RE: Pic Of The Week: The 24 Litre Napier-Railton
Friday 8th July 2011
Pic Of The Week: The 24-Litre Napier-Railton
When racing drivers were men and their mounts were, er, elephants?
The 6.0-litre W12 that graces the under-bonnet regions of a Bentley Continental GT (and until recently the odd VW Phaeton) might seem like a rather chunky engine (and it is). But it is as nothing compared with the dubya-engined beast that Classic & Sports Jacket's Mick Walsh has been driving for the latest issue. (C&SC usually looks great on the coffee table, but this month's is a corker. Ed.)
The Napier-Railton that is featured in the latest issue of said journal is truly a monster. Built between 1932 and 1933 by John Cobb, this 24-litre beast was fitted with a 24-litre W12 engine, rated at 502bhp at 2200rpm, and with a scarcely comprehensible 1184lb ft of torque. Enough to push it to a top speed of 167mph.
It is also the car that holds the Brooklands Outer Circuit record, set in 1935 at a truly astounding 143.44mph. And if that ain't worth celebrating in Friday wallpaper-style, we don't know what is.
Normal (1280x1024)
WideScreen (1440x900)
SuperSize (2048x1536)
Discussion
Monty Python said:
Is there any reason why we can't have these pictures in "standard" desktop resolutions (1680x1050 and 1920x1200 for example)?
+1 on this. The wide screen one does scale up naturally to 1680x1050, but I'd rather have a larger one and scale it down then a smaller one and scale up.goron59 said:
Monty Python said:
Is there any reason why we can't have these pictures in "standard" desktop resolutions (1680x1050 and 1920x1200 for example)?
+1 on this. The wide screen one does scale up naturally to 1680x1050, but I'd rather have a larger one and scale it down then a smaller one and scale up.Bloody stunning picture, stunning car, awesome engineering. Gives me goosebumps ....
Modern cars (even the really good ones like 458's and the like) increasingly leave me cold.
Classics are where it is at. And this thing is an extreme classic - a monster of a car. Of course, it is immensely valuable and probably worth more ££ than a nice country house. But given the choice between this and a fleet of 458/SLS/MP4/Aventedor nonsense, I would take the classic every time.
All it needs are cycle guards and some indicators, get it MOT'd and terrify the locals with it. Marvellous.
Classics are where it is at. And this thing is an extreme classic - a monster of a car. Of course, it is immensely valuable and probably worth more ££ than a nice country house. But given the choice between this and a fleet of 458/SLS/MP4/Aventedor nonsense, I would take the classic every time.
All it needs are cycle guards and some indicators, get it MOT'd and terrify the locals with it. Marvellous.
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