LAND SPEED RECORD.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 52, Issue 81, 15 January 1932, Page 8

LAND SPEED RECORD.

NORMAN SMITH’S CAR.

THE RADIATOR DISCUSSED. AUCKLAND, January 14. Strong exception to a suggestion that the fitting of the new radiator had jn any way detracted from the efficiency of the streamlining of the Fred H. Stewart Enterprise and from its performance as a racing car is taken by Mr Norman'Smith. He said it was impossible for the layman to judge highly technical matters from external appearances, particularly as the public had not .seen the original radiators designed in Sydney and brought over at the same time as the car, but packed separately. The original radiators were never fitted, even during tests in Australia, when cooling was provided sufficient for beach tests by attaching a hose to the engine and running a stream of water through the water jackets round the cylinders. Early photographs of the car, which emphasised the beautiful pointed front of‘the body, did not, however, include any radiators whatever. It was only in the last few days that the car had * been equipped with the radiator. “It is quite unfair to compare pictures of the half-finished car with the completed job,” said Air Smith. “Naturally an efficient cooling system is essential and ire‘could not- do better than copy the very successful design thoroughly tested’ and proved by Sir Malcolm Campbell on his racing car Bluebird at Daytona 1 .” The tests made since the arrival of the racer at Hukatere amply proved the wisdom in choosing the present radiator, which did not increase the frontal area of the ear and, consequently, offered no increased wind resistance, said Air Smith. Recent photographs of the car since the radiator was fitted would appear to indicate that the locally-construqjted cooling system was a very bulky and unwieldy affair, but in reality it was not. The box-like appearance of the front of the car was caused by the shield between the radiator, which was mounted well forward, and the foremost part of the streamlined engine cover, which had not been altered in any way.

A raindrop hail been quoted by scientists as a. perfect example of streamlining, and the fitting of the radiator in its present position gave the Enterprise the desired quality of having a rounded blunt nose. The body gradually tapered to a pointed tail. The idea of having the fairing over the engine tapering to a. flat chisel edge at the front was that the air resistance. would hold! the car firmly to the track. This would still take place, as the wind would pass through the radiator honeycombing, to strike the front of the bodywork as intended.