LYCOMING SPECIAL
RALPH WATSON’S ENGINEERING TALENTS ENSURED THAT THE AIRCRAFT-ENGINED LYCOMING WAS ALWAYS GOING TO BE A SPECIAL SPECIAL. DONN ANDERSON BACKGROUNDS A REMARKABLE MACHINE
50 YEARS LATER AND STILL FLYING
From the moment you saw the silver Lycoming Special in the paddock, on the entry list of a North Island hill climb, at a car club grass track, or at sprint speed events, you knew that the result was a fait accompli. While predictable but never boring, the late Jim Boyd’s skilful and often spectacular handling of this ingenious New Zealand creation would inevitably result in fastest time of day.
Fabulous and memorable
In 1972, Boyd described the Lycoming as fabulous and his most memorable car. Boyd’s four-year ownership began in 1963, yet this was a story that began in the early ’50s, when talented Auckland engineer Ralph Watson came up with the idea of designing a front-engined Special around a 290-cubic-inch, or 4733cc, flat-four Lycoming aircraft engine — a power unit described by Watson as sounding like “a team of panel beaters working in rhythm”.
This was a car that would chalk up a remarkable competition career, including two national sports car titles, three New Zealand hill-climb championships, and three Ken Wharton Memorial trophies.
On a dusty, windy February day in 1965, Boyd came home a surprise winner of the Dunedin Gold Star street race, pounding the Lycoming around the rugged railway circuit, at times with two of its wheels off the ground. Driving the oldest car in the race, he finished nearly two seconds in front of John Riley’s 2.7-litre Lotus 18/21 Climax Formula 1 open-wheeler.
Boyd proved the versatility and flexibility of this special space-frame, aluminium-bodied machine during his tenure, simply driving the car to race meetings and other speed events. He loved the car’s wide torque range and versatility.
Recording 219kph on the tricky Ryal Bush road circuit in Southland in 1957 with Watson at the wheel, the car was later timed at 212kph at Ardmore, with the motor spinning at 3600 revs and, on the back straight at Pukekohe, an impressive 240kph was achieved.
A terrific cruiser
Here was a racer with Morris Minor rack-and-pinion steering that was light and quick, with just one-and-a-bit turns from lock to lock and an easily detachable Watsondesigned steering column with adjustable rake.
The modified over-square aero engine developed its 225hp (168kw) at a modest 2600rpm, and Boyd recalled that, with road speed varying from 60kph to 72kph for every 1000rpm — according to gearing — the car was a “terrific cruiser”.
Talented Auckland engineer Ralph Watson came up with the idea of designing a frontengined Special around a 290-cubic-inch, or 4733cc, flat-four Lycoming aircraft engine
I well recall motoring south on the Desert Road, heading for a Levin meeting, when Boyd, at the wheel of the Lycoming, whistled by with a friendly wave, suitcase propped up on the tight passenger seat.
Watson firmly believed that driving many miles on the road was essential to sorting out problems and obtaining reliability in competition. He also reasoned that it was much more fun to drive to events, while also saving the cost of a tow car and trailer. In one season, the Lycoming completed more than 1100km in competition and 8000km on public roads.
“On ordinary road use, 96-octane fuel was adequate so long as the throttle was used judiciously, and 100/130 high-octane fuel for race work,” Boyd explained.
Overheating could be an issue, and he was advised by Watson to watch the cylinder-head temperature and run the richest-possible mixture at all times.
“Tyre wear was very light, and brake pads would last about three or four race meetings. This was a car easily driven fast on good roads, loose metal, or grass airfields. The gearbox gave quite a few problems with coming out of gear under heavy acceleration at hill climbs and sprints. Modification to the drive dogs did improve it considerably, and a special hold-in lock for the gear change lever in low gear also assisted in preventing the gearbox jumping out of low gear,” said Boyd.
Enthusiasm for building Specials
Ralph Watson’s enthusiasm for building Specials was spawned after helping as a member of the pit crew on an Austin 7 run by Ron Roycroft and Harry Chatteris at the 1949 Wigram meeting. Watson liked the idea of a flat-fourcylinder engine since it would fit under the bonnet of a relatively small car, and he managed to buy two Lycoming 0-290 motors from James Aviation at scrap price. Special cylinders from a supercharged Lycoming US Air Force fighter plane were fitted, but there were problems with exhaust-valve inserts. A Watson-designed and -built fuelinjection system proved a real advantage over carburettors.
For better accessibility, the motor, which weighed a modest 118kg, was turned over and installed back to front, prompting a need for dry-sump oil lubrication. Power was increased with larger pushrod-operated valves, and the hydraulic tappets were cleverly modified. This was never going to be an easy technical exercise, yet Watson was a genius at sorting mechanical problems. Two main chassis rails were used to apply air to the rear brake assemblies. The brakes were operated by twin master cylinders, and braking pressure front to rear was adjusted by a clever linkage system combined with a handbrake-lever arrangement. Watson devised a fly-off system for handbrake control.
Ford Zephyr coil springs were fitted at the front, with Austin A40 parts used for top shock-absorber linkages, king-pin supports, and axles. The de Dion rear axle used a Watson-modified Watt’s linkage for vertical and lateral location, and the Morris Oxford torsion bar controlling the rear suspension could be adjusted from the cockpit. Other components included a Ford V8 differential, Jaguar Mark VII wheel bearings and clutch assembly, and a modified Studebaker gearbox installed back to front to achieve overdrive. Jim Boyd remembered this gearbox as “beautifully modified” to give a step-up drive in top gear.
