Rocket Axle gives 850bhp - WTF?
Discussion
This months PPC, small article somewhere near the front. Was re-reading this months mag last night, haven't got it to hand so details are sketchy. There was some yank tank which had been built for this tobacco rich playboy in the 60's I think. He had it specced with a hulking great V8 with a supercharger bolted on and huge carbs which should have made it quick enough you would have thought, but no. He also had fitted to it (At huge cost I would have imagined) a 'rocket axle' which contained a turbine fed by propane or something, which spun at 90,000 RPM and was then geared down to the final drive, supposedly adding 850bhp. I had to re-read it a couple of times, and it still diodn't really make sense. Has anyone heard of anything like this before?
I want one on my MX5.....
I want one on my MX5.....
Edited by OllieBirmingham on Thursday 28th August 12:44
Believe it or not, Turbonique "rocket drag axles" were a production item in the 60s 
http://iowahawk.typepad.com/iowahawk/2006/04/the_r...
http://iowahawk.typepad.com/iowahawk/2006/04/the_r...
I remember reading an article in Road & Track (or maybe Car & Driver) back in the 60s about this "rocket turbine". IIRC this particular one was fitted to something rather smaller than your typical muscle car. It did seem to be genuine as far as I can recall; gave hellish acceleration (in a straight line!) at a very high cost.
I'll trawl the archives.
I'll trawl the archives.
J111 said:
Believe it or not, Turbonique "rocket drag axles" were a production item in the 60s
http://iowahawk.typepad.com/iowahawk/2006/04/the_r...
Awesom article - the best thing I've read all year I think http://iowahawk.typepad.com/iowahawk/2006/04/the_r...
Me want
As seen on the original Batmobile? or at least they used idea
"For those interested in upgraded insanity there was the Turbonique Drag Axle, which appeared to be a center section for a quick change differential - but with a mutant spaceship tumor growing from its hinder. That tumor was, in fact, a rocket engine providing direct drive to the rear axle. When not in use, the car would drive under conventional power through the front drive shaft. When the driver hit the "panic button," the rear mounted rocket would immediately engage and begin channeling One Thousand Three Hundred Thermolene-addled rocket horsepower to the rear skins. All this despite weighing a scant 100 pounds. It was advised that the driver keep his thumb on the switch during operation since, having no clutch or fuel metering, the only way to control acceleration was by shutting off the fuel supply."
And 'Herbie' kind of makes more sense now after seeing this...
"What kind of nutjob would put one on his car? Quite a few as it turns out. I previously mentioned Roy Drew, the African American racer who defeated Tommy Ivo's "Showboat" with his Turbonique-sponsored Black Widow drag axle Volkswagen. Here's the catalog shot of the showdown, with the Bug clocking 9.36 ET at 168 mph."
"For those interested in upgraded insanity there was the Turbonique Drag Axle, which appeared to be a center section for a quick change differential - but with a mutant spaceship tumor growing from its hinder. That tumor was, in fact, a rocket engine providing direct drive to the rear axle. When not in use, the car would drive under conventional power through the front drive shaft. When the driver hit the "panic button," the rear mounted rocket would immediately engage and begin channeling One Thousand Three Hundred Thermolene-addled rocket horsepower to the rear skins. All this despite weighing a scant 100 pounds. It was advised that the driver keep his thumb on the switch during operation since, having no clutch or fuel metering, the only way to control acceleration was by shutting off the fuel supply."
And 'Herbie' kind of makes more sense now after seeing this...
"What kind of nutjob would put one on his car? Quite a few as it turns out. I previously mentioned Roy Drew, the African American racer who defeated Tommy Ivo's "Showboat" with his Turbonique-sponsored Black Widow drag axle Volkswagen. Here's the catalog shot of the showdown, with the Bug clocking 9.36 ET at 168 mph."
J111 said:
Believe it or not, Turbonique "rocket drag axles" were a production item in the 60s
http://iowahawk.typepad.com/iowahawk/2006/04/the_r...
Thats brilliant! Insane, but brilliant!! http://iowahawk.typepad.com/iowahawk/2006/04/the_r...
Cannot believe some nutjob fitted one to a beetle
Thanks for posting
OllieBirmingham said:
Who is going to be the first PH'er to fit a rocket axle to their car then?
Imagine one fitted to a 3, actually no, I'm not even going to lower the tone. Enough.
You do realise that if you fit one to a mapped 335d and drive the car against the spinning axis of the Earth, the world will come to dead stop, time will reverse and we will all be eaten by Dinosaurs?Imagine one fitted to a 3, actually no, I'm not even going to lower the tone. Enough.
Hi PistonHeads, Dave Burge here, the guy who wrote the linked Turbonique blog post. If you enjoyed that one I wrote a much expanded version in Garage Magazine #14.
Regarding the Tobacco King Turbonique rocket Galaxie 500, The upcoming issue of Garage (#17) contains my lengthy article about Zach Reynolds, the RJ Reynolds tobacco heir who commissioned the car. The car itself is still in near-pristine unrestored condition, and I had the good fortune to drive it earlier this year. Here are a couple of blog posts about the experience:
http://iowahawk.typepad.com/bolus/2008/05/turboniq...
http://iowahawk.typepad.com/bolus/2008/05/smoke-em...
Cheers,
Dave
Regarding the Tobacco King Turbonique rocket Galaxie 500, The upcoming issue of Garage (#17) contains my lengthy article about Zach Reynolds, the RJ Reynolds tobacco heir who commissioned the car. The car itself is still in near-pristine unrestored condition, and I had the good fortune to drive it earlier this year. Here are a couple of blog posts about the experience:
http://iowahawk.typepad.com/bolus/2008/05/turboniq...
http://iowahawk.typepad.com/bolus/2008/05/smoke-em...
Cheers,
Dave
Ollie - saw quite a bit of traffic in my referrer logs from PistonHeads, and thought I'd drop in and say hi from across the pond.
By the way, there are a few Turbonique axles still floating around out there, but I would serious recommend avoiding the original fuel (n-propyl nitrate). Evil, evil stuff.
By the way, there are a few Turbonique axles still floating around out there, but I would serious recommend avoiding the original fuel (n-propyl nitrate). Evil, evil stuff.
Hard to believe, but it was real. Gene Middlebrooks (the mad genius behind Turbonique) was an aerospace engineer for Martin Marietta who worked on propulsion systems for ICBMs, and hot rods in his spare time. In the late 50's he came up with a couple of US patents for battery-powered electric superchargers. By the early 60s he figured that rocket fuel was a better approach to auxiliary power.
The sad part of the story is that Middlebrooks was convicted of mail fraud in 1970 and sentenced to a couple of years in federal lockup. The short version is that his advertising implied that they were ready to run, when in fact they required a good deal of machining and custom fitting. He ended up running a small cabin resort in the Orlando FL area and passed away in 2005.
The sad part of the story is that Middlebrooks was convicted of mail fraud in 1970 and sentenced to a couple of years in federal lockup. The short version is that his advertising implied that they were ready to run, when in fact they required a good deal of machining and custom fitting. He ended up running a small cabin resort in the Orlando FL area and passed away in 2005.
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