TheScrutineer wrote:Hi guys and girls,
After seeing the famous Lotus 56B gas turbine powered car at the Autosport show last month I have been inspired to investigate more about the car. I've collated a lot of information to do an article on my blog. Have a look, i'm open to opinions...
http://dmanf1.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02
Granatelli was an owner, not a designer (of gas-turbine cars)
iirc the 56 (Joe Leonard's ?) failed to win Indy only because the engine automatically shut itself down
there being an aviation type fire detection system that decided to do this if the temperatures rose faster than expected
this happening due to the sudden pickup of racing after a full-course yellow
(imo probably what was given as fuel pump failure, also given re the Pollard car failure)
and P&W had the engine set for something like a 1600 hr life, as normal
ACBC arranged the fuelling to be set for a life of a few hours - so giving another 200 bhp or so
without this it would not have been so competitive