Author Topic: SOLVED: WTH # 254 - 1926 Eldridge Special w Anzani engine - driven by Douglas Hawkes in Indy 500  (Read 637 times)

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Offline sixtee5cuda

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For one point, specify the year, name, country of origin, engine brand, and driver of this old race car.

Offline sixtee5cuda

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Re: WTH # 254
« Reply #1 on: June 26, 2013, 04:38:45 PM »
Up!

Will the experts figure this one out?

Offline nicanary

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Re: WTH # 254
« Reply #2 on: June 27, 2013, 04:44:35 AM »
That must be the USA, but it doesn't look like Gasoline Alley. I can't get it out of my head, but that could be one of the 1926 Talbot-Darracq GP cars, 1.5-litre straight eight engines. I know one failed to qualify for the "500" in around 1929. Tell me I'm wrong !
I must be right - that's what it says on Wikipedia

Offline sixtee5cuda

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Re: WTH # 254
« Reply #3 on: June 27, 2013, 07:52:00 AM »
LOCKED for Nicanary, as you have enough information there, to solve the puzzle.

The photo was taken in the USA, probably near Gasoline Alley.  1926 is the correct year.  The engine is around 1.5 litres in size, but was not a straight eight.  This is not a Talbot-Darracq.

Offline nicanary

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Re: WTH # 254
« Reply #4 on: June 27, 2013, 08:23:40 AM »
Well, you learn something every day on this site !

It's a 1926 Eldridge Special, powered by a supercharged Anzani engine and driven by Douglas Hawkes in the Indy 500 of that year, in tandem with another car driven by maker Ernest Eldridge. They both retired, and were the last British cars to race there until Jack Brabham's Cooper in 1961 (Georgano has this incorrectly as '59).

I knew that Hawkes and his wife Gwenda specialised in banked tracks - they raced at Brooklands and Monthlery and were frequent record-breakers. I didn't know about this Indy appearance.
I must be right - that's what it says on Wikipedia

Offline sixtee5cuda

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Re: WTH # 254
« Reply #5 on: June 27, 2013, 09:36:36 AM »
Good answer Nicanary, and the point is yours.

When I saw an image of the chassis without bodywork, I was impressed by how complicated it looked, compared to your average 1926 American Indy-participant.

You skipped country of origin, but the point remains yours.  The car was built in France, and based on an Amilcar GS chassis.

More images, including one of the other Eldridge Special.

Offline nicanary

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Thanks for the point. In fact I thought only the original car, the bottom one in the set of photographs, was based on an Amilcar chassis, but the descriptions suggest they all were.

The two later cars, which raced at Indianapolis, had underslung frames - the photos show the car of Eldridge, which was an offset single-seater with nominal space for a riding mechanic. The car in the puzzle, that of Hawkes, was a pure single-seater although the driving position seems offset because it had to allow for the prop-shaft alongside.

Georgano is a bit vague on the subject.
I must be right - that's what it says on Wikipedia

Offline grobmotorix

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Is this same car in 1933 in civil disguise? See also text:
« Last Edit: January 13, 2015, 05:13:25 PM by grobmotorix »