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A V8 RACING IN SPEEDCARS!?! |
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Davey Ray and engine designer Simon Longdill with the #88 V8 powered Aggressor. |
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| Speedcar power plants come from a wide variety of the automotive applications
including the Hawk, Gaerte, Esslinger and even Rotarys. But to really put an exclaimation mark on this fact is the power plant being used this weekend by American Midget Car driver Davey Ray who will drive the number 88 New Zealand built midget in the Australian Speedcar Championships to be held at the Perth Motorplex, Kiwanna Beach. The #88 car has a power plant that is the brainchild of Auckland mechancal engineer Simon Longdill. |
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 The new engine looking very compact despite being within the already compacted confines of a midget frame. Click HERE to view larger image |
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Following is an artical recently written on this unique power plant. |
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LONGDILL BUILT MIDGET ENGINE MAKES HISTORY IN NEW ZEALAND |
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| A small piece of history was made on January 30th at New Zealand’s Western
Springs Speedway when the #88 Aggressor Midget driven by US ace Davey Ray won the night’s 30 Lap International
Midget Feature race. What is most interesting is that the car is powered by a New Zealand designed and built engine. The design work of Mechanical Engineer Simon Longdill, the engine uses Kawasaki ZX12R 1200 cylinder heads and cylinder blocks to form an 80 degree V8 displacing 2400cc (147C.I.) Remarkably, perhaps reflecting the degree of development already achieved by Kawasaki, the cylinder heads, camshafts and cam chain drives are stock standard. The same goes for the pistons, running the standard 12:1 compression in the standard nickasil iron liners. First departure from stock is the con rods, custom made with smaller width larger diameter journals. A custom made 5 bearing crankshaft configured as “flat” with 180 degree throws, with pairs of con rods on four journals spins in plain copper lead bearings in a custom made crankcase machined from billet T6 aluminum. As a concession to rules the engine is fed a methanol diet via a mechanical injection system, the by now customary electronic ignition taking care of ignition chores firing stock plug top coils. Initial in car testing showed up that the lube oil was having a larger role in cooling than envisaged and an oil/air oil cooler was fitted, solving that particular problem. Longdill displays the traditional designers’ coyness when questioned about power outputs, admitting only that he sees dyno pulls ”in excess of 360HP at around 12,000rpm”. Similarly, questioned re future plans for the engine, all that was forthcoming was the intention to move towards a production engine, “and not just as a Midget power plant”. Development driver Davey Ray is similarly reserved, allowing only that the engine “is doing all I want it to”. While justifiably proud of “his” baby, Longdill freely credits assistance he has received from Neil Gray and Kerry Jones Engineering in performing the extensive machine work, the technical assistance of the entire team at Lynn Rogers Automotive and also the long term support of Ian Mc Callum and Transitainer as tireless sponsors for his project, in particular making it possible for Davey Ray to drive the car here as part of the development program. |
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| FOR OTHER EVENT RELATED STORIES AND EVENT INFORMATION PLEASE CLICK ON ON
OF THE FOLLOWING LINKS:. Click HERE for the Speedcar entrants list Click HERE for the Friday night entant list Click HERE for the Saturday night entant list Click HERE for additional event information |
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