Saab tilting engine

Saab's talent for innovation was immense. It was always inventing gadgets, like the thermo-accumulator that warmed engines before starting up, and drive-by-wire. When I was researching my 1997 book, it let me in on secret research it was doing on the variable-compression engine. In the event its announcement was delayed until 2000 but it showed the heights to which Saab ingenuity was rising. I had to excise this reference before publication:

Yet the Holy Grail of engine design, a variable compression ratio engine was an elusive goal. The single cylinder research engine Sir Harry Ricardo devised in 1920 to calibrate fuels, had an adjustment to bring on piston knocking and determine octane ratings. The world's first variable compression engine, his E35 had a threaded cylinder barrel which wound in or out of the cylinder block, and a telescopic drive to the overhead valvegear. Generations of engineers tried to reproduce it as a workable multi-cylinder with a low compression for low-speed running and a high compression for lean-burn economical high-speed cruising.

The goals seemed incompatible and the practicalities insurmountable until Per Gillbrand and his engineers at Södertälje revealed the fruits of seven years work on a new generation of engines with pivoting cylinder heads. These tilted to adjust the compression ratio inside the combustion chambers automatically and constantly, according to speed and load. The result brought an improvement of 30 per cent in fuel consumption, and an increase in efficiency, which allowed a 1.4 litre engine to do the work of a 1.8 or even a 2.0 litre.

The production obstacles were formidable, and Gillbrand and his team had to evolve an engine in which the head was integral with the cylinder block, to make it work. New techniques of engine construction were developed, enabling valve seats to be machined before the cylinder liners were in place. The hinged block, which tilted through some seven degrees to vary the pistons' penetration of the combustion chambers, was moved by a hydraulic ram actuated from the electronic engine management system. Precision was everything, and to gain the benefits of the most profound breakthrough in engine technology since the advent of the turbocharger, Saab introduced its first ever engine-driven supercharger.

PICS Saab 92 and J21 aircraft. I have the artwork for the tilting engine somewhere in the archives; the engine is a 1.9TiD.

Sir Jackie Stewart, campaigner

Jackie Stewart’s campaign for safety in motor racing was well acknowledged in last Friday’s TV documentary. There was no irony in the passing reference to Denis Jenkinson, Motor Sport’s Continental Correspondent. Perhaps Stewart’s most trenchant critic Jenks, once described by Stirling Moss, no less, as a National Treasure is all but forgotten outside the business. Stewart, though not without fault, remains a motor sporting exemplar.

There was little doubt about the daring of Denis Sargent Jenkinson 1920-1997, pictured seated in front of me in the press tribune at Monza. A student of engineering and a conscientious objector in the Second World War, he worked as a civilian at the Royal Aircraft Establishment at Farnborough, where he met Bill Boddy, keeping Motor Sport magazine going in difficult circumstances. Janks took part, notably as a sidecar passenger for Eric Oliver, winning a world championship in 1949. His small stature and robust physique suited him well in this most hazardous occupation, and he wrote about the experience vividly.

From the 1950s he travelled Europe, not earning much from the parsimonious proprietors of Motor Sport, but with a decent car (Porsche 356, E-type Jaguar) and adequate expenses to fulfil many a boyhood dream. He was deeply respected by leading drivers, including Moss, for whom he “navigated” to win the 1955 Mille Miglia. The result was a notable report that became a classic.

I got on well with Jenks for most of the years I was in motor racing. It was a convivial business. He never concealed his contempt for colleagues, particularly those writing for national newspapers, yet often acknowledged that I took motor racing seriously and reported less sensationally than most.

I don’t think Jenks trusted me after about 1970 because of my historic association with Tyrrell and Stewart. “John Young Stewart – World Champion”, a certain beady-eyed little Scot, whose … pious whinings have brain-washed and undermined the natural instincts of some young and inexperienced newcomers to Grand Prix racing and removed the Belgian Grand Prix from Spa-Francorchamps.” Jackie had advanced principles that were changing motor racing in ways Jenks abhorred. Barriers, debris fences, safety structures in cars, seat harnesses fireproof overalls and improved medical and rescue facilities was transforming the business and Jenks hated it. He was convinced that without the dangers, motor racing was no longer heroic.

