave's new car will
present an opposition to the wind
of only II square feet. The theoret-
ical speed of the new car. based on
the engine speed, is 246 miles per
hour. The engine is a 12.cylinder
Napier.
No doubt the new car possesses
the same fine engine qualities as
Capt Malcolm Campbells Blue Bird
which was fitted with a Napier Lion
engine. and kept winding up" and
increasing in speed. always seem.
ing to have little extra in reserve.
Captain Campbell said that at the
time he crossed the finish line he
had reached a speed OF 235 miles an
hour, and was going faster than
at any other time during his rec
ord breaking test. which was later
broken by Ray keech by a fraction
of a second.
Coupled with this great reserve of
power which will provide continued
acceleration until the maximum is
reached, is the design Of the Golden
Arrow to encounter q relatively
very low wind resistance, and the
fact that the big car weighs two
and one.half tons and is less than
four feet high, setting close to the
ground. Air tunnel tests demon
strate that the Golden Arrow meets
with low enough air resistance to
assure practically its greatest speed
possibilities. while the safety mar
gin against possible Instability Is
said to be even greater than. in
Major Segrave's huge Mystery S,
built by the Sunbeam Company.
which he drove at a rate of 203.T9
miles per hour in March. 1927.
81 Miles An Hour In Low
In low gear Major segrave's high.
est speed will be 81 miles an hour,
In second 1856 miles an hour. and in
high 246 miles an hour. In fact
he will be going some when ne
shifts from second to high. The
new car is especially designed 10
meet the problems OF aerp-dynamics
which face drivers who have
assembled onto the new plane of
extreme speed They find strange
equations introduced into the guid-
ance and reactions of an extreme
high velocity car.
The Golden Arrow cannot combat
all these aero-dynamic problems. for
much still remains to be learned
by experience. As a whole, the car
tends more nearly to the general
type of car represented by the late
Frank Lockhart's destroyed Stutz
than toward the type represented
by the Triplex. 1t is compact. with
a swift turning engine; 1t represents
the very latest design for economy
of space. vet 1t is very much heavier
than that in which the late idol OF
American racing fans met his death.
The Lockhart car weighed but 1900
pounds.
The engine of the Golden Arrow