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The engine is the
same as installed in many fighter and bomber aircraft in the Second World
War, such as the Spitfire and Lancaster. etc. This one was originally
fitted in a Boulton-Paul trainer, is of 27 litres capacity and was rated at
over 1.000 horse-power.
The following is as
in the Wikipedia report on this car:
In the 1960s, Paul Jameson put a Merlin engine
(some say it actually was a Rover-built
Rolls-Royce Meteor, which was a de-tuned Merlin without superchargers
and with steel components replacing some aluminium ones) into a chassis he
had built himself. He did not get around to building a body, and sold the
car to Epsom
automatic transmission specialist John Dodd, who fitted a
fibreglass body based on the shape of the
Ford
Capri and named the machine
"The Beast". Originally it had a grille from a Rolls-Royce, but after
complaints from R-R themselves he had to change it. According to Dodd's
account, he once drove past a
Porsche
driver on the
autobahn
who then called Rolls Royce asking about their "new model". The Beast was
once listed in the
Guinness Book of Records as the world's most powerful
road
car.
The engine came from a
Boulton Paul
Balliol training aircraft which would give 1,262 hp (941 kW) at 8,500
feet (2,600 m). No
supercharger was fitted to the engine in car so it "only" delivered
about 850 hp (630 kW). The car used a
General Motors
TH400
automatic transmission. The Beast is alive and well in
Marbella,
Spain and is
still owned by Dodd. It is still taxed in the UK; a
DVLA search
shows the engine capacity as 27000cc.
For more on thsi: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolls-Royce_Merlin#.22Miss_Shilling.27s_orifice.22
It is said that the
drivers and passengers in many high-powered sports cars have witnessed the
rear end of this "station wagon" or estate car disappearing in the the
distance in front of them. John uses it for fun as it does about 1 km per litre of fuel, and the noise is "marginally legal", but is is registered for
the road albeit still with an English plate.
A side-view of the John Dodd RR-Merlin engined car. It
has an automatic transmission and the bodywork is mainly fibre-glass.
With its long "hood", or bonnet in English, short-sighted drivers are not
encouraged.
The mighty Rolls
Royce Merlin engine. A 27 litre V-12 with 4 valves per cylinder,
double overhead cams, originally with a supercharger (later higher-altitude
versions had two in line superchargers).
This model has the
supercharger removed and an American 4-barrel Holley carburettor fitted.
The engine produced
over 1.000 bhp when new or 775 Kw.
The rear of the Merlin engined car, the one most
usually seen by other drivers in a straight line. While the car is
incredibly quick on acceleration and speed, the handling is not up to
expensive sports car standards.
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