He was by no means alone. Tracks forced to re-make corners, provide run-off areas and re-write rules to making things safer applauded his angry outbursts. “Can you really ask me in all honesty to admire, or even tolerate, our current reigning World Champion Driver?” Jackie responded with dignity, but his real response was unequivocal. He was simply faster than everybody else and in terms of lives saved his legacy is secure.

One way of covering the Monaco Grand Prix was to walk round the circuit during the race, by way of the pavement. I took this picture of Lorenzo Bandini (Ferrari) leading the first lap in 1967. Unthinkable now but I was by no means alone. Bandini was overtaken and from lap 15 to lap 81 of the 100lap race lay second. The Ferrari overturned at the chicane, caught fire, trapping him underneath for several minutes, inflicting fatal burns.

Beaulieu

The National Motor Museum is 40. I first went to the rather ramshackle buildings of the former Montagu Motor Museum in the 1960s, and attended the opening of what seemed at the time a rather bizarre permanent home on 4 July 1972. (Although unaccountably missing from the picture of the Duke of Kent and Lord Montagu at the ceremony). Beaulieu has always had shortcomings. It has to pander to the cheap seats, with exhibitions of James Bond cars and “themes” that may not have much to do with motoring heritage. Yet you must allow for a certain commercial waywardness to ensure the turnstiles keep turning. There has to be sufficient income to sustain its exemplary research facilities and notable libraries. Beaulieu has a priceless collection of books and magazines, which it makes available equally to serious students and amateur researchers. It was also a favourite destination for small daughters who loved the rides and the model trains (below).

Notably Beaulieu works with exemplary grace. The library (pictured with the Duke now), under Caroline Johnson, is staffed with the politest and most patient people in the business. Stephen Vokins, the film and video archivist is a fund of knowledge, and public relations officer Margaret Rowles has the unique distinction among PROs of always seeming pleased to hear from you. I know similar libraries and collections who work on the principle that they are places for keeping things in, and not ever allowing anything out. Beaulieu, by contrast, is a triumph of communication. I have commented before on its Friends’ Newsletter, which is a modest publication, yet invariably has an enthusiastically written item containing something you didn’t know before. Happy Christmas Beaulieu, and double congratulations on being chosen as Museum or Collection of the Year, gaining a Lifetime Achievement Award for Lord Montagu.

Bravery and bankings

Carlos Sainz seems to have braved the bankings on the old Sitges track. You-Tube videos show Ferrari and Porsche drivers accelerate like mad down the straights and pussyfoot the bankings, while last May Sainz took an Audi R8 round in 42.6sec for a Red Bull stunt. It looked a bit of an adventure, even for a twice World Rally Champion since the bumps and fractures in the 90 year old 60deg steep concrete sent the Audi bounding. Racing high on the bankings may have been all in a day’s work for Sainz, but hugging a low line suggests faint hearts in Ferraris and Porsches.

They have tidied the bankings since 1974, when I took the pictures with a road test Granada Ghia en route to the Spanish Grand Prix at Jarama. There were races at the Autódromo de Sitges-Terramar near Barcelona the 1950s, but it had been more or less derelict since its first season of 1923. A bit like Brooklands, but better built, it remains in surprisingly good condition.

Autódromo National SA was founded in 1922 to construct a concrete banked circuit for car and motorcycle racing. It took 300 days, and cost 4 million pesetas, for a 2km track in time for a meeting on 28 October 1923. Albert Divo won a race for 2litre GP cars in a Sunbeam, at 96.91mph, from Count Louis Zborowski in a Miller. There was no prize money and unpaid builders seized the gate receipts, leaving the organizers with nothing to pay the drivers. It was seven years before the birth of Bernard Charles Ecclestone.

The authorities forbade any more international racing. It was perhaps just as well; there had been complaints from drivers over the entry and exit from the bankings. They thought the change in camber from straight to banking and back again badly designed. It didn’t seem to upset Sainz. The local Catalunyan Automobile Club held races up to 1925 before the track was sold off in the 1930s. When I went there the surviving buildings, some beneath the well-made pillars of the banking, was a chicken farm.

