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| Austin 7 Grasshopper |
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| Saturday, 01 April 2006 | ||||
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The Austin 7 Grasshopper
by John Sutton
The first of these 12 special cars was built for trials in 1934 and the design was subsequently adopted by the “works” as the basis for their Le Mans entries in 1937.
The cars were circuit raced in un-supercharged form and converted to take the “Centric 125” blower for trials. The drive for the supercharger was by “V” belt and could be altered to give additional “boost” by changing the pulleys. The power output was about 45 bhp at 5000 rpm when the “boost” was increased to 9 lbs/sq. in. .
The car pictured here (left) is registered COA 118 which left the factory on the 12th May 1936. It was one of the 4 cars built for the 1936 Le Mans race which was postponed until 1937. They were fitted with two seat doorless bodies and cycle wings. The engines were the latest 3 bearing type but with pressure fed crankshafts and “Ulster” type con rods with the big ends reduced and offset to accommodate the centre crankshaft bearing. These cars all retired due to the failure of the centre main bearing and at some point this car suffered a broken con rod.
The front suspension for the Le Mans cars was similar to the lowered “sports” type common to the “Ulster” but used the later “Ruby” radius arm location which although dropped by 4.5 inches was strong enough to take the torque from the later “Girling” brakes. The rear springs were flattened and the front torque tube anchorage was longer to keep the drive line at the correct angle. This car was previously owned by Stuart & Max Bennett in the early 1960,s and the by Mike Eyre who wrote a definitive article on these cars for the 750 Bulletin. It is currently undergoing a restoration in an attempt to correct the disastrous work that was undertaken some 4 years ago. There may not be many of these cars about now. Some years ago, Graeme Steinfort, a well-known owner/driver of Classic and Historic cars in Melbourne, took me for a ride in the red Austin Grasshopper shown in the following photographs. He bought the car in the UK, had a special body made for it, then shipped it out to Australia. http://motorsnippets.com/cars/Winton/index.htm He competed with it in Victoria in Regularity and other events, and has since sold the car.  
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| Last Updated ( Wednesday, 25 October 2006 ) | ||||
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