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Pitbox 25

Brown Hydro motor

Prior to WW2 the 30cc hydro A class was dominated by single cylinder four stroke motors with those using two strokes, very much in the minority. This was mainly as development lagged behind with the main source of designs and information being Edgar Westbury through the pages of Model Engineer. Some did persist with two strokes as there were inherent advantages with the much lighter weight and mechanical simplicity. Options were limited so many resorted to building their own motors from scratch, including Bob Brown of Brighton who made the patterns and built this 30cc motor in the late 1930s. A very compact back end with a rotary valve and engine mounts on the front half of the casting only, simplified construction somewhat. In a large scow type hull the engine was good for 40+mph, which matched many of the run of the mill four strokes. In the 1990s, the engine, drawing and patterns were passed to Peter Hill, current whereabouts unknown.
                                                          Thanks to Peter Hill for details and photo    April 2025

 

IR 10

The late Ian Russell was well known for his model flying activities and later his commercial engine building. However this motor is an example of an earlier attempt by Ian to build a British motor to compete with the McCoy 60. It shows elements of both the McCoy and the Nordec, but apart from that nothing more is known and just these two photos that turned up after Ian's death are evidence that it ever existed. It is possibly out there somewhere if anyone recognises it?
                                                                Thanks to John Goodall for the photos March 2025

 

OPS B20

Two more examples of the relatively rare but very very expensive OPS twin, built in limited numbers in the 1970s. The motor on the right is exactly as it was when Gualtiero Picco passed it to a fellow tethered car racer. It still has the original prop driver from its test run where the certificate states that it produced 4.1bhp at 20,500rpm, signed by both Picco and Piero Muzio.  Both engines are from the very first production run, number 5 on the left and 18 on the right. Oddly, the documentation is for a later engine though, so someone out there probably has the certificate for #18. See this month's Pylon for the history of the B20.

 

The 'portly' Picco

On the face of it this looked like a 'put everything together' project, but that could not have been further from the truth. All the parts in the finished car were there, but nothing fitted. See this month's Pylon for the full, sorry saga. As the top photos show, perseverance and ingenuity had a complete, but effectively useless car.

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