The Roaring Season

Unusual two-engine racing car designed between the 60's and 70's in Cascavel (PR) by mechanic Deoclides Carpenedo. At least five versions were built, the first of them in 1967, even before the Fittipaldi brothers created their twin-engine Fitti-Volks. The first car was mounted on a DKW chassis, from which it received the two engines, one front and one rear mounted between axles, and coupled to them two Volkswagen gearboxes.

The car was driven by two accelerator pedals (!), One for each engine, two shift levers, positioned side by side (!!), one clutch pedal and one brake pedal. A car with such a configuration was evidently very difficult to control.

Seeking to make it more competitive, Deoclides was successively changing the mechanics and making it increasingly powerful. Until 1971 the twin-engine was introduced in four different configurations: DKW front and rear VW engine, front and rear VW engine, front VW engine and Simca V8 rear and finally Ford Corcel engine in front and Simca behind.

The main driver of the car and what best managed to "tame" him was the Paraná Valdir Favarin, who with him managed to win even the best Brazilian prototypes of the time. Favarin raced the twin-engine until 1974.

Thirty years later, in 2004, Deoclides decided to rebuild his prototype, "already very tired of racing and attacked by rust". The new car was also a hybrid, formed by the front half of a DKW chassis attached to the rear of a Kombi platform and equipped with two air-cooled VW engines and their gearboxes.

The set was covered by a glass-fiber-reinforced plastic cowl that, as if to honor tradition, had an unusual detail: a circular opening in the front enclosing the engine's cooling fan. The new Bimotor was inaugurated in 2009 by Favarin, a retired driver, penta-champion and two-time Brazilian runner-up of Sport-Prototype.

Ray Bell wrote:Unbelievable!

The Corcel was a Renault 12 redesigned by Willys and taken over by Ford when they bought that company! That engine is pure Renault 12 1300cc. Whether the Simca V8 was the Esplanada engine or not is in question, but I'd suggest that if this thing was built using a 1971 engine at the front, the Simca V8 would be the Ardun-headed Emi-Sul engine which was designed by Ford, bought out by Chrysler and migrated to Brazil where the Ardun head was added.

What a mix!

There's some good stuff among these Specials, I know. See if we can keep them coming.

From Allpar.com
The BF 161 [Jeep] was the first Brazilian motor used in a racing car — the Eclipse Special, built by Antonio Santilli at Retífica Eclipse, a machine shop that still exists in Lapa, Sao Paulo. This single-seater premiered at the 500 km Interlagos race in 1958, piloted by Waldomiro Nunes and Ivair Bombardi. The first car had the word “Hurricane” misspelled on the intake manifold; it was later replaced by the phrase “Fundido em Taubaté" (“Made in Taubaté&#8221 .