The National Motor Museum At Beaulieu
From a simple beginning…
The National Motor Museum evolved from The Montagu Motor Museum which was founded by Lord Montagu in 1952 as a tribute to British motoring achievement and particularly in memory of his father, one of the pioneers of monitoring in Great Britain and the first Parliamentary champion of the motorist’s cause. Within 10 years the collection numbered more than 100 vehicles. To cater for the ever increasing demand for information of motoring history, Lord Montagu created, in 1960, a Motoring Library for books, manuscripts and photographs.
The decision to found a charitable Trust was taken in 1968 in order to safeguard The Museum and the Library collections for the long-term benefit or the nation. The National Motor Museum Trust came into being on the 17th November, 1970. Read the rest of this entry »
FJR1300 - Yamaha’s Missing Link?
So the FZ-1 Super-Standard Packs A Real Punch. If you’re Yamaha, why not make it a 1-2 combo, with the knockout blow coming by way of the FJR 1300 sport-tourer, so far a Euro-only device? “We’ve had tremendous response to the FJR 1300,” admitted a Yamaha U.S. spokesman. “We would love to bring the bike here, but it has to have legs-it needs to stay in the line-up year after year. If it doesn’t, it will disappoint our customers. Also, the sport-touring category is very price-sensitive. The price has to be right.”
Jim Yeardly, a staffer for England’s Motor Cycle News, recently rode the FJR in Spain. A sportbike nut to the core, he came away impressed. “The large, pullback handlebars are perfectly postioned for leisurely riding,” Yeardly reported. “The dash, wich offers a segmented LCD gas gauge, a clock, two tripmeters and a range of other gizmos alongside the usual speedo and rev-counter arrangement, is reminiscent of the FJR’s discontinued older brother, the user friendly FJI200. That makes me feel very much at home, as I have very fond memories of that bike.”
Read the rest of this entry »
Motorcycles 1919-1926
These were prosperous years for the British motor-cycle industry, a flourishing proprietary-engine business (led by J.A.P. and Villiers) allowing smaller firms like Coventry-Eagle to concentrate on frame design with their 1926 J.A.P. engined 200 c.c. B33. In the early 1920s belt drive was still in evidence on light weights as typifued by the 1921 2 1/2 h.p. Wooler also used belt drive, though this one has a foot-operated infinitely-variable gear. Chains and multi-speeds, however, featured on even the little 1925 “round tank” 2 1/4 h.p. B.S.A., long the transport of G.P.O. messenger boys.Unit construction of engine and gearbox was gaining hold, on Royal Enfild’s 1919 inline four cylinder prototype, retrieved for exhibition from a forgotten storeroom after 35 years. Sunbeam’s 1925 Light Solo had proper chain cases, and superior finish which justified a price of $88 for a touring 500.
Read the rest of this entry »
Sports Cars to 1939
In the beginning, every journey was a hazardous pleasure: ergo, every car was a sports car. The 1903 Mercedes Sixty was effectively Rolls-Royce, Lamborghini and Lotus Coswoth rolled into one: this example nearly competed in the 1903 Gordon Bennett Cup (which a sister car won), and was Lord Northcliffe’s personal transport until 1910. The 1907 Napier 60 was conceivedas a six-cylinder town carriage, though a similar sports two seater was used by S.F. Edge to cover 24 hours at 65-91 m.p.h. on the then-new Brooklands Track.
Once the motor car was reliable, models conceived for the sheer pleasure of driving were viable. Race-bred was the 1912 ALFONSO XIII Hispano-Suiza, named after Spain’s motoring monarch: it offered the same 70 m.p.h. from only 3-6 litres that the big Mercedes had given from over nine. Read the rest of this entry »
Post World War II Sports Cars
After World War II, the hairy, hard riding sports car became largely obsolete, though the 1950 J2 Allard with its stark bodywork remained as a superb motor cycle on four wheels. Designed round American V8 power, it wore a 3-9 litre Mercury on the home market, but big Chrysler and Cadillac of up to 300 b.h.p. were used for export. Typical of the new generation was the 1950 Jaguar XK 120-quite, comfortable, yet with a 31/2 litre twin-cam 160 b.h.p. six cylinder engine giving speeds of up to 120 m.p.h.
