by bry3500 » Thu Jul 14, 2011 8:46 am
found this thread on Autosport forum ..does anyone have any pics or more info on this car
Back in 1966 a Kiwi by the name of Dennis Smith built a special that weighed in at only 225 kg. This car was christened the 'Smith Spyder', all due to the fact that the body of the car was only 500 mm wide, which gave the appearance of having a very wide track.
The most amazing thing about this car was its engine - a 1500cc V4 Johnson outboard motor. This was tilted at 40 degrees from the horizontal and had a huge(!) Smith built flywheel that was 100 mm in diameter. The powerband of this motor was between 1000 and 7000 RPM - the car could wheelspin in top gear which, incidentally, was a 3 speed Renault gearbox.
Unfortunately the car never got to show its full potential as it was written off on a cold, wet and very windy day at Pukekohe. It appears the strong cross winds blew the little light weight creation of the track.
Apparently the car still survives to this day....somewhere.
Ray Bell
found this thread on Autosport forum ..does anyone have any pics or more info on this car
Back in 1966 a Kiwi by the name of Dennis Smith built a special that weighed in at only 225 kg. This car was christened the 'Smith Spyder', all due to the fact that the body of the car was only 500 mm wide, which gave the appearance of having a very wide track.
The most amazing thing about this car was its engine - a 1500cc V4 Johnson outboard motor. This was tilted at 40 degrees from the horizontal and had a huge(!) Smith built flywheel that was 100 mm in diameter. The powerband of this motor was between 1000 and 7000 RPM - the car could wheelspin in top gear which, incidentally, was a 3 speed Renault gearbox.
Unfortunately the car never got to show its full potential as it was written off on a cold, wet and very windy day at Pukekohe. It appears the strong cross winds blew the little light weight creation of the track.
Apparently the car still survives to this day....somewhere.
Ray Bell