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"Wizard" Smith's 'Enterprise' was designed by Sydney engineer Don Harkness, and was a 26-foot (7.9 metre) long vehicle powered by a 1,700 horsepower aircraft engine.
Smith, his crew, and the Fred H. Stewart Enterprise landed at Ninety Mile Beach, North Auckland during December 1931, ready to try to beat Malcolm Campbell to a new world record (held by Campbell at 246.09 mph - 396 km/h - since the previous February), which they never achieved.
When it finally got running, Smith broke the world 10-mile record of 164.084 mph (264 km/h) as a preliminary to the all-important 'flying mile'.
"Wizard" Smith's 'Enterprise' was designed by Sydney engineer Don Harkness, and was a 26-foot (7.9 metre) long vehicle powered by a 1,700 horsepower aircraft engine.
Smith, his crew, and the Fred H. Stewart Enterprise landed at Ninety Mile Beach, North Auckland during December 1931, ready to try to beat Malcolm Campbell to a new world record (held by Campbell at 246.09 mph - 396 km/h - since the previous February), which they never achieved.
When it finally got running, Smith broke the world 10-mile record of 164.084 mph (264 km/h) as a preliminary to the all-important 'flying mile'.
The article in the link states that the engine was a Rolls-Royce Schneider Trophy unit but that engine was a V12 and was what Campbell amongst other used for record breaking at Daytona in the mid 1930s. The Rolls-Royce engine that Campbell used was about 36 litres and made over 2,000 hp. The engine in the Enterprise, as can be seen in the photos, is a Napier Lion broad arrow 12 which was a WW1 design, of about 24 litres and in unsupercharged form for aircraft use only made about 500-600 hp. A special supercharged version supposedly made 1300-1400 hp but I can't see whether the Enterprise engine was a supercharged version.
ReplyDeleteWhat a classic vehicle. I've seen some interesting classics in my customers proposals for financing, but what I would give to see something half as young as this baby here…
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