Hewland has long been a virtually household name in motorsport circles, supplying market-leading gearboxes in the 1960s and 1970s. But did you know they also dealt with engines?
In 1972 we heard of a secret plan at his Maidenhead base to take on the mighty Cosworth in Formula 1.
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We explained: “The ‘slave’ single-cylinder motor design is supposed to be more ambitious than any of the power units currently racing, but it’s not a Wankel setup.
“Because the transmission plant has all the necessary machines already installed for the manufacture of gearboxes, the “slave” unit did not present any major problems of production complications or additional costs, and like all the project was designed within the factory, it was relatively easy to maintain secrecy.
It seems likely that this project resulted in the Arrow, a 100cc sleeve-valve single-cylinder engine that Hewland introduced for karts in 1976.
The special thing was that it had an integrated primary drive reduction gearbox with a lot more gear teeth which meant that full sized motor sprockets could be used and the chain wouldn’t waste any gears. energy to be heated during races.
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Source: www.autocar.co.uk
This notice was published: 2022-03-11 05:01:23
