Radial engined Goggomobil

[marcus]

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TIdQFnUvCA&feature=related

[Rusty Chrome (Malcolm Parker)]

Much cooler than those drag racing Isettas. Reminded me of that Merlin engined car that seemed to be around a lot in the 70s. (very much not a microcar!)

http://www.spainvia.com/Merlincar.htm

[marcus]

Oh yes, the infamous "BEAST".

This aircooled and exposed radial engine (BMW / Focke Wolfe 190 ?) right behind the driver in that tiny car will make it just a little hotter, noisier and shakier than a Heinkel-Trojan! The forces of gyroscopic procession will have an interesting effect on cornering, and vary considerable between turning left and turning right.

[Big Al]

Inertia from an engine spinning was always a reason for not using a radial in a car. There have been attempts and of course the Wankel is a radial but infact though the rotor is heavy it is a minimal amount of spinning angular acceleration.
The BSA trike with the aircooled 'Hotchkiss' engine is as near a successfull radial in a car really as I can think of. The Hotchkiss bit being the top end, barrell and head from a radial unit. Two of these being mounted onto a crank casing for the car. This offered pretty good power for its time. Not really a radial but using the parts from one.
This angular acceleration is a problem on multiple cylinder bikes being more sensitive to such with two wheels. Another instance is the Ford V4 which were engineered to have counter spun balance shafts. It is a problem with my trials car as it is made for some 30 bhp and could be fitted with a twin cam of 130 bhp. It remains to be judged if the spaceframe can take the torsion this aditional power, torque and revs offers. If not I will have to think again as a cross bracing will spoil the car which I fit at the moment.
A topic microcars tend not to have to worry to much about.

[marcus]

Quite right Alan, and that is why I have just invented something even more magnificent: a motorcycle powered by a rotary aero engine...turn engine off to go slower, on again to accelerate, and as the whole engine rotates you get "spectacular" handling!

[Big Al]

Sounds a bit like Prof Laithwaite stuff to me. He was convinced that there was additional energy available from angular momentum than that put in. Never understood the theory but it seemed he thought it was tapping a universal energy source. Something along the lines that a point near the centre of axis was spinning at much less speed than a point at the outer edge. This was a distortion of time in space since at rest time was the same for the points but when spun it was not. Therefore by turning the assembly you attempted to warp time a little bit and that gave you more angular deflection than should be available by Newton's laws. Tricky. It is theorised this is how flying saucers work, save they have stacked spinning power sources - as described in the Epic of Gilgamesh etc.... Well I get bored on long winter evenings. I was happier with his linear motors, would have made the Channel tunnel a bit quicker and a cheap way of tuning a 'Schmitt!