This example won an Alpine Gold Cup for three successive clean sheets (1950-1-2) in the Alpine, but for racing Jaguar evolved the advanced 1954 D-TYPE, with an entirely new monocoque struture and 250 b.h.p., corresponding to nearly 200 m.p.h. in suitable tune. It won Le Mans three times 1955, 1956, and 1957. Read the rest of this entry »
Last Steps In Building The Progressive Suspension Shock
Continued From Progressive Suspension - External Damping Control Shocks
One of the last steps in building the Progressive Suspension shock is to fill them with the oil of your choice. It took me numerous tries to get exactly the right amount of oil into the shock body; there isn’t any mechanism for volume compensation, and overfilling will prevent the shock shaft from fully compressing. Take the time to get it right! Once I had properly filled them, I set all the shocks to the “number one” position (least damping), installed the shocks on my RC10GT with the stock Associated springs and headed for the track.
Read the rest of this entry »
Honda VTX 1800 - Part 3
Continued From Honda VTX 1800 - Part 2
Perhaps the most confidence-inspiring thing about the VTX is the brakes. While featuring a linked setup, these aren’t considered Honda’s trademark LBS stoppers as used on the CBR1100XX or GL1800 Gold Wing. Rather, the brakes are linked only rear caliper distributes braking force, through a proportioning control valve, to the center pistons of the tree-piston front calipers. A cruiser is the right application for this technology, and the bike stops in an impressive 45.6 feet from 30 mph, and 173.8 from 60 using the rear pedal alone, all while resisting premature lockup.
Read the rest of this entry »
Progressive Suspension - External Damping Control Shocks
Dial - A - Damping. Like full-scale off-road racing, R/C off-road racing is all about suspension, and suspension is all about damping. In the case of the oil-damped shocks used on R/C cars, “damping” refers to the amount of force required to push and pull the piston through the oil in the shock body. When you adjust the suspension of your off-road ride, damping changes can have profound effects. For example, very light damping can allow the suspension to react quickly to small bumps, but will probably lead to bottoming out over jumps. Heavy damping can help to handle big launches and hard landings, but at the expense of responsiveness, stability and traction.
As important as damping adjustments can be, it has always been a hassle to make them; the shocks must be removed from the car, oil coats the parts (which makes the work difficult and messy), and the results are apparent only after tedious reassembly. At least, that used to be the case. Read the rest of this entry »
Honda VTX 1800 - Part 2
Continued From Honda VTX 1800
This is, however, a remarkably vibration free motorcycle for being what it is, which is essentially a pair of cylinders with some ancillary equipment attached. These pounding power pulses are attenuated with several vibration and damping schemes. The 52 degree vee and 72 degree dual offset crank pins work with each other to take care of the primary vibes. However, this offset-pin crank introduces a rocking couple - a sort of paddling motion - so this is canceled by use of a gear-driven balance shaft rear of the cranck, which in turn drives the primary gear. Read the rest of this entry »
Honda VTX 1800
The VTX1800 features the biggest pistons and connecting rods Honda has ever mass-produced, car or bike. Giant crank assembly is 80 percent heavier than that of the VT1100 Shadow, and power pulses are so strong a crank-end damper had to be used to soothe the savage beat.
Holes means there’s enough volume available to feed the fuel need or nearly 2000cc of hydrocarbon hunger. The faster 95 percent of throttle opening gets its basic fuel-delivery-requirement information from a throttle-position sensor, while the more sensitive low-speedy delivery-idle to 5 percent throttle-is calculated using information from intake-tract vacuum. The critical word here is “calculate” said a Honda engineer.
Read the rest of this entry »