Nascar bloopers: here comes the boom!

8 August, 2016

A bizarre situation unfolded during the Nascar Xfinity series race at Watkins Glen over the weekend of August 6–7. Derrike Cope’s No. 70 Chevrolet Nascar was coasting through the bus-stop zone, when something under the bonnet of his vehicle exploded, blowing the bonnet off and bursting a tyre. 

Nascar are said to be impounding the car and will examine the remains to figure out what exactly went wrong, to prevent such failures in the future. 

“In my 35 years of racing, I’ve never experienced anything like that,” driver Derrike Cope said. “It blew up in my face.”

It’s still not quite clear as to what happened, but maybe you have some ideas, so let us know in the comments below. 

Merry Christmas from NZ Classic Car magazine

The Classic Car magazine team is taking a few weeks’ holiday from the work computer and heading to the beach for some kickback time.
Merry Christmas, and have a wonderful summer holiday to all our readers, followers, and fans. Enjoy this special extra time with the family. We will be posting archive articles again in mid to late January.
Have fun, be good and be careful out there.

Two engines instead of one?

Popping two motors into a car is not only complicated, it doesn’t always end well. Donn Anderson recalls early attempts, including John Cooper’s ill-fated original Twini Mini built 58 years ago

For a boost in performance, better traction, and perhaps improved handling to some, two motors seems an obvious solution. It would also eliminate the need to develop a larger engine replacement from scratch, but would that outweigh the not inconsiderable technical difficulties?
The idea of using a pair of engines dates back at least 86 years to the Alfa Romeo Bimotor single seater racing car that was officially timed at 335km/h, or 208mph. Taking a lengthened Alfa P3 chassis, the Italians fitted two supercharged straight eight 2.9-litre and 3.2-litre engines, one in front of the cockpit, and the other behind the cockpit.