Weslake
Weslake is a former designer, tuner and manufacturer of entire vehicle engines and engine parts and today supplies the aviation industry with special diesel engines for light aircraft.
Cylinder heads for the automotive industry
Weslake Research and Development was founded by Harry Weslake in the mid-1950s. The company initially produced cylinder heads and worked closely with Jaguar Cars . The engine of the Austin A30 was also from him. Westlake supplied aluminum cylinder heads for the Austin-Healey 100S racing car. Until the early 1970s, Weslake cylinder heads were used in almost all Jaguar V12 engines . Weslake designed and built the cylinder heads for the Ford Capri used in racing in the early 1970s.
Racing engines
Weslake built the first racing engine for Vanwall in 1958 ; a 4-cylinder in- line engine for the successful Formula 1 racing car. With this engine, the British team won the first constructors' cup in Formula 1 history. 1966 developed Weslake a V12 engine for the Eagle T1G of All American Racers teams of Dan Gurney . Weslake built the engine according to the 3-liter engine regulations that came into force in Formula 1 in 1966. The 3 liter, 12 cylinder engine with four overhead camshafts was very short (800 mm) and light (175 kg) and had 4 valves per cylinder, which were at a narrow angle (30 °) together. The engine, which Weslake called Type 3000 or Weslake 58 , originally had 271 kW (364 hp). The gear problems that first appeared on the Monza debut could not be fully resolved later. The engine had enough power, however, the production was never geared towards a series and each was unique. The team always had to struggle with the different engine power of the engines and hardly any part could be exchanged from engine to engine. The problems were only resolved when Gurney took over engine construction and maintenance in his own factory. Figures from the 1967 Monaco Grand Prix , where the engine of Dan Gurney's Eagle developed 417 hp, but that of his team mate Richie Ginther's only 411, serve as an example of the different power output of the engines. Race, with the Belgian Grand Prix being part of the 1967 World Championship .
In 1973 a revised version of this engine was used in the Mirage M6 . However, the project was abandoned after the first test drives. The Ford V8 engines of John Wyer's GT40 in 1968 and 1969 also had Gurney-Weslake cylinder heads; the British racing team Wyer won so in two years , the 24-hour race at Le Mans . The good connection to Ford led to the concept of the RS2600 engine in the Ford Capri in the 1970s . At that time Weslake also built engines for speedway motorcycles.
Weslake engines in motorcycle construction
Weslake designed a four-valve cylinder head for the two-cylinder Triumph Bonneville 650 on behalf of Dave Nourish. This cylinder head formed the basis for the later production model Triumph TSS of the eighties.
Weslake designed the engine of the Hesketh V 1000 on behalf of the British manufacturer Hesketh , a 90-degree two-cylinder V-engine with 1,000 cm³.
In addition, Weslake derivatives of the Jawa engines were very well known and successful in track racing in the seventies and eighties.
Weslake today
After Harry Weslake's death in 1978, the company was split into two parts. His stepson Daniel builds engines for small aircraft and his grandson Dean looks after the service for older Weslake engines at Weslake Heritage.
literature
- David Hodges: Racing Cars from A to Z after 1945 Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart 1994, p. 81, ISBN 3-613-01477-7 .
- John Horsman: Racing in the Rain . Bull Publishing Ltd., Phoenix 2006, ISBN 1-893618-71-4 .