Rolls-Royce Merlin alternative uses
The Rolls Royce Merlin, although designed as an aero engine, was used in other applications both on land and at sea.
Automotive
Michael Wilcock of Sussex, England built the Swandean Spitfire Special[1], using a Merlin XXV engined acquired from a scrap yard for one hundred and forty pounds. The engine was installed in a home-brewed chassis confected from two Daimler Dingo scout car chassis. The car was run in the Brighton Speed Trials[2] in 1953, and was sold to James Duffy of St. Louis, Missouri in 1956. As of 2005, the vehicle is still in St. Louis, where it is undergoing restoration.
In the 1960s, Paul Jameson put a Merlin engine into a chassis he had built himself.[citation needed] 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 a sort of stylized Ford Capri and named the machine "The Beast".[3] The Beast was once listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the world's most powerful road car[4]. The engine came from a Boulton Paul Balliol training aircraft.[citation needed] The car used a General Motors TH400 automatic transmission. In the 1970's, Jameson built a second Merlin-engined car, this being a mid-engined six-wheeler. [5] The engine of this vehicle was two-stage supercharged and was in 1998 reportedly in a museum in The Netherlands[6].
Recently in Australia, Rod Hadfield, of the Castlemaine Rod Shop, used the Merlin engine in a 1955 Chevrolet BelAir Sports Coupe, which was named "Final Objective."[7]
Boat Racing
In the mid-forties and early fifties, aviation engines gained in popularity as powerplants of choice for unlimited hydroplane racing, given their relatively high power-to-weight ratio, reliability and availability. Starting with the MISS WINDSOR raceboat at Detroit in 1946, several ever-more-powerful variants of the Merlin were so used, over the next decades, in a heated battle against the equally popular Allison V-1710. In unlimited hydroplane racing, both were eventually supplanted by gas turbine engines, which exhibit even more favourable power-to-size and power-to-weight ratios.[8]
Some of the most significant Merlin-powered hydroplanes include:[citation needed]
- Slo-mo-shun V (from 1954 on, 1954 Gold Cup winner, first for Merlin power)
- Miss Thriftway (converted in 1957, 1957 Gold Cup winner)
- Hawaii Kai III (1958 Gold Cup and National Champion, first Merlin powered National Championship)
- Miss Thriftway/Miss Century 21 (Gold Cup 1961-1962, National Champion 1960-1962)
- Miss Bardahl (Gold Cup and National Champion 1963-1965, 1967-1968)
- Miss Budweiser (Gold Cup 1969-1970 and 1973, National Champion 1969-1972, 1977)
- Atlas Van Lines (Gold Cup 1972, 1977-1979, 1982-1984, National Champion 1972, 1976, 1978- 1979, 1982-1983
- Pay 'n Pak (Gold Cup 1974-1975, National Champion 1973-1975).
Meteor
The Meteor was a tank engine developed from the Merlin in World War II. It was detuned, did not have a supercharger, and ran on lower-octane pool petrol (as did the early Merlins). Manufacture was transferred from Rolls-Royce to Rover, who developed the smaller Meteorite V-8 engine from it.
References
- ^ Swandean Spitfire Special
- ^ Brighton Speed Trials
- ^ "The Beast"
- ^ Guinness Book of Records 22nd edition 1975, Guinness Superlatives Ltd, Enfield p 141
- ^ Photo of Paul Jameson's 6-wheeler
- ^ "Supercar Classics" magazine, March 1988
- ^ Final Objective
- ^ The Packard Merlin in Hydroplanes and raceboatsRetrieved: 8 April 2008
