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Aviation History
1963
1963 - 2294.PDF
rUGHT International supplement, 26 September 1963 Air-Cushion Vehicles MR-CUSHION GRAND PRIX? A Look at the Possibilities of ACV Racing BY DAVID STEVENS jot everybody foresees ACVs being 'driven with confidence and safety on be public roads." The idea of ACV acing, however, must already have ccurred to many readers, and the views f Mr Stevens are printed here to timulate thought and comment. lESIGNERS AND EXECUTIVES in the lotor industry are forever arguing bout the direct value of motor racing B family-car development. Some say hat it is merely a good form of pub- city for their products, whilst others ssert that racing forces them to try, and fevelop, new ideas more quickly than hey would otherwise need to do. Those B the latter group quote the case of the lisc brake, independent rear suspension, ransistorized ignition, fuel injection and pre design. Nobody can deny, how- ver, that motor racing seems to (tract some very fine designers indeed, tiese are the men who seem to find he cleverest answers to the problems of oad-holding, handling and weight ing. Nor should it be overlooked aat many of the country's most rilliant production-car designers have raduated from motor sport. Readers may be wondering by now 'hat all this has to do with the air- ashion vehicle. In a minute the Mnection will be fully explained, but rst of all let us have a quick look to see ow air racing has benefited the welopment of aircraft. Unfortunately, modern specially- signed racing aircraft are practically 'n-existent. Some of the most glam- r°us and significant types of the past, owever, were racers. Everybody has Brd of the Schneider Trophy sea- 'anes, whilst every schoolboy is told w the Battle-of-Britain-winning Spit- e was developed directly from them. ta D.H.88 Comet and the Mosquito e always linked together too. It could ; argued that the racing aircraft were ' different from production types flt they had no true influence at all, ld that the Spitfire and Mosquito >uld have been developed anyhow. us could conceivably be true; but, oking at the position the other way '^d, would certain other famous wters have been smaller and lighter if eir designers had previously worked ^ racing seaplane? "°w, having seen something of the luence of racing on the motor and 7'on industries, we are in a better ««on to relate it to the ACV and its *el°Pment. To the layman, the pro gress of the ACV seems disappointingly slow. Although development of the large over-water machine is progressing fairly well, the road-based family machine is being almost totally ignored. The prob lems associated with directional stability, braking and hill-climbing seem to have frightened people off. In the history of the conventional wheeled motor car, these were amongst the major problems that racing helped to solve. Would racing benefit the development of ACVs in a similar way? The author has little doubt that it would, and this is why. Racing Stimulates Thought Perhaps surprisingly, the small racing-car manu facturer with his limited resources would seem to be in a better position to design and produce racing ACVs than are the large aircraft firms. Quite apart from being free of shareholder and committee problems, he works in just the sort of atmosphere that produces original thinking. Though the outsider may think that all current Grand Prix cars look the same, they do, in fact, differ consider ably in many important respects. Individual designers have strong feelings about what is right and wrong in design, and nothing gives them more pleasure than to prove their points of view. If they could be persuaded to do so, it would seem logical to suppose that these men could apply some very fresh and ingenious ideas to the particular problems of air-cushion craft layout and control. If the aircraft firms currently engaged in hovercraft development felt tempted to produce racing machines, so much the better. Racing require ments would set far higher standards of controllability thanmost engineers would dream of applying. Just think of the diffi culties of trying to persuade an ACV to circulate the full circuit at Brands Hatch, for example, with its numerous hills and camber changes, at speeds up to 70 m.p.h. Such a performance would certainly be exciting to watch. Similar Techniques In many ways the racing hovercraft would be surprisingly like a racing car. It could use a tuned automobile engine, and many parts of the transmission. It could use the racing car's form of chassis construction, with a multi-tube "space-frame" or monocoque structure, or a mixture of the two, with the bodywork in glass- fibre. Racing drivers, with their quick reactions and fine sense of balance, would be the best people to pilot them. Motor racing tracks—starting, perhaps, with the fiat airfield circuits—would be the most suitable places (and the safest) on which to race them. Later on, as the design of the machines improved, more interesting courses could be devised. Dividing the Cost It is one thing to have a bright new idea, but quite another to be able to afford to develop it to full maturity. Here again the established set-up of motor racing would help. Car racing is easily the world's most expensive popular sport; yet, in spite of ever-rising costs, and the collapse that many gloomy people keep predicting, it continues to expand. First of all, people enjoy it; secondly, oil and accessory companies find it profit able to support racing because of the publicity and technical know-how they can gain. Presumably the same would apply to ACV racing. Additional money might even be forced out of the Govern ment. It would be a splendid gesture if they could act through the National Research and Development Corporation to make the results of all research to date available to certain specially selected racing-car manufacturers, with a grant to help them get started, and a handsome bonus for the most successful firm at the end of the season. The cost of such aid would be a mere fleabite to the Exchequer and would surely be very worthwhile if a flourishing export industry was created. The manu facturers would also get the starting and prize money that is usual in motor racing. It is vital, however, that the cost of the racing machines should be kept down to reasonable limits, and that the lessons learned should be applicable to everyday family machines. For these reasons a carefully devised formula would be essential. Rules for Racing Machines To start with it would be preferable to concen trate on single-seat hovercraft, as these would presumably be the least expensive to build. Costly engine development should be discouraged, as the power unit would not be the important problem during the early stages. A minimum- weight rule would have to be applied to prevent people building machines out of balsa wood and tissue paper. Size control would have to be watched too, and so would safety. It would be best to leave methods of control completely open, as the race courses could be arranged to make quite sure that the machines had all the basically desirable 45
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