Golden Arrow (car)

For the contemporary racing seaplane, see Gloster VI.

Golden Arrow

Overview
Production	one-off (1928)
Designer	J.S. Irving
Body and chassis
Body style	front-engined land speed record car.
Powertrain
Engine	925 hp, 23.9 litre naturally aspirated Napier Lion W12 aero engine, ice cooling, no radiator
Transmission	3-speed, final drive through twin driveshafts running either side of driver

Golden Arrow was a land speed record racer. Built for Major Henry Segrave to take the LSR from Ray Keech, Golden Arrow was one of the first streamlined land speed racers, with a pointed nose and tight cowling. Power was provided by a 23.9 litre (1462 ci) W12 Napier Lion VIIA aeroengine,^[1] specially prepared by Napiers and originally intended for the Schneider Trophy, producing 925 hp (690 kW) at 3300 rpm.^[2] The Thrupp and Maberly aluminium bodywork was designed by ex-Sunbeam engineer J.S. Irving, and featured ice chests in the sides through which coolant ran and a telescopic sight on the cowl to help avoid running diagonally.^[1]

The Golden Arrow in 1929.

In March 1929, Segrave went to Daytona, and after a sole practice run, on 11 March, in front of 120,000 spectators,^[2] set a new flying mile at 231.45 mph (372.46 km/h), easily beating Keech's old speed of 207.55 mph (334.00 km/h). Two days later, Lee Bible's White Triplex crashed and killed a photographer, leading Segrave to quit land speed racing briefly, only to be killed attempting a water speed record the next year. Golden Arrow never ran again. She is now on display at the National Motor Museum, Beaulieu, Hampshire, England.

References

"Golden Arrow, between earlier and later land speed record cars at Beaulieu". twopsgoss. External link in |publisher= (help)^[3]

1 2 "Golden Arrow". World of Automobiles. Volume 7. London: Orbis Publishing Ltd. 1974. p. 799.
1 2 Tom Northey. (1974). "Land Speed Record". World Of Automobiles. Volume 10. London: Orbis Publishing Ltd. pp. 1161–66.
↑ "National Motor Museum collection". National Motor Museum.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Golden Arrow (land speed racer).

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Wednesday, December 10, 2014. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.