Alta Car and Engineering Company

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Alta was a British manufacturer of sports cars and racing engines in Formula 1 - seater were used -vans.

Innovative engine construction from the 1930s

Formula 2 Alta

The Alta Car and Engineering Company , headquartered in Tolworth, was the brainchild of the gifted engineer Geoffrey Taylor , who even with limited financial means pursued his special ideas in engine construction . Taylor was just 26 years old when he designed the first Alta sports car in 1929, which was powered by a four-cylinder DOHC engine of 1027 cc. The company sold these cars in small numbers during the following decade, with Taylor flexibly serving the needs of its customers with 1.5 and 2-liter engines. Because he was able to run “variable” cylinders in the same engine block , the owners were able to have the vehicles compete in the category they wanted with comparatively minor modifications.

Since 1934, launched Alta addition to the classic sports car racing and the production of real -seaters , preferably in sprint races, hill climbs were used and short distance races, taking with it an attractive alternative to the already proven ERA represented -models. However, at longer distances they revealed a certain unreliability. In 1937, a real Voiturette racer was put on trial, quite comparable to Formula 2 after the war, with which George Abecassis was able to experience some successes in the British Isles.

Taylor then planned to build a 3-liter Grand Prix car by intending to combine two four-cylinder engines with a single crankshaft , but the Second World War no longer allowed these ambitions. Later the most successful engine in Grand Prix history, the Cosworth -V8, was to be built on a similar principle. The only thing that was produced before the war was a 2-liter car, which stood out for its exposed torsion bars , which was the basic principle behind today's suspension parts.

Grand Prix Sport

Racing was Taylor's only hobby and so he was to succeed in manufacturing the first British car that could victoriously finish a Grand Prix race after the war, which was not part of the world championship. While BRM had major start-up difficulties, in times of scarce materials and capacities Taylor succeeded in pursuing the plans of 1937 in addition to his actual core business. However, the Grand Prix Alta did not appear until 1948, which was relatively insignificant as the dominant Alfa Romeo were also models from the pre-war era. Nevertheless, for financial reasons, the successes of the customer teams did not meet Taylor's high expectations, so that the Alta engines would later achieve their greatest successes as the drive sources for HWM racers and Cooper cars from the 1952 Formula 1 season .

Series models

model Construction period cylinder Displacement power at speed wheelbase
1100 1931-1939 4 row 1074 cc 68 bhp (50 kW) 6000 min -1 2438 mm
1 1/2 liter 1935-1939 4 row 1488 cc 85 bhp (62.5 kW) 5000 min −1 2438 mm
2 liter 1935-1939 4 row 1960 cc 160 bhp (118 kW) 5500 min -1 2438 mm

literature

  • David Culshaw and Peter Horrobin: The Complete Catalog of British Cars 1895–1975 . Veloce Publishing plc. Dorchester (1999). ISBN 1-874105-93-6

Web links

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