This week’s technical article follows on from the last few weeks articles on great engines. So this week we have one of the all time greats – the 6-cylinder Jaguar XK double overhead cam. Developed by Jaguar after the war, it first appeared in one of the most iconic sports cars – the XK120. This engine is a favourite of mine thanks to my family owning several Jaguars … [Read more...]
Cunningham
This article is about a specialist car company that developed pure racing machines and was a huge success in the States. The company is Cunningham – the creator of the racing stripe at a time when teams used national racing colours. This Cunningham is not related to the luxury Cunningham cars of the 1920s and 1930s. The company was founded by Briggs Cunningham II in the US … [Read more...]
Wearable Technology Meets the Auto Industry
I have written several articles that shows the connection between consumer and automotive technology. The most obvious must be the use of lithium based batteries that started in consumer devices such as laptops and with greater power and length of use, have now been fitted to electric cars. Another example is Bluetooth, which has simplified how mobile devices share content … [Read more...]
Disc Brakes
A little while ago I wrote about drum brakes and it reminded me of the Le Mans winning Jaguars of the 1950s. One of the advantages the Jags had over their American, German and Italian rivals was their use of disc brakes. The other cars mostly still used drum brakes that were inferior in their ability to slow a car down. Thus the Jags could brake much later than the other cars … [Read more...]
Max Hoffman
I enjoy reading classic car magazines from Europe and the US and one name seems to appear in every edition - Maximilian Hoffman! Who was he and why was he such an important figure in the automotive industry? By the way don’t confuse him with his namesake who was a World War 1 military strategist who helped defeat Russian advances in 1917 - a pivotal reason for the Russian … [Read more...]