109 Years Ago Today,

"Andy Sheehan, StreetsideStig" (AndySheehan-StreetsideStig) 10/08/2013 at 10:32 • Filed to: None

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George Heath won the first Vanderbilt Cup in this Panhard. It was a four-cylinder. A 16-liter four cylinder worth 90 hp.

clarksonnotbad.jpg

davedave1111 > Andy Sheehan, StreetsideStig 10/08/2013 at 10:36

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Power to weight ratio? Pfft. It's all about the torque to tyre ratio if you're really hardcore.

Seriously, think about the top speed of that thing, given that 90bhp will get a car with somewhat similar wind resistance up to well over a ton. Terrifying. (To be clear, that car has the aerodynamics of a brick with air-brakes, but it also has fairly small total frontal area so the drag can't be that high.)

Party-vi > Andy Sheehan, StreetsideStig 10/08/2013 at 10:44

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CHAIN DRIVE FTMFW!!!!!!!

Also, I think auto racing would be awesome if we still had ride-along mechanics.

MoparKetchup > Andy Sheehan, StreetsideStig 10/08/2013 at 10:47

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Andy Sheehan, StreetsideStig > davedave1111 10/08/2013 at 10:57

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His average speed was around 52 mph, though. And he needed that big front intake to cool his ten point six gallon radiator . No foolin.'

Slave2anMG > Andy Sheehan, StreetsideStig 10/08/2013 at 11:06

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And a compression ratio of about 4:1...probably a flathead too and a carburetor the size of a shot glass was typical. Still awesome.

hollanddjw 1 > Andy Sheehan, StreetsideStig 10/08/2013 at 11:32

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10.6 gallons? Damn.

davedave1111 > Andy Sheehan, StreetsideStig 10/08/2013 at 11:38

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Nice. Makes sense when you think about it, because the less efficient an engine is, the more waste heat it generates.