Your Golden Epoch?

I can almost HEAR that Howmet whine, even now.

Me too 😀

The Howmet is probably one reason I loved the Mazda 787 win at LeMans. Unconventional powerplant, new technology, all that. Unlimited sportscar racing, unlike the "formula" series.

It was pretty quick, as I recall. Pity that it wasn't successful in endurance races. Hearing it whoosh across the line first at LeMans would have been a real boon to turbine cars.

I think the Howmet was all of those things, but to me it was also stunningly beautiful. Very dolphin like.

I typically compared it to the 2D, although the 2D was more svelte. The Howmet was much smaller than people think. Wish I had a printable file.

Overlooking the contributions of McKee Engineering to late 60s sportscar racing would be a mistake, however.

I was at Brands for the '68 BOAC 500 (on the same day that Jim Clark was killed. ) standing right at the top of Druids, and hearing the Howmet throttle up long before it got to the bend itself was bizarre!

But it didn't last long sadly and after very few laps the car barrelled straight into the bank right below my feet, with the engine still going full out! Apparently the waste-gate jammed shut giving it far too much power to get round the sharp bend, and that was that.

Thanks, Mark, for another superb video. Interesting on a number of levels. Good to see Richard Bergel, Hamish Moffatt, Keith Schellenberg, Peter Waller and many other old boys again.

Waller owned ERA R9B (the white one with red wheels) in those days. One day the crankshaft broke, and needed to be replaced but Peter couldn't stretch to forking out £250 for a new one. We all thought at the time that it was a scandalous sum for a mere crankshaft...

Whilst the modern BTCC is artificially kept as close racing, therefore is hardly a golden era, an era has become to the finishing line yesterday.
Team Dynamics, the Neal family run Honda team has pulled out of this year's championship a mere two weeks before the opening round at Donnington.
Dan Rowbottom, one of last year's drivers has jumped ship to a team NAPA sponsored Focus, taking his Cataclean sponsorship with him, plus long time sponsors Halfords have pulled the plug at the last minute.
The other missing ingredient this year is that Jason Playdough, long time participant, finished with the series last year, ah well soon be push to pass racing again in a couple of weeks, push the rear bumper that is.

tangerinedream said:

Jason Playdough

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😀😀😀😀

Another superb video. Thanks, Mark. I shall enjoy watching this several times. Utterly charming.

The petition in favour of overturning the result of the 2021 Championship has reportedly reached 100,000.

Trisha said:

but is there any real point in a rotary engine?

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If one could bottle the idle sound