British Anzani A & B Stock & Alky Racing Engines

[Bill Van Steenwyk]

Now again, thanks to BRF, we know the "rest of the story"

[Tim Chance]

Awhile after Dub's plane crash I received a package in the mail from Billie, Dub's wife. It was this trophy. It is sort of tarnished but it is inscribed:

C HYDRO 1st HEAT
S.E.B.A.
CHAMPIONSHIP
1961
VALDOSTA, GA.
1st PLACE

The note from Billie said that she thought that Dub would want me to have the trophy as a keepsake to remember him by. I cherish her thought.

On another note: Hello Floyd Harris, what's it been 38 years....

[John (Taylor) Gabrowski]

Tim Chance: When Floyd Harris showed up here I thought immediately that the whole thing was your doing! LOL! Now your saying it wasn't???? Naaaah! It must have been and now there is the trophy! What is next? LOL! I am sure looking forward to seeing some pictures posted on that big twin C Anzani with stories as told by Floyd and anyone else that was there too. It seems our group is getting ever larger with the interest. That is great!

[John (Taylor) Gabrowski]

I just had to transfer a copy of your Anzani 250cc gasser Anzani and raceboat picture to the British Anzani thread. It belongs.

[John (Taylor) Gabrowski]

Rod: That 250cc Anzani looks neat, it made me go staring at the Lectron and a Mikuni carbs I have that are set up for a gasoline 340cc engines. Using a Konig pipe though is really a cat of a different color based on the Konig's ports which are very different from the reality of Anzani ports be they the squared ones or in the case of later class A blocks square in the cylinder port but exactly round at the pipe flange. No matter what, to get maximum out of any 2 stroke the pipes have to be made specifically for that engine to get everything out of it on gasoline or on methanol.

Back in the early 1980s here I bolted up a velocity stacked Tillotson HR adjustable / self pumping carb on a 322cc Anzani Alky B, put it on racing gasoline and re-set up the ignition timing for the high compression Alky head still on it. With open pipes on gas mounted on a Giles DSH of the period the engine was faster than any Merc 20H & 30H but not as quick as stock Merc 55Hs. It left those on shore wondering what the engine would do on gasoline with properly calculated expansion chambered exhausts of which 1 pipe would be shared between the 2 cylinders or one pipe for each cylinder? That was never done though but now there are computer formulas I can give you that will give you that precise pipe and it has variables to formulate for gasoline or for Alky too. I am going email those to you so you can have some fun in designing that pipe. The pipe wil change for each different spec'd Anzani too, that is the nature of the beast.

On quite a few pages here on BRF there are some pictures and even specs for a variety of pipes used on Anzanis that were specifically designed for them early on be they open pipe megaphones or the later expansion chambers. Some were dead reconing, cut and paste evolutionary where others sure look like formula work when their appearance is put side by side with computer generated pipes yet they were early enough that they may be slide rule or trig table or hand held LED calculator specials. One thing did turn up with expansion chambers and racing alky-nitro fuels was that due to the supercharging effects of the expansion chamber pipee was the nitro was no longer needed, the crankshafts would not stay together because of the nitro. In fact Jim Hallum mentioned that even on methanol the pipes were too much for the crankshafts so they set records with A and B Anzanis with multiple carbs abd retaining nitro/methanol fuels and open pipes pushing the records to just of 90mph for A and just over 100mph for B with Anzanis. It can only be speculated what they could have done with Anzanis if they had access to the latest model Harrison crankshafts that were very superior to the Anzani product at the time.

All this still leaves the whole notion of using racing gas and proper made for Anzani expansion chambers an open question and that apparently is within the engineering ralm of not threatening the existing Anzani crankshafts. Needless to say I find that part really interesting and worth a future go though Anzanis sure sound nice as other period classical racing engines do, on open pipes. Open pipes make a race engine not only look like one but also sound like one. If there was ever the question just get the opportunity to be there with a Quincy Flathead as it takes off, it removes all doubt!

[John (Taylor) Gabrowski]

I broached the question if anyone had ever tried to reed valve an Anzani or Harrison's main block mounted carb with Jim Hallum? When expansion chambered exhausts were being tried way back then in the later 1960s the main carb spitout increased significantly as the pipes turned on bringing that experimentation to an end retaining the open pipes to get the records that resulted. That carb spitout demonstrated the supercharging effects of modern day pipes that without question put 2 stroke loop engines over the top on the horsepower they develop today. Anyone toy with those reed valves on these engines? There is little doubt they could have killed spitout and improved power then?

[John (Taylor) Gabrowski]

These are pictures of Anzani engines, powered race boats, their crews and their drivers. They are all from Washington State coutesy of Jim Hallum who did the conversion to DVD which I then digitized to singular pictures. The quality of the pictures tends to degrade a bit due to motion and generational copying so have a kick at the cat if you can identify what is in them. There are quite a few baches and this is the first one. Enjoy!

Special thanks again to Jim Hallum. With out you none of these would be possible.

[John (Taylor) Gabrowski]

Another batch of pictures taken from Jim Hallum's collection circa 1965 to 1976.

There are lots of closeups here of engines in evolution, their exhausts too.

Lots of typical boat racer activities once everything has been set up! They all sit down, relax and contemplate it all starting when it should.

There should be lots of familiar faces and names here that are also visiting the BRF webisite now too, reading and posting.

This stuff and it is only a fraction of what is to come will sure bring on some memories.

[John (Taylor) Gabrowski]

Many of these pictures were from Lake Laurence, WA where they not only ran straightaway record runs but also ran oval races for records. Eventually we will see pictures of the timing crews/judges and all. Enjoy the pictures.

[John (Taylor) Gabrowski]

Enjoy this next small batch again from Lake Laurence, WA courttesy of Jim Hallum.