LIKE, most of the sport-minded motoring "bods" of
Sydney Village, I had long admired both the enthusiastic driving skill and
mechanical wizardry of Jack Myers, Kingsford garage proprietor and racing
driver, in making normally fleet Holdens go even "fleeter."
However, one must draw the line somewhere, and when Jack
casually mentioned in passing (a couple of weeks before the February Orange
race meeting) that he would extract 115 b.h.p. from his Holden sedan and
confidently expected to meander down the straight at, or over, 105 m.p.h., I
firmly drew the line —raised eyebrow, disbelieving leer, withering glance and
all.
A Fine Fiacre
After all, everyone will tell you that, although a Holden
makes a fine fiacre, not to say a bonny little family barouche, it's just not
in the event when it comes to racing —particularly against really fast voiturettes
from overseas.
Too light in the tail—needs bags of sand in the boot—too
much body flex—rolls over on corners—inferior road-holding 'n' all that . . .
Any-way, you just can't do over the ton in an H—it isn't done, y'know.
Feeling that perhaps it would be best to humour Jack until
reinforcements arrived, I let him ramble on about extra hot camshafts, high compression
ratios, pots bored out so far you can see bulges going up and down the block
exterior, carburettors festooned all over the noisy department, and double
downdraught twin overhead plug leads.
Guesswork Is Out
At least, that's what it sounded like for a while until I
caught the general drift, after which it slowly dawned that here was no mechanical
experimenter who blindly performs some haphazard engine modification in the
hope that it will induce more revs, but an efficient mechanical engineer who
carefully plans a modification or development to the last minute detail on
paper, checks and double-checks all the factors, and knows the exact result of
the modification before lifting a tool to begin the actual work.
Proof of the Pudding
Orange Race Day duly arrived, and as an assistant in the ¼ mile
electrical timing outfit I was in an ideal position to check on certain claims
made about certain machinery. Well, fellers, to put it briefly —he dunnit! 105
m.p.h. — won the race against formidable opposition —confounded all and
sundry—and made me eat my best straw boater. In fact, J.M. claims the Holden
actually improved on this speed by another 5 m.p.h. or so after it had passed
through the timing traps, on the downhill run to Windsock Corner. He bases this
claim on the fact that his speedo, which registered a fraction over 105 on the
timed quarter, rose to 110 a few seconds later. To find out what gives Myers' Holden
such astonishing performance, the Editor asked me to road-test the "atomic
bomb" and obtain the good (technical) oil from its owner, so that you,
too, may convert your little old Holden into a low-flying supersonic
rocket-ship in one easy lesson.
Just an Ordinary
Holden
Taking action station behind the tiller, I mentally compared
the vehicle with my own standard model and noted a non-standard six-inch speedometer
graduated to 100 m.p.h. above the radio dial space, a small gauge combining
oil-pressure and water-temperature indicators beside the steering column, a
manual ignition control knob tinder the dash, a fire Extinguisher, and a safety
belt. Otherwise it looked a very ordinary cream taxi—er, sorry—Holden. The
motor star easily at first touch of the button and ticked over at a fast idle
with only slight tin-steadiness. From this point on any similarity between this
and any other Holden existing or wrecked is purely coincidental.
It Hit Me
Pressing the loud pedal down the normal amount for take-off
in a standard model and engaging the clutch produced a noise like a Ferrari at
full chat—also an exceedingly smart blow in the back and wide-eyed astonishment
from those fortunate enough to be in the vicinity and witnessing this
extraordinary phenomenon. It took a few minutes to get the feel of the car,
during which period I found that throttle pressure somewhat jerky due to one of the carburettor
butterflies sticking slightly; but by the time we had reached the centre of the
city, where we picked up the photographer, this little foible had ceased to be
a worry. Low oil pressure, down to about 9 p.s.i. at a fast idle, was viewed
with some apprehension until Jack reminded me that this was due to the loose
hearing fit of racing tolerances.
