Quote:
Originally Posted by historic racer
Not a name I remember, the only Longman built engine to that spec I know of was used by Dineen and Crouch, although racing myself I assisted the well known David Enderby who was almost unbeatable in a similar spec Mini.
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Hi there
My name is Mike Parker. I was racing in the late 60's/ early 70's. Triplex, Osram GEC special saloon car chmpionships etc etc.The longman short stroke engine that was used by Neal Dineen and Peter Crouch was in fact my short stroke engine. It was built by Richerd Longman. It had a Gordon Allen billet steel crank, with from memory a 51mm stroke running on plus 100 thou cooper s bore. Unfortunately the engine did not work well so I blueprinted the camshafts (649's) I got a perfect camshaft on the sixth one and even then had to havr the keyway remachined to ensure the cam was perfectly timed . I also had Chris Tyrell do the head for me from memory it was 11cc. I also fitted electronic ignition. To cut a long story short the car was written off on the first lap of the championships paddock at Brands. The light weight shell was absolutely amazing. I had theshell but on a chassis rig and the front bulkhead raised 100mm which in effect lowered the car 100mm lower than any other car, the floor pan was removed and replaced by a SHS platform chassis clad in 26 g aluminium The rear subframe was removed and replaced with a rose jointed beam axle. The car had a 54 ton steel roll cage in it with side intrusion bars. You could lift the back of the car up with the driver in the car. It was a stunning lightweight car and would no doubt have been unbeatable . Regards Mike