Sex in Cars

Half Britain’s male drivers apparently have sex in cars with a third of the female. Confused.com has done a survey. Either a lot of male drivers are sharing or they’re fantasising. I am more inclined to believe another bit of poll that says nearly 55 per cent of men and 57 per cent of women argue in the car.

Wales is sexier. Fifty two per cent of drivers there do it in cars but in London it’s only 35 per cent. What’s wrong? Street lights? Traffic wardens? The survey uncovered more guilty secrets. Passengers partying in the back – 15 per cent of men and 9 per cent of women allow it. Not sure about “partying”. More than drinking and singing lewd songs surely. Racing away at the lights – 21 per cent of men and 13 per cent of women drivers do that.

Dumping boyfriend/girlfriend in the car – 10 per cent of women and 12 per cent of men broke up behind the wheel. It doesn’t say whether this was included among the arguers. Flirting with another driver sounds like more male fantasising and does not reveal how the flirting ended up. Some 22 per cent of men and 15 of women claim to have tried to attract other drivers on the road. Traffic jams where you can catch an eye perhaps. Must be more than a passing fancy.

Surprisingly 64 per cent of men and 71 of women eat snacks in the car.

Women voted Audi drivers the sexiest (21%) but, better news, BMW drivers were second (19%), followed jointly by Mercedes and Porsche drivers (6%). Men find women sexiest when they drive a Mini (19%) followed by Audi drivers (12%) and BMWs (10%).


Picture of my BMW in sylvan setting below. Other pictures - Mini publicity of the 1960s.

Gareth Kloet, Head of Car Insurance at Confused.com said:
"The results of this demonstrate that we truly are a nation of car lovers in every sense of the word.
"The number of men and women who tell us they have had sex in their cars has increased since last year's poll*: 37% of women (compared with 30% last year) and 50% of men (compared with 48% last year). Male Audi drivers are on top for the second year running, as voted for by female drivers. The men chose female Mini drivers as the sexiest on the road: overtaking Audi who came top last year."

To compare with last's year's results please see confused.com.

Passing fancy

Last Lexus LFA, Jaguar won’t make the C-X75. What’s happening? It’s the end of dreamland for supercars, that’s what. Let’s see how many Ferrari Enzos, McLaren P1s and Porsche 918s they sell if these go ahead. There’s nothing wrong with the cars and there are still people with half a million quid or so to buy them. We’ve seen it all before in difficult times, like the fuel crises of the 1970s when driving luxury gas guzzlers was embarrassing. It’s like managing directors turning up in limos to make half the workforce redundant. It’s a phase. The stupid 200mph things will come back.

Jaguar said it would not build the C-X75 supercar (right) because of, “global economic pressures.” And now Lexus has made the final 4.9litre V10 (below). Last week a white LFA with what was known as a Nürburgring Package left Motomachi, marking the end of production. Chief engineer, Haruhiko Tanahashi lamented, “I’ve lived and breathed supercars for the past decade, specifically the LFA. Very few people have the opportunity we had, to create a world-class supercar from a blank sheet of paper.” Some 170 hand-picked workers made about one car per working day for two years.

Jaguar said it would build 250 C-X75s, selling at £900,000 each, but, "After a thorough re-assessment of near-term market conditions, the company's view is that the global economic landscape does not currently support the introduction of a supercar.” Common sense really. Jaguar thought it might get away with it by adding a bit of greenery. Announced as a concept at the 2010 Paris auto show with four electric in-wheel motors, it had two micro turbine engines. The turbines were dropped and the car converted to being a plug-in hybrid, with a 1.6litre petrol engine. It still claimed over 200mph with a low fuel consumption and CO2 emissions below 99g/km. Maybe not all at the same time. Jaguar formed a partnership with Williams Formula 1 to develop a carbon fibre chassis, hybrid technology and aerodynamics to keep it from flying off.

Realism will out. Lexus says, “Learning from LFA engineering will directly influence new Lexus products. Production knowledge of carbon fibre components will be applied to future Lexus vehicles.” Adrian Hallmark of Jaguar said the technology showcased in the C-X75 wouldn't be dropped. "We have achieved an incredible amount and will continue to test and develop these technologies, which are highly relevant to Jaguar Land Rover's sustainable future".

Well, they would say that, wouldn’t they.