400 MILES AN HOUR

Dominion, Volume 30, Issue 174, 20 April 1937, Page 9

400 MILES AN HOUR

Racing' Motorist’s DartShaped Car London. April IS. The racing motorist Frederick Dixon is building a car which he claims will be capable of 400 miles an hour. It will be dart-shaped and 20ft. long. The driver will sit right in front, squeezed Into a space about 22 inches in diameter. REVOLUTIONARY DESIGN Dixon Discusses His Machine 'Dominion” Special Service.—By Air Mail. London, April 4. Frederick Dixon, winner of all the big races on motor-cyclesh and in motor-cars, is to make an attempt on the world’s land speed record. He has designed a car so revolutionary in engine and chassis design that it will cause a sensation in engineering circles. Dixon's inspiration came while he was serving a sentence for a motoring offence. The engine will be a super-charged two-stroke, without a crank-case and with the pistons running parallel with the propeller-shaft. The reciprocal action of the pistons will be converted to rotary motion of the shaft through a wobbling plate arrangement. The chassis is as revolutionary as the engine, with compensating action on all four wheels. The whole car will not weigh more than 30cwt. —about a third of Sir Malcolinn Campbell's Bluebird. Dixon decided not to use an air engine because, by doing so, he would achieve by brute force what he intends to accomplish by scientific means. “My car,” said Dixon, “is built on the principle of a dart, with the centre of pressure in front of the centre of gravity; in fact, I shall probably call it ‘The Dart,’ because the general principle occurred to me while playing darts. lam not concerned with power, for the engines I contemplate using develop 2000 h.p., and I only need 700 h.p. to do 350 m.p.h. I may go a lot faster, but prefer to let performance speak for itself.

“I shall sit in front of the car. ahead of the front axle—it will be like sitting in the transparent nose of a bullet. The body will be shaped like the barrel of a dart or a cigar. My car may start a revolution in motorcar and engine construction. It will be the lowest-powered and lightest car built for the record since the war.”