Topic: Solved: DAR 76 - Ken Wharton's supercharged Cooper-JAP 1952

[D-type]

The car is pretty obvious.  But what makes this particular car different?  Car, engine and driver please.  I won't ask for the year as he used it for several years.

[D-type]

Time for the Experts.

[D-type]

Pros?

[nicanary]

I'm pretty sure that's Ken Wharton. Is this car fitted with a 1100cc JAP twin?

[Allan L]

I should know this as I probably saw him drive that. I think it may be Ken Wharton in which case his Cooper has a twin-cylinder JAP engine of 998cc later enlarged to 1260 cc.
I think it's at Prescott.

ETA I now think it's a photo from around 1952 so I wouldn't have seen him/it then!

[fromwien]

Supercharged?

[D-type]

I should know this as I probably saw him drive that. I think it may be Ken Wharton in which case his Cooper has a twin-cylinder JAP engine of 998cc later enlarged to 1260 cc.
I think it's at Prescott.

ETA I now think it's a photo from around 1952 so I wouldn't have seen him/it then!

I'm pretty sure that's Ken Wharton. Is this car fitted with a 1100cc JAP twin?

Yes.  Ken Wharton, Cooper - JAP vee twin, from 1952, at Prescott. 
But what was unusual about this particular car?

Supercharged?

Yes

I don't think this deserves awarding multiple points, so who is going to be first to put all the bits together?

[nicanary]

Ken Wharton, Cooper V-twin supercharged.

[Allan L]

In C.A.N. May's "Speed Hill-Climbs" he lists the results of the final Prescott of 1952 in some detail and Ken Wharton made FTD in a 998cc Cooper-JAP. No mention of supercharging then, but by the time of Bouley Bay 1953 there was.
The puzzle photo was on the front cover of Autosport which in my case I have not got - it would be interesting to see if the caption tells us anything.

[D-type]

The point goes to nicanary.

I got the photo from the Autosport cover.  The reference to the car being supercharged was on one of the inside pages which had also been scanned and posted.