THE SUNBEAM BID FOR THE WORLD'S SPEED RECORD.

THE SUNBEAM BID FOR THE WORLD’S SPEED RECORD.

The new Sunbeam monster illustrated herewith will shortly go to Daytona Beach, U.S.A., in charge of H. 0. D. Segrave, who intends to attack the existing world’s records for the kilometre and mile. It is unfortunate that a suitable stretch of sand is not available nearer home, but when it is realised that 200 m.p.h. is aimed at, it is clear that only a really expansive course will suffice.

The car is fitted with two twelve cylinder engines arranged back to back and driving a central assembly of gearbox, clutch and engine coupling shafts. From this assembly the drive is conveyed to the rear wheels by a cross shaft and final chain drive.

An additional clutch is fitted to the front engine which enables the rear engine to start it up ; once started the two engines are locked together positively. Starting the rear engine will be accomplished by means of compressed air from bottles.

The total capacity of the engines is 45 litres, the cylinders are arranged in sixes V-wise, each having 4 valves and 2 sparking plugs. Each crankcase is bolted to a sub-frame which in turn is attached at three points to the cross members of the chassis.

Other interesting features of the chassis are a normal three speed sliding gearbox, Dewandre four wheel braking and a top gear ratio of 1 -to 1.