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Napier-Railton
Posted: Thu Oct 15, 2015 1:11 pm
by chunnybh
HK Classic is Hong Kong's only vintage car festival, now in it's second year. I was asked to play some music over the weekend so I took along my Expert Senior and EMG VIII.
The feature car was the Napier-Railton, which was making it's debut in Asia. For it's fanfare entrance it did two laps around the festival and entered a huge open tent full of flashing cameras.The sight, sounds and smell of this car were literally breathtaking. Once the exhaust fumes lifted, there was this 2 tonne beauty.
The Expert Senior may well have been built in the same year, 1933.
The Napier-Railton, over 24 hours, averaged a staggering 150mph.
Re: Napier-Railton
Posted: Thu Oct 15, 2015 7:02 pm
by emgcr
Great photo Chunny and it must have been a lot of fun with your exactly contemporary gramophones. Did you get a good reaction ?
The "Lion" engine---three banks of four cylinders in W formation amounting to 24 litres---is one of the finest piston aircraft power sources ever built. They were designed in 1916 and produced until the nineteen-fifties. Also used in the marine world.
Many thanks for posting.
Re: Napier-Railton
Posted: Thu Oct 15, 2015 9:44 pm
by chunnybh
Did you get a good reaction ?
Absolutely. Most people were totally surprised with the sound quality. I played last year and noted that "Vintage"to most people there meant the 50's and 60's. Most were dressed up in R'n'R outfits, quiffs and bee-hives. So I started off with swing and ended up with a lot of R'n'R. The joint was jumpin'. A lot of R'n'R is under 2 minuets so I was kept pretty busy.
At one stage,the Simpsons motor on my EMG VIII suddenly stopped working. I could feel friction but the thing would not spin. I pulled off the turntable gave it a quick wipe with some paper and off it went again. Right at the end, the induction motor on the Senior started playing fast, the adjustment lever did nothing so I played instrumentals on it and hopefully nobody noticed. When I got it home, I opened up the governor compartment and the governor literally fell out. One of the pins had come loose. Thank heavens it did not do that when it was running. Lesson learned; service them before taking them out.
I was kindly allowed a few pictures of the Senior next to the Napier Railton but was asked by the organizers not to publish them; something to do with publicity restrictions.
1933, a good year for the British.
Re: Napier-Railton
Posted: Thu Oct 15, 2015 11:01 pm
by Lucius1958
Now
that is what a racecar should look like...
Bill