Napier-Railton Special
1933, Great Britain
The Napier-Railton Special from 1933 was designed particularly for record breaking and track racing. The Napier-Railton Special designed by Reid Railton and built by Thomson & Taylor. John Cobb had great enthusiasm for large-engine cars and for racing them on the Brooklands Outer Circuit. Between 1933 and 1937, the Napier-Railton broke 47 speed world records in Brooklands, Montlhéry and Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. For 1933 he contracted Thomson & Taylor of Brooklands to build a very special car for him, using a surplus 23,970cc 505 bhp Napier Lion aero W12 jet engine in the high compression (6.1: 1), uncharged RAF version. This unit vs as unusual in disposing its twelve-cylinders in three banks of four—what was known as a 'broad-arrow' formation 12 cylinders in three
banks of four; ohvs with ohc on each bank with a bore & stroke of 139.7 x 130.2mm, this produced 500bhp at 2,200rpm or 433 kW at 2,585 (measured at altitude) 5500 ft / 1700 m). The 12 cylinders are arranged in three banks of four (W configuration, hence the triple exhaust system), and the engine has dual magnetic ignition, as is common in aircraft engines the cars wheelbase of 330cm (130in).
Reid Railton designed a massive chassis to accommodate this very powerful yet relatively lightweight engine but the large fuel tank, located behind the driver in the "stern", needed a capacity of 295 litres, 65 gallons as the fuel consumption of the large engine was only was approximately 5 mpg. Using a single-seater body and dispensing with details like front-wheel brakes. The non-synchronized transmission has three gears. Despite a Maximum Speed: 274km/h (170mph), the car has only rear wheel brakes with an under-slung channel-section frame. Front suspension by semi-elliptic leaf springs. and Rear suspension by double cantilever leaf springs.
One prime target was the world's 24-Hour record, but in 1933 Cobb began his new car's career by setting a 120.59 mph standing-start lap record on the Brooklands Outer Circuit. The first attempt on the 24-Hour record failed at Montlhéry in 1934 when Freddie Dixon crashed the car, although in the same year Cobb twice broke the Outer Circuit lap record at Brooklands.
In 1935 Cobb, Tim Rose-Richards and Dixon took the 24-Hour record at 137-40 mph and at Bonneville Salt Flats in America they also took the Hour record at 152.7 mph.
After taking the car back home to England Cobb drove it to win the Brooklands 500-Miles at 121.28 mph. In October 1935 he broke the Outer Circuit lap record yet again, to 143 mph, and that figure was never bettered. The circuit was redeployed for military purposes in World War II and has never been used as a full race track since.
In 1936 Cobb and the Napier-Railton again with 24Hour record to 150.6 mph and by 1937, it won the BRDC 500 once again at Brooklands.
John Cobb went on to take the World Land Speed Record in his twin-engine Railton- Mobil Special. His many friends were grief-stricken when he lost his life on Loch Ness in 1952 his Water Speed Record attempt in the jet-boat Crusader ended in the craft's disintegration. The Napier-Railton is still around today, in superb condition after various ownership changes in the post-war period, the car belongs since about 1997 to the Brooklands Museum.