Traffic Tractability
Several times top-gear speed was deliberately dropped to as
low as 10 m.p.h. in city traffic, but the power available is such that it is
possible to pick up from this speed without undue strain on the motor. In fact,
it is hard to believe that the car is not powered by a 5-litre "Dynaflash
Fireball Eight" — the feeling of sheer power is so acute. First-gear engagement
caused a slight grating at times because of the fast idle, but otherwise the
car's manners were so good it could have been handled in city traffic by the
proverbial old lady. Braking was good, but tyres (with 211b. pressure all
round) squealed on corners even at relatively slow speeds.
Steering felt nicely balanced, with no excess movement or
drag. A hands-off braking test failed to move the steering wheel from its
centralised position. An indication of how meek and mild this racing sedan can
he in city traffic is given by Mrs. Myers, who frequently uses the car as a
shop-ping vehicle.. However, there are times when she cannot resist the
temptation to take a taxi-driver by .surprise at the traffic lights.
Action Photography - the
Hard Way
Our photographic interlude star-ted with quiet little shots of the
secret "power bulges" of the machinery and progressed to frightening
situations where, with Jack Myers now at the wheel, the car rocketed around a
right-angle corner in a mighty power slide, apparently aimed directly at the
hap-less photographer. Things were not as they seemed, however, for Jack had
the car well tinder control and the photographer was in no danger (although we
never quite convinced him of this).
On the Road
With Mount Druitt and acceleration tests in mind, we
threaded our way through the Saturday afternoon traffic, along Parramatta Road
and up the Great Western Highway. Water temperature on this run remained below
180 degrees—down to 160 at times---due to the absence of a fan, which Myers regards
as a coolant retarder rather than a help in this particular Holden. The car
handled well on corners and seemed much firmer than a standard model, although
this could be due to a sway bar under the front end and shock absorbers that
are always kept right up to the mark.
An unfortunate circumstance that persisted throughout the
remainder of this run was the heavy traffic, which prevented anything interesting
in the way of really high speeds. However, on reaching Mt. Druitt the car was
given a couple of warming-up runs, during which 91 m.p.h. was recorded before
it was necessary to cut out and brake hard for the bottom turn. It. later
became evident that the comparatively short straights were not long enough to
acquire a "full head of steam" for a maximum speed run. But more of
this anon. I should point out at this juncture that the car was being tested on
standard pump fuel instead of its usual racing fodder of 85 to 100 octane, and
was fully road-equipped with spare wheel, exhaust muffler, box of tools, divers
bags and bods, etc., all of which arc unhelpful factors in obtaining the
absolute maxi-mum in speed.
Performance Tests
On the acceleration tests with driver and one passenger, we
felt the full thrust of Myers' modified motor. Full figures are given in the
data panel, so there's no point in repeating them all here. Suffice it to say
that, working through the gear-box, we went from 0 to 30 m.p.h. in 3.8 seconds,
0 to 60 in 12 and 0 to 80 in 24—on pump fuel. There wasn't enough airstrip
length available to log higher figures safely, but it's interesting to note
that the hot Holden's time for 0 to 60 was .2 of a second faster than that of the
highly regarded Triumph TR2 (as established in a recent road test by the
American magazine "Road and Track"). And she took only 1.7 seconds
longer than the 1'R2 to reach 80. Maximum speeds in gears, with the power-pack
revving at 6000, were 40 m.p.h. in first, 73 in second. At 20 m.p.h. per 1000
revs., maxi-mum top-gear speed could be 120 m.p.h. Could be, I said. It seldom
works out that way. Jack tells me his usual shift-points when racing are first
— 30 m.p.h., second — 65 m.p.h.
Owing to the aforementioned reasons, it was not possible to
flatten the car like a Sao biscuit during the afternoon. On the return journey
it was found that 80 m.p.h. could be easily and quickly attained, 92-3 showed
up a couple of times, and on one occasion 96 m.p.h. was reached before the
anchors were hastily applied to avoid heavy pressure on the back of a bun
truck. On this occasion the needle was still climbing—if a little slowly. Bearing
in mind that this was pump fuel, etc., 1 was not disappointed in the
performance. We gave those anchors a good stiff test, too, on dry bitumen. Taking
the best of two runs in each case, they stopped us in 31 feet from 30 m.p.h.,
and in 159 feet from 60. The handbrake held her efficiently on a 1-in-5
gradient. Two items in this test were pleasantly surprising—the unusually good
stopping distance from 30 m.p.h. and the holding power of the hand, brake.