Initially carrying the registration number 427-793, later CY 715, the car’s space frame was strengthened by plate steel and a substantial cross member, while Orewa-based Johnny Morrell styled and produced the distinctive body that could be removed in a few minutes. Morrell had previously made an attractive body for the Roycroft Ferrari.
Success in sprints
Long before the days of slicks and sticky rubber, Ralph Watson remembered how easy the Lycoming was to drive in sprints. Off the line, it was a matter of easing back on the throttle to avoid excessive wheelspin and then opening up again in second gear.
He said, “Full throttle could be used as the engine torque and gear ratio put the tyres just on their limit of adhesion on a good surface.”
Completed in 1956, the Lycoming made a competition debut in December at Western Springs Speedway in Auckland, where Watson found it a handful on cinders. At a sprint meeting near Hamilton, the car returned the standing quarter-mile run in 14.4 seconds, and 7.2 seconds for the flying quarter, before finishing seventh in the 1957 Ardmore Grand Prix (GP). The car performed well at Wigram, was fourth at Ryal Bush, ninth at Mairehau, and scored wins at Taumarunui and Matamata. The following year, Watson finished 10th at both Ardmore and Wigram. He also put Bob Gibbons in the car to run at several meetings, including the 1959 New Zealand Grand Prix (NZGP), where he finished eighth.
… and in sports car events
Malcolm Gill was the second owner, fitting detachable mudguards so that the Lycoming could run in sports car events. Gill won the Wharton trophy at the NZGP meeting at Ardmore and the sports car event at Levin in 1960. When Bruce Mclaren experienced a major engine failure in his Cooper prior to the start of the Lady Wigram Trophy that year, Gill offered his Lycoming. In spite of running out of the Austin A40–sourced brakes, Mclaren still managed to finish fourth in the international race with the all-drumbraked car behind a trio of visiting rear-engined Cooper Climaxes. As a thank you, Bruce sent a set of disc brakes from Britain to Gill. The following year, Gill finished the Teretonga International in second gear after top gear stripped its teeth. He dominated sports car events in 1961, winning the New Zealand Sports Car Championship for the season, and then sold the Lycoming to motorcycle rider Forest Cardon, who finished a lowly 16th in the GP but won the Levin sports car race and the Wharton trophy at Pukekohe in 1963 before Jim Boyd assumed ownership.
Apart from numerous hill-climb successes, Boyd had a run of second placings in sports car races before the Dunedin win. At Waimate the following weekend, Boyd finished sixth in the feature event, after battery problems near the end of the 36-lap street race forced the near-exhausted driver to push the Lycoming to the finish line. The same day, he was beaten into second place in the sports car race by the powerful Stanton Corvette of Morrie Stanton. Clinching the 1966 New Zealand Sports Car Championship, Boyd set seven records on different North Island hill climbs.
Jim Clark impressed
World champion Jim Clark had been fascinated by the Lycoming’s performance. At Teretonga for the international meeting in 1966, he was quick to accept a drive in the car during a quiet time on practice day. Out went the Scotsman, lapping faster and faster until Boyd flagged him in, marking the only time Clark drove a privately owned racing car in New Zealand.
At that same meeting, Boyd made an extraordinary bid to beat the superior Ferrari 275 LM of Australian Spencer Martin in the sports car feature event. Despite being outclassed by the Italian machine, the New Zealander held command for some time before being beaten to the flag by less than three seconds. Little wonder that Boyd, who died in 1994 aged 67, always held the Lycoming in high regard.
At a Levin meeting to wrap up the 1966 summer season, Boyd won the sports car event but, in the final race of the day, spun the Lycoming at the tricky Cabbage Tree Corner. The Lycoming hit a bank and overturned, with Boyd trapped under the car and suffering moderate injuries. By 1967, the Lycoming was struggling to beat the powerful Stanton and Andrew Buchanan’s agile Ferrari 250 LM, but Boyd was still king of the hill climbs.
Subsequent owners of the Lycoming have been John Wiffin, Bob Harrison, and Don Peddie before the current carer, Cromwell-based Ralph Smith, became the longest running owner of the Lycoming in 1983. For more than three decades, Smith has kept the car in immaculate order, and usually keeps this piece of motorsport history at the Warbirds and Wheels Museum in Wanaka.
Goodwood Revival
Engineer Ralph Smith was living in Dunedin when he became custodian of the car. He had to rebuild the machine from two trailer-loads of parts. Finishing a fine fourth at the 1986 Wellington street race meeting, Ralph has gone on to run the car in classic events not only locally but also at Phillip Island in Australia and in the US, where he took part in the Laguna Seca meeting in 1998. The Lycoming has also visited Britain, where it featured at the Bruce Mclaren tribute at the Goodwood Revival meeting in 2015.
Extraordinary engineer
The enduringly successful Lycoming is testament to Ralph Watson’s remarkable engineering ability. Watson passed away in Te Aroha in August 2006 but, precisely 20 years earlier, was reunited with the Lycoming when he visited Ralph Smith in Dunedin during a marathon drive from Auckland, when he braved the elements in an open 1931 BSA Special powered by a V-twincylinder motor.
Five years ago, Watson’s workshop and a rotaryvalve aeroplane engine that he also designed and made were shifted from Pt Chevalier in Auckland to the Warbirds museum as a tribute to his many talents. Watson’s modesty belied his skills, which were often only recognized by those who were also fine engineers. In 1965, Bruce Mclaren wrote to Watson explaining that he was working on a then-secret Formula 1 car and asking Ralph for his thoughts on a possible design for the GP car. Praise indeed for the creator of New Zealand’s most iconic home-grown racing car!