SUNBEAM – year 1923

Sunbeam Motor Car Co., Ltd, Wolverhampton, Staffs, United Kingdom.

Still in 1922 a new year entered into force, so-called. two liter formula, limiting the capacity of engines to 2000 cm3. The handicap of the small capacity was solved by the engineers supercharging the engines with a compressor. However, "childish diseases” compressors have made, that the Fiats equipped with them did not succeed in the ACF Grand Prix races in Tours in 1925 r., while the first, Sunbeam cars took second and fourth place.

Sunbeam's winning cars, resembling Fiats in terms of concept, were equipped with six-cylinder engines with a cylinder diameter 67 mm and stroke 94 mm, thanks to which they reached capacity 1988 cm3. Timing application 2 x OHC made it possible to obtain 5200 RPM and power 75,7 kW (103 KM). The driving force was transferred to the rear axle by a multi-disc clutch, four-speed gearbox and universal drive shaft. Rigid axles were suspended on leaf springs with friction shock absorbers. The vehicle with a classic aerodynamic body had a weight of approx. 750 kg and reached maximum speed 182 km/h.

Winner, major Henry O Neal de Hane Segrave, he was the first competitor, who won the Grand Prix competition on a British car. The other Sunbeam cars were driving: Albert Divo, famous Italian player, and K. L. Guiness, called the king of candles. Henry Segrave achieved an average speed 121,277 km / h with time 6:35:19,6. He also won the following year at the Spanish Grand Prix in San Sebastian, where he was the first to apply a new security measure – protective helmet.

In the following years, Sunbeam cars were fitted with identical engines already equipped with a Roots compressor, forcing the mixture from the carburetor to the engine suction pipe. This increased the power to 104,4 kW (142 KM) by 6000 rpm and maximum speed up to 212 km/h. So the Sunbeams have become the fastest cars in the two-liter formula. In order to increase the effectiveness of the foot brake acting on all wheels, power steering was used, so-called. servo. Second brake, ręczny, it only acted on the rear wheels.

The compressor Sunbeam won the aforementioned Spanish Grand Prix race in 1924 year. It was the only victory of a British rider driving a British car in the Grand Prix for a year 1957. Today the car is owned by the Lord Montag Museum in Beaulieu.