Parisian View

In the current issue of the Parisian Revue de l’Aluminium” there is an interesting article entitled ” Racing Cars.”

“Motor racing.” it states,” us a remarkable means of submitting both engines and chassis to very high strains, therby proving designs in the most rigorous practical fashion. Lessons learnt in racing yesterday substantially aid the designer today.

Whereas 15 years ago the average weight of powerful racing cars exceeded a ton, just prior to the war Maserati, Alfa-Romeo and Darracq were weighing around 14 cwt.

“This new era of weight reduction has largely been brought about by the use of light alloys.

“The desirability of weight reduction is not only apparent in power/weight ratio but in rolling resistance, as is illustrated by the following figures:

… …

“Thus there is an improvement of 22.6 per cent. through lightening.

… …

“In this case an improvement of 19 per cent. through lightening.

“The recently-introduced Cisitalia, derived, like the Gordini, from the 1,100-c.c. Fiat. can produce 63 b.h.p. unblown, for a weight of only 7 cwt. 10 lb.

“Achieving weight reduction through the means of drilling numerous holes around the neutral axis of a member is deprecated.”