This, I felt, was due to the owner's attention rather than any inherent
qualities of the car. No special checks of fuel consumption were taken at set
speeds; the. figure of 22 m.p.g. was obtained in the overall road-test and
includes tromping hard in various cogs, high-speed runs, odd idling, and such.
Amazingly good, all things considered—and Jack swears he gets 25 m.p.g. out of
her on normal running, despite all the souping. The engine did not run on when
switched off, although the water boiled at one stage immediately after the
rather exhausting acceleration tests—but soon cooled down once we returned to a
steady road speed.
Over the Ton—and How
.
Since testing this buggy without getting it over the 100
would have been like visiting Buckingham Palace and not seeing the Queen, we
had to give it another go the following weekend. This time we took off the
exhaust muffler and fed the old girl some 85-octane petrol instead of standard
pump fuel; but she still carried all the paraphernalia we had brought on the
first outing. Casting about for a more suitable stretch of terra firma on which
to give the ear an even chance of reaching top speed, we remembered a certain
wartime airstrip and headed straight for it. A warm-up run showed that this
strip, although a vast improvement on Mt. Druitt, was only just long enough and
no more—but we had no time to quibble about it. Wheelspin was troublesome in
all three gears, and braking—at the very ends of the strip—called for careful
manipulation, but on all four runs (two each way) the "ton" was
exceeded. Speeds were 101 m.p.h., 104, 102, 104. In each case 93-95 m.p.h. was
attained with relative ease, after which the revs built up slowly for the rest
of the way. It was felt that the motor still had more "steam" in
hand, and, had we not run out of road, top speed figures would have been even
higher. She took 36.5 seconds to get from 0 to 100 m.p.h., and did her best
standing quarter in 18.4 seconds. No mean effort, considering that few
high-priced sports jobs can do better.
High-speed Handling
Although the car felt safely steady at, and over, 100 mp.h.,
it must be remembered that the airstrip surface was comparatively smooth and
flat, and not cambered, potholed or bumpy, as are so many of our main roads.
Driving a Holden with the tremendous power-speed potential of this one on our
highways at, or even near, the 100 mark (if it were legally possible to do so)
is definitely not recommended for any but experienced racing drivers. There are
cars on the road today that will handle better at such speeds —but they are not
all family sedans, not all so economical to run, not all so freely
available—and they all cost you a heck of a lot more to buy and maintain. Any
further comment on performance seems unnecessary: those test figures in the
data panel on page 41 speak louder than any guff I could spout. Compare them
with the performance figures of a standard Holden, and you will realise just
how potent Myers' "atomic bomb" really .is.
The Hot Bits
Starting from the front of the car, non-standard specifications include a sway
bar which is available as an extra for all and sundry, and a full-flow filter
and bypass filter fitted on the offside of the motor. Liquid dynamite is
blended in three sidedraught S.U. carburettors and fed into pots bored out to 3
3-I6in. by 3 1-8in. stroke via enlarged valves which are prevented from
bouncing under 6000 revs by heavier valve springs. Engine cap-achy is 2440
c.c., compression ratio 8.5 to 1. To use Jack's own modest description, the
camshaft is ''modified." The bottom end of the motor is standard (except
for racing tolerances in the bearings), but has been carefully balanced. An
interesting two-gallon capacity sump can be seen under the car, with cooling
tubes passing through it fore-and-aft. The tubes are welded to the sump tray at
the end; and air rushing through them helps to cool the oil. The engine is
capped by a square-edged, finned aluminium rocker cover, with two oil-filler
air-scoops instead of the usual one. The electrical department is well cared
for by a sports coil, twin-points distributor, and colder plugs. Transmission
is standard, but the gearbox occasionally requires attention after a
particularly exhausting session of high-speed usage—a not uncommon phenomenon
in boxes that are pushed beyond the margins for which they were designed and
constructed.
My Neck's Out
Having seen what I've
seen, I would vote this car the Holden most likely to succeed in 1955, and —provided
the engine doesn't dis-integrate in the process — I feel it has every chance of
clocking an off-cial 110 m.p.h. down the straight at Bathurst next Easter. What
am I saying? Jack Myers' confidence must be contagious!
Article by Bill Daly Modern Motor April 1955
