Auto Engine Drives Motorcycle at High Speed (Jun, 1935)
Auto Engine Drives Motorcycle at High Speed
Assembled especially for establishing a world’s record of more than 300 miles per hour, an oversize motorcycle powered with an automobile engine has been making speed tests on the Pacific coast. The motorcycle, weighing 1,500 pounds, is powered with a six-cylinder Plymouth automobile engine with fan and generator removed. With special timing and carburetor jets, the engine makes 4,100 revolutions per minute. The wheel-base is eighty-five inches and the over-all length is 115 inches, a standard motorcycle frame being lengthened and reinforced with steel tubing. Two large sprockets connected by a three-quarter inch chain facilitate steering, the handlebars having been moved back several inches from their original position. Two steel plates, one on each side in front of the rear wheel, serve as brakes by actual contact with the ground or track. They can be raised or lowered by a lever.
Very interesting! I didn’t know that the idea of putting car engines on motorcycles was thal old.
Comment by Al Bear — March 24, 2008 @ 8:00 am
Very interesting! I didn’t know that the idea of putting car engines on motorcycles was that old.
Comment by Al Bear — March 24, 2008 @ 8:00 am
Wow, sort of like the 1930’s version of the Chrysler Tomahawk. I wonder how they would do against each other in a race?
Comment by Chuck Mandus — May 13, 2008 @ 9:44 pm